Last season, Chargers cornerback Antonio Cromartie suffered a broken hip in the regular-season opener. He played with the injury for the entire season, and he kept his mouth shut at the team’s behest.
If he suffers a similar injury in the future, Cromartie might not continue to be such a good soldier.
“I need to make better decisions on how I play hurt,” Cromartie told Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune. “I should have shut it down for a few weeks and let it get better. . . . If that happens again I will just sit out.”
Now that he’s healthy, Cromartie is working hard to prepare for the 2009 season.
“It’s just motivation,” Cromartie said. “In order for my kids to have a better life, it revolves around me.”
The exercises currently revolving around Cromartie include various activities with a 115-pound tire. Also, Cromartie has become the latest NFL player to use MMA as a training technique.
“I recognize I’m getting exactly where I wanted to be or to be even
better than I wanted to be,” Cromartie said. “It makes you that much more excited for the
season. I’m even excited for training camp.”
He’ll stay excited unless and until he suffers another injury. And no amount of offseason grunting and sweating and yelling can ever completely eliminate that risk.
Isn’t this a violation of the NFL’s rules on reporting injuries?
With the amount of time he spent in hospital delivery rooms across the country, he could’ve made the time to get some treatment.
Good for him. A broken hip? I knew he had an injury… but damn. This just gives me one more reason to like Antonio. And to root for the Chargers (as long as they aren’t playing my Lions).
Cromartie has at least 5 illegitimate kids. These kids can have a “better life” if he just stops RIGHT NOW trying to be “OctoDad” across the USA, or worse. Throwing money at your kids doesn’t make you a good provider. It can sure help, though!
Good for Cromartie. You’ve got these loser coaches like Jack Del Rio who thinks the world revolves around him and that he knows when an injury is serious or not, that is, the injury is never serious.
Broken Hip? How the hell can you play with a broken hip? Old people collaspe and can’t stand for months! I’m guessing he tore a miniscus in the hip, and is calling in “broken”, as in it didn’t work real good.
CROMARTIE’S FALL IN 2008 WAS DO TO HIS 80% LOW CHARACTER AND 20% HIP! THIS GUY HAS FATHERED 6-7 KID SINCE BEING DRAFTED IN 2006 AND HAD 1 BEFORE HE WAS DRAFTED! YES..A GRAND TOTAL OF 7-8 KIDS! THE FEMALES/CHILD SUPPORT DID PLAY A MAJOR ROLE IN 2008 AND FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE?
Antonio, don’t end up like Travis Henry!
That is a record you don’t want to break.
I’M AN IDIOT WHO WANTS MORE ATTENTION SO I’M GOING TO TYPE IN CAPS WHICH MAKES IT SEEM LIKE I AM SCREAMING AND IS REALLY ANNOYING!!!!!!! I WISH REPORT INAPPROPRIATE WAS STILL AROUND SO I COULD REPORT THE DOUCHENOZZLE ABOVE ME SO I WOULDN’T HAVE TO SEE THE ALL CAPS POST!!!!!!!!!
His poor season stems from him running his mouth prior to last season.
He was claiming he was bound for 15 INT’s. I don’t think he got half.
The same applies to Braylon Edwards who was saying he would double up Mike Phelps’ gold medal count (8) which put him in place for 16 TD’s.
16 drops, yes, TD’s nope.
This just goes to show you bumping your gums is the quickest way to fall from grace
I love how Florio puts anything Chargers-related into the worst possible light. Never mind the fact that the guy played 15 games with a hip fracture, he’s only a good player until he “gets hurt.” That is, having played a season with a season-ender, he reflects on it and decides a couple weeks of rest would have been wise, and this makes him a prima donna. Yeah.
Makes me question Turner and Cottrell, though. Why start a guy with a hip fracture? If it weren’t something at least roughly resembling the “broken hip” to which Cromartie refers, there would be a counter-story, as it gets repeated over and over in the media and the Chargers would have defended themselves if it weren’t true. I guess they didn’t know what they had in Antoine Cason… and 80% of Cromartie is a wash for Cletis Gordon.
BELIEVE THERE WAS NO MISTAKE THAT THE CHARGERS INQUIRED ABOUT D.FLORENCE’S SERVICE DURING THIS YEARS FREE AGENCY! HAD THEY WORKED OUT A CONTRACT FOR FLORENCE, CROMARTIE WOULD HAVE BEEN TRADED BY NOW!? STARTERS WOULD HAVE BEEN JAMMER/CASON with FLORENCE @ nickel…IN 2009 SEASON. TO MY KNOWLEDGE THE TEAM IS “CLOSE” TO GIVING UP ON HIM WITH HIS BAGGAGE OFF OF THE FIELD! CROMARTIE : AS A PERSON HAS LITTLE TO NO RESPECT FOR HIMSELF AND HIS PEERS!
Hey, it looks like we finally have a solution for overtime. Just pick one of the MMA trained guys from each team, set up a cage at mid field and have at it.
I seem to recall that when Pats running back Maroney talked about playing with an injured shoulder everyone called it “cheating” for violating the injury reporting rules (even though he was listed). So how does this differ?
Chargers apparently cheat too.
The Chargers did not “hide” his broken hip. It was announced in week 2 that it was broken week 2. He was then medically cleared to play. Whatever happened behind the scenes was up to him and the Chargers but nothing was being kept hidden.
I think Cro should have stuck up for himself a little better and protected him body. If Cro thinks that saying “I won’t be bullied” to the media means he’s standing up for himself then he’s got something to learn. He has to protect the Charger name and protect his own by not looking like a crybaby.
The entire toughman image Cro has earned for playing almost an entire year with a broken hip has been thrown out the window and looks like a whiner.
Some time ago, Pro Football Weekly basically suggested that Cromartie is lying about having a broken hip. They said something about how Cromartie only talked about it after the season ended and the Chargers weren’t buying it.
And you’d think they would know if his x-rays actually showed the kind of injury he was claiming.
@ Bob Sacamano,
The Chargers actually knew about the injury but the medical staff cleared him to play. Here’s week 2 injury report
http://www.nfl.com/injuries?week=2
It had already came out that it was broken after week 1 so if PFW is saying that then that reporter probably should do some investigating.