From the sidelines, Jason Taylor has watched his offense give up 22 sacks already this season. The sixth-year defensive end from Akron knows a little something about sacks himself. Taylor has totaled 80 since 2000, the most by any player in the NFL.
Entering week six's divisional match-up at the Meadowlands, Taylor already has picked up four sacks this season. Come Sunday, he will be matched-up against tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, the fourth overall selection in last April's draft.
"He will be good. He is a big, athletic guy," said Taylor of Ferguson. "He is still young and he has a lot of things to learn in this league, but he is going to be a good player for years to come. He has a handful of good coaches that are working with him, and he'll be just fine. I saw some of the games on those guys, and he did some good things."
On playing a team coming off a devastating loss…
To be honest, you throw that game out and you don't put much stock into what you saw in that game because they have played a lot better all year. I think that was more of an aberration than it is a real testament of who they are as a team.
On how he is acclimating to the elephant position…
Oh, is that what it is called this week? I have gotten used to it. The name changes every week, so I guess this week we'll call it the elephant. It is a role that I have accepted the challenge of, and I am actually enjoying do it. It presents some variety, and I bit more of a challenge. It has been fun and at the end of the day most of the time I am rushing the quarterback, but there are a few times when I am called to do different things like drop in coverage and move around a bit.
On how hard it must have been for Jet linebackers to adjust to the defense…
It is just a little different. Actually, when you are playing linebacker and in passing coverage is totally different from what you are accustomed to, but I have been blessed to have some good coaches to help me and explain to me the reasons why we are doing it and not just what we are doing, and how the safeties are interacting with the linebackers. Once you get a grasp of the concept I think it is much easier.
On D'Brickashaw Ferguson…
He will be good. He is a big, athletic guy. He is still young and he has a lot of things to learn in this league, but he is going to be a good player for years to come. He has a handful of good coaches that are working with him, and he'll be just fine. I saw some of the games on those guys, and he did some good things.
On Ferguson's best attribute…
I think, number one, that he will get bigger and stronger. He is just a young kid and as his body continues to mature and he gets in the weight room and gets in the NFL program he will definitely get bigger and stronger. Right now he is athletic enough, and sometimes you get them where there are almost too green to fall for some of the tricks that veterans try to play on them. They sit there and try to get the technique down, but he is athletic enough that he can move around pretty well and that's probably the reason he went so high.
On how he is feeling about their season so far…
Well, it's not a disappointing season yet. We have had a few bumps in the road here early on, but we still have a long way to go. We are going to work on this thing, get it turned around and hopefully, get back in the right direction; get some momentum going. That is how I look at it. We are not going to sit around and sulk about it and say what we could be or what should have been. We are 1-4, we have played well at times, we had opportunities to win games and didn't capitalize on it. I am sure we will learn to capitalize those opportunities and eliminate the dumb mistakes we are making. Our goal right now is to work towards executing and eliminating dumb mistakes.
On Curtis Martin not being on the field Sunday…
It is a little different. I have played against Curtis for nine years. It will be different not seeing him out there. He was one of the staples in the organization for a while, a part of what they have always done and always a big part of what we have focused on for most of the week. He was always one of those backs that wasn't real flashy, or the fastest when you watched him on tape, but with the big elbow pads, he looked unorthodox at times. But the man has everyone's respect. You could be here all day saying good things about him. He was a source of a lot of headaches down here. Curtis has a lot of respect from a lot of guys down here even though we are on the other team.
On having Martin's jersey in his locker…
I had a jersey of his from back in the day when we were winning for about 50 minutes of the game. I kept it in the locker for a while, so he got the thing turned around when they had they winning streak. I finally removed it and put it in the archives at home.
On Taylor playing well against the Jets…
You try to play at a high level every week. Sometimes, not just with our team, but with every team, with the fans and the media sometimes people watching the game forget the other team gets paid too. You try to raise your level of play every week. The Jets are a big rivalry that goes back to before I was here and I am sure it will be around after I am gone. They have had their streaks, we have had our struggles, unfortunately we made history on a Monday night. There is a lot of stuff that goes into these games. It is always a joy to come up to the Big Apple and get a chance to play against the guys in the green.
On if he has a Kevan Barlow jersey in his locker…
No, I don't have a Barlow one. I am going to try to stay away from displaying opponents jersey's for now. If I do feel the need to, I'll grab a Pennington jersey.
On Wade Smith…
Wade and I went at it everyday in practice for a few years. He had a tough time down here because he had a couple of injuries. He is athletic enough; he has worked in the weight room and gotten bigger and stronger. He can do it. If he can get his confidence high and keep it that way, he'll be fine.
On the Jets running backs…
They have the running back by committee thing going with Curtis being gone. He used to be a staple there and you knew what you were going to get with him, but now it is by committee and they have done a descent job with it. The Jets have played well this year and I don't think their record indicates that. With the exception of the one bad game they have had, you really have to tip your hat and give those guys some props. A whole lot of good things weren't being said about them before the season. Chad came back from the whole injury and strengthened his arm, Curtis is gone and they can't run the ball now. For those guys to keep their heads up and stay positive says a lot about what they can do.
On Chad Pennington…
I think he is doing fine. We played them last year when his arm was injured or whatever his situation was up there, and he threw the ball, not particularly well, but it was enough to beat us. He played well against us unfortunately, and hopefully we can turn that around this year. He is throwing the ball fine. I don't think Chad has ever had a cannon, but he has always been and efficient quarterback that ran the ball efficiently and got he ball to his playmakers. If he continues to do that, then he'll continue to be successful.
On MIA being better than their record…
I think we can be, but we are not earning it right now and you have to earn it. It is easy to take those three or four plays a game and say this is where the game turned; this is the difference in the game. Every team can do that. There are a handful of plays where we aren't doing what is necessary to take those four plays and those plays more favorable for us. Until we do that we won't be a good football team.
