This fish is still hooked

Elusive championship is Taylor's obsession

By Mike Reiss | May 20, 2007

It hasn't been the type of offseason that necessarily brings comfort to a player entering his 11th NFL season and still searching for his first Super Bowl championship. Coaching changes and an unsettled quarterback situation can be difficult. Jason Taylor acknowledges as much

"Unfortunately, in some ways, you have to start over," the longtime Miami Dolphins defensive end said. "This is my third time doing this and it's not always fun, a turnover like this, with a change of philosophies."

Yet those who have watched Taylor over the last 10 years -- as he's totaled 106 sacks in a durable, Hall of Fame-worthy career -- won't be surprised at how he's responding. He remains realistic and relentless as the Dolphins look to end a five-year playoff drought under first-year coach Cam Cameron.

"You only have a certain amount of time to play the game and you hope to be dealt the best hand as quickly as you can, but we've had to shuffle up and now it's been re-dealt to us," he said. "This is the hand we're playing now and we know the things we need to get done. Attitudes need to change. We have to have the belief that things can change.

"We haven't had that the last five years, where guys expected to win, expected to make a play. You look at a team like New England, who last year at receiver -- with all due respect -- was playing with some guys who you didn't know who they were. Yet they still expected to win each week. Obviously, they have an X-factor in Tommy [Brady], but that's the mind-set and approach that Coach Belichick has instilled in the team and that's very much needed here in Miami. I think every team needs it."

Taylor thought the Dolphins were headed in that direction under former coach Nick Saban.

"He taught a lot of the same things that guys who play for Bill [Belichick] talk about, but we didn't have 53 players that bought into that," he said. "Some guys were offended by it, but you all have to swallow your pride, like everybody does that goes to New England, and put the team before yourselves. You can use one million clichés, but we need to be more focused as a team and change the mentality."

Taylor, the league's reigning Defensive Player of the Year, had his emotions boil over after the season-ending loss to the Colts in December. At the time, he said he'd consider retirement.

"We had just lost, and [reporters] were asking to sum up the [6-10] season and I just basically said I can't take it anymore, I'm sick of losing and people being OK with it, and it not bothering people like it was bothering me," he said. "I don't want to sound selfish, but it's been frustrating the last five years not winning enough games, when you put in the work and don't get the result. I understand part of this game is losing, and how you deal with that also defines you as a player, but I had reached a point of frustration there."

A few days later, Taylor acknowledged he'd be back in 2007. The only way he would retire, he joked, was if Brady outran him.

The Brady comment was a reflection of the respect that Taylor and Brady have for each other.

"If you give me a handful of cash and tell me to go start a team today, I'll give most of the money to Tom and we'll be all right," Taylor said.

While Brady has three Super Bowl rings, Taylor, who turns 33 in September, acknowledges his time is running out to earn his first. He is under contract for the next three seasons and doesn't want to be a player who is hanging on for the wrong reasons at the end of his career.

"I'll play as long as I can do so at a high level, but I don't want to wait too long and start coming back down the other side of the hill too fast," he said. "You want to end on a high. In a perfect world, it would be this coming season, you win the Super Bowl, accomplish all those team goals, and it would be hard to come back after that.

"At the same time, my competitive side never lets me walk away from anything. I constantly want to do more, and do better. Sometimes that's what makes you great, but it can be your demise, too. So it's a tough question to answer."

But it's not tough to envision which jersey Taylor will wear. Even if the situation presented itself, he's not interested in a Raymond Bourque-type ending, leaving his longtime club to win a championship with someone else.

"I couldn't envision another uniform," he said. "It would mean more to me to help turn this team around, for the fans who have been here and been behind me the last 10 years. I think there would still be a void, a part of me that would regret not doing it with the Miami Dolphins.

"That's my quest. I wake up every day and it's one of the things on my list to get done. It's a journey and I'm not about to give up on it. If it doesn't happen, it wasn't meant to be, and there will always be a void there. But I can guarantee it won't be for a lack of effort."

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