I don’t think I can possibly be the first to say this, but it is certainly how I feel right now…the Jets, to me, feel so much like the 2000-2001 Baltimore Ravens. Here are the reasons why.
First, they are both wild card teams that find themselves in the AFC Championship against a team that, without question, was better than them during the regular season. Now I completely understand that the Ravens were 12-4, but they weren’t a team that steamrolled anyone, I couldn’t believe week-to-week how putrid their offense was and how they managed to win games, their Defense was, without question, dominating…but they weren’t a dominant team during the regular season.
The AFC Championship game was against the Raiders, in Oakland, in 2001. Rich Gannon got demolished by Siragusa early on and never came back strong…they were a team that relied on the ONE BIG PLAY (ie, 96 yd td to Sh. Sharpe), much like how the Jets seem to rely on Shonn Greene to make the ONE BIG PLAY…
The Raiders were the better team all year, as are the Colts. The Ravens relied on a ground game that was good, not great, and a defense that was astounding. The Jets, this year, clearly rely on a good ground game, maybe in the top 3 in the league, and rely on a Defense that is turning great, if not astounding.
That leaves me to my last point, which is Darrelle Revis is playing the most dominating defense I have seen from a player in the playoffs since Ray Lewis did in 2000-2001. There was one play that Peter King writes about below, in his assessment of Revis, that I can’t stop thinking about. But before I quote King, I want to remember Ray Lewis and his abilities in 2000-2001. That year, no matter where the play was, or what type of play it was, Ray Lewis was present. He was just present, he was at or near the ball all the time. He was always on the screen, he was always in the way. He was always dominating.
It got to the point where I felt like his energy and his prowess melted on top of the Ravens offense like fondue cheese, and he just was always there – Dilfer knew he didn’t need to do anything special on “O” b/c Lewis would save them (like he did in the AFC Championship, recovering a fumble on the 6 yd line in the 4th quarter, and ultimately, completely dominating the Super Bowl from start to finish.)
But here is Peter King’s quote, and I’ll say what I want to say about the particular Revis play I can’t escape after that:
A cornerback can't play much better than Darrelle Revis did Sunday.
"We've got a ton of respect for Revis, ''Philip Rivers told me Friday at the Chargers' training facility, "but we're not going to avoid him. We'll take some shots at him.''
Oh really? Rivers went back to pass 45 times (40 passes, two sacks, three runs after being chased from the pocket), and I charted Revis' coverage pattern on every one of Rivers' pass-drops. By my count, Rivers threw four passes into the zone where Revis had primary coverage, or to the man Revis was playing man-to-man. One was complete, to LaDainian Tomlinson, for a loss of four yards. One, to Legadu Naanee, was batted down by a diving Revis on a cross route. One, to Vincent Jackson, a deep pass up the left seam, was overthrown, with Revis and Jackson running stride for stride. And the fourth, to Jackson, was up for grabs between the two, with Revis coming down with a juggled ball for an interception in a spectacular play.
Four times Rivers went at Revis in 45 pass calls. One completion, for minus-four. One interception. You cannot play the position better than Revis played it Sunday. I don't care if you're Deion Sanders or Night Train Lane. Revis put on a clinic, a masterful display of clinging coverage and bump-and-run when the situation called for it.
"We were playing a lot of man coverage on his side regardless who the receiver was,''Rex Ryan said, "and on the other side we were running some loaded zones and mixes and things like that. He had the tough guy most of the time.''
I told Revis the numbers in the tunnel after the game, just before he boarded the team buses for the airport. "I guess they gave me a lot of respect. It's my job, to cover guys, and I hope I do it pretty well.''
More than pretty well.”
So what I am reminded of is the -4 yd. loss to Tomlinson. The play, I remember it clearly, was a fake End Around to the right side of the field, then a screen pass to Tomlinson, hoping that the defense would have bitten at the Fake. First of all, the Jets were prepared because 0.0% of the Jets team bit on the fake, they actually probably saw the play coming like someone had pressed guessed the offenses “Up + A” button like in Tecmo…it was shut down completely. But Revis made a shoestring tackle on LT that was awesome, it was one of those tackles and plays that reminded you that no matter how good you are, how tricky you get, Revis is there.
In the absence of the Patriots (or Chiefs) being in this AFC Championship, I am forced to find something else to really care about, and root for. And that is coming in the form of Darrelle Revis. I really like Peyton Manning and his skill – as a matter of fact, he is probably the NFL player I respect the most, and I would like to see him continue his season of dominance, but that could only be trumped, I think, by a virtuoso defensive performance that only Revis is capable of. In 3 straight weeks he has shut down Ochocinco twice, and then Vincent Jackson, who had a Pro-Bowl season.
But this week is like a made-for-TV movie, when the upstart rag-tag group from out of nowhere has to face the big giant and almighty screwballs. Its like Major League when Wild Thing had to strike out that big dumb Yankee who looked like “Andy” from Pee-Wee’s big Adventure. Revis has to cover Reggie Wayne, who put together ANOTHER fantastic performance last week with some mind bottling (yes, bottling) catches. Revis has to shut him down – he has no choice, he absolutely HAS to shut him down for the Jets to have a shot.
I cannot wait for it, I really can’t, and I think this Jets story really is something, if you can remove yourself from the insanity of being a sports fan for 2 minutes, is completely fascinating and overwhelmingly awesome, ala the 2001-2002 New England Patriots.
I just realized I am the Noam Chomsky of sports fans.
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