Jets' Revis says he'll play despite tight hamstring
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. - Rex Ryan started things off the way he typically does, reading off the names of players on the Jets' league-mandated injury report.
Just before he got to the second name on the list, he coughed because he really did have to clear his throat. But he took the opportunity to create a little drama as only he can.
"This next one has me a bit choked up," Ryan cracked.
Ryan rattled off Darrelle Revis' name, mentioning how the All-Pro cornerback was limited in yesterday's practice because of tightness in his left hamstring. Thursday was the first time Revis complained about the injury, and the Jets are being cautious with him.
Revis said it's no big deal, however, and that he'll still be able to face Randy Moss and the Patriots.
"I think I'm 100 percent," he said. "It's just tightness, just taking care of it. If I feel something, I just tell the guys and they'll do the best thing for me to make sure I'll be out on the field on Sunday."
He added: "It's not anything that serious to where I will not be playing on Sunday."
Revis felt the tightness about midway through a practice of more than two hours. He stayed in for a few more plays before sitting out the two-minute drills. By holding out for 36 days and missing all of training camp before getting a four-year, $46-million deal, there was always the risk of an injury because he wasn't in football shape.
"It could be a training camp thing because I wasn't there," Revis said. "But I was working out. It wasn't like I was sitting out being a couch potato. My teammates have had a month of organized football, two-a-days, one-a-days of hard football. I haven't been doing that. So I probably would say, yeah, that's why there's a little bit of tightness because I'm still trying to get my football legs under me."
Revis plans to continue utilizing the hot and cold tubs to help keep his legs refreshed, and add other methods of treatment if need be. It's the second time he's had a hamstring injury in the past 13 months.
Revis pulled his right hamstring early on during the Jets' 2009 training camp in Cortland and missed a couple of weeks of action.
"You can't control injuries in football," Revis said. "Yeah, I was in training camp for I think two weeks before I pulled my hamstring last year. If it happens, it happens. You've just got to take care of it the best way you can. But I'm always just trying to stay working out. You might turn a certain way - 90 degrees this way, 60 the other way - and you might tweak something, or something might pull or you might break something.
"You can't control those situations."
Ryan thinks it's best to be safe. "I'm not overly concerned right now," the coach said, "but anytime it's a hamstring, you get a little nervous."
So with Revis' tightness, does that mean Ryan will abandon his plan of having Revis shadow Moss, figuring it might be imprudent to have Revis chasing Moss all over the field?
"No, I think the league is going to make us put him on Moss, wherever Moss is," Ryan said. "We've already made those statements."
That's fine with Revis, who said he had a similar injury in college at Pittsburgh and that there wasn't much of a drop-off.
"It didn't impact it all," he said. "I played very well. I think it's just toughness. You've got to have toughness. You don't want to hurt the team in any way. If the situation is that severe, I will sit out. But it's not, and I'll be out there."
