New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis does not expect to be lonely on Revis Island Monday. He expects the Baltimore Ravens to attack him with Anquan Boldin, T.J. Houshmandzadeh & Co., and find out how much rust accumulated during the star cornerback's contract holdout.
"I think they’re going to come at me," Revis said after his first practice today. "Just because I haven’t been in camp. I haven’t been playing football for a while. I’m sure that’s in their game plan."
"They shied away last year from me," he added. "I don’t know what’s in their game plan. I don’t know if they’re going to attack me or not. In my mind, I think they are going to attack me just because I haven’t played football.…. They know the player I am and they know I can cover. I’m sure they’re going to come at me anyway they can."
"I’m sure they have confidence in their guys that they can beat me," Revis said. "It’s going to be a dogfight. And I’m ready for it."
On his first day back after a 36-day holdout, Revis participated in about half of the snaps (15-20) during team drills, looking every bit like the shutdown cornerback from a year ago.
"He’s still that talented," safety Jim Leonhard said. "That hasn’t changed. You saw that in Day 1… He’s impressive. You hope teams feel like they can target him… For a guy who hasn’t been here for as long as he has, you trust that he prepared for the season just like we were… But I feel confident once he gets on that field, he’ll be exactly who he was last year."
He certainly was today with a pair of pass breakups and a near one-handed INT (his feet were out of bounds) off Mark Brunell and another near INT off Kellen Clemens.
Revis is probably right. I know if I was the Ravens I would try to attack him occasionally, especially as the game wears on since Revis missed the entire preseason. His skill have not eroded, but there is bound to be some fatigue.
