Gary Myers has a piece where Antonio Cromartie expresses absolute vitriol for Tom Brady.
Cromartie, in his first year with the Jets after four years with the Chargers, backed up Ryan Tuesday when he was asked by the Daily News if he's ever seen Brady pointing after the Patriots score.
"We see that a lot. He does it a lot," Cromartie said. "That's the kind of guy he is. We really don't give a damn, to tell you the truth."
Okay, what kind of guy is Brady?
"An ass----.
"---- him."
Cro goes on to make even more surprisingly candid comments about Brady and about how he's going to beat up New England's receivers so that Brady can't throw them the ball. Even for a guy on a team that talks the way the Jets do, I find this striking.
If anything, though, I like seeing this. The name of Cromartie's game has been inconsistency during his career. I think back to Hard Knocks. I remember Mike Pettine's frustration that Cro could be the best corner in the league if he got angry and played with fire the whole time. Even in a year where he has had a good deal of success, you can see he is sometimes inconsistent from game to game or even play to play. Darrelle Revis brings it on every play. Cromartie has plays where he looks like the best corner in football and others where he looks lost. In terms of just pure natural talent, Antonio probably has more than Revis, but he doesn't always display it.
I also think back to his critical comments about Randy Moss before the Minnesota game and how well he played after that. I think about how that seemed to fuel him and the intensity he played with that night. In the final minutes, he was waving his arms begging the crowd to make more noise. He was totally locked in all night. The only blemish was a great throw by Brett Favre for a touchdown when Cro was in good coverage. I also think about the first meeting with the Patriots how number 31 elevated his play at halftime once Revis went down, and he knew the Jets need him to come up big.
If this kind of anger helps keep his focus, it will be a good thing. Myers warns about this kind of talk coming back to haunt him. What's the worst thing that could happen, though? Are the Jets going to get beat by worse than 45-3?