Darrelle Revis Proves Players Were Root of New York Jets' Problems

New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis wasn't trying to throw anyone under the bus on Thursday, but he did speak candidly, and his words spoke volumes.

Revis told NFL Network in Thursday's AFC Pro Bowl practice, via the New York Daily News:

"

After the season, we talked. Basically, (Ryan) didn’t know a lot of things that were going on behind the scenes. It was just so much stuff. I’m really not going to get into it because some of the stuff is real deep. But he didn’t know a lot of the things. He wanted people to say things to him. But obviously it didn’t come out. It came out on the field (late in the season).

"

Ryan admitted a few weeks earlier that he wasn't in sync with the locker room this season. But, in this case, that doesn't fall on him.

Yes, generally when a team falls apart it's easy to blame the head coach. He is, after all, in charge with ensuring everyone is on the same page.

But with Revis' words, he proves that Ryan was doing everything he could to listen to the players and hear their concerns. They simply didn't talk to him.

I don't necessarily blame the players. The way Revis described it, it sounded like they had some fairly serious and private stuff going on. Even if they were close to Ryan, some stuff is hard to bring out into the open.

What this does signify, however, is that we should cut Ryan some slack. How can we expect him to do something about a problem if he doesn't even know what it is? It's becoming more and more evident that the Jets' 8-8 record was more a result of mental hurdles than anything.

I think, frankly, Ryan did everything he could to create a positive vibe in the locker room. Heck, he guaranteed they'd win the Super Bowl, for crying out loud. How much more positive can you get?

But the players obviously had deep-seeded issues that should have come out early and didn't until it was too late, exemplified by the rift between receiver Santonio Holmes and quarterback Mark Sanchez and some teammates' quotes about Sanchez that made headlines.

There haven't been many insults thrown Ryan's way this whole time by the players because he wasn't the culprit for their slide. They know this and so should we.

Some problems are out of a coach's control.