By just about every measurement, former NFL cornerback Darrelle Revis had an excellent year with the New England Patriots in 2014. He was among the NFL’s top cornerbacks and was named to the Pro Bowl. The Patriots won the Super Bowl, largely because of the team’s impressive secondary, from Revis to Brandon Browner to Malcolm Butler. Revis, however, doesn’t seem to look back fondly upon that year in New England.
During an appearance on the “I Am Athlete” podcast with Brandon Marshall, Chad Johnson, Channing Crowder and Jared Odrick, Revis was asked whether he liked playing for Bill Belichick and the Patriots.
“No,” Revis said. “I did not.”
It wasn’t the type of atmosphere he liked.
“When you deal with the things up there, it’s a little bit strenuous. And nobody likes it in the locker room,” Revis said. “That’s to be honest — nobody. Nobody likes it.”
Though the Patriots went 14-2 with Revis — and, yes, won the Super Bowl — the cornerback said he preferred playing for former New York Jets coach Rex Ryan, who was 53-55 with Revis on the field from 2007-12 and from 2015-16. It seems Revis was willing to stomach mediocrity, so long as he could show up for a more relaxed work environment.
“It’s just two different coaching philosophies. You know, Rex is a little bit more loose. You know, he likes dogs. He wants you to go out there and play hard, run into a wall,” Revis said. “You know, I’m happy for the grind and the hustle of winning Super Bowl 49, but you know, waking up every day and, you know, walking into the facility and having to deal with the tension. You know, you see why they’ve been in 10 Super Bowls, you see the hustle and the grind of it. But at the end of the day, there’s other philosophies to win. And it doesn’t have to be that way. I mean you got 32 teams with 32 coaches. Some are intense, some look at things another way, and there’s different philosophies to win the game.”
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