Monday night, Darrelle Revis, cornerback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, intercepted a pass from Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill in order to seal a 22-19 Buccaneers’s victory. Plays like this were all too common in the past when Revis played for the New York Jets. In fact, Revis’s ability to shutdown opposing wide-receivers is so great the he has trademarked the phrase “Revis Island” – the nickname he received due to the lack of passes thrown toward his side during NFL games.

Due to being perhaps the best cornerback in the NFL, Revis is constantly in the spotlight – a position he usually relishes due to his larger-than-life personality. However, being an NFL star is not always the wonder life; Since being traded from the New York Jets to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this year, Revis has received his fair bit of criticism (something he was no stranger to at New York). Despite his oftentimes cavalier attitude, Revis voiced his frustrations with recent Twitter-criticism in an interview with the New York Post:

“I get harassed every day on Twitter [by Jets fans], and I barely even tweet. And you just get tired of it. You’ve got to have a backbone, because guys are saying, ‘F–k you!’ and ‘I want to kill you!’ It’s crazy, but I’ve been getting death threats from them since my first holdout [in 2010]. It’s just bitter Jets fans.”

The Twitter-hatred really flared up when Revis responded to a Tweet from a bartender in Jersey City, NJ, Jason Owens:

(image)

The exchange between Revis and Owens then led to further criticism from Jets’s fans, Revis’s former team:

@Revis24 @ukjets @Jason_Owen Wow Revis You're only looking for money arent you?

— Oliver Rez (@Oliverrez) November 4, 2013

Wow.. enjoy 0-8 pal. RT @Revis24 @Jason_Owen naw 16 is better

— Josh Elkin (@JoshElkin) November 4, 2013

@Revis24 @jason_owen he has always only cared about money and self promoting. The guy turned his back on his teammates and held out 3 times.

— Brian Sette (@BrianSette) November 4, 2013

The hold-out issue mentioned by @BrianSette is still a sore spot for Jets fans. In 2010, Revis held a 35 day hold-out against the New Jersey Jets in order to win a restructured contract. When it was all said and done, the Jets gave Revis a new contract worth $46 million over 4 years – $11 million more than his previous contract was worth.

Even though he won the hold-out, Revis still seemed to be unhappy with the amount he was making. Rumors circulated that Revis was planning to stage another hold-out in 2012 to increase his salary to $16 million. Instead of placating Revis once again, the Jets decided to trade Revis and let the Buccaneers give up $16 million – a figure that makes Revis the highest-earning defensive back in NFL history.

Revis maintains that he isn’t bothered by Tweets that are mad at him due to the money issue, but that he responded to Owens in particular “…because I’m getting tired of [Jets fans] always being negative. You don’t want to hear that.”

What Revis really doesn’t want to hear is that while his Buccaneers are currently 1-8, the New York Jets are 5-4 behind a rookie quarterback, and more importantly, without Revis. While Revis states, “I don’t really watch football. I know what the Jets’ record is, but only because you’ve got to follow the league when you’re in the profession,” it’s hard to believe that the success of the Jets is not the real reason why Revis is taking so much exception to recent Tweets.

Image via YouTube