Jason Taylor presser transcripts

Jason Taylor of the Miami Dolphins held a press conference on Wednesday.  To read the full transcript follow to the next page.

Q: How much does Zach Thomas have left in his tank as he beings his 12th season?

A: “Plenty. I don’t see why people even question it. He’s been playing at a higher level. He had a great, great year last year. He’s fresh and healthy from camp. If you start getting up in years and you figure out how many years a guy has in the league, all of a sudden there’s this unjust expectation that they should be slowing down or hitting that wall. I think it’s kind of a ludicrous thing that people draw a correlation between the number of years and the ability to play the game. Zach is still young enough to do what he needs to do at a very high level. He never gets the respect he should – that’s the problem with this game. You get guys in this league that get a lot more respect than they really should and a lot more attention and credit, and Zach blows away half of the guys that I hear talked about all the time. He doesn’t gripe about it; he keeps plugging away and doing what he does. One day people will sit down and realize how good of a player he really was.”

Q: Do you see signs that the team is ready to play against Washington?

A: “Yeah, I do. It’s September 5, so that’s the No. 1 sign. We’ve got four days until we kick it off. Time waits for no man. As far as analyzing the team and trying to figure out who’s ready and who’s not, I don’t do that crap. I’ve got too much else to do in life and at work to sit around and try to overanalyze things. I’ll leave that up to the guys over at 790 (radio station) and all those other people to predict.”

Q: Do you see signs that the team can get off to a strong start?

A: “I don’t know. You’re kind of dealing with two different things here. We have a new offense, and a new offensive staff, and a way of thinking, a way of doing things. We have a new head coach overall, and then we kind of still have the same defensive system we had last year, where we tweaked it a little bit and put more things in. I think it’s different for both units. I think, naturally, the defense will be a little bit further along than the offense will. I’m not saying that the offense is not ready to play. But I think naturally, because of the years we’ve played together in the system, it’s going to be easier for the defense, I should say, to draw on past experiences and really be able to grasp the system a little faster. With that being said, it’s not an excuse for anybody to say, ‘This is a new system, and we’re not ready yet.’ We’ve got no choice but to be ready now, and guys understand that. I think we’ll be fine. We didn’t show a quarter of what we have in the game plan in the preseason. I know everyone was up in arms about how boring the play-calling was, and whatever. There is a means to an end in this thing. People need to realize in the preseason, you don’t really show anything because at the end of the day, it’s just a dress rehearsal.”

Q: Are you concerned about some of the front-seven defensive players who were not retained for this season?

A: “You never want to see older guys that you’ve developed relationships with – you don’t want to see those guys go. But that’s the nature of this business, unfortunately. It’ll happen to all of us at some point. We enjoyed playing with Kevin (Carter) and [David Bowens] has been around for a long time, and was a real good friend of a lot of people here. But those guys moved on to different teams, and you’re happy for them that they got a chance to play somewhere else, and make their money and take care of their families. It’s the nature of the business. Just because someone moves out of your city doesn’t mean you’re not friends anymore. You don’t get to play together anymore, but we’ve got guys that are going to fill in. Matt Roth, I think, is ready to go. Matt has had a pretty good preseason and a really good camp. People expect big things out of him, and I know he’s ready to go.”

Q: Will Akbar Gbaja-Biamila be able to fill the role formerly occupied by David Bowens?

A: “Akbar (Gbaja-Biamila) is there. Really I think it’ll be more Joey Porter filling that role than Akbar, I would imagine, as far as that rush end over there. We’ve got more pieces than we can plug in. Losing [David Bowens] was a bit of a hit because of what he can do for us. [Bowens] was a really good special teams player also, and I think we’ll lose some of his value there.”

Q: How will the contributions by Joey Porter and Matt Roth benefit you?

A: “This defense isn’t about Jason Taylor or any one player. Anytime you can add guys in the mix like Matt Roth getting more playing time or a player of Joey Porter’s caliber, it helps everybody. I can’t do what I was able to do last year without 10 other guys, defensively, making my job easier. That’s kind of how we all play off of each other. Will Joey help me? Absolutely. Will I help Joey? I hope so. I hope I can help Matt Roth and Vonnie (Holliday) and [Keith Traylor] and Zach (Thomas) and everybody else. I get more joy and satisfaction out of helping somebody else play better, and trying to raise the level of play around me. Whether you’re just standing there in a certain position or by what you’re doing physically on the field – to help someone else out, at the end of the day we all have success and it’s worth it.”

Q: How was Washington able to allow only 19 sacks last season?

A: “They max-protect a lot. They like to keep guys in, they want to protect their quarterback. They don’t want to get him hit. They’ll have some plays where they’ll have two or three guys in the pattern, and keep the other two guys in. They try to do a good job of keeping their quarterback off the dirt.”

Q: Do you like the idea of being utilized in an alternative manner, such as on special teams?

A: “Yeah, somewhat, but there’s a limit to everything. There are certain things I would do if I had to, but I chose not to – cover kickoffs. There are a lot of things I can do in life, but wedge bust is not one of the ones I’d have at the top of the list. There are places that are being used, have been used, can be used, willing to be used. It’s the coach’s call whether or not I do those things.”

Q: Do you want to be listed as backup long snapper on the depth chart?

A: “It’s a position that nobody knows your long snapper’s name. It’s probably, for all the guys that touch the ball, it may be the most important guy. Even with quarterbacks and running backs, it may be the most important guy because he can quickly win or lose you a game based on a snap. We’ve seen that in years past. I know Giants had a game they lost on a bad snap, I believe it was. There’s a lot of pressure on that position. For those of you that don’t know, John Denney is our long snapper. Hopefully he’ll stay healthy all year, and he’ll continue to be our long snapper because I would much rather not have to go through it.”

Q: Are you implying that you’re not very good at long-snapping?

A: “I can get it done, I can get it done. If need be, I’ll take care of what needs to be taken care of. John Denney is one of the best in the business for a reason. Every night, before I go to bed, I pray that John Denney stays healthy.”

Q: Does your frustration mount when you continually have individual accomplishments without comparable team success?

A: “I’m always frustrated. I think you’ve been around long enough to see how I am after games, after wins, after losses. It’s always frustrating when we lose. I’m not a very good loser. I’d much rather win, obviously, and I kind of have a bad attitude about losing. The frustration doesn’t mount anymore because of the individual things. One thing about the team game is every individual player has to play at their highest level and to the best of their ability. That’s what I try to do. I try to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.”

Q: What about Cam Cameron has impressed you thus far?

A: “The thing that really impresses, I think Zach (Thomas) would echo this sentiment, is that he’s kept both Zach and I. After a while when you start having all this turnover, you start to think that you may be part of the reason that there’s turnover. No one wants to be a coach killer, and if we don’t start winning around here, I think the fingers are going to start getting pointed at us. It’s too early to really see what Cam (Cameron) does the best. We haven’t game-planned yet, we haven’t played a real game yet. I do see that he is organized. As every coach has, he’s got a system that he wants to run and implement, and he’s doing that in a very orderly fashion. He has instilled the discipline that needed to be done. What that means right now isn’t a whole lot, but at the end of the day, it could mean a whole lot on Sundays. That’s what we need him to do.”

Q: Has anything about Joey Porter surprised you?

A: “No, nothing surprised me. I’ve heard the stories about Joey and had a chance to meet him and spend some time with him before. He’s everything as advertised, and probably a bit more. I do look forward to playing with him. He is going to be a good sparkplug for this team. The guy can play the game. Everyone talks about his intensity and his ‘rah-rah’ and all that crap; that really at the end of the day means nothing. He can play the game, at a very high level still, I believe. I think the Steelers will see that they made a mistake in letting him go. People may say that is wishful thinking, but I truly believe that he is still that kind of player. We look forward to getting on the field with him and hopefully he’s all the way healthy and we can turn this thing loose.”

Q: Do you think it’s difficult for Joey to go from being the unquestioned leader of the defense in Pittsburgh to a team with entrenched defensive leaders?

A: “I think that is more Joey talking than it is Zach and I. We never went to Joey and said ‘this is our team and you’ve got to fall in line.’ That’s not the way it is. When a guy like Joey comes along, with the things that he has accomplished in this league, the success he has had in this league, he demands a certain level of respect instantly, from particularly the young guys, but even from the guys like Zach and myself and Vonnie Holliday and Keith Traylor, some of the older guys that have done well in the league. He still garners that respect even walking in the room with us. We’re all on the same level. Like I said before, it’s not an individual thing. It’s not like Jason Taylor is here, and Zach Thomas is here, and everybody else – no, that’s not the way it is. Joey can feel free to say and do what he wants, whenever he wants. If he feels something needs to be said he never needs to be worried about stepping on my toes or Zach’s toes. If he has a problem with me, if I’m slacking in a certain area, he can jump on my butt too. I have no problem with that because I’m quick to jump on somebody if they’re not doing the right thing and the same thing should be done to me.”

Q: Can you talk about Cam Cameron’s tendency towards using unconventional methods?

A: “I think it’s more you need to be willing to do whatever it takes to win. Being innovative and trying to trick people all the time and gimmicks and all that, you’re not going to win consistently with trick plays and gimmicks and all that crap. Being innovative is one thing, but being willing to do whatever it takes to win the game is something that he – he has that. I think he’s willing to do that. He has said it, if we need to run the ball 50 times a game to win a certain game, then we’ll do that. If the next game, we may need to pass the ball 50 times a game. He is willing to adjust and I think the best coaches are the ones who come into a situation, assess what they have, and kind of formulate their system around what they have and aren’t stuck so much on that line of this is my system and they are going to make people fit. You can’t get a square peg into a round hole sometimes.”

The transcript was taken from the Sun-sentinel, it was a team released transcript.