Jets' Antonio Cromartie won't back off

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It should come as no shock that a New York Jets player isn't backing down from a good argument.

Earlier in the week Antonio Cromartie bashed the union and the league for the way negotiations are going for a new collective bargaining agreement.

On Thursday, a tweet on Seattle Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck's account said: "Somebody ask Cromartie if he knows what CBA stands for."

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The tweet was later removed but not before Cromartie found out about it.

He responded Thursday afternoon with a tweet that said: "hey Matt if u have something to then say it be a man about it. Don't erase it. I will smash ur face in."

Hasselbeck later apologized for his initial tweet.

"Sorry for the joke man. No hard feelings," a tweet from his account said. "DB's & QB's have a hard time getting along I guess sometimes. lol."

That exchange came after Cromartie battled a couple of other NFL players.

Ray Lewis and Darnell Dockett had called out Cromartie for his critical comments Wednesday, and he responded that night.

"I don't give a who about Ray Lewis or [Darnell Dockett] talking about what I said," Cromartie said in a message posted on his Twitter account, according to the New York Daily News.

"There's 10's of thousand ppl who will lose jobs. They taking our healthcare away and for players that have surgery can't even get rehab once March 3rd gets here."

Cromartie ripped the league and the union Monday for the state of negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement. If the sides cannot come to terms, players could be locked out when the current CBA expires March 4. Cromartie is a free agent, so his future is uncertain.

"Especially when you don't get no information about nothing from the union or the owners," Cromartie said Monday. "So to tell you the truth they need to get their damn minds together and get this [expletive] done. Stop bitching about money. Money ain't nothing. Money can be here and gone. Us players, we want to go out and play football. It's something we've been doing and we love it and enjoy it. It's our livelihood."

The Cardinals' Dockett and Ravens' Lewis responded Wednesday afternoon to Cromartie.

"We have leaders," Dockett told ESPNNewYork.com, referring to the NFLPA. "We know what is fair and the players are behind our leadership."

Lewis said he supports union executive director DeMaurice Smith and his player representatives with the union.

"Great leaders are servants first," Lewis said. "That is who our leaders are. Players are not going to turn on each other. We are blessed with what we have and it is on all of us to keep it fair. I'm resolved to do that."

The rhetoric has been amped up on both sides.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Wednesday that if there's a lockout, he will reduce his salary to $1.

Smith countered that if they can get a deal done by the Super Bowl, he'll take a pay cut to 68 cents.

Smith wasn't worried that he was called out by Cromartie, who also called Patriots quarterback Tom Brady an "ass----" before the AFC title game.

"I've been called worse," he said Wednesday.

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