Jason on Jason -Whitlock's assessment of Jason Taylor

[Redzone Offense]

6. Bill Parcells and Tony Sparano dumped dancing star Jason Taylor because they judged that Taylor's lack of interest in football would hurt his effectiveness.

Parcells and Sparano didn't want to be in a football foxhole with a reality TV ballerino.

Let's take a look at the numbers. Taylor took his expensive tap shoes to playoff-contender Washington, recorded 3.5 sacks and helped the Skins to an 8-8, out-of-the-playoffs season. Meanwhile, with a roster full of football players willing to hold off on their acting careers, the Dolphins went from 1-15 to 11-5 and in the playoffs.

Oh, and Daniel Snyder learned yet another $8 million lesson.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/9001864/NFL-Truths:-It's-all-about-character

Snyder really needs to stop "Dancing with the Stars" in choosing football players. During Taylor's signing, it looked like a fantastic idea for us, Skins fans. But, strangely enough, when their starting DE's went down, they did not sign any starts. Just pulled or developed w/in.

That goes back to the roster the GM builds. Sigh...........

[ttr77]

I wonder just how many lessons Dan needs to learn before he truly gets it.

[Spitfire71]

That happens when you're in an awkward place in the draft where you can't draft the DE you actually want.

But I'm led to believe that the DE's ineffectiveness (because Carter didn't have a good season, either, even though he had 10.5 sacks back in '07) came partly from the lack of respect from our DTs. Carter and Taylor were constantly drawing double teams and THEN getting chipped by RBs and FBs on the way. If we had a stud pass-rushing DT in the middle, they'd have to give him respect too, making things a lot easier on our guys from the outside.

[flexxskins]

When Daniels went down and we signed Taylor, both Snyder and Cerrato were being praised by many for signing the best available. Now Snyder and Cerrato are both being blamed again for a players lack of production.

When is the player going to held accountable?

[GoCommiesGo]

That happens when you're in an awkward place in the draft where you can't draft the DE you actually want.

But I'm led to believe that the DE's ineffectiveness (because Carter didn't have a good season, either, even though he had 10.5 sacks back in '07) came partly from the lack of respect from our DTs. Carter and Taylor were constantly drawing double teams and THEN getting chipped by RBs and FBs on the way. If we had a stud pass-rushing DT in the middle, they'd have to give him respect too, making things a lot easier on our guys from the outside.

Carter may draw a double occasionally but Taylor got handled all season long by one on one matchups. That's part of the reason why we blitzed so much but still couldn't get pressure, non of our DL players demand constant double teams.

[ttr77]

When is the player going to held accountable?

Its not the player's fault that he is past his prime. It happens to everyone.

It's the FO's job to notice. Much like Parcells did...

[corrupt3d]

I personally want to keep him here. If he can take a paycut, he'll be worth it if we got a strong DT presence in the middle.

[JeffSchmeff]

We need to overhaul the entire D line. I'd keep Taylor if he would be willing to come back at a reduced price. He was basically playing on one leg all year.

[flexxskins]

Its not the player's fault that he is past his prime. It happens to everyone.

It's the FO's job to notice. Much like Parcells did...

Taylor had 11 sacks last season. What would have led anyone who wasn't close to the situation to believe that Taylor was "past his prime"?

[ttr77]

Taylor had 11 sacks last season. What would have led anyone who wasn't close to the situation to believe that Taylor was "past his prime"?

A LOT of people thought he was close to being done, especially when it came to his run support. And having a DE weak against the run is a kiss of death in the NFC east.

[1972FAN]

How fast we forget that Daniels and Buzbee his backup both went down in training camp.

The left side of our line was gone. So he (Cerrato) made a move which was hailed at the time a GOOD move. Now Taylor did not pan out "the after the fact" and " second guessers come out of the closet. LOL. I have been critical of Taylors play all year and thought they should of benched him when he was hurt but this is nothing but sour grapes. If taylor had a 8-10 sack season the same people would have hailed this a brilliant move. The seasons over, we paid him MOVE ON.

[flexxskins]

A LOT of people thought he was close to being done, especially when it came to his run support. And having a DE weak against the run is a kiss of death in the NFC east.

I agree that having a DE that is weak against the run is not a good thing (let alone two):doh:.

However, like I was saying before, I just don't see what evidence there was that showed that Taylor was past his prime. Who exactly were the "LOT of people"?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not convinced that Taylor even had/has the desire to play. And now on top of that it doesn't even look like he has the physical ability anymore. Watching him get close to opposing QB's and not being able to sack them simply because he could not cut and turn the corner was painful to watch.

[Redzone Offense]

When we signed him, I questioned it. He was too small. The NFC East has some outstanding and ROBUST offensive lineman.

Also, like others said, in our division, in Nov. and Dec., you have to be able to stop the run. The weather gets bad in the NE (DC, Philly, and NY) in Nov. and Dec.

If you can't run and/or stop the run, your team has mailed in 2 months of a 4 month season.

Jason Taylor doesn't fit into that equation anywhere. W/ a great DT in the middle, he would be a great complementary player, but the Skins tried to use him as the focus. He's too small.

[Bang]

Now, the other day I got a whole lot of people mad at me for telling them that the media paints pictures that are misleading. I used TO and Ray Lewis and Dan Snyder as examples.

NOTE: "Oh, and Daniel Snyder learned yet another $8 million lesson."

Does this account for two defensive ends going down on an already suspect line in the first morning of practice on the first day of camp? Or does this line infer that Snyder can't resist star attraction, and went after him just off a whim? Hint: it's the latter. He doesn't mention the immediate need, and the immediate availability of a player who had no injury history.

Why? Because he knows it's an easy sell to paint Snyder as a dope. (Had Taylor not gotten hurt for the first time since forever, is it maybe possible he could have been a better contributor this year? Just MAYBE? Or should we expect that teams should now be able to predict injury in a player that had never been hurt? Maybe he thinks that a team with such an immediate need somehow has bargaining strength and can demand discounts. Except the world doesn't work that way, does it?)

In the link I find this little gem: " Say what you want about Ray Lewis' character inside a limousine, but there is zero debate about his high character inside a locker room."

So in other words, he specifically says "Nevermind he's an accessory to double homicide, he's a GREAT GUY." (That is, unless Ray has had other questionable incidents happen in a limo that I haven't heard about.)

Whitlock further embarrasses himself in this idiotic analogy with this "Ray Ray and Ed Reed are the real Avon Barksdale and Wee-Bey Brice of Baltimore, old-school, ride-or-die soldiers."

Uh,, Wee Bay and Avon are homicidal drug kingpin characters from "the Wire" for those who don't know.

And yet this fool tries to make this sound respectable.

See what I mean about painting pictures?

~Bang

[scruffylookin]

How fast we forget that Daniels and Buzbee his backup both went down in training camp.

The left side of our line was gone. So he (Cerrato) made a move which was hailed at the time a GOOD move. Now Taylor did not pan out "the after the fact" and " second guessers come out of the closet. LOL. I have been critical of Taylors play all year and thought they should of benched him when he was hurt but this is nothing but sour grapes. If taylor had a 8-10 sack season the same people would have hailed this a brilliant move. The seasons over, we paid him MOVE ON.

Wrong.

Most of us thought it was a bad move right from the start.

Some of us said that even if Taylor got 12 sacks this season, to pay a 2nd round pick for a guy who was only going to be here a couple of seasons (at best) was a terrible move.

Also, so what if Daniels and Buzzbee went down? First, since when is Alex Buzzbee a key injury? Second, who's fault was it that we were so thin on the dline that they freaked out when injuries hit. The Giants lost Michael Strahan and Osi Uhmenura (sp) and they didn't freak out and go after Jason Taylor. And as defending Champions, they were a hell of alot closer to a title than we were.

The Giants are a good organization who have built up both their lines with young talent and are deep so they can absorb injuries. The Redskins are a crap organization who largely don't care about the lines besides paying top dollar for over the hill/marginal players as starters and refuse to invest any quality draft picks on their upkeep.

[flexxskins]

When we signed him, I questioned it. He was too small. The NFC East has some outstanding and ROBUST offensive lineman.

Also, like others said, in our division, in Nov. and Dec., you have to be able to stop the run. The weather gets bad in the NE (DC, Philly, and NY) in Nov. and Dec.

If you can't run and/or stop the run, your team has mailed in 2 months of a 4 month season.

Jason Taylor doesn't fit into that equation anywhere. W/ a great DT in the middle, he would be a great complementary player, but the Skins tried to use him as the focus. He's too small.

Ok, then what would you have done if you were Vinny?

It's kind of easy to kick back and judge/question someones actions without offering a solution of your own to the problem at the time.

[Bigmuss1]

Why is it forgotten we picked up JT becuz PD was injured first day of camp.

[mojo]

IF Taylor is willing to attend all of our offseason training, I say bring him back. i really don't think he was in football shape especially once he got injured in the pre season. If he can't commit to our program, cut him.