Darrelle Revis makes the tackle against Nebraska
Jets rookie cornerback Darrelle Revis, who will play his second career NFL game this afternoon at Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium, is already receiving glowing reviews.
"He is a great cover corner. He has very good feet in coverage and he's physical," said safety Erik Coleman before the Jets boarded their train for Baltimore. "He is a very physical corner who loves to come up and tackle. Playing safety, you love seeing that — a corner who will stick his head in there. I have tremendous respect for him. He is going to have a good career."
Last Sunday, Revis' career got under way with a five-tackle performance against the Patriots. The 5'11", 204-pound defensive back also held Randy Moss, who otherwise had a scintillating performance, to a 1-yard reception in the fourth quarter. He displayed his aggressiveness and effort on the play, working for a strip of Moss and eventually getting the ball out in hopes of a momentum turner. Unfortunately for the Green & White, Moss was ruled down by contact.
"I think he did a good job, considering he got in late," said defensive coordinator Bob Sutton. "As we said when he came in, we weren't going to put any limitations on him from a standpoint of that he won't be able to perform until this date or this game or whatever. I think he went in and was very competitive. He played hard."
Despite a long summer holdout, the former Pitt Panther hasn't been overwhelmed by the speed of the pro game. He has all the natural gifts you could want in a corner and he worked industriously to catch up in the classroom.
"It's all right. You adjust to it," Revis said of the speed. "It's somewhere where you are coming into an NFL team and you're trying to learn their terminology and the scheme. Once you learn the terminology and the scheme, then everything slows down for you."
The other quality the Jets like about Revis is his humble approach. He's got skills, but he leaves the bravado for other DBs.
"I saw that from day one. He's asking questions and working hard in individual drills," Coleman said. "Every drill we do, he is working hard to get better. It is good to see a young player come in with a good head on his shoulders and a good work ethic."
Today marks another first for Revis. He'll suit up for his first road game as a pro and would love to hear nothing at all.
"If you take the crowd out of the game, they probably won't have a lot of momentum," he said. "What you want to do at away games is take the momentum away from them and make plays."
Sutton said all young players have to continue to work on their techniques and steady progress comes over time. Game 2 of Revis' career kicks off in a few hours.
"There are usually no quantum leaps," Sutton said. "It's those little daily things that you have to do over and over and over to make some improvement over the course of weeks."
Double the Preparation
It's been an interesting week for both defenses. Neither team knows who will start at quarterback for the opposition. Both Jets QB Chad Pennington (right ankle) and Ravens QB Steve McNair (groin) are banged up and could be replaced by Kellen Clemens and Kyle Boller respectively.
"I think they are both very athletic quarterbacks," Coleman said of McNair and Boller. "They both have great arms. It's always difficult trying to work for two people because they have different tendencies and different strengths and weaknesses. We're going to prepare for both of them. I guess that's all we can do."
