Darrelle Revis rode into Jets camp Monday to a mock chorus of "Rudy-Rudy-Rudy" and his fair share of the ribbing that passes for male bonding.

 

Kind of reminded us of the last time a long lost New Yorker returned to the Big Apple. "We tease him a lot 'cause we got him on the spot; welcome back, welcome back, welcome back."

 

 

 

Of course, $32 million in guaranteed money is a nice spot in which to be stuck, Mr. Revis.

 

In any instance, the Revis signing instantly changes the complexion of the 2010 season. We were ready to pencil in the Patriots as the team to beat – again – in the AFC East. New England still has a Hall of Fame quarterback and has won or shared the division title a record nine straight seasons.

 

You don't just toss out that kind of track record – especially when the main challenger was 9-7 last year, was dominated in every phase of the game in its last contest and comes to the new season without its best player.

 

But now that Revis is back, the AFC East race looks a whole lot different.  In fact, we may be the last ones on board the 2010 Jets bandwagon. We hear they still need a good washtub bass player.

 

As we stated on WEEI in Boston Monday, Revis is the best defender in football and the main reason the Jets dominated most major defensive indicators in 2009 – including, most importantly, key Quality Stats.

 

Here's a quick recap of how the Jets fared defensively last year:

 

No. 1 – N.Y. Jets – 58.84

No. 2 – Buffalo – 61.15

No. 3 – New Orleans – 68.58

No. 1 – N.Y. Jets – 5.4 YPA

No. 2 – Buffalo – 6.0 YPA

No. 3 – Indianapolis – 6.2 YPA

 

No. 1 – N.Y. Jets – 153.7 YPG

No. 2 – Buffalo – 184.2 YPG

No. 3 – Denver – 186.3 YPG

 

No. 1 – N.Y. Jets – 252.3 YPG

No. 2 – Green Bay – 284.4 YPG

No. 3 – Baltimore – 300.5 YPG

 

No. 1 – N.Y. Jets – 14.8 PPG

No. 2 – Dallas – 15.6 PPG

No. 3 – Baltimore – 16.3 PPG

 

That's a whole lot of domination.  By the end of the 2009 season the football world knew – or at least accepted – that Revis was largely responsible for that success, shutting down one big-name receiver after another all year along.

 

ESPN, of all places, summed up his effort best with this stat: The Jets held their opponents' No. 1 receiver last year to a meager average of 29.4 yards per game – well ahead of the No. 2 Chargers (47.5 YPG).

 

That's a gaping chasm between the two top teams in that indicator, and Revis is largely to credit. He's the one he drew coverage on New York's top receiving opponent each week.

 

More importantly for the purposes of finally getting past the Patriots, Revis was phenomenal in his two games against New England in 2009. The Jets and Patriots split their two meetings and New England's top receiving weapon, future Hall of Famer Randy Moss, was a virtual non-factor. He was held to nine catches for 58 yards and one TD in the two games.

 

The Jets out-toughed the Patriots in the first meeting in Week 2, winning 16-9 at the Meadowlands, while holding the Patriots out of the end zone.

 

The Patriots rebounded in Week 11, dominating the Jets in New England, 31-14, and establishing that they were still the team to beat in the AFC East.

 

It's that second meeting, not to mention the defenseless 30-17 beat-down the Jets suffered in the AFC title game against the Colts, that kept us from jumping on the very crowded Gang Green bandwagon here in this summer of Greatest Expectations. In their last two games against the long-standing AFC powers Indy and New England, New York was blown out by a combined 61-31.

 

The difference in the two Patriots meetings is evidence by the difference in production of New England quarterback Tom Brady.

 

 

Overall, the numbers were subpar by Brady's standards. The Jets shut him down in their first meeting; and even in his best outing, Brady connected on just one touchdown (to big-strike batterymate Moss). But clearly, a huge difference in every major indicator between the Week 2 game and the Week 11 game.

 

What was the difference in those two games? A quick look at the rosters for each outing reveals the difference pretty quickly: Patriots pass-catching machine Wes Welker did not play in the first meeting. He did play in the second meeting.

 

That's no small difference during a year in which he hauled in 123 passes, tied for the second most in history.

 

The New England offense was virtually helpless in the first game, with Revis able to take Moss out of the game. With Welker back in the line-up, the Patriots rolled to a 31-14 victory, scoring 24 offensive points and dominating the most important indicators: passing yards (299 to 122), total yards (410 to 226); turnovers (5 to 1); and, of course, score.

 

Overall, the Patriots were two games better in 2009; but the Jets went two games deeper in the playoffs. 

 

So maybe it is time for a changing of the guard. The Patriots have their fair share of problems, as we've noted long before any other outlets. Their former genius coach can't draft defenders; and he hasn't fielded a shutdown pass defense, once his hallmark, since 2004.

 

But the Gang Green shouldn't book their Super Bowl tickets just yet.  

 

The way we see it, all parties have something to prove in 2010.

And Darrelle Revis needs to prove he is, in fact, the lynchpin to future success for the Jets. A pair of shutdown performances and victories over the Patriots will help him make the case.  The Jets need those two wins, too: they haven't swept the season series against the Patriots since 2000; they haven't won the division since 2002, and even then they did it with a 9-7 record while winning on a three-way tiebreaker.

 

At the very least,  the defender's return makes the AFC East a dog fight and gives the Jets a potential advantage in the division for the first time in at least a decade. So welcome back, Revis.