In a move that should silence any doubters that Buccaneers coach Greg Schiano has his finger on the pulse of his locker room — and reality — he has come up with a brilliant plan.
After acquiring one of the best man corners in the NFL this offseason, Schiano said the Bucs might use Darrelle Revis in man coverage more often.
“We need to make sure we’re accentuating our best players, putting them in the best position to make plays better than we have,’’ Schiano said, via Roy Cummings of the Tampa Tribune. “That’s something I’ve looked at hard, and I know our coaches have looked at it as well.’’
It’s a groundbreaking strategic development, obviously.
The (over)use of Revis in zone coverage has been one of the mysteries of the season, though there have been many for the Buccaneers. They gave up draft picks and a pile of money to acquire Revis, but haven’t used him the way he had been so effective in the past.
Revis has gone to Schiano to “clear the air” already this season, and sounded less than enthused when asked if the team believed in the coach’s weekly game plans.
“I don’t know,’’ Revis said after Thursday’s loss to the Panthers, which dropped them to 0-7. “I don’t know. We’ve got a game plan every week and we’ve just got to stick to the game plan.’’
That plan could be changing now, which can’t possibly hurt.