Revis Island or Revis Resort?

It hasn’t been a good start to season for Darrelle Revis in 2016. He got destroyed last week against the Bengals’ A.J. Green. And even though we all saw him get lit up, we were still somewhat willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, with Green being one of the elite receivers and all. But when you let Marquise Goodwin, a guy who only had 3 career TDs and no TDs in the last 2 seasons, burn you for an 84 yard TD on a go route on live national TV I’d say now it’s time for real concern. We could be in the midst of Revis’s last season playing cornerback as a move to safety should be imminent immediately following the 2016 season. I don’t think you can do it in the middle of the season as Revis should get a proper off-season to prepare and train for playing a new position. But what the Jets coaching staff can do is change the way they use Revis. The Jets coaching staff and Revis himself must come to the conclusion that we the fans and apparently all the NFL receivers now know and that’s that Revis Island is now open for business. What was once a cold, dark, and lonely place where receivers went and were never heard from has now become a luxury resort where receivers can shine. A lot of people are shocked and want to know what happen to him. The answer is simple: he got old. Revis is at a point in his career where he just can’t run anymore. He was never fast to begin with and everybody losing whatever speed they have as they get older. A guy like Deion Sanders was a 4.2 in his prime so when he hit his 30s, he might’ve went down to 4.4 which is why he was able to play at an elite level for so much longer than almost any other corner back. However, Revis on his best day was a 4.5 guy, which means he’s probably running 4.6 maybe even 4.7 these days. I don’t care what kind of technique you possess, you can’t be a isolated man to man corner in this league against the athletes at the receiver position in 2016 with 4.7 speed. The Jets won Thursday night’s game, but this makes 2 weeks in a row where the pass defense has been incredibly shaky. This team is going to have to play more zone coverage and when they do play man, support Revis with safeties over the top. Because if they don’t, Revis will continue to be scorched week after week as he no longer has the athletic capacity to match up 1-on-1 throughout the course of a game and shut down a single side of the field anymore. Unfortunately for Revis, those days are over.