All week long, I was pretty adamant about the fact that Dez Bryant was pretty good, too.
Yeah, I know this Revis guy is the best in the league, but even the very best corners will get beat, especially if they face a talented wide receiver like Dez all game long.
And for a while Sunday night, it looked like Dez was not only going to win a few battles, but most of them.
Two possessions into the game and Bryant already had three catches for 71 yards, including one jump ball right over Revis for a 26-yard gain. For just a second, I know I wasn't the only one wondering if Bryant is really that good because he was schooling these Jets cornerbacks, and that included Antonio Cromartie as well.
But then Darrelle Revis became the guy considered the best in the NFL. Revis stuck with Bryant for the rest of the game.
And that great start for Bryant of three catches for 71 yards . . . ended up three catches for 71 yards. Yeah, no more receptions for Dez after the second offensive possession.
In fact, it was Revis who came up with the most significant catch of them all, picking off an errant Tony Romo pass in the final minute of play that led to Nick Folk's 50-yard game-winning field goal.
And while Romo will catch a lot of the blame for that throw, word from the locker room says it was supposed to be a 14-yard comeback route, however Bryant never came back. Still, Revis was there to jump it and it changed everything.
I'll have to admit, I had heard more about Revis than I had actually watched him. And if the term shut-down corner still exists in this league, Revis has got to be the closest thing there is to it. Because after the second possession of the game and when Rex Ryan made the call to put Revis on Bryant the rest of the way, things clearly changed.
Now Bryant said his quad injury was a factor in the game and maybe it was.
But I'd like to think Revis was a bigger factor.
Sure, the Cowboys made some plays – enough for Tony Romo to pass for 342 yards – and they made a few on Revis.
But all in all, Revis was not only as good as advertised, but good enough to neutralize the Cowboys' most talented player at a time when it appeared Bryant was on the verge of being un-checkable.
Revis checked him. And then got a gift at the end.
Dez might have staggered him in the early rounds, but Revis delivered the biggest TKO in the final round.
