Reggie Wayne about to check in at Revis Island
Colts receiver Reggie Wayne is looking forward to the "challenge" of facing Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis, who finished second in NFL Defensive Player of the Year voting.
In the first matchup, the Colts pulled their starters in the third quarter and Wayne finished with three catches for 33 yards.
"It was an adventure on Revis Island, I guess," Wayne said, per the Indianapolis Star. "It was fun. One thing about Revis is he's going to challenge you. He's going to make you play your best. That's all you can ask for. I accept that challenge."
With no disrespect intended for Green Bay cornerback Charles Woodson, who won the Defensive Player of the Year award, I believe Revis is the league's best "shutdown corner" (even if New England's Randy Moss takes exception to that phrase).
Revis, who called Moss a "slouch," said: "You got to play 60 minutes if you are going to play against us. You can't sit here and play 45. It doesn't happen like that. You got to compete. That's is what it's about. When you're not competing - come on now. Let's compete. If they score five touchdowns on me, I'm going to give him his respect."
In addition to shutting down Moss (nine catches for 58 yards in two games), Revis shut down several other elite receivers this season.
Revis shut down Houston's Andre Johnson (four catches for 35 yards), Buffalo's Terrell Owens (six catches for 44 yards in two games), Carolina's Steve Smith (one catch for five yards) and Cincinnati's Chad Ochocinco (two catches for 28 yards in two games).
Wayne is one of my favorite receivers in the league. He's as talented of a receiver as there is in the league but he's not a trash-talker and perhaps doesn't get the credit he deserves because of his quiet demeanor.
This season, Wayne finished with 100 receptions for 1,264 yards and 10 touchdowns.
While Revis wasn't exclusively on San Diego's Vincent Jackson last week, he may not cover Wayne exclusively this week.
Earlier in the week, Revis said, "Yeah, my job is going to be tough once again. I'll be moving around on Reggie Wayne and (Pierre) Garcon, and probably a couple other receivers as well."
That said, as Phillip B. Wilson of the Indianapolis Star points out, Revis covered Wayne on all 39 plays in their first matchup.
For the Colts to beat the Jets today, they will likely need for receivers not named Reggie to have solid games today as it's unlikely that Wayne gets much more than 50 yards against Revis.
