Antonio Cromartie, who ran around the Jets practice sidelines Friday, said his ailing right hip felt better than it had at any time since the second game of preseason when he aggravated an old injury.
That’s significant because last Sunday after the Jets lost at Baltimore, Cromartie said his hip was as painful as at any time since he first dislocated it in 2008.
“[I’m] feeling a lot better with the rest and treatment and everything I’ve been doing during the week,” Cromartie said. “It felt good.”
Cromartie is listed as questionable, a game-time decision, for Sunday at MetLife Stadium against Miami. But the two-time Pro Bowl cornerback said he was “very” optimistic about playing after not practicing Wednesday and Thursday. He returned to practice, was limited Friday and said, though not 100 percent, he’s good enough.
“It’s just a point of trying to get rid of the pain,” Cromartie said. “It’s not a point of me being 100 percent. It’s a point of me feeling comfortable enough, I can go out and play to my ability. I’ve been dealing with it for five years now so I know I can play at a high level with it when there’s no pain.”
But when there is pain…
“It just restricts me from being explosive,” Cromartie said. “I can’t open up my stride as much as I’ve wanted to. But it’s just something that I try to deal with, with myself, and go through the treatments and just try to get myself better from that way,
“Running around [Friday], I felt more explosive. I felt more comfortable with it then I have since I reinjured it, really, back in Week 2 of [the] preseason. It’s a point of just getting ready and making sure I’m mentally ready if I’m going to play. From a physical standpoint I think I’ll be fine.”
Even if Cromartie has struggled and not flashed last season’s Pro Bowl form, a secondary with him is better off than one without him, especially because, as coach Rex Ryan said, the Jets “understand how big of a game this is.”
So the coaching staff of the 5-6 Jets is hoping for the best.
“Do we want Cro’ out there? Sure,” defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman said. “But injuries are part of the NFL, so when a guy goes down, you can’t get overly emotional about it,”
“He’s playing through it. There’s no doubt, he’s a tough guy, durable,” Ryan said of Cromartie, who came out late in the fourth quarter of the Jets’ 19-3 loss against the Ravens. “If he comes up and it’s a game-time decision, and he can’t play, then obviously it’s a major deal. … He’s never made an excuse one way or the other.
“We’ve given him some tough challenges each week. He hasn’t been perfect this year, probably hasn’t played as well as last year. How much does this affect him? It probably does have some effect.”
Sunday’s challenge for Cromartie will be Miami’s Mike Wallace, coming off a 127-yard performance against Carolina.
“I’ve been covering speedsters all year, so like I said, this is the first time I’m actually feeling like I did last year,” Cromartie said. “Running around I haven’t had any pain, I haven’t had any tightness. For me, it just happened at the right time. [I] got a chance to rest up a little bit. … I’m not worried about going up against another speedster. That’s what I’ve been doing the whole entire year.”
Despite the pain and discomfort, Cromartie said he tried to mask the pain “a little bit” throughout the season.
“But it still plays with technique and that’s the biggest thing for me to understand,” Cromartie said. “I’m never a guy to look for excuses, because if I’m on the field, I’m on the field and my teammates, myself, my coaching staff, expect from me to be 100 percent.”