Darrelle Revis Is Playing at Another Level and Taking the Jets with Him

If you truly want to know who Darrelle Revis is, how stupendously skilled he is, how historic he is, how he is a generational defensive player like Lawrence Taylor or Reggie White, you need to look back to the year 1994.

That season, Deion Sanders had what I think is the greatest season any defensive back has ever had. He returned three interceptions for touchdowns and had a total of 303 return yards—both NFL records at the time. He was the first player in league history to return two picks for at least 90 yards. He also had an interception in the Super Bowl and was named the Defensive Player of the Year.

No defensive back played at that high of a level before then. None have since. Some of you will say he didn't tackle. Doesn't matter. Sanders shut down entire halves of the field. He was a human no-fly zone.

I never thought I'd ever see another defensive back who had an impact on the game the way Sanders did at that point in his career...until Revis.

Sanders was a generational defensive back. It took a generation of NFL players coming and going—including great ones, like Darrell Green and Charles Woodson—for a player that good at that position to come along again. It took Darelle Revis coming along and becoming the second-best cornerback ever.

This take is not hot. It's sensible and backed by years of track record.

AJ Mast/Associated Press

Game in and out, year after year, Revis takes on the opponent's best receiver, one-on-one, and shuts him down. But that's not it. There have been other shutdown defensive backs. What Revis also does—and this is what truly makes him Deion-like—is he transforms defenses almost single-handedly and almost overnight.

The impact isn't just felt when he's with a team. It's there when he leaves one. The Boston Herald's Jeff Howe looked at the Patriots with Revis and without him, and the difference is staggering. When Revis was with the Patriots last year, the newspaper reports, quarterbacks targeting him were 36-of-82 (43.9 percent) for 548 yards with four touchdowns and five interceptions (three for him and two deflected passes by Revis that were picked off by teammates). Quarterbacks going after Revis had a paltry 57.4 passer rating in 19 games.

Revis was replaced by Malcolm Butler. Quarterbacks targeting Butler this year have a 119.6 rating.

Revis doesn't have Sanders' speed. Few players ever did. NFL Films voted Sanders the third-fastest player of all time. Revis has everything else, though. The smarts. The skill. The work ethic.

The metric I'm using most is impact. It's slightly vague, sure. But it's what separates Revis from everyone short of Sanders—from Rod Woodson, Willie Brown, Charles Woodson, Darrell Green, Mike Haynes, Lester Hayes, Mel Blount, Night Train Lane, etc.

Wherever Revis goes, that defense becomes something markedly better. The Jets. The Patriots. Even Tampa, where many careers have gone to die.

It's no coincidence that in his first year back with the the Jets, they enter Sunday's game against the Patriots first in total defense, scoring defense and, according to teamrankings.com, red-zone defense.

The Jets have allowed zero third-quarter points this season. Zilch. Nothing. So much of that is Revis. Not all of it, of course. But so much of it.

Revis is exactly like Sanders in that he's almost flawless in singularly taking away your best receiving option, freeing up resources to attack other fronts. Revis uses a combination of speed, guile and intellect. Average corners have one of these qualities. Good ones have two. The special ones have all three, and you can count the special ones on a hand or two. In history.

When Revis was with the Patriots last season, he energized the entire franchise, and I'm told the battles between Revis and Tom Brady were spirited, with lots of chatter back and forth.

Brady said at his weekly press conference:

"

Yeah, there was a lot of competition in practice last year with him and he makes it tough. ...

His instincts are incredible out there. He's one of those guys who sees everything on the field. He sees the formations and routes and splits and anything pre-snap that can help him get an idea of whether the ball is coming his way or if it's going the other or if it's a run or pass or deep throw or short throw. He's a very dependable, consistent player.

He's been an incredible playmaker since he's been in the league. He covers the top guys every week. I got a firsthand look at that last year every day in practice, and it was great to have him play a part here, but he moved on, so now he's our competition again.

"

Sanders played his best football for the Falcons, 49ers and Cowboys. The last two are great, eternal franchises, and in fact, when Sanders was with the 49ers, he played with the best secondary in league history: Sanders, cornerback Eric Davis, free safety Merton Hanks and strong safety Tim McDonald.

Sanders joined teams that already had great talent. Revis did play for the dynastic Patriots, but he was also able to help transform usually putrid franchises like the Bucs and Jets. He played for the franchise when Mark Sanchez was quarterback and still made it to two straight title games. It would be shocking if the Jets don't make the postseason this year despite having journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback.

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

Revis is a mercenary. Fine. So what? 'Bout that action, boss. He gets paid and he's great. America the Beautiful.

What will hurt the Jets' chances in beating New England is New York's offense. A rising Revis lifts all boats, but he can't play quarterback. I don't see Fitzpatrick beating Bill Belichick.

Yet if there's anyone who can change that equation, it's Revis. It's what Sanders would have done.

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report.