Jets Pro Bowl Selections 2008-09
The Jets have an NFL-high and franchise-record seven players named to this year's Pro Bowl. Newyorkjets.com will profile each all-star this week before practices begin in Hawaii next week. Today: Darrelle Revis.
Hawaii? Darrelle Revis has never been there. But, he said, "I've heard it's called paradise."
Revis, his mother, brother and a few cousins and friends will find out first-hand about the Aloha State and Aloha Stadium next week. The Pro Bowl is the reward the Jets cornerback has received for assembling one heavenly sophomore season in the NFL.
From his left cornerback's perch (although he occasionally would wind up on the right side when he was matched up with the opponents' top receiver), Revis had a strong, strong year.
"I just try to do the best I can to be the best," he said humbly.
That quest produced the following achievements:
* Revis led the Jets with five interceptions, which included the highly athletic game-winning end zone pick of Chad Pennington in the opener at Miami, his first INT-return TD and two-INT game vs. Arizona, and a theft in each game against the Bills.
* He defensed 16 passes thrown in his direction, second only to rookie Dwight Lowery, who had 17 PDs on a lot more opportunities.
* Five of those PDs and two of those interceptions came on "crunch downs," third or fourth downs to stop drives. Both those totals led the Green & White defense.
* Revis wasn't turned loose often, but when he was, he produced, as when he dropped Trent Edwards on an undiagnosed corner blitz, stripped the ball and recovered the fumble on the Bills 6.
* That was one of two fumble recoveries, giving him seven individual takeaways for the year, also for the team leadership.
Perhaps the strength of his season could be measured in the response of the Jets' new head coach, Rex Ryan, who in his introductory news conference last week said, "We've got, to me, the best corner in football."
One of the nicest things about Revis is his niceness. A fierce competitor on the field, he is a classy young man off it. Just consider how he viewed what many thought was the foregone conclusion of his selection for his first Pro Bowl berth.
"You never know what's going to happen in the voting and how people look at you as a player," Revis told newyorkjets.com. "I know I'm good enough to play at a high level. I focus on doing my job."
And he reminds that he couldn't have done his job as well as he did without a little help from his friends.
"My teammates helped me get this award as well," he said. "When Kerry Rhodes, Abe Elam and other guys are helping out, Kris Jenkins is helping out in the run defense, Calvin Pace, I've just got to take my hat off to those guys and thank them for helping me achieve my goals."
Those goals are far from exhausted. Revis, with a full off-season under his belt, made a major jump from his impressive rookie season, when he missed training camp yet started all 16 games, had three INTs and 13 PDs.
The leap from Year 2 to Year 3 promises to be just as awesome. But first comes a week in paradise, followed by the NFL's all-star game. But don't think for a minute Revis is going to rest on his laurels, party down and ease through the Pro Bowl.
"I'm going to go out and play," he said. "I know it's a game. I've just got to go out there and compete."
