REVISionist History

It's sad that this was Darrelle Revis's last moment in a Jets uniform. Carted off the field Week 3 in Miami after tearing his ACL on a non-contact play on a grass field.

How would the Jets season have played out if Revis's season wasn't prematurely finished? Would Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow have become BFFs? Would the Jets have made the playoffs? The Super Bowl? Would Darrelle Revis still be a Jet?

Too bad injuries are a big part of the game, and there are no "ifs" in football. It's a business, and the Jets made a business decision in the trade of Revis to Tampa.

As a fan, it's very hard to say goodbye. I've watched the Jets my whole life and there are only two players in franchise history who could be considered the best player in the league at their position. First was Joe Klecko, and now Revis, whose consistently excellent play was so far removed from anything Jets fans have grown to expect.

But I am an educated fan, a realist. The $16M a year Revis was expecting, coming off knee surgery, was exorbitant. He may have earned the right to name his figure, but the Jets can look at the spreadsheet and see they can pay 6 quality starters in 2014 instead. Even deposed GM Mike Tannenbaum knows that.

And did anyone see teams lined up around the block to try to acquire the NFL's best cornerback? No, they all have businesses to run too. Except for the Buccaneers. And more power to them. Maybe Revis is their missing piece, and he's an elite player, a proven quantity.

The Jets got the #13 pick in the draft in return, and the rebuilding begins again. But six years ago, the Jets took Revis with the 14th pick so not all hope is lost. What is lost is the opportunity to watch a master craftsman at his profession, a player that never disappointed you on arguably the most disappointing team in professional sports. OK now, back to business.

He Wouldn't Do This To Us, Would He?

Woody Johnson took over ownership of the Jets in 2000. Since that time, on paper, the Jets haven't been too bad with 6 playoff appearances in 13 seasons.

But it's the way that he's done business that has perplexed and disenfranchised the most loyal and hard-suffering fan base. Now there's talk floating about a possible trade of Darrelle Revis, perhaps the best player ever to put on a Jets uniform.

You know Robert "Woody" Johnson IV, a real American success story. He is of course an heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, and has been a major bundler for Mitt Romney and the GOP.

As CEO of a private investment firm, he like Romney hovered above the clouds in the business world, unable to relate to the human element of either those whom he employs or those who have been consuming the product he now owns. He is a multi-billionaire who sees only a bottom line: how to maximize value while slashing costs.

If that means bringing in a relatively inexpensive player like Tim Tebow for a temporary spike in merchandising, bring it on. Nothing against Tebow - I don't love him or hate him. But it didn't matter that the coach didn't want him or his presence wrecked team chemistry.

Then Johnson blamed the Tebow acquisition on recently-fired GM Mike Tannenbaum, who said that Tannenbaum "forced" Tebow on him.

Now Johnson has "no comment" on the Revis trade rumors. The plans to jettison the team's best player (ever) have almost everything to do with his pricetag, and maybe just a little bit to do with his 2010 contract holdout.

The new GM, John Idzik, just came on board so what is he supposed to say? Rex Ryan could stand up for Revis, but he's living on borrowed time with one year to save his job. Rex seems like a principled guy who would go down with the ship, so how could he leave Revis twisting in the wind?

My theory is that it's not just Ryan's job that's on the line here. Woody Johnson has the means and the political playbook to ruin Rex Ryan if he doesn't play ball. What if the info unearthed on Rex and his wife a couple of years back was just a sample? Do you still think Rex would go down with the ship at the cost of his family?

Woody Johnson is going to get his way, and nobody is going to get in the way. Certainly not Revis, Ryan, or those pesky unimportant Jet fans. Bill Parcells read the writing on the wall once Leon Hess put the Jets up for sale in 1999. He resigned. The heir apparent, Bill Belichick, also resigned. He found an owner that was on the same page, and the rest is history.

We see how successful a football team can be when everyone's on the same page. The Jets are all over the map. And it all starts at the top.

The Costliest Win

Only in football: the best player on the field, maybe the best player in the league gets no action. It's lonely on Revis Island, but a top corner takes away a top offensive weapon and takes away a quadrant of the field. It allows a defensive-minded coach like Rex Ryan to construct an entire defensive scheme around him.

In the most violent sport, Darrelle Revis got the dreaded not-contact knee injury yesterday, which makes every pretense of being a torn ACL. Like when you saw Mariano Rivera's knee buckle shagging flies in batting practice, you know how that wound up.

So that obviously hangs over the Jets' overtime victory in Miami yesterday. But there are only 16 games in a season and every win counts. The Jets looked terrible, but they're 2-1.

The offense was stymied. The "ground & pound" run game hasn't materialized yet this season: 88 rush yards for the game, and 22 of those were in OT. That means you're relying on Mark Sanchez, which is a risky proposition.

Sanchez can look great when he has time and timing, but he is prone to horrific mistakes. The ledger sheet tilts to the positive (how can it not with 4 road playoff wins?) but sometimes you have to watch through your fingers which are gripping your face.

The defense wasn't good either, though they were missing Revis for most of the second half. They gave up 185 rush yards, allowed an 80-yard TD drive in the 3rd quarter, and let rookie QB Ryan Tannehill take the Dolphins right down the field for the tying field goal at the end of regulation.

The difference was special teams. Kicker Nick Folk made all 3 attempts. He's 6-for-6 on the year, and has been quietly reliable for 3 years now. Punter Robert Malone had 6 punts for 45.7 and dropped 4 inside the 20.

Mike Westhoff's unit also managed to establish Tim Tebow, running him from punt formation for 5 yards on a 4th & 3 on their own 25. A ballsy call that led to a Field Goal.

The game ball goes to Jeremy Kerley, who had 3 nice punt returns, a 66-yard catch & run, and the go-ahead TD reception with 3:01 left in regulation.

And despite the uneven performance, offensive coordinator Tony Sparano gets to look himself in the mirror knowing he is 1-0 against the team that fired him.

Where the Jets go from here is anyone's guess. It truly is one game at a time as the overall gameplan may have to change significantly without #24.

The Breakout Star of Hard Knocks: Mike T

My new favorite Jet doesn't wear a number, but he sure can crunch them.

The 4th episode of HBO's Hard Knocks 2010 featuring the New York Jets may have been the most ground-breaking hour in the history of reality television. The training camp football behind-the-scenes of who makes the team and who gets cut, and the big personalities - are always eye-catching. But it's the candid contract negotiations headed up by GM Mike Tannenbaum that yields unprecedented access.

When Mike T gave 3rd string QB Kellen Clemens a calculated business offer to take it or leave it, that's when I hit the rewind button and watched the same scene several times in a row. Did that just happen? Was that on television?

Did an NFL quarterback have to decide his own future right there on the spot? No, but pretty damn soon. And a man who started 9 games at QB for the Jets in the last 3 years took the minimum salary to stay with the team. Hey, at least it's guaranteed.

And the cut-throat decision-making involving veteran team leaders WR Laveranues Coles and FB Tony Richardson were handled with tact and a personal touch.

And there was the outright lambasting of ESPN's Tim Cowlishaw who reported that holdout all-everything CB Darrelle Revis' arrival at Jets camp was imminent, which of course was a fallacy.

And is it any wonder that after an episode that showcased how Mike T and the Jets do business, that Team Revis ended their holdout and came to camp at a much lower number than they were floating?

Mike T handled players' coach Rex Ryan the same way with the same incisive, clinical thinking he operated with players and their agents.

That's the side of football that isn't reflected in a Fantasy Football draft or a 3-hour TV broadcast, the complicated and fascinating business side. And the business of Jets football is in great hands.

Hard Knocks Ready To Take Off

It's T-minus one week to the Season Premiere of HBO's Hard Knocks, and I can't remember a higher-profile training camp than the beloved New York Jets, bunking in Cortland, NY in August 2010.

There are plenty of reasons that GM Mike Tannenbaum and Head Coach Rex Ryan should be looking up. But the real hard knocks have begun already with the holdout of Darrelle Revis.

Clearly the Jets brain trust anticipated this situation with their all-world corner, and signed an accomplished cover guy Antonio Cromartie from SD (10 picks in '07) and drafted a major playmaking corner in Kyle Wilson from Boise.

Rex Ryan's attack defense requires outside guys to take care of their island while he throws everyone else at the quarterback. The Jets may be set up there with or without Revis. So the Jets actually have some measure of leverage against the NFL's king of coverage.

From Revis' standpoint, he is living off the 6-year, 30-million dollar deal he got as a 1st round pick in '07. The one player in the League that is equal or better than Revis at his position, the Raiders' Nnamdi Asonugha, got a 3-year, 45.3 million extension in March of '09.

Whether or not the Raiders overpaid for the #1 ranked player in Madden 2010 is a matter of historical debate. But Revis feels he's entitled to that sort of deal, and that has been backed up by the Jets' brass, who said last year that he'd be taken care of.

While the Revis situation has vaulted to the #1 headline in an August that will be filled with them, HBO will still have plenty to enjoy.

> Rex Ryan: Year 2

> Mark Sanchez: Year 2

> LaDainian Tomlinson: Career 2

> Kris Jenkins return from torn ACL

> Moving Targets up top: Braylon Edwards and Santonio Holmes

> Pass rusher Jason Taylor: Can he still bring it?

> Pass rusher Vernon Gholston: Can he ever bring it?

Plus there's hard news: QB Erik Ainge has checked into rehab for drug dependency. And there's the collateral tabloid damage that's developing from the Jets situation with Brett Favre in 2008.

Most importantly it's the Jets' most anticipated season maybe ever. Let's hope it doesn't peak on pay cable.

Attention Tannenbaum, Jets: Don't Sweat, Turn the Corner

I know the last week has been busy. I know there's no QB. That isn't exactly a new problem. I can remember as far back as December of '08 when that was an issue.

But the NFL's most important position has become so much right place, right time, right system. Two rookies led their teams to the playoffs, one to a conference championship game. An undrafted World League/Arena afterthought just took his team to the SuperBowl for the 3rd time. And, need I invoke the draft position of Tom Brady or does everyone already know it?

Finding a veteran top-notch cover corner, someone to put opposite 23-year old phenom Darrelle Revis is much more crucial. You think there are any guys like that out there? Ya think? You think one may have played all 10 of his NFL seasons on Rex Ryan's defense?

Chris McAlister has been (justifiably) overshadowed for years on a defense that has featured Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and Terrell Suggs. But a lot of those guys are free to make plays because McAlister has had one side of the field under wraps.

McAlister was a 3-way threat as a collegian at Arizona, and carried that to the pros with 7 career TDs, 3 Pro Bowls , and even an INT in the Super Bowl. He has had injury concerns in recent years, but that doesn't top the list of the 8 million reasons Baltimore cut him.

So Mike Tannenbaum, pick up the phone and get this corner off the market.