So you are ESPN, the largest sports media corporation in the world, and they can't find a picture of Jason Taylor in a Dolphins uniform? He was with the Jets for one year. Just use a past picture you have of him with the Phins. Stupid.
Even more stupid is that they are calling him the X Factor this week. I'm going to go out on a limb and say even if Taylor has a sack and a few tackles, that won't be the reason they win the game.
Taylor
Dolphins (0-3)
X factor: Jason Taylor, defensive end
Analysis: The Dolphins are in the doldrums after losing three straight. Head coach Tony Sparano also is in the hot seat. Miami needs its veteran players more than ever to step up in a road game against the San Diego Chargers. Taylor, 37, is no longer the Pro Bowl performer he once was. But he's a leader in the locker room who needs to set an example of how to keep playing through adversity. Taylor has four tackles and a sack in three games.
-
-
With Koa Misi actually being Koa Missing, as in not at practice and likely to sit out the game...Taylor will get a big increase in playing time.
He will primarily face Marcus McNeil, who got thoroughly abused by Jared Allen in Week 1. However, McNeil dominated Andre Carter in Week 2, and also did surprisingly well against the Kansas City OLBs in Week 3. That included Tamba Hali, Cameron Sheffield and Justin Houston. He only gave up two pressures in those games.
To call him an X-Factor in this game...I mean, hey there's always a chance, anything can happen on any given Sunday...but it just doesn't seem to have much reasoning behind it. Is Jason Taylor more comparable to the DE Jared Allen? Or more comparable to the OLBs like Andre Carter, Cameron Sheffield and Justin Houston?
Now Jeramy Clarey on the other hand...that dude is highly beatable. They like to have Randy McMichael in to block, and he's actually been pretty good at it. But I would target Cameron Wake going against those two as the matchup to really watch out for that could be an X-Factor, since I think Phil Rivers is one of those QBs you can really hurt in a game by putting a lot of pressure on him. -
They pretty much made Jason Taylor the x factor last week during the Browns game. I think I heard Cam wakes name twice and Taylor's name many times.
-
Jason Taylor either manages to time the snap against a mediocre player to where nobody gets a hand on him at all, or he picks the right gap as a blitzer to where nobody gets a hand on him at all, or he doesn't get pressure. There were better options in the off season. -
-
Larryfinfan 17-0...Priceless Club Member
-
Why do they have him wearing that sh*tstain jersey in that pic?
-
-
There are two injury statuses that I'm going to be paying a lot of attention to:
1. Malcolm Floyd
2. Koa Misi
I assume a lot of the others will be playing, aside from Antonio Gates, Vontae Davis and maybe Daniel Thomas. If Misi is out and Jason Taylor has to hold his spot, the Chargers are going to challenge JT in the passing game as well as the run game. Cam Wake is already weaker against the run than he is the pass. With the outsides manned by those two, I would expect a lot of running and passing to the backs out of the backfield. Rivers is good at that, too. If they're able to have some success running the ball and hitting us with little passes that go a distance because of weak coverage that way, that's when they'll open up play-action to Vincent Jackson with the big bombs over the top of the defense. This seems like a "duh" statement but really the Chargers have only gone to Vincent over top 4 times this year in 3 games. I think they could match that in this game alone. Could be a big day for Vincent.
If Malcolm Floyd is healthy enough to play then that could be all the excuse they need to spread us out though. They'll get Vincent Jackson, Malcolm Floyd and Patrick Crayton out there, with Randy McMichael at Tight End and maybe Mike Tolbert at halfback. They'll use McMichael and/or Tolbert to help Jeramy Clarey keep a lid on Cam Wake, and dare Jason Taylor to beat Marcus McNeil. The Dolphins would have to counter that with a significant blitz attack, including blitzing DBs and things like that. That's been successful against Rivers so far this year. However with Vontae likely out of the game, that could change and Rivers could have more success against these blitzes.