BY NICK ST. DENIS
Antonio Cromartie hasn't been the same player this year.
Cromartie's stellar play last year in the absence of fellow cornerback Darrelle Revis made Revis somewhat dispensable, as the Jets still boasted the league's second-best pass defense without him.
Since then, Cromartie has been subpar. He's also been dinged up, but he won't admit his hip and knee ailments have had anything to do in his drop in play.
“I don’t want to say so because if I’m out on the football field, my
teammates expect to get my best from me and I expect to give my best,” Cromartie said this week, via NewYorkJets.com, “so I’m never going to involve injuries or make an excuse for
my play at all.”
Cro, according to himself, has given up three passes of 50 yards or more. Cromartie thinks just one of those in an entire season is unacceptable, so he's going back to the drawing board.
"It's been a tough year for me," Cromartie said. ". . I feel like I have to step my game up a lot more than what I’m playing. For me it starts by critiquing myself and it starts in practice.”
Cromartie has personally given up three touchdowns in the last three games, and he has defensed no more than two passes all year.
The veteran cornerback totaled 10 interceptions and 50 passes defensed during his first three years with the Jets. Though some of that can be attributed to teams throwing at him more with Revis manning the other side of the field, quarterbacks have been taking shots at Cro all season long, and unlike years past, the quarterbacks are winning.
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