It’s still sounds strange coming from Antonio Cromartie’s lips. The Jets cornerback was among the loudest voices a few years ago when it came to boasting about his team and tweaking the opposition.
He famously called Tom Brady “an a-hole” before their 2010 playoff game. That’s why it’s strange to hear Cromartie talking about how the Jets need to remain “quiet and confident” amid a 2-1 start to a season where some said they would win only four or five games.
“We’re quiet and confident. That’s all we need to be,” Cromartie said on Friday. “We want to be the guys under the radar, making sure we go out and play football the way we need to play football. When you don’t make the playoffs two years in a row there’s not much you can really talk about. You want to let your play talk for itself.”
Truth is, the next two games should reveal whether these Jets are better than advertised or simply fortunate to steal a last-minute win over the Bucs and overcome 20 penalties in beating the Bills. Sunday’s game at Nashville, Tenn. against the Titans (2-1) figures to be a physical slugfest of wills.
“It’s one of those straight ahead no fair dodging games,” coach Rex Ryan said.
The following week, the Jets travel to Atlanta for a Monday night game against the highly-regarded Falcons in the Georgia Dome. Those are two road games against quality opponents where the Jets ability to deal with adversity will be tested as much their ability to execute.
“It’s two tough road games coming up for us where we have to be on our A-game,” said tight end Konrad Reuland. “We can’t be making the same mistakes we’ve made in the past.”
Off the field as much as on it, the Jets have been the kind of team, general manager John Idzik wanted: professional, focused and free from trash talk. Cromartie has bought in.
“If something goes wrong, we’ve got each other’s back,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing. That’s the difference in this locker room from the past probably two years. Everybody wants to be accountable for themselves and everybody else on this team. We know what kind of players we have in this locker room. We know we can go out there and play football.”
The Jets needed an attitude adjustment. They lost their swagger during last year’s 6-10 meltdown. They learned talk was cheap. With seven new starters on defense and a rookie at quarterback in Geno Smith, the Jets still have their wagons circled, understanding they’ve won this year despite playing anything close to their best football.
“We’re about 20 penalties away from coming to close to perfect,” Ryan said, referring to last Sunday’s win over the Bills. “But we’ve tried our best. It’s not where it needs to be. But our fans our going to get everything this team has from an effort standpoint and a preparation standpoint.”
The psychology of results in football can work for or against a team. Wins can blur flaws and breed over-confidence. The Jets were 2-1 last year and lost five of the next six games. This year’s team understands there is plenty of room for improvement.
“We know we can play so much better on both sides of the ball, offense in particular,” Reuland said. “We’ve made a lot of mistakes and we’ve been able to overcome them. That’s encouraging, but it’s frustrating not to be playing to the best of our ability. We expect more out of ourselves than what everyone was expecting.”
It took a while to figure out, but the Jets have learned it’s better to make noise on the field and remain quiet and confident off of it. Cromartie vowed not to start chirping even if the Jets beat the Titans and the Falcons. This is his motto for the season: “We’re going to keep quiet and do the things we’re supposed to do and try to keep winning games.”