Jason Taylor discusses 'a few more head-scratchers' with Dolphins.
Jason Taylor was surprised Cortland Finnegan didn't deal better with Aaron Rodgers fake-spike play
1. Former Dolphins great Jason Taylor weighed in Monday on the Dolphins' latest drama for his gig on Pro Football Talk on NBCSN. Discussing the final minutes in the loss to Green Bay, Taylor said, "There were a few situations throughout the course of the game, especially the last few minutes - play-calling in the series before, giving the ball back to Aaron Rodgers, calling two time-outs on the final drive ... a few more head-scratchers in Miami."
Taylor was surprised the Dolphins in general and cornerback Corland Finnegan in particular didn't handle Rodgers' fake-spike play better in the final seconds.
“Every team I’ve been on – we practiced (defending a fake spike),'' Taylor said. 'Defensively, we were always told – never take the play off…play it like a regular play, you don’t know what the quarterback is going to do. For whatever reason, Cortland Finnegan is playing eight or nine yards off the ball. If he had just played a little bit tighter and makes that tackle, that football game is over – and Aaron Rodgers is not the hero.
2. An NFL head coach said he was "queasy" about playing to win? Every week it's becoming some strange issue with Joe Philbin. Last game, it was how he addressed the starting quarterback position. This week, it's how he said he got "queasy' about passing the ball on third-and-9 with just over two minutes left and so told offernsive coordinator Bill Lazor to run the ball. Not sure which is more surprising - he'd gift-wrap the ball to Aaron Rodgers or admit to being too nervous to make the right call. Philbin said he didn't want Tannehill getting sacked, fumbling and Buffalo winning a year ago. So he coached scared. Lazor had an interesting quote in his presser on Monday about that ending sequence for his offense.
"My irst thought was I wish we had made more first downs,'' he said. "I thought when we stand up in front of the offense, and we tell them we want to play to win, play aggressive, play loose, and I think it’s our job to coach that way too. When coach makes certain decisions on how we are going to play the game, then I think the players appreciate giving them a chance to go win the game. We could have started taking a knee two drives earlier and run the clock earlier, but that’s not how you play."
Hmm. Lazor sure sounded like he was calling out Philbin.