Andre Johnson, first wide receiver deserted on 'Revis Island' gets second shot at Darrelle Revis

His nickname, his brand and his new identity hadn't come to light yet. Darrelle Revis didn't grasp the magnitude of it all when he turned Texans star Andre Johnson into the first captive of Revis Island in last season's opener. The Jets cornerback held arguably the league's best wide receiver to four catches for 35 yards, turning him into an afterthought in Rex Ryan's first win.

Johnson soon had plenty of company as Revis routinely marginalized one star wideout after another in a season for the ages that helped him land a four-year, $46 million contract extension.

Despite that eye-opening performance, Revis maintains he never sensed the magical season he was about to have.

"You don't think about things like that," Revis told the Daily News. "You try to focus on your job and compete."

But his coaches knew.

"Sometimes in games like that, you don't realize it until it's over," defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said. "In the locker room, you walk up to Revis and say, 'Did Andre Johnson even play today?'"

When Johnson gets another crack at Revis on Sunday, will he be facing the same dominating presence that shut him down a year ago?

After a nagging hamstring injury forced Revis to miss 2-1/2 games, the staple of Ryan's defense appears to be returning to his old self. According to profootballfocus.com, quarterbacks have thrown less into Revis' coverage this season. Excluding last Sunday's Browns game, opponents had thrown at Revis 4.9 times per game, which was down from 6.7 last season.

A Daily News game tape review of the OT win in Cleveland revealed that Colt McCoy threw into Revis' coverage just three times.

Although quarterbacks are roughly completing the same percentage of passes against Revis (37.8% in 2009 and 37.5% this year), the Jets cornerback has given up bigger plays than he did during his dominating 2009 campaign. His average yards per catch allowed has jumped from 10.5 to 18.8, according to ProFootballFocus. On a per-game basis, he's on pace to match his 27 pass breakups from a year ago. In a bottom line business, Revis has given up three touchdowns this season after surrendering just two in 2009.

Revis, of course, has looked much more like his dominating self since the Jets' bye week. The two-time Pro Bowler has allowed just four catches for 54 yards in the past three games, which included shutting down Calvin Johnson two weeks ago and handling Greg Jennings in the second half three weeks ago.

Click here to order Andre Johnson’s proCane Rookie Card.



(nydailynews.com)