Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach “almost certain” Darrelle Revis will be ready for Week 1
By Mike Dyce
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers went through a successful offseason upgrading their defense significantly. The big acquistion was former New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis. The cornerback is rehabing an ACL injury but Tamp Bay general manager Mark Dominik told Monday Morning Quarterback’s Peter King that he is “almost certain” Revis will be ready for the season opener.
Revis on the other hand was less optimistic.
“At this time,’’ Revis said. “I can’t tell you. But it is my goal to be ready for the first game, and it’s coming along well.’’
Tampa Bay head coach Greg Schiano said it’s important to get an injured players confidence back up and has had Revis working against a camp receiver on the side.
“I don’t care how great a player you have been,’’ Schiano said. “Confidence is a funny thing. When you’re talking about a guy as good as Darrelle, you don’t think a guy needs to feel confident. But we just got [Pro Bowl guard] Carl Nicks back in live drills [from a serious 2012 toe injury], and he just stoned a defensive guy rushing hard. And you could see the weight of the world lifted off his shoulders. I mean, this is his livelihood. It’s the same with Darrelle. He needs to know he’ll be good when he gets into a game.”
It could be working, Revis told King he is very confident and said that he wasn’t worried about how his knee will react a month from now.
“Not really,’’ he said. “I’m very confident. Very. My mindset is, when they tell me I could cut, I figured it meant I could cut hard on it. I did, and it didn’t hurt and the knee didn’t swell. And I’ve been out there putting pressure on it and it hasn’t hurt. So I feel when I get out there, I’ll be confident I can do everything I need to.”
Revis island could be back as well.
“Coach and I have talked about it,’’ Revis said, “and he’s open to it. It’ll be predicated on the gameplan. But I think you’ll see [me playing on an island] a lot. I might have to dust the cobwebs off, but it’s the way I play best. I’ve said, ‘Coach, this is the way I play best,’ and I think he agrees.”