Early thunderstorm makes Taylor feel at home

By Brian Hunsicker

Published: July 22, 2008

Jason Taylor’s first full day of work with the Washington Redskins wasn’t all new.
Bad weather, like the upstart thunderstorm that cut Tuesday’s morning practice short, was commonplace in Miami, even moreso than it is in Washington in late July.
“In Miami, it rains every day. So it was nice to see that nothing’s changed up here,“ Taylor said.
But virtually everything else was new: coaches, teammates, schemes, verbiage, drills and jersey number. Taylor appeared on the field with the No. 55; the two fives were an adequate replacement of his old No. 99, which remained with fellow defensive end Andre Carter.
After stretching, Taylor, Carter and the rest of the defensive linemen jogged to their usual station with assistant coach John Palermo. After going over techniques to use against a few blocking schemes, Taylor spent a few plays on the field with the defense as a whole during an interception return drill.
During agility drills, the 6-foot-5, 255-pound Taylor looked the part of athletic defensive end. Four rectangular pads were laid on the ground about two feet apart; the linemen had to ran through them, a stride in each gap before accelerating or cutting after the final bag. For some, the bags appeared to be true obstacles; for Taylor, they seemed like simple nuisances.
But that was largely the extent of the action in his first practice, which was also the team’s first in full pads. He participated in a lone play in a two-on-two drill against the right side of the Redskins’ offensive line, tackle Jon Jansen and guard Randy Thomas. Taylor got off the line, did two quick head fakes and used a rip technique, where the defender lowers his shoulder and then raises his arm to remove the blocker’s hands.
Jansen didn’t bite, however, and kept Taylor from the imaginary quarterback. The rest of the drill was manned by reserves fighting for playing time or even a roster spot.
When the units came together for full team practice, Taylor was next to defensive coordinator Greg Blache, listening to the calls to get a sense of the Redskins’ terminology.
“I thought our players did a really nice job of welcoming him,“ head coach Jim Zorn said. “He was very compatible with new teammates, getting to know them. I thought it went well.“
The practice ended at 9:50 a.m. when a thunderstorm from the west made its presence felt. Team security cleared the area of fans, even as the team continued practicing. The wind picked up and raindrops became more frequent; the team ceased practice when lightning became visible.
Zorn said that they had finished all but two sets of scripted plays, and he expected to finish that in Tuesday’s afternoon practice.