Jets receiver Jamison Crowder catches up with Post columnist Steve Serby for some Q&A.
Q: What is it like having those who doubt you just because you’re 5-foot-9?
A: A lot of time the doubters are the people that have ⛦a lot to say, you know, hav🍌e never really played the game. I never really paid a lot of attention to it. I just felt like people talk, and you can’t come out here and play or guard me, then you just talking. I’m just gonna do my thing.
Q: Give me a Jamison Crowder scouting report.
A: I’m a fierce competitor. I feel like I play a lot bigger than my size.
Q: Describe your on-field mentality.
A: It used to be a lot more rah-r♋ah. I don’t really talk as much now. I’m more relaxed and chill, I like to try to꧂ just focused in on where I need to be focused on. But every now and then I get a little rowdy, you know, but I just try to go out there and just try to be locked in and focused on my details.
Q: What do you mean by rowdy?
A: High school, college💃, man, I used to talk a little j꧟unk (smile), I used to really talk a lot of noise, man (chuckle). But sometimes, I would get extremely tired from doing that, so I just had to kind of tone it down a little bit.
Q: Were you a good trash talker?
A: I wouldn’t say nothing crazy, it wasn’t like I was trying to be like Gary Payton, it wasn’t nothing like 𒆙that. But it was just sometimes I’d go out there and somebody say something, I say something, just kind of get me fired up even more.
Q: Are you excited about Sam Darnold returning from mono?
A: I’m glad that he’s back. I’m just excited, man, see what we can do with him back at the head of the offense. I feel like the first game [Buffalo], me and him started off with great chemistry, and things were kind of obviously derailed with him being sick or whatnot.
Q: Describe Le’Veon Bell.
A: Just a baller. Playmaker.
Q: Why did you feel slot receiver in coach Adam Gase’s offense was a good fit for you in free agency?
A: He has a couple notable slot receivers that were able to be productive 🦋in his offense — Wes Welker, and guys like Jarv♒is Landry and stuff like that, that he had at certain times. It was a good opportunity, so I’m just glad to be here.
Q: Describe the day you met Michael Jordan.
A: I was a senior in high school, and me and my dad, we were going to the Carolina Panthers and the San Francisco 49ers game. We’re driving to the stadium in downtown Charlotte, and we ride past the arena. And like right beside the arena is a Ritz-Carlton. So we roꦫll by and I’m sitting in the passenger [seat], I’m looking out the window and he and about two or three other guys are standing right outside the front of the Ritz-Carlton. So we turned around, and I walked up to him, “Hey, how you doing? Mind if I get a picture with you?” So lo and behold, that outfit I🧜 wore, I had a Jordan jumpsuit on — like the Jordan sweatshirt, Jordan pants and Jordan shoes — so he was like, “Yeah, you got on all my stuff.” So I took a picture with him.
Q: What drives you?
A: My brother, he’s been a huge inspiration for me. I have a young daughter now [Mariyah, who turns 2 in November]. I have one on the way [March].
Q: How has fatherhood changed you?
A: I have to be mindful of things I do out here, whatever it m🍌ay be, in the media, whatever. I have to be a parent, I have to be a𒁃 role model, a father figure for her. I can’t be — I don’t want to say selfish — but she has to be the forefront of everything. I’m not just living for me now.
Q: Your brother Jamaris has Down syndrome.
A: He’s had different challenges throughout his life. I’m able to go out here and play and do things like that, and he really hasn’t had that opportunity. That’s why I do a lot for him. He’s like that extra motivation that I may need on a day when I’m not really feeling it, so I think about him, and it’s given me an extra push.
Q: What are your favorite New York City things?
A: I like going to Tao. It’s a really good vibe. I know once basketball season comes around, I’m gonna definitely check out a couple of games — the Knicks, Nets. When I first got 💧up here, I would take my lady and my child out to the city, we went to One World Trade, went to the top.
Q: What did you think when you went to Ground Zero?
A: It was kind of crazy, and just kind of bringing back certain memories. I remember when 9/11 happened, I was in maybe fourth grade. Being so young, I didn’t really understand what was going on — it was kind of like, are they gonna come to my hometown? It was just crazy. Just kind of standing there where everything happened, it kind of took me back to that time.
Q: Who is one cornerback in NFL history you would have wanted to test?
A: I’d like to go against Deion Sanders, man, for sure. He’s one of the greatest athletes, if not the greatest, 🧸and definitely a lock-down corner, but I’d give it a shot, see what I could do (chuckle).
Q: Is there one Redskins highlight you’re proud of?
A: Quite a bit, honestly. … It was a Thanksgiving game against the Giants [in 2017] when I had my career high in receiving [141 yards]. I got like the Thanksgiving turkey whatever it was. After the game they had like an interview and everything where they present you with a turkey, so me and the offensive linemen got it.
Q: Describe the Redskins-Cowboys rivalry.
A: It ⛦was huge, especially in D.C., man, they hate the Cowboys for sure. ꦍIt was fun.
Q: Where does your 5-yard game-winning touchdown catch against North Carolina in 2012 rank?
A: It definitely ranks up there at the top. I think that was one of the turning point plays tha⛎t was a turning point♕ in the Duke University football program as well.
Q: Tell me about the play.
A: It was just a game-winner, man. It was like fourth-and-2 or something with 13 seconds. I had an in-cut route right there at the goal line, and I remember Sean Renfree threw it a little high so I jumped up and caught it and the linebacker came and flipped me, and I made sure I held on to the football (chuckle). At the time I didn’t really understand how monumental that play was.
Q: Why did you choose Duke?
A: Coach Cut [David Cutcliffe] being one of the main. Coach Cutcliffe was somebody I felt really comfortable with as I went through the recruiting process.
Q: What do you think of fellow Blue Devil, Giants rookie Daniel Jones?
A: I think he’s doing a tremendous job as a rookie. I just continue to wish him good luck as he continues his career, and I’m sure he’s gonna get better. He was coached by one of the best quarterback coaches out there📖, so he definitely has the tools.
Q: Who were your boyhood idols?
A: I really didn’t have an idol. I had people that I looked up to or people that I was a fan of. My dad, for one, he was like a mentor, father figure for me. Within the sports realm, I was like a huge Kobe 🦹Bryant fan, and then when I was really young, I was a Jerry Rice fan. Then as I got a little older, I started liking Steve Smith a lot.
Q: Why Steve Smith?
A: Well, for one, I was born and raised i꧟n ♚North Carolina, so I was in that Charlotte area. The Panther games come in every Sunday right there ’cause it was the local team, and Steve Smith was a smaller guy, played with a lot of fire and a lot of attitude, I just kind of liked that, and I just kind of carried that with me throughout middle school, high school, college.
Q: What will you do after football?
A: Right now, man, I really don’t know. I got a couple of things I’m doing now, I’m trying to get into this real estate. I got me a property down in North Carolina that I’m, in the offseason, probably gonna do some renovating and renting out and things li🧸keꦗ that. Just bought my folks and them a house in North Carolina a couple of months ago.
Q: What moved you to do that?
A: They made a lot of sacrifices for me to help me get to this point in my career. As a young kid, I saw them get up, go to work every day when I went to school, and send me to camps or whatever it may be so I could get to this point. Being where I’m from, you’re not exposed to a lot of things, it kind of be the same old same old daily routine. So that was just me giving back to them.
Q: Three dinner guests?
A: Kobe Bryant, J. Cole, Barack Obama.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “Life.”
Q: Favorite actor?
A: Martin Lawrence.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: I like Jamaican food, man. Jerk chicken, oxtail, ric𝐆e and peas.
Q: Personal and career goals?
A: Personal goals is always for me, man, just to strive to be a better person, better man, just be a better family man, be a better son, wh😼atever it may be. Obviously career goals, I just want to get a championship, that’s always been a dream of mine, win a Super Bowl, and just try to be the best receiver I could be.