Will Mike Wallace Visit Darrelle Revis Island?

On the surface it would seem as though the New England Patriots would be served best by putting Darrelle Revis man to man on Mike Wallace taking away the biggest singular offensive threat. The Patriots best cornerback is also one of the best in the entire NFL. While he has watched his production slip over the last couple of years and has seen his private island become a Carnival Cruise destination Revis can and will change the game for New England defensively.

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Profootballtalk.com has the Patriots ranked fourth in their new power rankings and some of that has a lot to do with the improved cornerback position. The Miami Dolphins on the other hand are facing “Revis Island” with the belief that they can exploit Revis’ weaknesses. How will they do that? The only way is to be as aggressive as he is.

Wallace is a speed receiver and Revis who is great in coverage is not fast enough to keep up with Wallace so Miami could exploit the mismatch down the field. Problem one? Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill hasn’t exactly shown consistency in delivering the ball deep. When I say consistency I mean not at all.

Problem number two? The Patriots will roll safety coverage over the top of Wallace which should take away the deep pass, a floater from Tannehill would most certainly not end well considering that over the course of last season, Wallace showed no ability or desire to fight for a ball at it’s highest point at reception.

Problem three? Darrelle Revis may not be covering Mike Wallace. Many believe that the Patriots are confident that they can cover Wallace with a safety over the top and cornerback Alfonso Dennard. Dennard is not a good match for Wallace but with safety help the two should be able to take away most of the deep threat passes. The idea is that Revis would instead take away Brian Hartline instead.

It doesn’t sound like much of a challenge for Revis and in reality it probably isn’t. In fact it would be a pretty good match considering the shifty speed of Hartline but Revis can cover that. The more important reason Revis would cover Hartline is that it takes away Ryan Tannehill’s go to wide-receiver. That could cause problems for Tannehill as he tends to gravitate towards his 2nd and 3rd options.

The question of wether or not it will be Revis on Wallace or Revis on Hartline is one that will not be answered until Sunday but the Dolphins have personnel in place that can change the way Ryan Tannehill delivers his looks. If Revis is on Wallace, then Hartline remains the 2nd option with Dennard in coverage. If Dennard covers Wallace he becomes the top threat as normal. In both situations the man who may see more than a few targets is Brandon Gibson who will line up in the slot.

Gibson was one of Tannehill’s go to targets last season prior to his season ending injury. He is healthy this year and has already showed the same connection with Tannehill early in the pre-season. Of course Jarvis Landry and Rishard Matthews could also provide Tannehill plenty of options and overloading the passing game could take New England by surprise and confuse their corners and safeties. Exactly how they would cover four and five receiver sets that use motion would be a difficult task for a linebacking group that will want to be more hell bent on sacking Tannehill.

The Dolphins have options and most of those options are carried in the brain of offensive coordinator Bill Lazor who will call his first NFL game. How he attacks New England is as important as how he attacks Darrelle Revis. Wallace may make a trip the island but it will Revis be able to kick him off or will Lazor see fit to make sure all his receivers are put into a position to force New England to move Revis around? It’s not likely but Lazor can control as much as who lines up with Revis as Revis will.

One thing is certain, the Dolphins have their work cut out for them against the perennial AFC East winners, winning on Sunday will go a long way to igniting confidence in a team coming off two critical losses to end 2013.  Starting against Revis is going to also be a great test for his new system and Mike Wallace and Ryan Tannehill.