On Tuesday morning, Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis will go under the knife to surgically repair an injury that he ironically said felt like “somebody took a knife and cut through my knee.”
Revis, the Jets top player and one of the most feared defenders in the league, suffered an ACL tear in the third quarter of the Jets’ Week 3 win in Miami and was officially placed on season-ending injured reserve last week.
The Tuesday procedure will be a patellar tendon surgery, which is preferred by most doctors for the first knee reconstruction over the newer hamstring surgery that has recently become popular.
“If everything goes right and I do everything right with this procedure and this process over the next four to six months — I’m a confident player,” Revis said. “I never had an injury like this so this is all new to me as well, but I’m a hard worker. I’m going to work my butt off to get back to where I need to be.”
The non-contact injury happened as Revis was cutting in an attempt to make a play on a ball carrier.
“I knew it was something different. I’ve got hit in the knee a thousand times; I just knew this wasn’t a hyperextension [of] the knee. I knew it was something more worse,” Revis said. “I figured it was an ACL or a meniscus or something. The doctors saw me, it was an ACL and when I heard that I knew I was going to be out for the rest of the season. I just had to wrap my brain around that and get ready for the next thing.”
Typically, the surgery takes place two or three weeks after the injury to let the swelling around the knee lessen. During this time, Revis has been busy strengthening his quadriceps muscles in anticipation of the surgery.
The timing is bad for Revis as not only does it shelve him for the rest of his season, it comes weeks after there were whispers this past summer that he was looking for a contract extension. His deal is up after next season and Revis said he understands if the ACL tear gives pause to the Jets offering him a long-term contract.
“Probably, probably. Every year you’ve got to come in here and prove yourself,” Revis said.
“I’m sure it might raise people’s eyebrows about how I’m going to look when I come back. I’m OK with that; I wouldn’t expect anything less. I’m going to do what I do. I’m going to work hard. I’m going to come back. I’m going to treat it like any other offseason.”
Follow Yankees beat writer Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.
