You can tell Jets rookie TE Mason Taylor is a maturing young pro from a family of old Hall of Fame pros. Nothing fazes him. He's all about the practice field and then showing up and performing professionally on gameday.

Ten weeks after playing at Miami at Hard Rock Stadium, a venue he frolicked around as a kid not far from two Dolphins defensive mainstays, dad Jason and uncle Zach Thomas, young Mason is getting ready to play the Dolphins again, this time at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. But he doesn't bat an eye.

"They're playing better than they were," Taylor said in his analyst's voice of the Jets' 27-21 Monday night loss in late September. "They're just a good team all around, their front, they have veteran linebackers that are good. So it's going to be a great challenge for us to get to see them at home. That's good for us."

It's also good for Taylor, who sometimes quietly, sometimes forcefully, has increased his profile as a pro tight end. Never is heard a discouraging word about his four low-target, one-catch games, nor a lot of crowing when he had five grabs for 65 yards at the Dolphins and soon after topped that with his Jets high-water marks to date, 12 targets, nine catches and 67 yards vs. Dallas and his first pro TD at Cincinnati.

He's receptive about other things besides receptions.

"Definitely just being more consistent in the run game," Taylor said of his focus over the season's final five games. "I think that's an area that I need to improve in, just being my harshest critic in that, just taking action on the practice field and getting better every single day."

Yet TEs and receptions are never far apart. Although his pass-catching streak counts only in his bio, not in Jets or league record books, Taylor takes a personal pass-catching streak of 40 games into his next meeting with the Aqua & Coral — his final 28 games as LSU's record-setting TE and his first 12 games as a Jet.

More significant perhaps, yet something else Taylor doesn't brag on, is that he leads the Jets in receptions, with his 39 nosing ahead of injured WR Garrett Wilson's 36 and RB Breece Hall's 30.

But it's about the education, not the metrics alone. QB Tyrod Taylor, who's seen a parade of pass-catchers come and go in his 15 NFL seasons, has noticed the learning curve.

"Mason's done a great job," Tyrod said this week. "We've asked him to do a little bit of everything in the passing game and the blocking game. He's a very dynamic player. I'm very impressed by him, his ability to get open. He's a matchup problem and we're trying to keep getting him the ball."

Mason returned the compliments during his Jets Press Pass interview with nyjets.com's Caroline Hendershot.

"Tyrod's been great. We love him and we're behind him as our leader," the TE said. "We're just trying to get better each and every week out there on the practice field, connect with each other. So it's been good for us."

Taylor-to-Taylor could be a mantra in the Meadowlands. The Dolphins defense, despite improvements, remains 29th against the run. And that ranking has undoubtedly had its effects on the 'Fins' defense against opposing TEs, who have caught 75 passes (6th-most in the NFL) for 801 yards (6th-most) and seven touchdowns (tied for 3rd-most).

No guarantees that Mason Taylor will be erupting for a career game against his once hometown team. But he still expresses his calm, reasoned belief that the Jets are preparing for an eye-opening return match against their division rivals.

"We have so much potential," he said of the Green & White offense. "We have a lot of young talent, including myself. I just feel if we do the little things we're asked to do and we all connect on that same page, we'll shock the world for sure."