New York Jets’ Coach Ryan Not Happy with Antonio Cromartie Hit on Stephen Hill

Aug 17, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets head coach Rex Ryan during the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John O

Hey, who says that coach Ryan only calls out the young players, never the veterans?

For anyone that didn’t know, there was a small dust-up at practice yesterday at Florham Park. Stephen Hill went to make a catch, only to be met by a fairly violent hit by Antonio Cromartie. It appeared to be helmet on helmet, and the offense wasn’t too happy about it, causing a bit of a fight between the two units.

Stephen Hill was fine, and he and Cromartie were talking quite calmly together afterwards, but the incident did occur. So, did coach Ryan completely defend Cro? No. Take a look:

Well again I think, there’s thud, and then there’s like over the top thud, and I was disappointed because we have to protect each other. Stephen (Hill) was running full speed and all that. Cro actually came off his coverage and made the hit, and again I don’t think he intended to certainly hurt Stephen, but still we have got to be smarter. (You’re in) great position. Just let it go. I think that’s what we need to do. Sometimes when you say thud, guys have a tendency, especially when it gets close to that goal line, to put a little extra on it, but we certainly don’t need to do that, we have to take care of each other.

He continued on these lines when asked if he would talk to the team about it:

I’ll talk to our team about it. We have to take care of each other, and that’s it. Now look, I love Cro being aggressive. When Cro is aggressive, he is as good as any corner out there. So there’s a fine line, you want to be aggressive but you have to protect your teammate above all else. Sometimes when you get down there, the competitiveness of you, you don’t want to see anybody move that football or cross that line that’s for sure, but at the same time it’s more important to take care of your teammates above all else.

Rex is absolutely right here. You have to temper your aggressiveness during practice, with looking out for each other as teammates. Cro needs to let the play end once he establishes good position, rather than unloading on a teammate. It is just surprising to see Rex calling out a veteran.

See? At least he does it once in a while.