This. I don't understand where you get this from. His technique was near-perfect on both TD catches, which took superhuman efforts by two of the best receivers in football. He'd be getting "abused" if he looked lost or was out of position, neither of which applied to any of the plays Cromartie made last night. If Bryant's leaping catch over Revis went for a touchdown, would you be saying the same thing? A cornerback can't stop absolutely everything that comes his way. His instincts have always been good, and his technique has made serious strides since he joined the Jets. 99% of the time, he correctly identifies his assignment, matches the receiver stride-for-stride, and makes a very good effort on the ball when it comes his way. He occasionally gets caught with a defensive hold, gets out-muscled (as he did by Miles Austin), and shies away from tackling (which he did less of against the Cowboys). That package is worth $8 million through his prime years. Just to toss an objective opinion out there, based on their "success rate" analysis, Football Outsiders had Cromartie ranked ninth overall last year (albeit with Asomugha and Samuel not qualifying). Based on what I saw, that sounds about right. Best Cornerback Charting Stats 2010
Man, you got a serious stat computer compiling conveniently round percentages over there. Did you steal it from the Bat Cave? You're right, people would be worshiping him if he had stuck that pick in the end zone. But, like he has been known to do during his illustrious career, he was out-willed and out-techniqued by a superior player. Of which there are many. He just gambles. He also misses have the jam attempts he attempts on the line of scrimmage, bites hard on double moves and misses assignments. The play before he got schooled by Bryant in one corner of the end zone, he left Bryant completely uncovered at the other end, and lucked out when the Romo failed to see Eric Fucking Smith lined up on him. Right before the ball was snapped he realized half the defense yelling at him and started half-assed trotting toward the other side of the field. 10:39 (1Qtr) on the game clock if you think I'm wrong. Does the glass slipper fit? Yeah, you were right about Austin. And I bet I can find that in your post history. I also bet that I can find plenty of prospects you were wrong about, and don't bother to mention as if it added inches to your dingle. You aren't the be-all end-all of football knowledge on this board, no matter how you try to portray yourself as the Jor-El Superman crystal of gridiron knowledge. But maybe if you change your avatar to a picture of Marlon Brando wearing a green and white wig you can convince me otherwise. I agree that Revis should have covered Bryant from the first snap. I was surprised when I saw Revis on Austin, although I agree that they are both #1 caliber receivers and you just can't trust Cro to cover those guys most times. Every once in a while he'll have the type of game that he had against the Pats when Revis popped his hamstring, but most times you can see the guy dragging the jersey to keep up and missing steps on routes because he's not watching his man's hips to know which way he's going. He's like the Jamaican Kerry Rhodes. I don't expect the guy to be Revis, or even a shutdown corner. What I'd like is for him to be a good fit for the defense, but for that kind of thing to happen, he'd have to stop resting on his laurels, study film, honestly work on his technique with his position coach (this includes contact within 5, which he still fucking sucks at) and listen to the signal caller, especially within the red zone. I'd trade Cro for Mike Jenkins in a heartbeat. Jenkins would be a better fit, even if he isn't half the physical specimen or have half of the potential.
Based on one game, my answer is NO! ROBBLEROBBLEROBBLE!!! Cromartie is a young, physically gifted cornerback who for the most part played at a very high level last season. It stands to reason that with Revis on the other side, he is going to see more balls thrown in his direction, and we're going to always measure him against Revis, who may go down as the greatest of all time. So I think it's important to view Cromartie with some perspective. I can't fault him for not being able to get position on an extremely large Dez Bryant. The rules on contact are pretty restrictive these days. -X-
I might frame this But seriously, a simulcatch and a freak of an athlete leaping over him where he can't really use his hands. Not as terrible as it seems. -X-
Is Cromartie worth $8 mil a year? The answer is No That being said its supply and demand. We needed a great cornerback to compliment revis and thats what Cromartie is. Is he all pro? No but he is better than 90% of the corners in this league. For comparison look what Marshall did against the 'all world" (Sarcasm) McCourty. No matter who you put on the otherside they are going to get attacked. And to be honest I'd rather have a playmaker like cromartie on the otherside than anyone else. He compliments Revis great and can make big plays when we need it. (Yes I would rather have Cro then Nnamdi (Considering money and the age of each player))
Lets see how he stacks up at the end of the season. He's not Revis but he's asked to do a lot. We would not have been better off w/out him last year.
i love when people, specifically jets fans try to encapsulate a whole career or prospective season within 1 game. you can tell how spoiled some people are because of Revis
Cro also provides speed in the return game. His worth is determinant on the outcome. We won. Nobody gets a pass on defense but the Jets spent an overall amount of money for a great defense. They (we) have a great defense. You don't give Cro money he walks. Aso doesn't come here. Then what?
How can you bash this guy's career? He's one of the most physically gifted athletes in the game and it shows on a week-to-week basis. Miles Austin made two great catches against Cromartie. The only play that was horrible was the big gain by Dez Bryant and the coaching staff adjusted quickly. The Bryant TD was a perfectly thrown ball. He got trucked by Shonn Greene, he doesn't like to tackle, and he doesn't jam at the line... so you assume he's heartless. That's false. He's just not a complete corner - which like the shutdown corner, is a rarity in this league. There's 32 teams in this league. (information I stole from the bat cave) We have the best corner in the game and a top ten corner playing opposite him - I'd say we're doing okay in that department. That's his game - always has been, always will be. It's a make-or-break style. How do you know he was supposed to jam? It's pretty damn hard to cover double moves when the quarterback has time to throw the football and you don't have help over the top. I'll save that argument for another day though. Schooled? It was fucking jump ball against an overpowering, potentially dominant receiver. Not many guys in this league win that battle. ...maybe Eric Smith was supposed to be there? Rex Ryan likes his smokescreens. Another ...maybe the staff thought about putting Revis on Bryant before that play and there was confusion? I'm speculating just like you. We don't know what's happening in the huddle or in the coaching booth. Does the dunce cap fit? We're not talking about draft/prospect evaluation. I had no idea who the guy was during his draft time. The draft's a crapshoot - no player is a sure thing. You can bash me and dig up all of the times I've been wrong about prospects - I'm sure you'll find a lot, but that has nothing to do with this... I watched him play as an undrafted Parcell's project and I know talent when I see it. Miles Austin wasn't the next Justin McCareins and knew it. He's a top tier wideout in this game now. I don't expect a #2 corner, no matter how talented he is, to cover him for an entire game. Compared to posters like yourself, yes, I am. You seem to think that I'm try to portray myself this way or that way. I apologize for knowing my shit. How do you know what he's watching? That's such a garbage argument. Do you DVR the games and zoom in on his fucking face? Give me a break. Once again, how do you know he doesn't study film, listen to Jimmy Leonhard when he's making the calls, or work with his position coach? You don't. We can throw that out too. It may not be part of the scheme for him to bump the receiver at the line. As fans, we do not know what Ryan and the defensive coaching staff SPECIFICALLY want him to do. ...glad you're not the general manager of this team. Mike Jenkins sucks. The Dallas secondary was horrible last year...horrible. He hit Plaxico Burress pretty hard once, so he must be better than Cromartie. You're quick to point out Cromartie getting beat by double moves, but didn't you see Jenkins get worked by Burress and Holmes all game long? This game has evolved. It's a passing league - corners are going to get beat constantly now. I'll take a 6'3 corner with blazing speed over just about anybody in the league.
Mr. E, I think it's quite obvious at this point that you and I are mostly of the same opinion regarding Cromartie, but I just wanted to make a point about this particular play. If you watch the tape, Bryan Thomas was actually the guy assigned to cover Bryant before the snap. No bullshit. Don't know if you were referring to this as a demerit on Cromartie's performance last night.
Thanks for this. I watched the game with some friends, so I wasn't able to pay "close" attention. I have it recorded, but haven't had time to watch it over again. Probably do that on Saturday. It's not actually not very surprising to hear Dez made a big play with one of our backers covering him - he has no chance in hell against someone that gifted. I honestly thought Bryant beat Cro on that play, but if not, it just helps me prove my point even more. He didn't have that bad of a game outside of a few great plays made by top level wideouts.
It's good to see most here realize how good he actually is. He gave up two tds, he was in position each time, once he was overpowered, the other time he didn't see the ball but he was were he was supposed to be. Not trying to catch up to the play like most CB's. I watched McCourtny last night get beat like 5 times, often he was trying to make up space as the ball got there. This off season the media raved about how good he is. Cro is better. We are lucky to have Cro!
I like having these 2 segments together, because you talk about his astounding physical gifts and then mention Austin, who overcame Cro's physical ability with effort. Don't tell me about heart with this guy. Cromartie could have ripped Austin's arms out of their sockets for that ball because he had initial possession and leverage for the play. By even allowing Austin to share possession he lost that battle, and that's all about effort and heart. I'm putting these 2 comments together, because they display your ignorance. The Bryant TD, I gave that a nice long re-watch this morning and what I saw was sickening. The ball is snapped, Bryant makes a fake inside and Cro bites on it like a starving dog, Bryant cuts outside and Cro knows he is out of position so he immediately grabs the middle of Bryant's pads as an act of desperation that many corners use when they know they are beaten. Save the TD with an interference. Except he realized too late what he was doing and let go, to put up a half-assed hand up as Bryant jumped for the routine fade. That whole play is a reminder that Cromartie's technique sucks. Watching the hips, he'd know that Bryant's feet weren't going anywhere on that fake. He does jam at the line, just not very effectively. He looks unnatural doing it. He tries to straight-arm players instead of bending his elbows and using his body to brace himself, and when a receiver slips his hands he is bodily out of position to recover on the jam and ends up sprinting to recover on his man. That's all about technique, not heart. I'm not talking about when he doesn't jam. I'm talking about when he does. He's not good at it and looks unnatural doing it. Probably because he doesn't like to. You excuse the guy because he's 'not an all-around corner, not a shutdown corner'. I don't give a flying fuck that he's not a shutdown corner. I want a guy that's determined to be what the scheme needs, which is a corner that frustrates receivers inside 5 yards and effectively disrupts their routes, and gives whatever confusion Rex is trying a chance to work. See above for your explanation. He was schooled by a second year player because he bit hard on a fake. And grabbed pads, and made a half-assed off-balance reach to disrupt the pass when he knew how out of position he was on the fake. People would be shitting all over Kyle Wilson if he had made such a bad mistake. Watch the fucking play. If you had packed one more predictable message board cliche response you could have gotten a free appetizer a Applebee's. Not too concerned about the brass ring, it would seem. I'm glad nobody on this board is the GM of this team. That should go without saying, and is an empty response. It's obvious how you portray yourself, probably to everyone BUT you. You never apologize, unless it's to apologize for how great you think you are. I apologize for not being some little-known anonymous poster calling you out on it so you can just tell me to die in a fire and write me off for it. I know I got your hackles up when I called posters out, including myself, for getting by on reputation alone on TGG lately. Must have hit a bit too close to home, huh? Again, I'm talking about his attempts to bump, and his technique while doing so. I'm not sitting here saying he's refusing to bump the receiver when the play dictates it, because there's no way of telling that by watching on TV. Mike Jenkins played like the second best corner on the field on Sunday night. Please, tell me specific examples of Jenkins getting burned, after you deign to actually watch it again on Saturday. He frustrated and harassed whoever he was covering and got Burress so pissed off he gave that wicked blindside hit to take him out of the game. Your talk of Jenkins sounds ignorant. He's not an elite talent but he's a solid 2 that is great at hand-fighting a bumping receivers off their route within 5, has good straight line and pretty good recovery speed, and obviously takes well to great coaching because he looks like a different player since Rob Ryan took over defensive playcalling for the Cowboys. Plenty of people were one of the people giving Cromartie a pass for the shit coaching he got in San Diego. They said that he was 'misused'. That he was better at man coverage and he'd be a better fit for bumps inside the 5 yard zone. Really? Because I've seen nothing but excuses about how he has struggled with just that type of coverage. Mike Jenkins has never known a defensive playcaller other than Wade fucking Phillips his entire pro career. He's just a better fit this type of coverage. Yes, this game has evolved, to the point that elite teams need more than combine heroes with impressive 40 times to really get by. Saying that corners are constantly going to get beat is a copout and a loser mentality. Why do you think we were going after Nnamdi? Rex knows how the game has evolved, and it's why he was going after someone who could do what he needed to do. But he also knows that in the absence of a true fit for his defense, he had a a physical specimen waiting in the wings for a contract of moderate length. This 4 year deal is a band-aid for the real fix Ryan was looking for, just as the trade for Cro was initially. I know that Cromartie can be a playmaker. He's got more physical talent than most players in the league at a raw level. But he either doesn't have the right combo of heart, will and focus to put it all together, or he's just too fucking dumb to do it. If he does end up putting it together to make this the defense that Rex dreams of having, I'll be in the front of the line at the crow buffet, with a bucket and a fork. I don't see it happening, but I'd love it if it did.
If Cromartie had not caught the ball first Miles would've never gotten a chance at the ball, it was great coverage. Once they were on the ground Cro was in the worse position to fight for it, but that was a INT IMO. Cro had the ball, hit the ground while tangled, TB. Dez and Miles are one of the better duos in the league, Dez even caught a pass on Revis that made him look pretty bad. Cro's coverage on Dez in the EZ was great, Dez just made a great catch. Yes Cro needs to improve, but if you haven't noticed this was a record breaking passing weekend for multiple records.
If he was more physical at the line we would never have this conversation. The Jets know it, he knows it but he keeps reverting back to playing off at the snap.
