By Newly Retired Jason Taylor Blasts Rules That Inhibit Defensive Players
January 10, 2012 – 10:00 am by Eric Schmoldt
While he was with the Miami Dolphins, Jason Taylor could have been fined for saying something critical of the NFL’s rules. Now that he’s retired, Taylor is free to state his opinion, and he has.
Taylor says the rules regarding contact to the head have been an overreaction that took rules being lopsided in favor of defensive players and made them excessively lopsided against defensive players. He’s got a pretty good point, bringing up a pair of plays from just this past weekend as evidence.
Jason Taylor joined WQAM in Miami with Joe Rose to discuss if there’s any chance he’ll come back and play again, if there was a better way to go out than how he did it with a win against the rival Jets, if yardage is a worthless defensive statistic, rules against defensive players being excessively lopsided in the offense’s favor, and Nick Saban winning a national championship.
Is there any chance that in a couple months you’d change your mind and decide to play one more year:
“I don’t know. I’m retired. It’s been 15 years. I’m happy with where I’m at right now. Obviously it’s the offseason so you’re in that unwind mode a little bit. … I’m sure I’ll miss it some when football goes back. If I can help this organization in any way, I’m here to help. But playing-wise, I’m not so sure.”
Could you have thought of a better way to go out?:
“No, the day was fantastic; it really was. I think the whole week from the time that I made the decision to retire, I said the organization did a great job of being kind and taking care of us. It makes you a little embarrassed a little bit and shy, all the hoopla, but my teammates were fantastic. … They showed a lot of love and respect and I showed a lot of love and respect back to them. It was a great time.”
Would you agree that yards no longer matter as a defensive statistic, that it’s basically all about takeaways?:
“Yeah, I think yards are tough to look at, especially in today’s NFL. Takeaways is very, very important. You don’t see it very often where a team will be behind in takeaways and still be successful. I think the Saints were -3 in takeaways … but teams are just throwing for so many yards nowadays. It’s not even the running game so much. When I came in in ’97, this was predominantly a running league. … Now they throw the ball all over the yard. I think it’s very easy to see the change when you look at the guys who go out and throw for 5,000 yards.”
Now that you can’t get fined, how bad do the rules inhibit defensive players?:
“There’s certain things that probably should have been addressed and cleaned up, and they have been. What you don’t want to do is overreact to an issue and then make it lopsided in the other direction. I think that’s what’s happened with some of these helmet calls. There was a play in the Denver game where James Harrison … where he initially went to hit [Eric] Decker and he went low. We all know James Harrison has knocked some guys out going high and he decides to go low … and the receiver gets a knee injury. And then there was a play in the New Orleans-Detroit game and, in the end zone, where a defensive back is going for the ball and knocks the ball out and his hand touches the receivers helmet. … He’s got a helmet on. Why are you wearing a helmet? … There’s a balance in there somewhere and the problem is these become judgment calls.”
On former coach Nick Saban winning another national championship with Alabama:
“I am very, very surprised that [you gave him kudos]. … It was a good game. It was two defenses that went after it. I just thought Alabama did a good job. They had to pound it out and grind it out for three points early in the game … and finally broke a touchdown there at the end. Nick did a good job. He really did. And LSU’s a good football team. … It was a good rematch and obviously I like Nick Saban so I’m happy for him.”
” target=”_blank”>Listen to Jason Taylor on WQAM in Miami here
Tags: Alabama Crimson Tide, Jason Taylor, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, NFL, NFL Playoffs, NFL rules, Nick Saban
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