KNEE DEEP IN IT
Jets worried Cromartie’s injury may be serious
The Jets’ defense led the way in a seasonopening win, but suffered a big loss of its own when cornerback Antonio Cromartie was forced out of the game with what appears to be a serious left knee injury.
When asked if he were afraid Cromartie had torn his ACL, Jets coach Todd Bowles replied, “I don’t want to speculate. I hope not.”
But there is a very real chance that the 31yearold Pro Bowler will be lost for the season.
Cromartie went down in the second quarter with no contact, and didn’t return to the 3110 rout of the Browns. He has an MRI scheduled for Monday, and even though Gang Green has no preliminary diagnosis, the injury is worrisome.
“Cro has a knee injury. They haven’t given us a report yet,’’ Bowles said. “It’s a big blow because he’s a good player. We brought him in here to be a good player.’’
Now they’re facing the prospect of being without that good player for a while. Cromartie had a busy game before his day was cut short. He recovered a Josh McCown fumble, bit on a doublemove by Travis Benjamin for a 54yard touchdown, and suffered the knee injury with 8:51 left in the second quarter.
On secondand12 from the Cleveland 18, Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel scrambled right and Cromartie crumpled in a heap on the opposite side of the field, banging his fist on the turf in pain.
Cromartie eventually left the field without putting any pressure on the knee, and was carted into the locker room with a towel draped over his face.
“Cro, we’re in a situation where we don’t know much right now,” Darrelle Revis said. “We’ll figure that out [Monday] or in the next couple days. Sad to see him go down. He’s a good friend of mine.’’
After losing Cromartie — who got a fouryear, $32 million deal to follow Bowles from Arizona — the Jets may have to deal with a depleted secondary. Marcus Williams replaced him Sunday and played well.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” Williams said. “I just talked to him, told him I’m praying for him and hopefully he’s doing well. It’s tough seeing a leader go down and a friend. That’s big. He was a leader, a vocal leader as well. But like Coach says, it’s next man up, so you have to always prepare as if you’re going to play.’’
That’s what Williams did last year, when he worked all the way from the practice squad to the starting lineup by November. Sunday he lit up Andrew Hawkins on an attempted catch, and jumped a comeback route by Brian Hartline to pick off Manziel on Cleveland’s opening drive of the second half. Six plays later, the Jets made it 2110 and never looked back. “To be a young player, the game’s not too big for him,” Bowles said of Williams.”