Don’t Harsh His Time on Revis Island
While Mark Sanchez was apologizing for his churlish behavior to the New York scribes yesterday, one of his teammates, Darrelle Revis was starting a wholly separate fire with the Boston media. Yup, it’s Patriots week alright and the scribes from Boston are trying to dig to the bottom of the Revis and Moss matchup and are trying to understand why Revis believes he (and he alone) shut down Randy Moss.
We’re cutting and pasting at length here, so we’re sorry, but there’s no other way to do it.
Take it away, ProFootballTalk!
Revis … is taking issue with Randy’s prior comments.
“I was in man-to-man coverage,” Revis said Wednesday, during a conference call with New England reporters.
“[E]veryone saw the game, everybody knows I was in man coverage, that was the case,” Revis said. “He’s supposed to say that because [that day] wasn’t his day, he got shut out and was frustrated about it, which is cool. I don’t have anything against him. I still think he’s one of the best receivers in the league. When we go up against each other, it’s great competition.”
Revis tried to state his case without getting Randy riled up.
“I’m not going to disrespect nobody about anything,” Revis said. “If Randy beat me on a touchdown, yeah, I’ll live up to it. Yeah, he beat me. He’s a great receiver. I believe I’m a great corner, too. That’s just how it goes. When you play against the best, you have to bring your game. You also have to give respect to the guys that you’re going against.
“I mean, they get paid as well as I do. So there’s no trying to get into a jarring match or a trash-talking match with Randy Moss. I say what I believe and that’s it. You live up to it or you don’t. One thing I know is I’m giving him respect, he’s one of their best and it’s great competition between me and him. I love it, and I’m sure he loves it, too.”
Later in the call, a reporter asked Revis whether he played Moss in man coverage, with help “over the top” from a safety. The line of questioning produced an awkward moment, to say the least.
Here’s the excerpt of the transcript.
Q: Is it possible to have safety help over the top, while you’re playing man coverage, so it sort of allows you to be more aggressive when you have the safety help rolled over the top?
Revis: Do you know football?
Q: Well, that’s why I’m asking. You know, if you could clear it up for me.
Revis: Yeah, I’m asking you. I’m asking you a question. Do you know football?
Q: Maybe parts of it, but not that part of it.
Revis: What part do you know?
Q: I said, like parts of it.
Revis: OK, so do you know defensive coverages?
Q: Not very well.
Revis: Cover two, over three, cover one.
Q: Not very well, quite honestly.
Revis: Well, OK.
A reporter than explained that the specific issue arose because Pats coach Bill Belichick has been saying that Revis had “help over the top.”
Said Revis in response, “I don’t believe that statement, so that question is dead from now on. I’m not going to just keep on answering the question.”
It’s silly to say that Revis didn’t have “over the top” help. Yes, Revis was charged with covering Randy Moss. Yes, he did cover him on probably 99% of snaps that Moss was on the field that day. Yes there were times when he was on Revis Island. Did he have a good day on Moss? Absolutely. But the absence of Wes Welker made coverage shell help a lot more readily available for Revis and when you look at the tape, you can see it.
Revis is getting pulled into the dirt with the Boston media about semantics on coverages, and I think that depending on your definition of “man coverage” that would have to flavor how the question is then answered. By the strictest definition, “man coverage” means “isolation” or often referred to as Cover-0 … meaning there’s no help, a player has his charge, and that’s all. That’s what the Boston media is talking about. I don’t know percentages, but in the NFL, very few times are Cover-0 schemes used … it’s extremely risky.
“Man coverage” though can have zone help, and that’s what Revis might be talking about. So that’s where the Cover-1, Cover-2, Cover-3 terms come in. It’s coverage, with a +1, +2, etc. The numerical value explains how many zone coverage personnel there are on that given play. So even though Revis was playing “man coverage” on Moss (Revis had no other responsibilities) there were others during the game (Lowery, Rhodes, Leonhard, etc.) who had the responsibility to help Revis.
Let’s look at Revis’s interception, the play called for a Cover-1. Jim Leonhard blitzed from deep on Moss’s side of the field, while Rhodes who was in “centerfield” rolled on coverage to help, but might have been unecessary, based on Revis’s spectacular play.
Beyond that, there were plenty of other plays that Revis and Moss lined up, and there was often a floating DB fading to that side of the field, or covering inside or “over the top” zone to make Brady throw to a very specific place should he try and get it to Moss. One of the endearing things about Revis to this point is that he’s confident, but with humility … if that makes sense. So where did that interchange come from? It’s never good when players and scribes start getting adversarial about stuff like this. Hey at least it wasn’t with the New York media.
UPDATE: Florio asked a scout with the “All-22″ camera access to take a look at the film. The conclusion? “”A lot is just semantics and interpretation … [w]ere the Jets truly double covering Moss all over the field? No. Did they favor him on most plays? Yes.” So basically, what we already thought.
Read about it here.
[Boston Globe - Jets Revis Has Bravado Covered]
[Boston Herald - Jets Revis Says He 'Shut Out' Moss]
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And why does this matter?
Because an angry Moss is a scary Moss.
I was disapointed in Moss’s lack of recognition for how well Revis played him, not just in the last meeting, but also in there other meetings. However, I dont want Revis adding any fuel to fire, theres no reason to give Moss any added incentives this Sunday.
But then again, this is Darrelle Revis, and i’ll put my money on him everytime.
Moss still has his panties in a bunch because of that Revis pick last game. That is a throw you expect Moss to make a play on, its not like he’s a threat in the middle of the field. Moss makes his living running by and jumping over defenders. On that Revis pick he got out run and out jumped.
Maybe Revis’ interpretation is that he had man responsibility throughout the play, meaning that at no point did he release Moss to someone else. Was there a deep safety rolling to Moss’s side on some plays? Yes. But Moss catches a lot of balls against man coverage with rolling safety help. Revis didn’t allow him enough separation to do damage where he ordinarily does it. He had a great game against Moss no matter the semantics. The question is can he do it twice? It won’t be easy with Welker causing problems over the middle and Leonhard out.
I was at the game live, and had seats so Revis’ interception against Moss was directly in front of me. Revis had him solo the entire play, out ran and then out jumped Moss and took the ball for an INT. I watched that battle for much of the day (as it was one that greatly intrigues me still) and Revis was in man coverage by himself on almost every play. In case everyone forgets, Rex’s scheme that week was to put as many db’s on the field as possible, and use their speed to blitz and get to Brady in a hurry. That meant that they were using safety help for the rest of the team almost the entire game, because Revis is just that damn good.
love revis, but it is a good point re: over the top help. I think he shut randy down, but it’s obviously going to be a different scenario with Welker in the mix.
Go ask Vince Worfolk if he knows who Mangold is… He is one of the few Patriots that give our Pro Bowl players credit.
This wouldnt be an issue if Moss would have given Revis a little bit of credit. Moss is a typical dummy who is shocked when they get owned and have 20 reasons why it happened….other then they got owned.
Moss is double with help over the top 100% of the time against every team in the league….and he puts up scary numbers. That day with “some” help he was shut out. End of story
You know, a receiver has a big day, scores TDs and dances all over the endzone and is on every highlight show. Everyone points to the corner and talks about he was toasted and abused.
A receiver gets shut down and …. what, the corner can’t say he had a good day?
Just a ridiculous double standard.
I love that Revis is that confident about his abilities. He should be, and I’m sure it feeds into his performance.
Point is that even with “over the top” help, if Moss is streaking down the sideline the safety doesn’t have the ability to “help” Revis. The “help” is there in case Moss alters his route to go towards the middle of the field (like when Lee Evans faked going down the sideline, then went inside, but Leonhard didn’t come up on him sooner or when Ted Ginn went down the middle of the field and Rhodes let him get behind him).
I don’t care what the defense is, Moss hasn’t been double-covered on the outside and, since Moss doesn’t go across the middle, 90% of his deep catches are right down the sideline. The Jets have to be very careful this Sunday of Moss going across the field deep…something that really can’t happen if the Jets get good pressure on Brady. That’s the yin and yang of pressure and coverage. The longer Brady has to throw, the more time Moss has to probe weak areas in the secondary. As for the Welker factor, I’m not discounting it, he’s a great player and Brady’s safety valve, by Welker can only hurt you (especially on 3rd and short), Moss can kill you.
Basset’s conclusion is probably right here, but also irrelevant. Nobody plays cover-0 very much. But the Florio piece is a fraud. The explanationsby the “scout” were so vague and lacking in technical detail as to be laughable. The so-called “scout’s” comments about Brady and the Pats were also very unprofessional — no real NFL scout would say stuff like that even off the record. And, as Basset demonstrated, you don’t need to be a “scout” with access to coach’s film to reach the same general conclusion.
It matters because Revis shouldn’t be making this about himself. He knows well what the coverage was, and that he could play aggressively without the fear of getting totally burned.
His team mates helped out, but he decided to make it about himself – he should have just answered with some sort of vanilla “team” answer and leave it at that.
What the Patriots did against the colts was very interesting – start Moss in motion in the slot and have him attack the safety directly. It worked for three long completions (that I can recall) on the night.
The only thing the Jets have going for them this week in Foxboro is the fact that Darelle Revis STUCK Randy Moss for 60 minutes the last time they met.
I have Direct Tv and I watch as many games as humanly possible, there is no corner that plays Moss like Darelle. Ive seen him go up against Aso in Oak and Champ Bailey, and Darelle is by far the best.
I dont know what Randy is still smoking, but it is HUMANLY INPOSSIBLE to cover someone one-on-one if a QB can just sit back and have all the time in the world, especially with the rules the way they are.
Bottom line, Darelle clearly won the matchup, when Moss had a chance at a deep ball, it was the SMALLER DR that came down with it. End of story, give it up Randy
“Let’s look at Revis’s interception, the play called for a Cover-1. Jim Leonhard blitzed from deep on Moss’s side of the field, while Rhodes who was in “centerfield” rolled on coverage to help…”
Bassett: How do you know Rhodes was rolled to Revis’s side rather than just playing deep middle? You can’t tell that from the TV clip. This kind of gets to the point, and it is a bit semantic. If there’s a deep safety in the middle, not rolled to one side, is that “help over the top” or just cover-1? Calling it “help” for Revis sounds like Moss was being bracketed or double covered, which is not accurate. if you asked Revis whether the ream was playing cover-0 the whole game, I’m sure he’d candidly say no way.
The 4 catches for 38 yards Randy Moss is averaging against Revis in his career tell the story.
If Moss wants to believe he was double or tripled covered who cares. He was ineffective in game one. Revis did his job regardless of if it was man to man or if he had help. It won’t matter this Sunday if Moss is shut down this weekend and the Jets lose. Hopefully Revis and the rest of the defense will do enough to keep Brady guessing and the Jets pull out a win.
The fact that this article is by Florio says everything. He is in love with the Patriots and no matter how many times we beat them he will give us no respect at all.
It’s pretty funny how people completely forget that Revis and Moss have played against each other on the same field four other freakin’ times than this past game.
Can anyone honestly remember ONCE when Moss burnt Revis? Throughout the two and a half year period they’ve been lining up across from each other? Just once? Revis containing Moss is no recent development, but leave it to the media to make it out that way.
And there’s nothing worse than an article that calls safety help “doubling” as if defensive coordinators should treat the game as a one-on-one CB vs WR spectacle and calling cover zero every play. There are eleven players on the field and you’re going to use them to your strengths, especially when one of them is Kerry Rhodes who is well known for his deep coverage ability. That’s just how football works. The fact that the article points out that the Patriots put a “true” double on Moss less than ten percent of the time tells you all you need to know.
Welker or no Welker. Edelman diced the Jets like Welker was on the field anyway. The Pats have a knack for plugging guys in that way.
Also, I love how the subhead for the Globe article reads ‘Cornerback continues to press the Moss issue’ as if the questions weren’t asked of him.
wonder if anyone thinks it might make more sense for revis to cover Welker and to double Moss— crazy?
Dave,
Not be contrary, but didn’t Moss torch Revis for a 51 yarder in Revis’ first game as a pro back in 2007? I’m not killing Revis for that, he came to camp late and his first assignment was Randy Moss, maybe the greatest vertical threat in NFL history. I think after that catch and a couple of others in that game (Moss had 9 catches for over 180 yards), Revis started to defense Moss very well and, whether Moss wants to admit it or not, Revis shut him down earlier this season. Oh, and the 2007 game was the infamous “Spygate” game, so the Pats knew when the blitzes were coming and when Revis had single coverage. But, for accuracy sakes, Moss pretty much schooled Revis in that game.
He shut Moss down, he is better than Moss. Moss is the one that needs to shut up!
Sack,
Revis wasnt covering Moss on that play, and I dont think he was really covering Moss much at all that game. On the long TD, the players chasing Moss were David Barret, Jonathon Vilma and Erick Coleman. Revis was pressing Moss at the line of scrimmage, but Revis immediately passed him off to the other d-backs and assumed coverage of the tight end.
Revis has shadowed Moss every game since then and Moss has 0 TD’s and unimpressive yardage
Yea I remember that play vividly. JesusRevis is right, Revis was in zone coverage. Revis put his hands on Moss initially right off the snap but then dropped off into zone coverage.
So technically Moss never really beat Revis for a big play, ever. But with regards to safety help, no corner, not even Deion in his prime can cover a guy like Moss with no safety back deep if Brady has time to throw the ball. Has anyone seen some of the defensive pass interference calls this year? Granted they’ve helped the Jets more than once but corners are severely handcuffed these days playing wideouts in man coverage.
And also, has anyone noticed that whenever Revis DOES get beaten for a score it’s always a play where something improbable happens?
Like when Braylon had that impossible one-handed grab in the endzone against Revis or Abram Elam running into Revis who already had his hands on the ball against Lee Evans, allowing Evans to gain possession of the ball and then run away?
That speaks to how good Revis is, it takes that much to beat him for a score.
It’s too long ago for me to have a specific recollection, so maybe Revis wasn’t beaten on the 51-yarder, but I do recall Revis in man-coverage being beaten by Moss, there was a big play for the Pats’ final TD. Revis was locked up in man coverage and Moss almost scored…something like a 12 yard gain. There were a couple of others, too. I think Gaffney beat Revis. I remember that Revis was great, but he wasn’t Mr. Shutdown, like he is now.
Alright so we’ll find out Sunday with Welker back AND Leonhard out.
I think in Revis’ first game Moss caught a sideline route that went for 30ish yards on Revis. That’s it. Compare that to two picks Revis has on Moss in man coverage throughout their time playing against each other and there’s no reason at all to overblow one performance because Revis has been doing it for almost three years now.
All Mike Florio(as well as media types on both the Jets and Patriots beat) are showing is their football ignorance in the way that they’re trying to discredit Revis because of “help”. There’s a difference between a double team and “help”. A double team is a deliberate attempt to limit a player. “Help” can be a variety of things like one or two safeties over the top, and that’s something every single corner in the league gets on pretty much a consistent basis from Nnamdi Asomugha to Revis to Bailey to the scrubs of the world. There’s not a single team in the league that runs Cover 0(all man across the board) for more than a few plays at most a game. It’s just not a smart coverage to run in today’s league.
Sack,
According to ProFootballFocus.com, which is the link Bent referenced a week ago during the Kerry Rhodes discussions, Darrelle Revis allowed 4 receptions for 25 yards in that game. So while he may have been lined up on Moss for some plays, I’m pretty sure he was covering other receivers for the most part. And I can say with 100% confidence that he was not involved in the 51 yard touchdown. He definitely wasnt the shutdown guy he is now, but I remember watching him his rookie year and being blown away by how impressive he was.
Here’s the link.
http://www.profootballfocus.com/by_player.php?tab=by_player&season=2007&surn=Revis&playerid=3630&group=7
[...] Wide receiver Randy Moss has been equally as impressive, raking in 525 receiving yards and six TD’s in the four games. If you remember, Moss was shut down by standout cornerback Darrelle Revis, and held to just four catches for 24 yards. This matchup is bound to be the main even Sunday, and it got quite awkward when Revis was asked about his week two matchup with Moss. [...]