Bowles Discusses Revis' Return And Gang Green's Penalty Issues
By Abraham Gutierrez
For the past two weeks, the New York Jets have been able to string together consecutive wins, despite not having their best defensive player on the field. However, as the regular season nears its conclusion and Gang Green continues its playoff push, every Jets fan wants to know when perennial Pro Bowl cornerback Darrelle Revis will return to the field.
Revis, who suffered a concussion in the Jets 17-24 loss to the Houston Texans in Week 11, hasn't been able to play or practice, as he continues to try and hurdle the NFL's protocol. As the leader of one of the NFL's top defenses continues to work towards his return from injury, media outlets have been on Revis' watch for almost three weeks now.
With the Tennessee Titans and their rookie quarterback Marcus Mariota ready to invade MetLife Stadium Sunday afternoon, Jets head coach Todd Bowles couldn't avoid answering questions regarding the status of his six-time Pro Bowl defensive back.
"Darrelle [Revis], he comes in, he does light workouts. He's still working his way back, but he is feeling a lot better," Bowles said following Wednesday's team practices. "It was encouraging that he was able to attend the game and he's moving around a little better. We'll see how he feels later in the week."
Gang Green is ready for Marcus Mariota
As far as facing Mariota – who comes into Week 14 with 2512 yards, 19 touchdowns, and only nine interceptions – for the first time this season goes, Bowles and the Jets are no strangers to the potential that the 22-year-old from Honolulu, Hawaii, possesses.
In fact, Gang Green was able to get a good luck at Mariota prior to this year's NFL draft, as they scouted him very closely, and even traveled to Oregon for some private workouts with the former Duck.
Needless to say that what they saw was nothing short of extraordinary. However, the Jets never had a chance to pick him up, as the Titans snatched him with the second overall pick while the Jets were stuck with the sixth selection on the draft.
"He's as good as advertised," Bowles said about Mariota. "I went to work him out last year. He was a talent. He's very smart. We know he can run. Obviously, he can throw in the pocket like people said he couldn't, but he can throw in the pocket. He can do a lot of things. He's dangerous. It's going to be one of those ballgames."
It's going to be interesting to see if Revis is able to practice this week, as it would increase the possibility of seeing him on the field for the first time in almost three weeks. In addition, it's no secret that every NFL fan would love to see how the matchup between Mariota and "Revis Island" would play out.
For Bowles, however, he's more concerned about minimizing the amount of penalties his team commits. Even though they are facing a 3-9 Tennessee team, repeating some of the mistakes made in last week's game against the Giants could make things more interesting than they need to be.
"We've got to clean them up," Bowles said after his bunch committed eight penalties that led to 61 negative yards in Week 13. "A lot of them were hothead penalties that we can't have. Going forward, if we want to win ballgames and be consistent, we can't have those types of penalties. It's been a while since they flared up, but they flared up [Sunday]."
Abe Gutierrez's (Twitter: @GutierrezAbe) passion led him to ditch law school journey in order to launch his own publishing company. His expertise make him a valued addition to Examiner.com, AXS.com and the CBS-Sports family. Some of his work can be found on CBS-Miami (Dolphins), CBS-LosAngeles (Chargers), CBS-BayArea (Raiders), CBS-NewYork (NY Jets), CBS-TampaBay (Buccaneers), AXS.com, Examiner.com and other online publications.
