Three posts in one day? We’re in uncharted territory now for sure, but then, we are beginning to transition to regular season mode. And, really, what news could be more worthy of a third post than a potential agreement between Darrelle Revis and the Jets?

First word broke that Rex and Revis met personally in Florida this weekend, already a good sign. Rex is better suited to appeal to Revis’s humanity than cold, number crunching Mike Tannenbaum, whose constant 1,000 yard expression on Hard Knocks has really begun to freak me out. Next “Incarcerated Bob” from the Boomer & Carton show on WFAN reported that a deal had been completed, or would be completed tonight, and that a press conference was planned for Thursday. Why should we believe Bob, whose constant asteriked tweets and accusations that “ESPN frauds” had stolen his scoop have demeaned his already low credibility? We shouldn’t, but it’s still movement. Just as I was ready to write this off as another wild Cowlishaw chase, the real kicker came. Carity Washington, the Gorgonesque, Jets hating bitch of the world, shattered all preconceptions when she tweeted “Jets fans will be VERY happy soon!”

It is important to note that Leon and Darrelle remain close friends, and that Charity knocked down the story of Revis and the Jets meeting back on the Tuesday of Cowlishaw week. Of course, she’s not an official news source, but I find it difficult to believe that all these things, including a tweet from Revis best friend and manager John Geiger that he was “getting on a plane,” could happen the weekend before the season begins (pretty much our last shot), and it not reflect something huge stirring.

Last night’s penultimate Hard Knocks continued the series’ trend of becoming increasingly less fun each week, this time fully corroborating my conviction that, and I am directly quoting myself here, “This preseason has sucked.” With backups eating nearly all 60 minutes of game time tonight in Philadelphia, the Jets hasn’t just run out of chances to convince fans that they’re for real, they’ve run out of chances to convince themselves as well.

What have been the largest criticisms of these Jets this offseason? On the field, they tell us that our quarterback is too green to compete, and that even if he one day evolves into a top rate passer, he is presently capable of washing our entire season down the drain. They tells us that we lack chemistry and maturity, and that by cutting out veteran leaders in favor of mercenaries and bargain bin replacements, we’ve stripped our locker room of its guiding voices. We’ve heard numerous times that we’re either cheap or broke, and that we’ll never be able to pay all our stars, or that next spring is going to turn into a fire sale.

The fourth episode of Hard Knocks didn’t validate any of these beliefs entirely. But it did prove that the team is conscious of these criticisms, and on some level, fears them as well.

Boy, has Around the Horn ever been a vein of wonderful news this week. First Jay Mariotti, scourge of good-hearted, Ebert-loving people everywhere, is arrested on the very charges he spent years decrying (domestic violence; my sympathies, of course, to his girlfriend, for whom life with Jay was apparently not punishment enough), and now Cowlishaw, the weirdly folksy, be-goateed occupant of Kevin Blackistone’s cater-corner, has swooped in to rescue us all from certain doom. Now, I know Cowlishaw hasn’t actually done anything to resolve the Revis dispute. At best, he’s merely an opportunist with some fast tweeting thumbs, and at worst he’s led us all on a credibility-destroying goose chase. But give the man some credit! Cowlishaw took an otherwise newsless Sunday afternoon and infused it with the first good news we’ve heard about Darrelle Revis all summer.

For those inattentive few who have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s the story. Around 4pm yesterday afternoon, Cowlishaw shook the Jets world to attention by tweeting that a “new deal” between the team and Revis would be settled, “probably on Wednesday.” Most people’s initial thoughts were like mine. How does Tim Cowlishaw, a Dallas sportswriter presumably lacking in any serious access into the Jets organization, get hold of this kind of sensitive information? After all, within minutes Jets reporters Jenny Vrentas and Manish Mehta were flatly disputing his claims…yet Cowlishaw stood by them, and some of his peers in national sports media even chimed in to back him up. But, say it were a false lead? What then would he have to gain in its fabrication, or in reporting something so blatantly misinformed as gospel? The only conclusion that some Twitter users could come up with was that Cowlishaw’s account had been hijacked by a prankster.

The Great Furry Chin was all over that theory as well, proving his credentials by referring to Bob Glauber of Newsday as “Cubby,” a (now not so) secret nickname shared between the two. Glauber was convinced Cowlishaw was for real, and, all instincts to the contrary, so was I. It was inconceivable to me that a professional sports journalist with a nationally recognized name would jump so comfortably into such hot water with a 100% dependable source. Why then didn’t the Jets writers have this information? Hard to say, but most speculation seems to agree on two major points: 1) The moratorium on media chatter between the two negotiating parties has kept it out of their hands and 2) Cowlishaw’s source is likely from outside the major camps, with most pinpointing HBO as the likely culprit. Wait, HBO. Wednesday. An announcement on Wednesday!? HBO. Wednesday. OH GOD IT’S HAPPEN—

For me, the most interesting development of the night didn’t come on TV, but on Twitter, where Jets fans displayed a fractiousness that I have not seen since the worst days of last season, when snipes at Brian Schottenheimer were routine and the hot debate was whether Mark Sanchez should sit or not. At the center of this argument is one Mr. Joe McKnight, rookie running back out of USC. McKnight appears to have stepped into a torrent, becoming the scapegoat for all those who cringed at the unscrupulous dumping of the Jets’ other, less-than-core four: Thomas Jones, Jay Feely, Alan Faneca and Leon Washington. In fact, it was the enigmatic performance of the latter that caused the debate to erupt. Stuck in the doldrums of the fourth quarter, a captive Jets audience had little choice but to acknowledge our former player’s glorious night, in which he lead Seahawks onto the field before punching in an impressive and conspicuously healthy looking touchdown. The second guessing began immediately. @NYGreenMachine argued that the team failed to find a suitable replacement for Washington. @JfaulkNYJ countered by arguing that we have yet to see McKnight run substantial time behind the first team O-Line, and that he was primed for a good season. Erik from Jets Twit felt attacked for supporting Washington’s post-Jets career, and expressed remorse that some fans viewed this as “traitorous” behavior. There were those screaming “STFU about Leon!!” and others pulling for Chauncey Washington to usurp McKnight’s roster spot (before his fumble, of course) and general chaos all around. Inflammatory things were said by some, possibly including myself. So I called him “McKnightmare.” So what? I couldn’t resist the pun!

Tonight Gang Green travels to Charlotte for a slightly less high pressure matchup with the Carolina Panthers. The starters will only get a quarter of play in this one, which is fine, because we already know what they’re capable of. It is the backups who blew it last week, causing Rex to scold them for their lack of intensity and inability to perform like “bad mothas” (yeah, seriously). From top to bottom, on offense, defense and special teams, there are a whole lot of roster spots on the line for the second and third stringers, who have exposed us as one of the league’s shallowest teams.

More than anything, the world’s eyes – and Darrelle Revis’s -will be on the cornerbacks: Antonio Cromartie, Kyle Wilson, Dwight Lowery, Drew Coleman and Marquice Cole. Many are predicting that Revis will return to the Jets, but only after he’s seen enough evidence that the Jets corners can’t perform without him to back the team into a corner. If this is so, then last week’s game surely left him with some ammunition. While Cro and Wilson played decently, 31 did miss two easy picks, the kind that Revis never would. Lowery, Coleman and Cole, meanwhile, were remarkably terrible, and the Jets defense may be in for some serious trouble if it must rely on these names for the entirety of its nickle and dime packages. More play like that and the only thing Revis will be sweating is whether to show up before or after our bye week. You want to redeem yourself, Lowery? Go pick off Clausen two or three times. How difficult could that be, anyway?