Darrelle Revis Amps Up the Patriots Rivalry
By Alan Schechter
December 4, 2011; Landover, MD, USA; New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis (24) stands on the field during warm-ups prior to the Jets game against the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field. The Jets won 34-19. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-US PRESSWIRE
At media day today at Florham Park, Darrelle Revis added fuel to the fire today of the rivalry with New England. Take a look at some of the things he told Manish Mehta of The Daily News. First on calling Belichick a jerk on ESPN:
“I gave my honest opinion,” Revis said. “You guys know me very well. This isn’t the first time me speaking what I need to speak about something. I talked about the Randy Moss stuff… It’s just how I felt. That’s how I feel. I feel that people let him slide when he says his smart remarks (on) certain things. He says comments about us like he never coached here…. He did. That’s just how I felt. So they told me to sum it up. I gave one word. He can take it how he wants. He can say (whatever) he wants to say back.
He respects Belichick, but didn’t like comments made last year:
“I have respect for him. Winning is winning,” Revis said. “But sometimes things are disrespectful. When you say certain comments about the Jets, some stuff is disrespectful. It’s okay to have a rivalry. It’s okay to compete. But when it gets personal, you’re getting disrespectful. I didn’t start this battle. The smart remarks sometimes he says are ignorant. It’s ignorant to this organization.”
On the specific comments:
“I don’t know… Talking about the best defense… they can suck my– … All that stuff. That’s just ignorant. Why go there? You won fair and square. Hey, we shook your hand after the game. We’ll see you in New England or wherever in the playoffs, ok. But when you start saying stuff like that… no… it gets too personal. You don’t have to say that. … Did anybody else say anything like that? No… not from our side. Bart (Scott) said his thing… “Can’t Wait” thing. But he still didn’t disrespect. He just said that they feel like they’re better than us. That’s okay. He didn’t say go suck— go do this or go do that. It’s personal. It’s disrespectful.”
On the fact that his fellow cornerback Antonio Cromartie had choice words regarding Tom Brady:
“Sometimes he do (like that that) on the field,” Revis said. “That’s his personal opinion about him. If that’s how he acts on the field. That’s how he acts. He wants to throw a touchdown and point at our sideline. That’s disrespect, man. That’s not sportsmanship. Now do people say words on the field to each other? Yeah… that’s in between the lines. But then when it’s getting out of hand… Come on, man. Come on. Sportsmanship.”
As if the rivalry needed more fuel. I tell you what, it certainly has it now. Can’t wait to see these teams play in the fall.