Jets weren't prepared for Bills in 2015 regular-season finale, Darrelle Revis says
Sammy Watkins, then of the Buffalo Bills, breaks a tackle by Darrelle Revis of the Jets during the second half at Ralph Wilson Stadium on Jan. 3, 2016. Credit: Getty Images/Brett Carlsen
The hits on Todd Bowles keep on coming, this time from a former Jets great.
Darrelle Revis said the Jets were not ready to play the Bills and took Buffalo lightly in the 2015 regular-season finale when a win would have clinched a playoff spot. The Jets lost 22-17 to their former coach Rex Ryan to finish 10-6 in Bowles’ first season.
“I can probably say no, just knowing the pulse of the team,” Revis said during a radio interview with WFAN’s Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts. “We came out and we felt we had the game already won. You’re dealing with Rex Ryan on the other end, who I know during the whole week of preparation, I know he got his guys, his players revved up to spoil our playoff run.”
Bowles has come under fire after the Jets looked unprepared, unmotivated and as if they took the Bills lightly in a 41-10 loss last Sunday.
Revis never mentioned Bowles, but he said he didn’t have as close of a relationship with him as he did Ryan. That was the explanation Revis, once a great shut-down corner, gave when he was asked if he could have spoken to Bowles beforehand about knowing what Ryan might do or how he would motivate his players. Revis said Ryan and his staff were more player-friendly, and sought out information and opinions from them.
“I don’t know if we had much of a player-coach type of relationship as I did with Rex Ryan and his coaching staff,” Revis said. “Rex Ryan and his coaching staff were amazing in terms of most of the guys played professionally or had a lot, a ton of coaching experience. They wanted you to engage with them about how you felt with them about certain things with the scheme, about the gameplan this week and they would try to put us in the best position to make plays. I think that’s why were so successful under Rex and playing in his defensive scheme.
“Rex would throw something out. If it didn’t work that week for the team we’re preparing for he would just throw it out . . . He was that type of general where we as soldiers we could go out there and execute. He would not frown upon a lot of things because he believed in us.”
Revis was on the downside of his career at the time and struggled trying to limit Bills receiver Sammy Watkins in that game. It was his second go-around with the Jets.
Then-GM John Idzik traded Revis in 2013 after he missed most of the prior season with a torn ACL. Revis said he was “devastated” and felt the organization “didn’t quite have my back.”
The Jets turned one of the picks they got for Revis into Sheldon Richardson, who later became a central figure in the demise of another season. He and receiver Brandon Marshall got into a fight in the locker room after a 2016 loss to the Chiefs. Revis said that “broke” the team. The Jets finished 5-11 in Bowles’ second season as coach.
“That moment in the season, that definitely did destroy the camaraderie in the locker room with guys,” Revis said. “I’ve never been a part of anything like that. As a captain it was devastating. I kind of knew that this was going to be a very long season. There was too many distractions.
“That kind of just broke us, just broke our backbone as a team. We tried to recover. That was an ongoing situation throughout the year. It just never died down.”
Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.
