Who are the top 5 Patriots heading into the 2023 season?
Following a surprise social media spat with another former Patriot on Tuesday, it appears as though a one-year Patriot has regained some of the favor he may have lost after departing New England years back. And that comes simply by ragging on one of the Pats and Bill Belichick’s biggest critics.
But how did we get to Darrelle Revis clapping back at Asante Samuel? Let’s try to make sense of the unexpected journey.
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler shared a ranking of the top cornerbacks in the league. The ist, compiled via the ranks of current execs, coaches and scouts, had Denver’s Patrick Surtain II the top corner, with New York Jets rookie sensation Sauce Gardner ranked second. For some reason this led social media loudmouth and perennial Patriots hater Asante Samuel to weigh in, asserting that Gardner, among other Jets corners, was overrated thanks to the power of the New York media.
Their back-and-forth continued a while between the retired NFL corner and the 2022 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. Samuel’s assertions that New York corners only gained their status via the New York media dragged other successful and legendary players into the scrum, which is how the discussion went to a place nobody expected: Revis Island.
Revis, one of the best cornerbacks of our time, whose mentons must have blown up, saw that he was now party to Samuel’s assertions, so he joined the fray by first criticizing Samuel as someone who could be “double moved on”, then defending himself as a first ballot Hall of Famer. While we’re not NFL Films over here to judge Revis’ first assertion, the second claim is a no-brainer. Revis is one of the best corners of all-time and a Super Bowl champion…which of course came with his one season with the New England Patriots in 2014. Always fun to point out where and how that came for a player Jets fans claim as one of their GOATs.
Revis took it a step further, clapping at Samuel that he cost the Patriots a Super Bowl with his missed interception at the end of Super Bowl 42, something that has rankled Pats fans for years. You add that to Samuel’s incessant criticizing of Belichick, and safe to say Revis gained back any favor he may have lost with Pats fans by departing for the Jets in 2015. Though he did subsequently delete the tweet. Still, sick burn! And there are always screencaps.
Most NFL fans would tell you Sauce Gardner is one of the best corners in the game already, and that Revis is absolutely one of the best to ever play the position. Yet for some reason Samuel, who must feel as though he doesn’t get the adulation and respect he believes he deserves, continues to shout critically at people from his social media pedestal, looking more petty by the day.
Whether he deserves more acclaim for his play or not, commenting negatively on a coach who helped him groom his talents and ultimately land a big payday, albeit not in New England, is not a great look, but to each his own. Trying to take down a rising star in the NFL and dragging in one of the best secondary players ever in the process? A not-so-subtle reminder that you can’t spell Samuel without LAME.
Whatever the case, for a day Darrelle Revis is a champ in Pats Nation again. And you can’t help but wonder what it will take to ease the hurt inside Samuel, an 11-year NFL veteran. It’s a mystery, just like what it would have been like to have a team go undefeated through the Super Bowl and have the only 19-0 season. Maybe Samuel should look at all these grudges and the bad looks they’re giving him and his quality career, and like that ill fated Eli Manning pass that went his way, just drop them?
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