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Greg Schiano did not say Revis would play more man coverage

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have consistently used Darrelle Revis in puzzling ways. That caused some outlets to jump on a recent quote as an indication that he would change, but the quote doesn't actually say anything of the sort.

By Sander Philipse
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The entire NFL analyst community has by now attacked Greg Schiano over the use of Darrelle Revis. From Deion Sanders to Warren Sapp to Ron Jaworski to really anyone with access to coaching tape who has talked about the Tampa Bay defense: the consensus is that the Bucs are not using Revis to maximize his abilities, nor to maximize the defense's effectiveness.

We've seen that the past three games: the Philadelphia Eagles scored 24 points on offense against the Bucs, then scored a combined 3 points on offense in their next two games. The Falcons put up 31 points with Harry Douglas as their best receiver, and then were shut down by the Cardinals. And the Panthers walked all over the Buccaneers. Naturally, people start asking questions, and Greg Schiano's response yesterday seemed to indicate there may be some changes.

"The coaching part I look at is, defensively, we need to make sure we're accentuating our best players," Schiano said. "Putting them in a position to make plays better than we have."

The Tampa Tribune then took that quote and suggested that Darrelle Revis might play more man coverage. From there it spiraled out of control, and now places like Rotoworld and Pro Football Talk are turning that into Schiano saying he'll use Revis more in man coverage. Certainly that would be nice to see, but it's not actually what Schiano said.

In fact, let's emphasize a different quote in that press conference. At one point Greg Schiano said "our philosophy is going to remain the same." That doesn't sound a lot like they'll overhaul their defense, right? Bill Sheridan and Greg Schiano have consistently talked about using their players to the best of their abilities -- and they haven't actually done anything to change the way they've used Revis, so I'm not convinced we'll see some change going forward.

How the Bucs are wasting Revis' talents

 Revis is not being used in productive ways.

Besides, the issue isn't just man coverage. The issue is what you could call "pure" man coverage. That is: Revis on a true island with no safety help, and the coverage shifted to help out elsewhere. Even if Revis is in man coverage, that doesn't mean much when he has a half-field safety helping him out. The Bucs could have signed Sean Smith to do that.

So will the Bucs use Revis differently going forward? Maybe, but I don't see a vague quote as some kind of definitive proof that they will. What we've seen throughout Schiano's tenure is a stubborn refusal to adopt scheme to personnel. Maybe desperate times will force his hand, but that would be a first.

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