Glauber: Use of Revis will tell Jets' fortune

FLORHAM PARK, N.J.

Under normal circumstances, the Jets' instructions to Darrelle Revis are simple: Wherever the opponent's best receiver goes, that's where you go.

It's the strategy that helped turn the Jets' defense last year from better-than-average to simply the best, and helped Revis turn into the game's top cornerback. But these are no longer normal circumstances for the Jets' best defender.

Because of his extended training camp holdout, which didn't end until a week before Monday night's opener, coach Rex Ryan had a decision to make: Does he have Revis shadow the Ravens' top receiving threat, Anquan Boldin? Or does he keep Revis at the left cornerback position and have him cover whomever lines up across from him to keep Revis from getting too worn out?

Ryan opted for the latter, and it led to some unfortunate consequences. With the Ravens often lining Boldin up over rookie nickel back Kyle Wilson or right cornerback Antonio Cromartie, the Ravens' passing offense was far more effective than the Jets would have liked.

Despite the Ravens rushing for only 49 yards on 35 carries, quarterback Joe Flacco was able to lead the way in a 10-9 win by throwing for 248 yards. Boldin was targeted 10 times by Flacco and wound up with seven catches for 110 yards, with most of that production against Cromartie and Wilson.

The Ravens overwhelmed the Jets in time of possession, 38:32 to 21:28. A lot of that had to do with the Jets' inability to convert third downs - they were 1-for-11 - but it also had to do with Baltimore's excellence on third downs. Of their 19 third-down attempts, they converted 11 (58 percent). Anything over 40 percent is considered good.

Tuesday afternoon, Ryan was second-guessing himself over the strategy.

"It was my decision to keep him on the left side, because I thought we could save some running for him going back and forth," Ryan said. "I wanted to take that away from him because he only had the [one] week of practice."

Ryan's take? "Hindsight being what it is, we probably should have matched him on Boldin," Ryan said. "Obviously, with the day Boldin had, it's easy to question that."

Revis was targeted early, fared well and was avoided for most of the rest of the game.

"I figured that they were going to come at me," Revis said. "They tried to a couple of times, but nothing happened."

As it turned out, he mostly watched as the rest of the secondary was burned. Cromartie made a dazzling interception in the second quarter, but the Jets' newly acquired cornerback was also guilty of a combination of penalties and poor coverage.

Ryan knows what Cromartie must do: be more physical with his opposing receiver by applying a more forceful jam at the line of scrimmage.

"With his style of play, you've got to be aggressive at the line of scrimmage and get your hands on the receivers, reroute them and then let your athleticism take over," Ryan said.

The task doesn't get any easier Sunday as the Jets host the Patriots, who are coming off a 38-24 win over the Bengals.

The plan is to have Revis shadow the explosive Randy Moss everywhere he goes.

"Yeah, you can go ahead and put that in there," Ryan said when asked about whether Revis will cover Moss exclusively. "He's the only guy in the league you can do that with. That's why we're so fortunate we have this guy."

Ryan expects Revis will be on top of his game.

"The guy's got great ability, and I think he'll be great from here on out," Ryan said.

The Jets had better hope so.