On Sunday night, the Jets finally signed All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis to a contract extension. On Monday, the cornerback practiced. And next Monday, he'll be on the field in the season opener against the Ravens.
Now what?
For the Jets, this signing makes them even better than previously anticipated. There are many fans, media and football people alike who are high on the Jets' chances this year. And after coming within one game of the Super Bowl last year, they should be.
But with Revis locked up, it's now time for the Jets to put up or shut up and validate those expectations.
They've dominated the storylines all offseason. They acquired Santonio Holmes. They signed LaDainian Tomlinson. They had a weight-loss contest. Mark Sanchez went on a date. Mark Sanchez went through a breakup. Revis held out. They were on Hard Knocks. Revis re-signed.
Simply put, Gang Green was everywhere you looked for seemingly every possible thing you could imagine.
That's just the way they want it too. Head coach Rex Ryan and his team have embraced the spotlight and met it head-on. Ryan has even gone on record saying that he wants his football team to be hated.
"I want to be the team you hate," he recently told USA Today. He said he wants the Jets to be the team that "you can't stand."
They've had everyone talk about them all offseason and through the preseason, and after dominating front pages and highlight show leads, the Jets now have to play the type of football they've told everyone so much about.
The signing of Revis takes away the last excuse the Jets could have used. The Jets were widely considered a playoff team even without Revis. With him, they're considered a Super Bowl contender.
Without Revis, the Jets would have at least been able to fall back on any troubles by saying they did so without their best football player.
This is not to say the Jets would rather play the season without Revis and chase lower expectations. That's crazy. There's a reason Ryan dropped everything and went to Florida this weekend to meet with Revis and discuss the extension. But with the team the Jets now have, anything less than a Super Bowl will be a disappointment.
It won't be easy, either. Within the first five weeks of the season, the Jets will have been tested by the likes of the Ravens, Patriots, Dolphins and Vikings. It may not take long to find out what the Jets will really be this season. Regardless, Ryan and his squad are setting the bar high.
"I'm not undersell, overproduce," Ryan said, even before the Revis extension was finalized. "Going .500 is for somebody else. I came here to win championships. So be it. If you are worried about [what we're saying], we've got you beaten anyway."
If Rex Ryan, Darrelle Revis and the Jets don't win said championships, they're going to have some explaining to do. Even for a team that likes the attention and likes to talk as the Jets do, that's going to be a pretty difficult thing to do.
