At the NFL Honors ceremony, there was one common theme throughout the night… That being the New York Jets.
The Jets had a clean sweep as they had two legends voted into the NFL Hall of Fame while also winning Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the year.
After the show, Darrelle Revis spoke to what all Jets fans were thinking.
“… The Jets organization, we stole the show… We have the past, present, and then Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson are the future.”
Darrelle Revis
Throughout his playing career, Revis was able to accumulate plenty of accolades. But after last night, he officially can add first-ballot Hall of Famer to his long list of accomplishments. An honor that puts him in the conversation as one of the best cornerbacks to ever step on the field.
Revis was a four-time first-team All-Pro and had one of the most dominant seasons as a cornerback back in 2009.
During that season, he held some of the NFL’s best WRs, many are also in the HOF, to some of the worst games of their careers.
Here’s a list of notable WRs held under 35 yards during the 2009 season.
• Chad Ochocinco (Twice)
• Randy Moss (Twice)
• Terrell Owens (Twice)
• Steve Smith
• Reggie Wayne
Wide Receivers who lined up against Revis were often transported to a place nobody wanted to visit. That place was widely known as “Revis Island.”
Joe Klecko
The former Jet, who was a crucial piece in the “New York Sack Exchange,” was finally named to the Hall of Fame after his career ended 34 long years ago. Many agree that this honor is long overdue for someone with such a dominant career.
Klecko was selected as an All-Pro two times. The first one came in 1981, and the second in 1985. His most notable year was 1981 when he was able to rack up 20.5 sacks and is still only one of 11 players to have 20+ sacks in a single season.
Also worth noting is that he was voted into the Pro Bowl four times while playing three different positions along the defensive line (DE, DT, NT), proving to be extremely versatile.
Now moving on to the present, Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner put the league on notice yesterday by winning OROY and DROY. Becoming only the third pair of teammates to win such awards in the same season in NFL history.
Garrett Wilson
The Jets offense had its share of struggles throughout the year, but the one consistent player was Garrett Wilson.
Garrett led all rookies in targets (147), receptions (83), and receiving yards (1,103) and even added four touchdowns to his rookie campaign.
What makes it even more impressive is that he was part of an offense that had four different quarterbacks take significant snaps in 2022. Yet, Wilson always found ways to be effective week in and week out.
Garrett is unique in his ability to make plays after the catch. He forced 22 missed tackles which ranked second amongst all WRs.
Sauce Gardner
Sauce Gardner has had an outstanding rookie campaign. He was recently named First Team All-Pro and earned a Pro Bowl selection. Now he adds DROY to the list of accomplishments.
Cornerback is known to be one of the more challenging positions to transition from college to the NFL, but Sauce was different.
From Week 1 to 17, the rookie was asked to lineup against some of the NFL’s elite playmakers and never backed down. He led the NFL in passes defended (20), came up with two interceptions, and added 75 tackles. Sauce also only allowed an impressive 48.1 completion percentage.
After only one year, Sauce Gardner has already positioned himself to be in the conversation for the top cornerback in the NFL.
