Jets strive to be men in black

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- They slipped on the jerseys Thursday and instantly felt different, as if psychologically altered by the dark threads.

Their objective in practice always has been to bully linemen off blocks, to rattle the quarterbacks' cages, and to bump receivers off their routes. But the members of the Jets defense, a unit already known for its boisterous trash-talk, now have even more of an incentive.

During training camp, the unit that performs the best during practice will get to wear black jerseys the following day, a playful ploy implemented by Rex Ryan.

"Guys love competition," said the coach, who took the idea from offensive coordinator Tony Sparano. "This is just a way of adding to it a little bit. It's a fun deal. They can get after each other more."

The black jerseys were waiting for the players, hanging up neatly in their lockers. There was a buzz of excitement among the defense, said Antonio Cromartie, who stepped onto the field with an extra bounce in his step.

"I just came to my locker and I had a black jersey," he said. "And I was excited."

But the cornerback insisted the dark practice top didn't make him feel more tough.

"We're just going to come out and be intimidating, period,'' he said. "Not because we have on a different color jersey or a black jersey. That's one thing we're trying to work on this whole entire spring and going into training camp."

But in the next breath, he was refusing to part with it.

"We're going to dominate the offense every single day," Cromartie said, punctuating every last word. "I'm sorry, but we're going to keep our black jerseys."

Rookie defensive back D'Anton Lynn isn't established enough to take part in the trash-talking just yet. But he certainly heard a lot of it from the veterans on defense.

"They were saying that they're going to get it every single day," Lynn said.

After "a really big fall off" on the final day of OTAs, said Dustin Keller, the Jets offense made considerable strides during this week's three-day minicamp. And despite periods of miscommunication early in Thursday's practice, the offense responded in 7-on-7 drills -- evidenced by Mark Sanchez's red-zone touchdown pass to Keller.

"There was no question that we got the better of them," said the tight end. "We will be wearing those jerseys a fair amount. We will definitely have our fair share of those jerseys."

But within minutes, Keller was pointing out the impracticality of wanting to wear dark-colored clothing in the middle of summer. "We're a little bit smarter on the offensive side of the ball," he said, taking a playful shot at the defense. "We don't particularly want to wear them because you'll get hot and you'll sweat more. So we might have to talk to Rex about having the winner wear the white jersey."

Cromartie -- a Tallahassee, Fla., native who doesn't even consider summertime in Cortland to be hot -- isn't worried about the sweat. Instead, he and the rest of the defense are focused on being men in black for the foreseeable future.

"Hopefully we can get some more special treatment," he said with a laugh, referring to the new jerseys. "The offense always gets special treatment."