Chad Ochocinco Challenges Jets Cornerback Darrelle Revis via His Twitter Page
The Ochocinco-Revis matchup might not even be a good sideshow, If the Jets win Sunday night, they will play a first-round game at Cincinnati next weekend. Chad Ochocinco, the blustery Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver, actually spent part of Wednesday comparing his matchup Sunday against Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis to a world championship prizefight. The day got much quieter after that.
Ochocinco even had parts assigned: He would be Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Revis would be Manny Pacquiao. Ochocinco called Revis “Master Lock,” because he is so good at containing receivers, but Ochocinco promised that Sunday’s game at Giants Stadium — a game the Jets need to win to make the playoffs — would be different.
In fact, Ochocinco was looking forward to challenging Revis so much he had already pleaded with Cincinnati Coach Marvin Lewis to play the entire game, even though the Bengals have already secured a playoff berth and their seeding might be determined by kickoff.
“Darrelle Revis couldn’t cover me in a brown paper bag on a corner of a Manhattan street inside a phone booth,” Ochocinco said.
Revis, selected Tuesday to play in his first Pro Bowl, did not respond publicly. He was sick Wednesday, and Jets Coach Rex Ryan sent him home before practice. Revis’s green practice jersey hung on a white plastic hanger in his locker.
Even though the two have gotten into a Twitter battle, Revis probably would not have said that much if he had been around. On Monday, Revis said he would be focused on helping the Jets (8-7) win the game, no matter who plays for Cincinnati (10-5). That sentiment seems to have become the Jets’ anthem this week.
“This ain’t the week to be celebrating New Year’s,” the rookie Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez said Wednesday.
The Ochocinco-Revis matchup might not even be a good sideshow, because Cincinnati would be locked in as the American Football Conference’s fourth seed if New England beats Houston earlier Sunday. If the Jets win Sunday night, they will play a first-round game at Cincinnati next weekend. So the Bengals might not show much, if anything, and Ochocinco could spend much of the game on the bench.
Meanwhile, for the seventh time since 2000, the Jets enter the final day of the regular season without a guarantee of making the playoffs. As wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery said to Jets fans Wednesday: “Just relax. I feel your pain.”
Somewhat predictably, the Jets said they were more capable of playing a good game against the Bengals — no matter who plays — than they were of another effort like the one that doomed them to a 10-7 loss Dec. 20 to Atlanta. It was their only loss in their last five games.
Ryan said Wednesday’s practice was sharp, and guard Alan Faneca said the Jets have become even more attentive to detail than they have been recently. There were few do-overs in practice.
“We won’t lose this game — we won’t lose this game,” Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards said. “I don’t think we can lose this game from our mind-set, from the attitude we have.”
Cornerback Donald Strickland was the only player to miss the Jets’ practice because of an injury — to his quadriceps muscle — and Ryan rested the veteran running backs Thomas Jones and Tony Richardson and limited the repetitions of defensive end Shaun Ellis.
Everything this week, at least so far, has gone according to plan. Ryan quickly deflected a Same Old Jets question: Do you have any feeling on that mentality from the fans?
“I don’t feel that from our fans,” Ryan said. “You know, it’s going to be a cold night and everything else. We got a butt in every seat. Our fans want to see this team win. We expect it of ourselves as well. So I don’t feel any negative thing. If anything, and I said it the day I came here, I think we have good karma here.”
It is not as if Ryan is ignoring the gravity of the game. Sanchez said Ryan had the Jets stand on the sideline of the practice field Wednesday. Those players who had been to the playoffs were asked to step forward, and players who had been there more than once took another step.
Sanchez was surprised at how few of the players had been to the playoffs more than once. It gave him a perspective of what an accomplishment this would be. That was why Sanchez called Cincinnati quarterback Carson Palmer, another product of the University of Southern California, on his birthday Sunday and said, “Hey, man, sit this one out for me.”
But Sanchez said that he would be focused, no matter what. He was in lockstep with his teammates. Even linebacker Bart Scott, who prides himself on his trash-talking ability, declined to swap barbed quips with Ochocinco, saying, “This week’s not about jokes.”
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