Cromartie regrets hit on Hill

Asked about the crushing blow he put on second-year wideout Stephen Hill, Antonio Cromartie said he was just doing what he does: playing football.

“I was just treating it like a game situation, it wasn’t anything intentional,” the Jets No. 1 cornerback said, a day after Ryan and center Nick Mangold took issue with the hard hit. 

“For one, I’m going to protect myself when he lowers his head, I’m not going to get run over,” added Cromartie, who poked fun at the situation in an Instagram photo of him and Hill after Thursday’s practice. “At the same time we have to make sure take care of each other. Me and Stephen talked about it after the practice and we both agree its football, we know it’s a contact sport, but we have to make sure we look out for each other.”

But Cromartie didn’t stop there. He went on to say that training camp is now “too soft” without two-a-day practices, which were done away with in the 2011 collective bargaining agreement.

“It's football. It's a contact sport,” the veteran corner said. “If you don't want contact, you shouldn't be playing football at the end of the day. For us, it's getting us ready from the physical standpoint. It's also getting the offense ready. Camp is too soft. When you have two practices, you get to wash out guys who are not mentally ready. Right now, you have practice once and that's it. You don't see if guys can handle a two-a-day practice.”