JT is older and also has a very bad knee/calf injury that could have killed him this year. needless to say production is down.
Merling is better cause he has 3 more tackles? That's just silly. Merling is a good player, yet to achieve his potential. JT can still dominate a game in a way we can only hope Merling one day will. JT's missed a bunch of games due to injury. Merling is not better than JT.
JT being injured all season long is a big reason why his production has tailed off as much as it has. All of that aside, if he is playing in the 3-4 in Miami, his numbers are a bit more gawdy. But I agree that it was the right time to part ways, with both JT and ZT.
Its unfair to compare both . JT has been an all pro for many years and DPOY once. We would be a much better team if he were still here IMO . Merling is an unproven rookie . Here is a little compilation I made of his gifs while he was a Dolphin [ame="http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=lHqg_Q0C1d4"]YouTube - A tribute to Jason Taylor[/ame]
Really is a shame that this team never developed the talent and wasted the best years of two of the greatest defensive players of this generation in JT & ZT
The title of this thread is meant to be taken lightly... I was basically commenting on how we got lucky that we were able to get some value for him considering how quickly his production dropped... I was shocked to see that his stats were so low this year. I think we would all be fortunate if Merling ever becomes the player that JT was in his prime...
Look, merling has the potential to be good but i dont think as good as JT. He honestly did some spectacular things for us that i will never forget.
We don't trade him he doesn't get injured and he would be getting his normal gawdy stats at ROLB while Porter is still stuck on the other side.
Don't get me wrong here Taylor would be amazing to have right now but I don't think the team sack total would be any better than it is now it would just be distributed differently and quite honestly Taylor always had this good guy persona - I don't mine Porter on the field being a little nasty, punch you in the face type attitude. The team needs that verbal & physical lead on the field. They've played with more passion with Porter being the leader than they did with Taylor recently.
I like where we are as a team right now.I wish JT luck,but it's impossible to say that we would be a better team with him here.It was time to cut ties(and salary) for the better good of the team. We are moving in the right direction.
You know I agree with you, Ms. Debby. I miss Jason tremendously, and it's been very strange having him in my "backyard" (I'm in Northern Virginia)... (Love the signature, by the way -- tremendous!!!)
I wish he were in my backyard. The sig is from inflames (Jason) All the guys on here are wonderful with sigs etc. Jason has been so good about helping me, I can't do anything with this machine. I know I have the best sig and avi, thanks to him. Talk to you soon girl
Knowing that JT's been injured most of the year, his stats not being where we're used to surprises you ?? Seriously...I'm glad you added that this was supposed to a light-hearted thread, because anyone, not just any Dolfan should know that there is no comparison, at least not in 10 games of Merling to JT....
I think the point that at this point in their careers Merling > JT has some credability. If you're starting a franchise you'd 100% rather have Merling. JT has been injury plagued the last couple years and only has maybe a season or two left in him. That has to be factored.
You can play the 'what if' game both ways tho....I'm not saying that Merling doesn't have potential, but at this point in his career, would you think that he's going to be a perennial All Pro, DPOY candidate ?? I don't think so. We already know that JT carries those credentials...so I don't think a blanket "Merling > JT" has any credibility at all... I don't know where some say that JT has been injury prone, because up till this year, I don't think he has at least that I can recall....probably the DWTS thing had a lot to do with his injury situation this year...no matter how much of a workout the dancing did, it's not the same as preparing your body for the rigors of an NFL season, especially at his age and his position played... As to starting a franchise, I might want to have JT around for a year or two to let the other youngsters build that all pro aura about them that JT has... I think that also cannot be a blanket statement...depending on who else I had on the D, I might want a JT around for a year or two over a Merling... I like what Merling has been doing, but I haven't seen any all pro play from him on a consistent basis yet...not that he can't or won't develop that, but I haven't seen it yet...is there potential...sure...am I disappointed in the selection...no...would we be a better D with JT at this point...probably... Now, the fact that JT simply put didn't want to be here any longer has to be taken into consideration...if he didn't want to be here, and we didn't move him out, we'd probably not be a better D with him...
I never doubted the trade, Taylor didn't want to be here. And the fact that he didn't do the off season conditioning and decided to dance came back to bite him because he can't stay healthy.
I think you slightly missed my point. Even if JT plays at the absolute top of his game for another two seasons (which he won't) thats all he has left. Merling even if he's never as good as JT was (they are different types of player anyway) you still get 7+ years of average play out of him. If you're starting a franchise now and have choice of the two, and you want any chance long term you'd take Merling.
I loved JT over the years and I hope he and Zach make the Hall of Fame, but trading JT for a 2nd round pick is a no brainer.
No way and no how. I think it was time to trade JT because he was getting older, no telling how much longer he was going to play and his contract was pretty steep, but there is no way that Philip Merling is better than JT. This year he may have a couple of more tackles but JT was out for a while. There is no telling what the future will hold for Merling, but I would take JT in his prime hands down. Just because he is no longer playing for our team, lets not forget what he meant to us for so many years.
We're not talking about in his prime. We're talking about right now. You own the Miami Dolphins, you can either have JT for the next year or maybe two, or Merling for the next 5-10. Who do you choose? I think it's a no brainer.
I think it was clear JT didnt want to be here, didnt want to undergo another culture change here, didnt want to challenge Parcells/Sprano, felt he had a better chance with Washington, so he got to skip town.
It will be a long time if ever that the Dolphins have another defensive player like Jason Taylor or Zach Thomas. As far as Jason Taylor is concerned it was a trade that benefit both teams and the Dolphins had no choice since Taylor didn't want to be in Miami. Most of us would probably have a different opinion if Jason Taylor had voiced his desire to stay in Miami and his willingness to do everything that was asked of him by the team. His desire to go off and do things not football or Dolphins related says volumes about what he thought of the new regime. If he had attended all of the training and preparation that the Dolphins wanted him to he might not be having all of the injury issues he has suffered through this year.
