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There are so many people that take what they say at face value, and don’t understand they are often posturing and there are politics behind the words . . .
Like I will tweet or write something critical of a player, and someone will respond to it, “But the coach said he’s happy with him.”
Look, I understand it’s bad form for a coach to throw a player under the bus publicly.
I get that.
But I also have a big problem with hyperbolic praise for somebody that doesn’t deserve it.
Jets defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers is a really nice guy, a class act, but I thought his assessment of Darrelle Revis today was way too generous.
“I would say he’s lived up to everything and then some,” Rodgers said.
Way too strong.
How about saying something like, “he’s been solid,” or “he’s done a nice job for us?”
To say “he’s lived up to everything and then some” is a little over-the-top.
Do any of you out there feel that way?
He’s basically saying Revis has exceeded expectations. That is certainly not the case.
Yesterday, long-time NFL safety Darren Woodson said on ESPN, “He’s a 30-year-old cornerback – let’s call it what it is. Watching him this past weekend against Amari Cooper. That match-up, if they really wanted to go after Darrelle Revis, Amari Cooper would have had at least 150 yards. He would have had a huge game against Darrelle Revis.
“Sometimes you have to take a look at yourself and say ‘Age is going to catch up.’ It’s part of the game, especially when you are out there on ‘Revis Island’ – one-on-one – they have a tremendous amount of faith in him.
“They put him out there and match him up against the best-of-the-best. His time of being an elite #1 corner is pretty much over.”
And think about it, the Raiders went after him deep on their first offensive play of the game. It was a bad throw and fell incomplete. On the Raiders’ second possession, on a third-and-two, Revis was beat for a gain of seven by Amari Cooper on a cut to the right sideline. Two plays later, Cooper beat Revis for a gain of 11 on the right side. On both plays, Revis looked like he was avoiding, at all costs, getting beat deep.
For some strange reason, after that, the Raiders stopped going after Revis.
Perhaps because how wide open Mike Crabtree and Andre Holmes were getting against the Jets second and third corners.
Look, I think that Revis is still a good player who can help the Jets a great deal.
But as Woodson pointed out, he’s not elite anymore. His quick twitch isn’t what it used to be, so when speedy/quick receivers cut away from him, he’s a tick late cutting with them.
It happens to the best of them.
And lord knows what is going to happen next year, and the year after. The Jets essentially signed him to a three-year deal for $39 million.
That money was too rich for a 30-year-old corner, but you get the sense that there was a PR element to this signing. The Jets got awful press the two times they had a chance to keep Revis and didn’t – the trade, and then in free agency last year.
When the Jet signed Revis at the start of free agency this past spring, the move was universally lauded, and many Jets fans were dancing in a conga line.
It was too much money, and with a contract that lucrative, people expect Revis to walk on water, something he’s not capable of doing anymore.
And to say he’s delivered “and then some,” is way too strong.
He’s been okay, not great.
November 5, 2015
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