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Darrelle Revis was in Aliquippa recently for a football camp sponsored by the Revis Island Foundation, and talked about his love of Tampa Bay . . .
“Going to Tampa is great,” Revis told the Beaver County Times. “I look at it as a new chapter in my football career. The organization is great. It’s real laid back down there. It’s not a lot of pressure as it is in New York.”
There is no question playing for Tampa Bay is a lot less stressful than playing for the New York Jets, especially this time of year.
But honestly, it’s really hard to gauge pressure this time of year. Every NFL teams is undefeated in the spring and summer.
Let’s see how he feels in the fall. He’s the highest paid player on the Buccaneers this year, making $16 million.
If he doesn’t play well, he’s going to hear it from the local fans and media, no matter how big or small the market might be.
He will also hear from the National media – NFL Network, ESPN and so forth.
So honestly, to analyze pressure this time of year is pretty hard.
I would say the more on-target part of the quote was, “it’s more laid back down here.”
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have just two papers covering the team – The Tampa Tribune and The Tampa Bay Times (former the St. Petersburg Times).
The Jets’ media scene is a zoo, and it really grates on players. When players go to their lockers during the media sessions, they are surrounded by so many reporters, often the reporters in the back of the pack have a hard time hearing the player – that is the kind of volume were talking about.
Most players just want to play football, they don’t want to deal with this stuff. In towns like Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, Charlotte, the players have so few people covering the team, dealing with the media is barely on the radar.
The Jets situation is really annoying to a lot of players.
“It can be tough,” Revis said to Beaver County Times. “I got drafted as a junior and I didn’t know anything about New York or about the media, coming from being born here and going to the University of Pittsburgh. It’s a different market,” Revis told the newspaper. “I accepted it. I just wanted to play football.
“The next thing you know you’re a celebrity, and it’s like, ‘OK . . . I just play football.’”
It’s a good point, but honestly, he and his agents didn’t help matters by constantly kicking over hornets nests about his contract. So from that standpoint, it’s hard to make him too much of a sympathetic figure here.
Those non-stop contract disputes had become a major distraction around the Jets, and the latest one was the final straw – the Jets felt they had to move on.
Only time will tell which team won the Revis’ trade.
Right now, it seems like the Jets will survive without him.
It’s a very rare situation in the NFL when you lose a #1 corner, and you have another #1 to plug-in. The Jets have that luxury in Antonio Cromartie.
And it looks like cornerback could be one of the deepest positions on their team. With sleeper Darrin Walls, first round pick Dee Milliner, underrated Aaron Berry, Isaiah Trufant, Kyle Wilson and Ellis Trufant, they have to be excited about their cornerback situation.
The Jets have a number of position that seem like a major concerns, and I don’t think cornerback is one of them.
Also, they got rid of a major distraction with the non-stop Revis soap opera now in the rear-view mirror.
And Revis seems much happier being in a place with less pressure.
At least he feels that way now.
People are going to expect him to practically walk on water in Tampa Bay this year. They are going to expect near perfection.
So let’s see how he feels about the pressure issue in the fall.
June 23, 2013
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