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Darrelle Revis is still one of NFL's best corners

New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis during a NFL football game against the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015. (Winslow Townson/AP Images for Panini)

When the Jets signed Darrelle Revis this offseason, I wrote a piece saying that the tape showed that Revis was slowing down. While that certainly is true to a certain extent, as we are seeing cracks in his façade that weren’t there in the past, it's also true that he is still one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL.

Revis is now our No. 3 CB on the season, trailing only Carolina's Josh Norman and Arizona's Tyrann Mathieu (who even though he is listed as a safety plays the overwhelming majority of his snaps at CB).

Revis has allowed only 46.5 percent of the passes sent his way to be caught, has surrendered only 253 yards and when targeted is yielding a passer rating of only 44.0. He has yet to be beaten for a pass longer than 33 yards on the season, and has only allowed 20 receptions over eight games.

There is little doubt that he is still one of the league’s best cornerbacks and is a huge asset for a Jets team that would be struggling otherwise on the back end with neither Buster Skrine nor Antonio Cromartie able to muster anything positive in coverage.

Against Jacksonville, Revis posted his best grade of the season, though it may not have looked that way without paying close attention. Revis spent most of his time covering Allen Robinson, who ended the game with six catches for 121 yards on his 11 targets. That would be a pretty big day against any corner, but Revis fared much better individually when matched up with Robinson.

When Revis was the covering defender, Robinson caught only two of the seven passes sent his way, the same number as Revis broke up himself — although Robinson did get him for a 33-yard pass, the longest play surrendered by Revis this season. In total, Robinson caught two passes for 50 yards against Revis, and four for 71 against the rest of the Jets defense.

There is no doubt that Revis is still an excellent player, but one asterisk to his performance this season would be the relative lack of top quarterbacks he has faced. Tom Brady is the only elite passer playing on a hot streak that Revis has faced, and while Revis played well against Brady, he has also been beaten by QBs on some plays that haven't shown up in the stat sheet because the quarterback failed to complete the pass.

The first pass play in the Oakland game saw rookie WR Amari Cooper get Revis on a double move, only for Derek Carr to miss the pass over the top.

Revis may still be slowing down, and Revis Island is not quite the inescapable prospect it once was, but he remains one of the league’s best cornerbacks and a tough prospect for any wideout to face each week. That, at least for the Jets, is probably more than enough.

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