There is one reason, and one reason only, why Rex Ryan decided to tell the world Friday that he will wait until Darrelle Revis' knee surgery is performed before placing him on season-ending injured reserve:
It's a message to his team, his way of saying he still believes the Jets are good enough to play into February. Clever move by Ryan. It's not quite a Super Bowl guarantee (that was the old Rex), but he's letting everyone know he's thinking about the Super Bowl.
"Let's see what happens when he goes through surgery, because if there's that 0.0002 percent chance that he can play in the Super Bowl, why would take the option away from him?" Ryan said. "Let's just put it this way: If you're fortunate enough to make it to that big game, and he's fortunate enough to be healthy, I know our fans would want him playing just like I would want him playing."
No doctor in his right mind would clear Revis to play in the Super Bowl after reconstructive surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee. First of all, he's not having the surgery for at least another two weeks, so we're already into early October. That would leave only four months until the Super Bowl.
The standard recover time for an ACL is six to nine months. Marc Rubman, an orthopedic surgeron from Atlantic Sports Health in New Jersey, told me this week that Revis should be running at the six-month mark -- in April.
Two days before facing one of the best teams in the league, Ryan wasn't about to provide a "Revis goes on IR" headline. His team is in a vulnerable state, having lost its best player for the season. He doesn't want a woe-is-me attitude to permeate his locker room, so he decided to keep hope alive.
Now we'll see if the Jets buy what he's selling.