Patriots need to have Darrelle Revis Shadow A.J. Green vs. Bengals

For this week's GMC Playbook question, Marshall Faulk poses, "what bold decision would you like to see from your team?"

One quarter into the season, we've seen the Patriots take a super conservative approach with All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis. Revis has been asked to man one half of the field. He's played a lot of soft man and zone which has left him vulnerable to short crossing routes and hitch plays.

He hasn't exactly great football or particularly poor football either. He's just kind of been there. And that's been a result of the game plan and Bill Belichick's usage of him.

That's not acceptable. That's not what the Patriots are playing Revis $12 million this year to do.

The Patriots need to be aggressive in their usage of Darrelle Revis. They need to allow him to take the opponent's best receiver in press man coverage as they did with a less talented, but capable cornerback in Aqib Talib a year ago. Even without Brandon Browner, who now won't be activated until week six, the Patriots need to give Revis a chance to prove his worth.

That being said, tomorrow's game against the Cincinnati Bengals presents the best opportunity of the year to unleash Revis. The Bengals boast one of the top do-it-all receivers in the NFL in A.J. Green. He's a 6'4" athletic freak who has lived up to his potential coming out of Georgia in every way possible. As Rich detailed earlier in the week, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton has yet to be sacked this season. He is also getting the ball out faster than any other quarterback in the league. A.J. Green will have a field day if the Patriots continue to deploy the same vanilla coverage they have to this point in the year.

Wherever Green goes, Revis should be right there with him. If not tomorrow, then when?

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