Where's Jason? That's the game the Dolphin's will play with Jason Taylor—now you see him as a 3-4 linebacker, now you don't—in their new varied approach

Kara Yorio

The cries of "Ja-son! Ja-son!" threaten to drown out coach Nick Saban's news conference nearly a field away. Dolphins fans have found their defensive star, Jason Taylor, as he walks toward them for a postpractice autograph session. At 6-6 and 255 pounds, he is difficult to miss.

An hour earlier, well into one of the opening days in Dolphins training camp, it wasn't so simple to spot Taylor. He was working on dropback moves in individual drills, towering over linebackers. Then he was working out with the linemen, blending into the pack of men more his size. And when the 7-on-7 drills started, forget it--he was everywhere.

First, Taylor lined up at end, down and on the right. On the next play, he was standing next to the linemen on the right side, but he spotted the tight end and moved away from him, to the other side. Then he was back on the right side, a step off the line and again standing up. On one snap, he rushed the quarterback. On the next, he found the ballcarrier. On another, he dropped into coverage.

It was impossible to guess where Taylor would be next. Which is precisely the idea in the 3-4 defense the Dolphins will unveil in their first season under Saban.

"(It) puts him in the best position to make plays," Saban says of Taylor's new role as a 3-4 outside linebacker and end when the Dolphins use a four-man line. "His ability to do some things in coverage helps us have some (options) that we wouldn't have if everybody identified him as a rusher all the time. He is very athletic and bright and understands the concepts easily."

That's fortunate because the team's 2004 MVP has much to learn, even if Miami lines up in the 3-4 only as much as a quarter of the time, which it might. He is spending countless hours absorbing the new playbook and watching film, certainly more time than he spent learning the defense as an NFL rookie eight years ago. Taylor is excited about the new challenge, but he hasn't always been so enthusiastic. He was pretty successful doing it the old way, making a Pro Bowl career out of chasing the quarterback from his end position. Saban convinced him he could be even better.

"People don't want to change," Taylor says. "They get stuck in their ways, want to do what's easy for them--not what's easy but what comes naturally. That was my original thinking, but it was ignorant. I didn't know what they'd want from me. Once we talked about the things he wants to do and getting out and doing it, it's been a lot of fun."

It helped when Taylor was able to talk to a couple of players who have done what he is preparing to do. One was the Patriots' Mike Vrabel, who told him the switch will take time but that it will be worth it because he'll be able to do much more than just rush the passer.

Indeed, he'll have to rein in his natural instinct to move forward on every snap.

"His strength has always been going upfield, maybe getting the tackle overextended and then going up and under," says Vrabel. "Now he may have to stop and actually take on a block. That's a huge difference. You know, not always digging in. Maybe staying back a little bit and reading it. That's a lot different than going after the quarterback all the time."

That will be true even when the Dolphins are in the 4-3. Taylor says Saban's version of the 4-3 will be "a little tighter, more disciplined" than the team's 2004 version, which for him will mean less all-out pursuit of the quarterback and more reading of plays at the line.

According to ends who have made the move to 3-4 linebacker, the steepest part of Taylor's learning curve could be adjusting to coverage responsibilities. There's the physical aspect of backpedaling, both mastering the footwork and being in the right spot. The greater challenge, though, is being able to read play-action and draw plays, which could lead to Taylor's being caught out of position.

"Your natural instincts take over on a pure pass play or a pure run," says Falcons left end Patrick Kerney, who learned how to play linebacker in the 3-4 several years ago when Atlanta adopted the defense. "You're given a gap, you're given a way to hit a guy and get off him. That's pretty easy, but all of a sudden when you're thinking pass, you're in coverage and then you see a draw, it gets pretty confusing. You're rammed up into the tackle and you're starting to pass rush and then you realize your man is wide-open. That's the hard part."

The use of the 3-4, and the heaping of responsibilities on the team's best player, is not without risk. The defense was one of the few highlights in Miami's 4-12 season in 2004, ranking eighth in the league. But the Dolphins believe the defense can be even more effective if opposing offenses can't see what's coming as often.

"We were so basic last year, every offensive line would slide his way every time," says linebacker Zach Thomas. "Now, a 3-4 is really like five down linemen. People think it's just three down linemen, but you've got two outside edge rushers and then three in the middle. So it's not like a 4-3 where it's only four down linemen. So you can take advantage of a lot of things. If they're sliding his way, you can blitz from the other side. You can do so many different things, (the offense has) to change it up."

In theory, it all makes sense. And Taylor is confident in his athletic ability to take on blocks, drop into coverage and perform the other physical aspects of his new job. His bigger concern is reacting to adjustments the offense might make. It's different when the "bodies are flying around," he says.

It'll be different for opposing offenses, too. They'll have to look for Taylor because he won't always be where they remember him, in pure rush mode. He's working on becoming a multidimensional threat--and that's a scary notion.

This is ... Jason Taylor

Childhood dream: Play in the NBA

Brother-in-law: Teammate Zach Thomas

Favorite book: Bible

Favorite movies: The Godfather, Gladiator

Favorite TV show: The Sopranos

Featured on: MTV Cribs

Favorite type of food: Italian

Charity: Jason Taylor Foundation, benefiting South Florida children

Also: Has gone on USO/NFL tours to overseas military bases.... Once caught a 70-pound bull dolphin in the Bahamas.--K.Y.

Keys to resistance

The Browns and 49ers are making a full-fledged switch to the 3-4 this season, and the Cowboys are expected to use it more than half the time. For each move to work, many players must learn new responsibilities. An inside look at what the key player on each of those defensive units is up against,

Andre Carter, 49ers

Carter had a choice to make when new coach Mike Nolan installed the 3-4 defense--adapt or confront the possibility of being left without a position.

One of the team's best pass rushers but considered too light at 265 pounds to continue playing end in the 3-4, Carter chose to switch to outside linebacker. As the primary backup at both outside spots, he now must operate in space from a two-point stance rather than put his hand on the ground and beat offensive tackles off the edge.

Carter has been learning a lot--techniques to fight off blocks, how to read the pass and adjustments to his pass-rush moves to reflect the potential for increased participation in blitz packages. Carter is absorbing the nuances of the position quickly.

"More importantly," says Nolan, "when I saw him out there working, he was excited about it, even verbalizing that, 'Hey, I love doing this. It changes up my job.' The linebacker job in the 3-4 is very versatile. Guys get to do a lot of stuff."--Dennis Georgatos

Greg Ellis, Cowboys

Coach Bill Parcells wants Ellis to play right end in the Cowboys' new 3-4 scheme, so he'll give it a shot--even though he doesn't want to. He thinks he's too light--way too light.

According to Ellis, most 3-4 ends weigh 300 pounds. The lightest, he says, weighs 285. He weighs 270, or about 50-60 pounds less than most offensive tackles he'll play head-on. In the 3-4, he won't be able to line up on the outside shoulder of the tackle like he did in the 4-3, which gave him a better angle to use his speed and technique to get to the quarterback.

"I'm not comfortable because it's a new position and the odds are stacked against me because I'm the smallest guy in the NFL trying to play this position;' he says. "For me to be successful, it's going to be extremely hard--harder than it has ever been before--because I'm undersized to play that position."

Ellis says he's trying to keep a positive attitude and an open mind. It isn't easy. "It may work out like Bill says and I might excel at that position," he says, "but we're going to have to wait a couple of games before we fill in all the blanks."--Jean-Jacques Taylor

Kenard Lang, Browns

New coach Romeo Crennet is conducting a crash course in the 3-4, the scheme that worked quite well for him as the Patriots' defensive coordinator. For the Browns to enjoy even remotely similar success, Kenard Lang must make a successful conversion from end to outside linebacker

Crennel doesn't like modestly sized ends, which tang would have been, and loves big linebackers, which, at 6-3 and about 265 pounds, Lang will be. Crennel's model for the switch is Mike Vrabel, who was an expendable linebacker in Pittsburgh before Crennel got him in New England. Like Vrabel, Laog is in his ninth season. Unlike Vrabel, he has cultivated no instincts for blitzing or dropping into coverage. But he's eager to learn.

"Coach Crennel has five Super Bowl rings (three with the Patriots, two with the Giants)," Lang says. "When he asked me about the change, I said, 'When do I start?'"

Crennel is banking on Lang's nonstop motor and fierce determination to succeed. He has enough athleticism to pull off the switch and could have a career year as an edge rusher. He relishes the thought of beating backs rather than offensive tackles to the quarterback, and he welcomes the challenge of dropping into coverage against backs and tight ends.

"If I make this change successfully, I'll prolong my career and I'll be one of the few guys in the NFL to play three positions in their career," says Lang, who also has played defensive tackle.--Steve Doerschuk

NFL teams are falling in step--hup, two, 3-4

The 3-4 defense continues to gain popularity. Seven teams made significant use of the scheme a year ago, and nine are expected to do so in 2005, including six that will make it their base defense.

  2000       2001       2002       2003       2004         2005

                                                       Browns
                                                       Texans
                                            Ravens     Patriots
                                            Texans     Steelers
                                 Falcons    Patriots   Chargers
Bills                 Falcons    Ravens     Raiders    49ers
Patriots              Ravens     Texans     Steelers   Cowboys (#)
Jets       Patriots   Texans     Patriots   Chargers   Dolphins (#)
Steelers   Steelers   Steelers   Steelers   Jets *     Raiders (#)

* 3-4 not base defense but was used about 30 percent of the time

(#) 3-4 not base defense but is expected to be used at least
25 percent of the time

COPYRIGHT 2005 Sporting News Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning