Solid, not elite

Mailbags are the new rage. You are seeing them all over the place. There was a particular mailbag question and answer that caught my attention a few days ago.

This was on NJ.com

Via email, Ira in Staten Island: “While Revis is still a Top 5 cornerback, I think Bowles will take a different approach this year and give him help when he has to cover players like Sammy Watkins, Antonio Brown, T.Y. Hilton, and A.J. Green. Your thoughts?”

“Agree completely that Revis remains one of the best,” responded beat writer Dom Consentino. “To expect him to be the player he was in 2009 or 2010 is unrealistic; the rules emphasizing contact have made it impossible for him to play the way he did then. But Revis still had an excellent year last season. Bowles likes to mix and match his defenses depending on the opponent. I would expect him to continue to rely heavily on Revis, while also sliding some additional coverage his way against some of the game’s better wideouts.”

I really don’t get it.

Maybe I’m an outlier.

I don’t see Revis as a “Top 5 cornerback.”

I don’t see him as “one of the best” and “excellent.”

Look, I don’t have all the answers. None of us do, but I go over these games with a fine-tooth comb ever week, as do many of you. I watch the games back, rewinding plays several times.

I think Revis is a solid corner. That is word I would use “solid.”

I’m sorry, what I saw last year wasn’t “excellent” or “Top 5.”

He’s lost a step. It happens to all of us. And this led him to giving many receivers too much cushion off the line. He was concerned about getting beat deep.

The most blatant example of what I’m talking about was his coverage of Sammy Watkins in Week 17. Watkins had 11 catches. Obviously not every single one was Revis’ fault, but on many of the plays, he was giving too much room to work with underneath.

And the DeAndre Hopkins long touchdown catch in Houston speaks volumes of his lost step. Look, I’m not ripping him for his lost step. That is totally out of his control. You will have to talk to Mother Nature and Father Time about that.

But I think that play was illustrative of the degree to which he’s lost a step.

When Revis came out of Pitt, he ran a 4.38.

Obviously he doesn’t run that anymore.

But here’s the thing, and this might come as a surprise to some, but Hopkins has average speed. He ran a 4.57 forty at the combine. He blew by Revis with no problem on that play. Hopkins is a great receiver, but not a speed merchant.

I agree with Ira, when he states, “I think Bowles will take a different approach this year and give him help when he has to cover players like Sammy Watkins, Antonio Brown, T.Y. Hilton, and A.J. Green.”

I absolutely agree.

I also agree with Consentino when he writes that Jets will help Revis by “sliding some additional coverage his way against some of the game’s better wideouts.”

I agree with both of those statements.

But honestly, if he’s a “Top Five corner” or “one of the best,” they probably wouldn’t need to do this.

They need to do it because he’s not the same player as his first time around with the Jets. Some of his quick twitch is gone.

He’s solid, not elite.

So they need to adjust accordingly, which I think they will.

May 17, 2016

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