Revis, Session run away as Panthers shut down Cavs

Darelle Revis had to laugh. What the junior cornerback said to teammate Clint Session after… Darelle Revis had to laugh. What the junior cornerback said to teammate Clint Session after the game made him.

“I said a little joke to him,” Revis said after the game, masking a huge grin. “I don’t want to say it here, though. We were just joking around.”

Revis and Session had the right to joke around after the performance each had put up in Pitt’s opening win against Virginia on Saturday. The pair combined to do something to the Cavaliers that hadn’t been done in about 50 years. They each returned an interception for a touchdown.

Midway through the third quarter, Virginia quarterback Christian Olsen telegraphed the throw.

The Cavs were backed up to their own end zone and Olsen appeared as if he didn’t want the ball in his hands. The quarterback looked left almost immediately and lofted it to his apparent receiver — Revis.

The junior made a leaping grab just as safety Eric Thatcher pulverized the Virginia receiver and Revis cakewalked 19 yards into the end zone.

“Anybody could have got it,” Revis said of the interception. “They had been throwing that fade all game. We had it covered great and I had Eric Thatcher coming over the top. It feels great.”

“That’s just Darelle Revis,” Session said of his teammate. “You always expect something good from him. He’s athletic, physical, fast — everything you want in a cornerback.”

The defensive touchdown was Revis’ first in a Panther uniform and the first interception return for Pitt since linebacker H.B. Blades did it last year against Syracuse. The play was one of a kind for the game until late in the fourth quarter.

It was Session’s turn.

“It was a dream come true,” Session said of his play. “I was saying I was going to get it before the game and it just came.”

This time, it was Kevin McCabe in at quarterback for the Cavs. The junior had only thrown twice since being subbed in. McCabe looked to the right flat and threw the ball hoping to find his fullback.

He found Session.

It was crystal clear what was going to happen as soon as the ball left McCabe’s hand. Session saw it coming. Everyone in attendance saw it coming. The people who had already left the game saw it coming, too. The senior ran in front of the pass with the fluidity of a gazelle and nabbed it

What Session saw after his reception was nothing — nobody. An open field, 78 yards of it, was ready to be traversed and Session was the one to do it. The senior took off down the sideline, showcasing his seemingly untouchable speed until he was almost caught by a Virginia receiver.

“I didn’t know he was that close behind me until the crowd started saying, ‘Go, go, go!'” Session said. “I had to shift it into another gear.”

Session barely evaded the diving hands of his chaser and cruised into the end zone to increase the Panther lead to 38-13 — the eventual final score. The speed that Session showcased was the pinnacle of the Pitt defense that night, something that head coach Dave Wannstedt wanted to improve upon last year.

“Speed can make up for a lot of mistakes,” Wannstedt said.

The Panther defense made few mistakes on the night, Revis and Session anchoring the load. But the two, and the defense, are never satisfied.

“We try and compete with each other, saying ‘I had more tackles, more tackles for losses,'” Revis said.

The Aliquippa native had four tackles for the game, and Session had nine — two for a net loss of eight yards. Nothing, however, trumped the athleticism that Revis and Session showed during their respective scores.

“My high school coach said big players make big plays,” Revis said. “This feels great.”

The defensive showing was indicative of how the Panthers intend on playing all year.

“We have speed, we have fast players. We’re tired of the critics and we feel like we have a lot to prove,” Session said. “There are a lot of people who doubt us, but we showed tonight that we’re a different team.”

Even though Session brought a smile to Revis’ face after the game, the cornerback made sure that everyone knows that the Panther defensive performance is not a laughing matter.

“We’re going to keep pushing,” Revis said. “This is a new year and it’s going to be better than the last.”