(Neil Miller/Sportsday Wire)
Darrelle Revis has waited a long time to take the field again for the Jets, and the wait is over with Opening Day is this Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.
Revis left the Jets after the 2012 season to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and, ironically, played his first game for them against the Jets at Metlife Stadium. The game had a crazy ending and was won by the Jets.
Last season, Revis went to the New England Patriots and turned out to be one of the “last pieces” they needed to win their first Super Bowl title in ten seasons.
Revis went back to the Jets early in the offseason, and Antonio Cromartie is back as well in the secondary, hoping to rekindle that old magic. The Jets are without defensive end Sheldon Richardson for the start of the season, as he will be serving a four-game suspension.
Revis said of the goals for this Sunday, “It’s to win as a team. It’s to come out and be 1-0. Hopefully, when it’s 4:00 p.m.Sunday, we come out with a victory.”
Jets Head Coach Todd Bowles said of what he expects from his defense, “I’m not expecting anything. I’m expecting us to play together, to play well and to play tough.”
Bowles said of how the secondary has jelled this season, “They’ve come a long way. I think they talk a lot more than when they first got here. They’ve gotten better by the week with the communication and we’re going to keep doing that going forward.”
Revis said of the secondary jelling, “We’ve been doing that this whole offseason. Now it’s time to play and we’re excited about this first week. We can’t wait to play.”
On how the fans can impact the defense, Revis said, “Our fans are really excited about this year. I think because of the acquisitions we’ve got this offseason. We’re bringing a lot of guys in that are key players to help win this year. We’re just looking forward to it. I think the fans are looking forward as well. It’s our first game, it’s the kickoff of the 2015 season. I think we’re as excited as the fans.”
Revis said of what he’s seen from the Cleveland offense, “A lot of quick throws, a lot of quick gains. A lot of down the field passing as well, especially when (they cross the) 50, they like to take chances. They’ve got a lot of fast receivers on their team. As a defense, as a secondary, we have to stay on top of their fast receivers.”
On preparing for Week One with limited game footage, Revis said, “You just got to go off of some of the preseason games they played. You start getting into who is the offensive coordinator, and where was he last year. If he was with another team, or maybe you might look if he was offensive coordinator at another team, you might go back and look at their film where he coached at the previous year. That’s what we’ve been trying to do as well just trying to collect as much information as we can on offense and what they’re trying to do this season.”
Cleveland will be going with Josh McCown as their starting quarterback. Revis said of McCown, “Yeah, he’s a savvy vet. He’s been around a long time. I know Josh very well, he’s a great guy. We’re looking forward to playing against him. The film we’ve got, everything that we’ve got, their information, we’re going off of that and just trying to get prepared for this week.”