Revis to Bucs' exec: 'Thanks for letting me leave'
Darrelle Revis' stay with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was short and not-so sweet, playing for the team for just one season. It was also one of his worst seasons, statistically. Granted, he was coming off of a serious injury -- an ACL tear which required microfracture surgery -- and wasn't fully healthy early on.
It's now been revealed in a Sports Illustrated cover story that his injury was far-more serious than originally reported. Revis, who could be considered as somewhat of a superhero in the secondary, compared it to "playing a whole year hampered by Kryptonite." If you're at all familiar with a guy named Superman, you know Kryptonite is the only way to defeat him. That's just how hindered Revis' play was by the injury.
It wasn't just the injury that bothered Revis in Tampa, however. Apparently, he hated his stint with the team. Here's an exerpt from the SI cover story by Greg Bishop, as provided by NJ.com:
"Revis never fit in Tampa. By his own admission his knee wasn't healthy. The Bucs started 0–8. Their Cover-2 defensive scheme meant that Revis blanketed portions of the field more often than he did elite receivers, as had been his forte in New York."
Just how poor of a fit was it? According to the story, Revis once signed a Tampa Bay executive's jersey on his way out, "Thanks for letting me leave."
If that's not enough evidence that the Revis-Bucs experiment was a failure, I don't know what is. Thankfully for Revis, he's found his way back home to the New York Jets where he should once again shine in the defensive backfield.
(h/t True Jersey)
Photo Credit: Kim Klement/USA Today Sports