In the lead up to the New York Jets’ Week 6 game against the Denver Broncos, it wasn’t at all clear if All Pro cornerback Darrell Revis would suit up and play. He had been hampered by a nagging hamstring injury for a number of weeks, and some wondered if it might make sense for him to rest up being that the team would be heading into its Bye Week. Revis ultimately decided to give it a go, and though he wasn’t in top form, his presence helped the Jets’ stave off the Broncos to improve to 5-1. On Monday, Revis joined ESPN Radio in New York to talk about his decision to play, how big it was for the Jets to win and improve to 5-1 heading into their off week, and other subjects. A few exceprts from the interview can be found below (via: SRI)
Whether he knew he was going to play in the game on Sunday during warm-ups:
“During warm-ups there was a lot of talk between me and Rex and Mike and the trainers and Sal, the strength and conditioning coach. It was up in the air then but as the warm-ups went on and they seen me run, then it went to me just playing 3rd downs and then at the start of the game I went up to Rex and said, ‘I’m ready to go. I’m ready to play’ and that was the decision.”
Why he wanted to play despite being at 90% health:
“I think that was the outcome after the game. Before the game I felt warm, I felt good when I was running. When I was warming up I didn’t feel any pulls or no tugs. So I felt excited and I felt I could play and I played in the game. Looking back at the film I gave up a couple of plays but I think I played OK just coming back and me just trying to get back into my groove just playing football.”
Whether it frustrates him that he isn’t at 100% and that he has been giving up touchdowns:
“It frustrates me that I am injured but it doesn’t frustrate me that I gave up touchdowns. I know that I am not at my top game right now but the one thing that I am doing is that I am playing it out for my teammates and I am just trying to be out there and help them try and get wins.”
His thoughts on his hamstring injury and whether it is a manifestation of holding out of training camp:
“I hurt the hamstring in week 2 against the Patriots and I took a couple of weeks off still trying to get to 100% and I came back to the Minnesota game. I think that was a push-through game for me then in this game I felt good, I felt that I could go and I went and played. I haven’t been to training camp and I was working out, but training camp is totally different from working out by yourself because you don’t get the game speed and intensity of practice and in game speed. This hamstring is a part of not being in training camp.”