I don't like the idea of JT as a strong side OLB only, to me that is turning a race horse into a plowhorse, sure they can pull the plow, but that is not what they are the best suited for. I have confidence in JT as well, the pictures of him recently are amazing, he has guns now, Sparano also mentioned JT put pressure on Vern Carey, that is no small thing as Vern C is one of the best RT in the NFL. JT has mentioned it will take him a couple of weeks to learn the defense, to me that means "it will take a couple of weeks to learn to play the rover position they have designed for me" and not strictly SSOLB. Ideally, Matty comes back and in the interval JT has learned the defense anew, but if Matty doesn't come back, JT can fill in and play at a high level or at least high enough for Sparano to have confidence in him. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/sfl-tony-sparanoqa-s080309,0,1090252.story
To me Padre, JT has been playing against left tackles all his carreer, and played the run in his career well for a man his size, now with him stading up at linebacker playing against a tight end on running downs, i just dont see the problem there.. JT sheds with his head up, eyes all over, brain fuctioning at 100 mph, and plays the run beautifully. I like his skills on the edge against the run against a tight end, i think he will be able to cover the flat better then roth and will also be much better at defending the screen, i look for him to diagnose one of those bad boys and take it to the house for 6. I think to me, while it looks like he has his health and his speed, you use that mother grabber as much as you can, i love Roth on the edge as much as anyone, but iam not as worried about jt setting that edge as much as others.
This is a good thing, I don't know WTF is going on with Roth & his agent, but it smells. Put JT in place of Roth and we have pressure coming from both sides. Don't get me wrong, I want Roth at ROLB, I think he will be much better there this season, but his whole "illness" and possibly lying to Tony does not bode well, and I will be very uncomfortable until I hear the whole story, from Tony.
I agree .He is better coming off the edge although I dont think he is as much a liability in the run game as some people may think.The gif highlights features some run and screen stops. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbm52VMZY8k"]YouTube - Jason Taylor Tribute[/ame]
To me, it would make more sense to see if Walden, Wake, Moses or Folsom or Orion Martin can play the SSOLB on running downs. Our defense basically requires that position to play like a battering ram and JT is many many things, but a battering ram he isn't.
If he comes back and plays well against the run as a starter on the strong side and gets like 50 tackles and like 10 sacks I think he has to get considered for Comeback Player of the Year. Don't be surprised if he does it.
NFLN video blurb from Jeff Darlington on JT's switch to the strongside: [ame="http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4376120"]Word On The Street: Jason Taylor's Role - ESPN Video - ESPN[/ame]
I don't know how I feel about Jason Taylor starting at SOLB. Can he set the edge well enough? I'm not asking him to be Matt Roth, but to at least be good enough against the run.
regarding that video, i think we'd be nuts to give pennington the impression that we're just going to let him walk with no future interest. that could effect his psyche, and whether he's starting or not down the road, CP = good things for our team and stable of QBs.
