Camp Cortland: Day 3

Antonio Cromartie is a beast.

At least, that's the way it's looking at the moment through the initial three days of training camp here in Central New York. The cornerback has been by far the best defender, making ridiculous eye-popping plays seemingly by the minute.

Today, he had a pair of interceptions and virtually tormented QB Mark Sanchez all morning.

"The biggest thing for me is Coach [Dennis] Thurman and the rest of our guys," Cromartie said, "we are just working on our technique to the point of understanding when and not to use speed and things like that.

"Today, I used it a little bit more and it helped me get two interceptions."

Asked Rex Ryan about Cro's play and he started waxing poetic about the Pro Bowler.

"He wants to learn how to do things the Jet way, and a lot of that is the mentality that you play with," Ryan said. "Anytime you've got a chance to play man, go ahead and play man. I don't care if we're playing a certain coverage, you lock it down."

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WR Santonio Holmes has arrived and is expected to participate in this afternoon's practice, which begins at 4:20. Ryan said Holmes won't be asked to take his conditioning test until after he returns from his four-game suspension.

We hope to speak to Santonio after practice.

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DE Shaun Ellis sat out of practice with what Rex called a hip flexor, but said it's not serious. It's more of a precautionary thing. No need to push the 11th-year veteran more than necessary.  

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WR Braylon Edwards made the catch of camp this morning.

During the two-minute drill, Edwards came down with a one-handed grab over the aforementioned Cromartie down the right sideline. It took a lot of concentration to bring that baby in, especially with the way Cro is playing.

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RB Joe McKnight sure looked in shape during the blocking drills. The rookie went up against LB Bart Scott at one point and more than held his own.

Obviously, blocking is one of the things rookie RBs struggle with most. So we'll keep an eye on how he's doing in this department.

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Rex said he wants CB Kyle Wilson to win the punt returner job. He thinks Wilson has all the tools to do the gig well.