Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis is on the cover of Sports Illustrated this week in a homage to a Joe Namath cover from July 1965 that played off his Broadway Joe nickname.
There’s also a recreation of the famous shot of Namath holding court poolside in Miami before Super Bowl III (there’s no pantyhose ad, sadly) the article by Greg Bishop itself features into other connections between the two Jets. Knee problems were a constant for Namath during his career and Revis experienced a serious one in 2012 when he tore his ACL.
Revis reveals that he also had microfracture surgery on his way back to the field, which is something that was kept quiet at the time. Revis was traded from the Jets to the Buccaneers before the 2013 season and returned to the field in time to play all 16 games in Tampa. That return came after he initially contemplated retirement, however.
“I did think about retiring,” Revis said, via Rich Cimini of ESPNNewYork.com. “I had never been seriously injured before, and I didn’t know how to handle it.”
Revis said his uncle Sean Gilbert talked him out of retiring, something that has worked out well for Revis on and off the field as he’s secured a Super Bowl ring and big contracts from the Patriots and Jets over the last two seasons.