Glauber: Hard-hitting Rex helped execute a nice return

FLORHAM PARK, N.J.

Rex Ryan did his best to pooh-pooh the notion that his impromptu weekend visit to Darrelle Revis in South Florida was a turning point in the negotiations that ultimately resulted in the end to his 36-day holdout.

"I understand people are trying to give me way more credit than I deserve," Ryan said Monday afternoon, just moments before Revis signed a four-year, $46-million contract extension.

But how can you argue the results: After more than a month of one of the longest and most acrimonious holdouts in team history, Revis agreed to a new deal only a day after Ryan and team owner Woody Johnson pleaded their case to the 25-year-old All-Pro cornerback.

Might a deal have been struck even without Ryan's visit? Perhaps. But I've got a hunch the move turned out to be a huge factor in the tide turning in the talks, and that it was no coincidence that the deal was done around midnight the following day.

"I think them coming down was a breakthrough, because I hadn't seen them," Revis said. "When they came down, that was a big step in this whole situation."

It was a brilliant move on the Jets' part, a decision that was made collectively by the negotiating team headed by general manager Mike Tannenbaum. With Tannenbaum and Revis' agents, Neil Schwartz and Jonathan Feinsod, at loggerheads during the difficult negotiations, it was a terrific idea to change the dynamic by having a coach in whom Revis believes implicitly, and an owner who had never before sat down for any length of time to talk things over with the cornerback.

"Whatever Rex says, it will get you a little hyper," Revis said. "He's a passionate guy, always talking positive and always talking about the team. When I met Woody down there, it was good, because I had never sat down with him on a one-on-one basis."

Both Ryan and Johnson said they felt better about a deal getting done after their three-hour session, which included Revis' mother, Diana Gilbert, and his uncle, former Redskins defensive end Sean Gilbert. It did not make matters any easier knowing that Gilbert once held out an entire season with the Redskins before being traded to Carolina.

"I don't think I made any arguments. Sean is too big to argue with," Ryan quipped. "I looked at him like, 'I don't think I can take him.' It was just good. I think they realized how we felt, and we felt good about how they felt. We just came together and it looked like there was a chance."

Talks between the agents and Tannenbaum's negotiating team, which now included Ryan, heated up Sunday during a conference call at the Jets' training headquarters. Still no deal. In fact, at one point, Ryan was so frustrated with the lack of progress that he berated everyone involved in the discussion. He screamed at the agents; he screamed at the Jets' officials.

He then walked out of the meeting.

"I was just a little like, 'Come on,' " Ryan said. "I wanted it to happen."

By 11 p.m., Tannenbaum and the agents had reached enough common ground, and soon the deal was done.

Ryan says he's now out of the negotiating business.

"I would say that's definitely not a strength, and this would be the last time I ever get involved," he said. "I think it'd be the last time I was ever invited."

Then again, maybe Ryan's outburst helped the negotiations along. After all, it wasn't long after he blew a gasket that the deal was done.

And now the coach and the player get to move on and deal with the task at hand: preparing for Monday night's season opener against the Ravens. Ryan has his prized cornerback in the lineup, and all seems right again after a bruising and uncertain negotiation.

"I do think we may play Revis," Ryan cracked. "I think he might need to practice for several weeks before we play him, but don't be shocked if he's out there. In other words, he's definitely playing."

How much?

Said Ryan, "I don't see him coming off the field."

Words to live by for the coach who just may have saved his season with an unscheduled trip to Florida on Saturday and an unscripted shouting match in New Jersey on Sunday.