Darrelle Revis as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has yet to look like the Darrelle Revis of the New York Jets this season. The cornerback returned from surgery to repair a torn ACL and still appears shaky on the field. Revis Island does not seem so alone desolate to the opposing receivers as the cornerbacks is not making headlines as usual. Revis is speaking out on his slow season saying recovery has forced him to change a few things.
Revis has changed to more of a zone coverage this season, hurting some of his impressive moves. Revis has built a career as one of the top man-coverage corners in the league, so why is he switching to a type of coverage that he is not that great at. Tampa Bay gave up a lot to get Revis and yet they are not getting as much in return. Turns out, the switch was Revis' decision in order to help his recovery.
"Earlier in the year, I didn't have the explosion to play press; the receiver would just run the 9-route on me and I didn't have the stamina to do that play in and play out, especially playing press," Revis said, via the Tampa Tribune. "I mean, you get physical up there playing press coverage and then actually just running. That's running full speed - you and the receiver. I didn't have that yet. I'm starting to get that back now, which is awesome because I like to be in receivers faces and try to put my hands on them and try to be physical with them."
Revis made headlines earlier in the season saying he was upset with the type of scheme that head coach Greg Schiano runs. He has been requesting more man-coverage as he continues to get stronger. Revis got his wish against the Carolina Panthers, although it did not make much difference considering the Buccaneers still lost. Revis expects to get better at both types of schemes as he grows stronger.
Schiano admitted he is still trying to figure out how to best use their top defensive playmakers like Revis.
"We need to make sure we're accentuating our best players, putting them in the best position to make plays better than we have,'' Schiano said, per The Tampa Tribune. "That's something I've looked at hard, and I know our coaches have looked at it as well.''
At this point in the season, Tampa Bay does not have a win. Schiano should stop "looking" and just start doing. If Revis is confident man-coverage is something he can handle now, then Tampa Bay will be prepared to give it a chance.
