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Revis Island may have wandered off the map throughout the summer and all of fall camp, but it has resurfaced. New York Jets fans can breathe a sigh of relief and re-energize their Super Bowl hopes now that Darrelle Revis has ended his holdout and joined the Jets team. Revis admits he’s not sure he’ll be completely ready when he takes the field on Monday against the Baltimore Ravens, but he’s just happy he’ll be on the football field. He’ll be out there going up against Pro Bowl caliber receivers in Anquan Boldin and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. At that point, he’ll be able to say ‘Welcome back to Revis Island.’ Darrelle Revis joined ESPN Radio New York with Brandon Tierney to discuss whether he was truly prepared to sit out the entire season, why he kept quiet throughout the negotiations, missing out on filming the show Hard Knocks, whether he’ll be able to play the entire game on Monday night, if he paid attention throughout the holdout to how fans felt about it, whether he wound up backing away from his demands more than the Jets did theirs and what it was like to hear Rex Ryan say the team could win without him.
On whether he was really prepared to sit out the whole year:
“Yeah, I think I was very prepared to do it, but I knew that it was going to be a tough task to do because I’m a football player and I love to play this game. Being away from it was probably what hurt me most.”
On keeping quiet throughout the negotiations:
“I just think that I was in a situation that I just needed to be careful of what I say. My feelings were boiling and I didn’t want to say nothing inappropriate or the wrong way that could cost me anything or even, I’m still represented by the New York Jets. I’ve still got to represent them and I’m still under contract, so I can’t go off the bad end and start disrespecting the organization and disrespecting myself in the process.”
On missing out on Hard Knocks:
“It was very tough. I watched Hard Knocks on and off. I couldn’t watch it all the time because my feelings would get the best of me. One thing I tried to do was just stay away from Twitter, stay away from reading the newspapers, stay away from the internet, just get all the media stuff off to where I can just focus on working out.”
On whether he’ll be able to play the entire opener:
“I wouldn’t know that answer until I actually play on Monday night. … I know I’m in shape, but football shape is different. I haven’t did camp, I haven’t had contact … I haven’t had the pads on. So in these next couple days, I really need to get in shape with the pads, football shape.”
On whether he paid attention to those who chose sides in the situation:
“I mean it’s kinda tough. You don’t want the fans to get on your bad side, but I just think the fans probably just didn’t understand the business side of it. The reporters, they can report anything, but if you really understand how the business side goes and the negotiations go, they would have a better understanding and know that what I was doing, I was doing for a reason. Not to be greedy or to bring all this limelight or distractions to myself.”
On whether his side compromised more in the negotiations than the Jets:
“You know what, I think both sides, I think I’d say the effort was equal, because there was a lot of stuff going on, a lot of negativity. You know, this person said that, they just said this, the Jets said that. And then I think we just had that last meeting with me and Rex and Woody Johnson and I just think we moved forward. I felt that at that point that we were going to get a deal done because everyone was on the same page.”
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