Cromartie Growing into Leader of Jets' D

[flgreen]

Cromartie growing into leader of Jets’ D
By BRIAN COSTELLO
Last Updated: 3:45 AM, June 18, 2013
Posted:  2:22 AM, June 18, 2013
Jets Blog

     
Darrelle Revis is gone, but the Jets still may have the best cornerback in football — if you ask Antonio Cromartie.

 

The Jets’ new No. 1 cornerback believes if he can stay consistent he could be the best in the game, even better than you know who in Tampa Bay.

 

“I think so if I’m playing on a consistent basis and using my techniques and doing the things I need to do,” Cromartie told The Post last week.

 

Even though he believes he can be the best, Cromartie said that is not his goal heading into the 2013 season.

 

“Can I be? Yes. Do I care to be? No,” he said. “If we’re winning and I’m doing the things I need to do, then that’s what it’s really all about.”

 

Cromartie, 29, had his best season with the Jets last year when he stepped into the No. 1 cornerback role after Revis was injured. He made the Pro Bowl and showed a level of consistency that had been lacking in his first two seasons with the Jets and in his time with the Chargers.

 

During this offseason, Cromartie has emerged as an unlikely leader of the Jets. He has worked out with several of his teammates, including fellow cornerback Kyle Wilson and second-year wide receiver Stephen Hill. This week, Cromartie will play host to several teammates in California for workouts

.

This would have been hard to imagine during Cromartie’s first two years with the Jets, when his attitude and play sometimes showed his immaturity. Former defensive coordinator Mike Pettine once said the coaches would ask each other before games whether the “good Cro or bad Cro” would show up that day.

 

“I see him taking a step as far as his leadership as well, bringing guys with him,” Jets coach Rex Ryan said. “He does work extremely hard. He’s one of the first guys in the building every day and one of the last to leave, so he is very dedicated. I’ve seen him on the practice field really working at his craft, trying to get better. Sometimes when you get a guy that has played extremely well, obviously a Pro Bowl level, sometimes it’s natural to kind of [think], ‘Hey I got this figured out.’ The great ones, the unusual ones, will try to take it [to] a level even higher, and I see that out of him.”

 

Cromartie’s role as a team leader is more important to him than where people think he ranksamong the game’s best.

 

“I couldn’t care less if someone said I’m the best corner in the NFL,” Cromartie said. “I really don’t care about that. I’m more focused on, ‘Am I doing the right things and are the young guys doing the right things they need to be doing?’ If we’re all playing as one, our whole secondary is the best. That’s the way I’m looking at it.”

 

Cromartie’s presence on the roster made it easier for the Jets to trade Revis. While Revis is generally recognized as the best in the game, there was not any noticeable dropoff when Cromartie stepped in last year.

 

“I’m not sure how many corners actually played better than him last year,” Ryan said. “But I see him taking another step. I don’t think there’s any doubt.”

 

Cromartie said no one on the Jets defense was satisfied with the way they played last year. Ryan has returned to running the defense and Cromartie said they are going to be much more aggressive than they have been in the last two years. For that to work, Cromartie will have to be the shutdown cornerback he was last year.

 

The veteran said he’s not setting any “lofty goals” for this year.

 

“It’s just to build on last year,” he said. “Be the leader that I know I can be for the guys on the back end and on this team. Just go out every single week and play on a consistent basis.... I think over the years in my career I haven’t been playing on a consistent basis until the past year and a half. I just want to be more consistent and set the bar high from when we step on the practice field to the meeting rooms to game time.”

 

brian.costello@nypost.com
 

[Integrity28]

I gotta say, it's really nice to see Cromartie go from having that malcontent/derp stigma to being revered as maybe our best defensive player and the leader of the defense. Usually only New England gets (undeserved) praise heaped upon them for "fixing" or "realizing the potential" of players like this.

 

For what too? Corey Dillon a very talented RB who was just tired of being mired in Cincy, and Randy Moss one of the best WRs of all time who was tired of being mired in Oakland. All New England really had to do in both cases was NOT be one of the worst franchises of the past 20 years. Oh, and have Tom Brady.

 

The Jets have actually groomed Cromartie into something he wasn't before. Granted the potential was always there, but it's not like he just needed to be made "happy" with his situation. He had to learn and adopt coaching, which I think is a much harder accomplishment for an organization to do with a player at his age/stage. 

 

Jets did a good job with this one. 

[faba]

Cromartie has definitely stepped up his play and performance. He should get props for that.

[Integrity28]

Cromartie has definitely stepped up his play and performance. He should get props for that.

 

So should the Jets, it goes both ways. IMO

[Bleedin Green]

Agreed with the above on all counts.  For quite a while Cro was still getting crap for that non-tackle of Greene in the playoffs and then the whole Hard Knocks fiasco, but he has definitely played well in his time here and only gotten better each season.  I didn't think he got nearly enough credit for his play in 2011, thanks to the focus mainly being put on one or two games at the very beginning of that season.  Then last year he played absolutely lights out.  As critical as I may have been over the years of all of the off-field and money-related issues when it came to Revis, I never disputed that the guy was one hell of a corner, but the truth was even with him out, opposing team's #1 WRs were the very least of this D's issues, as Cro stepped right in and didn't miss a beat.

 

It really is true that while he's obviously always had the ability, everything from his personality to his consistency make him almost seem like a completely different player than he was when he left San Diego.  If not for that, the Jets never would have been able to even consider trading Revis, no matter how much they may have wanted to.

[TheShow]

I'm impressed. I hope he ends up being the best corner in the league this year. he's done everything right. he's a team player. nothing like Revis! didn't Cro also take a paycut this year? could you ever see Revis doing anything like that?

[BornJetsFan1983]

Remember when green punked him in the playoffs and green got to do play for us ever since? Damn I hate that guy. Screw you green

[SenorGato]

Yeah and he has like 9 kids! Whoa ho ho!  

[The Crusher]

Yeah and he has like 9 kids! Whoa ho ho!

Kinda cool that his kids all got a Dad that seems to be maturing into not only one hell of a football player but a pretty good dude. If that's one of the things the Jets has accomplished in helping with over the last four years I could be proud of that. Being a good Dad is some tuff sh*t.