Revis seeks rebound from rare subpar game

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Mike Pettine shakes his head at times during practice, almost in disbelief at the eye-popping plays Darrelle Revis makes.

"It's scary because that kind of becomes expected," the Jets' defensive coordinator said Thursday. "That's the norm, and when he actually does look like just a regular corner sometimes, people at first get taken aback. It's going to happen. It's the NFL."

Still, few have posted the numbers Stevie Johnson did in his visit to "Revis Island" Sunday in the Jets' 28-24 win. The Bills receiver was thrown to 13 times and caught eight passes for 75 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown.

To understand how unusual that was, take a look at the leaders in burn percentage, which tracks how many completions a targeted defender yields. Even with his struggles against Johnson, Revis has a 35.7 burn percentage since 2009, the best of any cornerback in the league. In 210 targets, he's been burned only 75 times.

"Brett Favre threw interceptions before," Revis said. "So you've got to look at it like you're not going to have a perfect game every time, you are not going to have your best game all the time. I've had horrible games in the past. So you've got to live with the good ones and the bad ones. Looking at the film, was it that bad? It wasn't."

Especially when one has a better understanding of the defensive game plan. The Jets played a lot of "zero coverage," which means Revis was defending his man one-on-one without any safety help. The Jets would rather take their chances on Revis in single coverage and give help on other receivers.

About the only time the Jets didn't use that look was on Johnson's TD. Pettine said Revis was backing off when the ball was snapped because someone else was supposed to take away the slant route. That appears to have been David Harris' responsibility, but the linebacker got caught out of position.

Revis' job mainly was to keep Johnson in front of him, which he did. "When you put a guy in zero coverage with no help, all you can ask for is a guy to be there when the ball is thrown," cornerback Antonio Cromartie said.

"[People] don't even know football. They are thinking, 'Aw, he caught the ball. What is he doing?' No, it's a scheme and what we are running. We know we asked a lot out of Revis with a shifty guy like Stevie Johnson.

"So Revis did a hell of a job doing what he was supposed to do and what he was asked of."

Rex Ryan feels the same way as Cromartie, and hasn't noticed any difference in Revis' demeanor the past few days.

"He's just who he always is, extremely competitive, can't wait, hits the practice field with a purpose every day to get better," Ryan said. "And he's doing the same thing this week."

That might not be a good thing for Redskins quarterback Rex Grossman. Coach Mike Shanahan seems confident Revis will play at a high level Sunday.

"Yeah, I can guarantee you that will happen, because he's done it throughout the year against some excellent players," he said. "He's in a class by himself as far as I'm concerned."

Pettine isn't about to argue.

"You just look at his body of work, it's not even close," Pettine said. "He's the best corner in football."