Glauber: Cromartie doesn't seem ready for prime time

OK, so it's not as if the Redskins drove up and down the field at will against the Jets Friday night. In fact, by the time the Jets' starters were finished with their work early in the fourth quarter, they had an 11-9 lead.

But one look at Antonio Cromartie's spotty showing at cornerback and you know the Jets' concerns about the Darrelle Revis holdout only increased.

Was it enough to prompt the team to give in to Revis' contract demands, which include a total package of $162 million over 10 years? Probably not. But it certainly was enough to give general manager Mike Tannenbaum a few more Maalox moments in the coming days.

In what turned out to be a 16-11 loss for the Jets, Cromartie looked downright average against the Redskins, and that was against backup quarterback Rex Grossman. With Donovan McNabb sitting out with an ankle injury, Washington's game plan seemed to target the former Chargers cornerback, who will be the team's lead defender in the secondary until Revis gets back.

If he gets back.

On the Redskins' second drive, Grossman had a pass deflected near the line of scrimmage, and Cromartie intercepted the ball. But he was called for holding on the play, and Washington retained possession. Cromartie committed a pass-interference penalty on a deep ball late in the second half, and he also was beaten on a deep route by Santana Moss. He got a break when Moss dropped the pass.

Time to panic? No, not yet. In fact, if there was some positive news, it was the continued strong play of rookie Kyle Wilson, who has emerged as a starter until Revis gets back.

If he gets back.

But Cromartie's uneven performance in the Jets' final dress rehearsal before the regular season starts (the Jets will play their starters for only a few series in the preseason finale Thursday in Philly) certainly can't make the coaching staff feel entirely confident. Even if Rex Ryan didn't sound worried afterward.

"Without question, I'm not worried about our defense,'' Ryan said. "No. 1 defense hasn't given up a touchdown all preseason. You can live with our pass defense, for sure. Is it going to be No. 1 in the league like last year by 700 yards during the season? I don't know. But I think we'll be good enough."

If there's any consolation for the Jets, it's that the running game looked just fine Friday night. And that figures to take some of the pressure off the defense, especially if the Jets can establish the kind of ball control that typified last year's ground-and-pound running game.

New addition LaDainian Tomlinson looked particularly spry, running for 86 yards on 11 carries. He had a brilliant 43-yard run in the first quarter, finding a huge hole in the middle of the line and bouncing it out to his right. And his 9-yard gain off a short pass from Mark Sanchez on the final play of the third quarter set up Sanchez's touchdown pass to tight end Dustin Keller that put the Jets ahead.

Bruiser Shonn Greene added 55 yards on 11 carries, giving the Jets a pretty good look at what should be a solid combination moving forward.

It will have to be good, if for no other reason than to give the Jets' defense a fighting chance by winning the time-of- possession battle and the all-important field-position battle.

In the meantime, the Jets need to continue getting Cromartie up to speed and making sure he's ready to do a better job of filling in for the best cover corner in the game. As long as Revis is out, Cromartie will be the man on the spot. After what the Jets saw Friday night, that can't be a comforting thought.

Time for a good two weeks of practice before the Monday night opener against the Ravens.

And time for the Jets to hope Revis decides he's ready to play football again.