Old friend's arrest distracted Jets' Lowery
Photo credit: Getty/Nick Laham | EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - AUGUST 14: Dwight Lowery #21 of the New York Jets warms up against the St. Louis Rams during their preseason game at Giants Stadium on August 14, 2009 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images)
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CORTLAND, N.Y. - He was in uniform for the preseason opener at the Meadowlands, yet felt like his body and mind were somewhere on the West Coast.
Dwight Lowery had a sickening feeling, but the second-year cornerback knew he had a job to do. The Jets were approaching kickoff Friday night. He's battling seventh-year cornerback Donald Strickland for the nickel back position. He's also trying his hand as spare kickoff/punt returner, a position he would likely be thrust into if something happened to Jim Leonhard and Leon Washington.
But Alfie Martinez, whom Lowery met in the sixth grade back in San Francisco and considers a brother, was in hot water after being arrested. So Lowery, who was flagged for pass interference on a 50-yard bomb and muffed two punts in the 23-20 loss to the Rams, wasn't himself. He wasn't all there.
"I was just really stressing out about it and I think it carried over to the game," Lowery said. "It didn't carry over necessarily to the point where it's an excuse or anything like that. But I feel like just mental focus and being sharp and things like that, it might mess with you a little bit."
Said Rex Ryan: "I've been there. I know other things exist."
Martinez was in danger of being deported to Mexico. A big-time San Francisco Giants fan, he attended a Dodgers-Giants game last week at AT&T Park with two friends. There was plenty of trash talking going on, and Martinez's group did its fair share. Although Lowery said Martinez wasn't the one spewing most of the verbal abuse toward the rival Dodgers' fans, he and his two buddies were ejected from the stadium in the first inning.
They wound up purchasing tickets to sit in a different part of the stadium and upon re-entry were nabbed for trespassing. That's when the situation took a turn for the worse.
"It was found out that he didn't have his [immigration] papers," Lowery said. "So from there, in the area that he was at in San Francisco, they are very strict. They take action with that stuff. He was about to get shipped over to Arizona."
Martinez, whose entire immediate family lives in the San Francisco area, needed help. Lowery felt powerless - hours before he would run out of the tunnel on to the field.
"Myself and his sister were definitely calling around," Lowery said, "trying our best to get an attorney, trying to get him bailed out of the situation he was in because he's been here basically ever since he was born.
" . . . With the situation I have, being in the NFL, if I could help out a friend or if I could help out whoever, I think as a role model and as somebody that people look up to, that's something that you have to do."
Things worked out, though. Martinez wasn't deported and Lowery was greatly relieved. His childhood buddy wasn't going anywhere.
"I didn't know what his situation was until after the game," Lowery said. "I think subconsciously that might've affected me a little bit. And when I found out everything was OK, I was just very thankful that he was all right and he was going to be able to stay in this country with his family."
