With reports flying around that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could be imploding from within after just two games that both ended in bad losses, Darrelle Revis knew he had to make a gesture to his new head coach Greg Schiano in order to clear the air.
After reports indicated that Revis was upset with Schiano due to the fact that his defensive scheme is to play zone rather than man-to-man, Revis quickly took to Twitter to fend off the rumors Wednesday, and said that he also cleared the air with Schiano face-to-face in his office.
"I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page," Revis told ESPN. "Those things in the paper do get out, rumors here and there. I just wanted to make sure, I wanted to talk to him personally. To say, 'Hey, just to let you know, I don't know if you know or if you believe it or not,' just to make sure he saw me. It's a tough time for this team. We're 0-2 and we don't want any distractions, so we want to focus and prepare for the team at hand each week."
Schiano, who has been the subject of a lot of rumors throughout the NFL lately as reports speculated quarterback Josh Freeman was at odds with him and seeking a trade, thought Revis' attempt to talk it out was nice, albeit unnecessary.
"That was very brief and very nice of him to come up," Schiano told the media Wednesday, according to ESPN. "It wasn't necessary. There's a lot of stuff floating around, I guess, and he said, 'Coach, I just want to set it straight.' It was good to see him but really not necessary. It was good that he came up. It wasn't requested. It was on him."
Revis spent the first six years of his career with the New York Jets before being traded to the Buccaneers last April, and has only played two games with Tampa Bay. He sat out the entire preseason while he recovered from knee surgery to repair a ACL in the Jets'. The last four years of Revis' Jets tenure were under Jets coach Rex Ryan, where Revis was able to play man-to-man instead of zone like under Schiano's system. Revis, 28, recorded 19 interceptions in 79 games with the Jets, and after the rumors of his unhappiness with his new team came out Wednesday, he took to Twitter to defuse them them:
What's going on Buc fans. Just to clear the smoke. I'm happy to be a Buccaneer & I'm happy to be a resident of Tampa. — Darrelle Revis (@Revis24) September 17, 2013
I'm excited for this year & I'm excited about this team as we move forward to prepare each week to get a W!!!
— Darrelle Revis (@Revis24) September 17, 2013
Whatever Schiano is doing on defense, it's working as the Bucs defense has allowed just 34 points through the first two games in the season, good enough for eighth in the league.
Freeman also dispelled rumors of a similar gripe between himself and Schiano on Monday when reports indicated he wanted a trade.
"No, not at all," Freeman said per NFL.com Monday when asked if he's seeking a new home. "Without a doubt I am a Buccaneer and am continuing to prepare and try and go out every week and give my team a chance to win the game."
Tampa Bay has had a rough start to the season with back-to-back tough losses.
First the team had victory snatched away from it in Week 1 when Lavonte David drew a flag after he hit Jets rookie quarterback Geno Smith out of bounds and set up a game-winning field goal by Nick Folk to give Tampa a 17-16 loss. In Week 2, Freeman had a 75-yard touchdown pass to Vincent Jackson wiped out due to an illegal formation penalty on right tackle Demar Dotson. The team ended up dropping the game to the New Orleans Saints 16-13.
The Bucs insist everything is good in their locker room, but getting attempting to start a production turn around win-loss wise this Sunday will be tough against the 2-0 New England Patriots.
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