Knocking Off Rust, Darrell Taylor Makes Major Strides in Seahawks 27-0 Win Over Chargers
SEATTLE, WA - One year, seven months. That's how long Darrell Taylor went between football games as he tried to recover from surgery to repair a stress fracture in his leg.
Missing his entire rookie season with the Seahawks, nobody has to remind Taylor how much time he spent sidelined. It's engrained in his memory. But after a long road back to the field that included numerous setbacks along the way, the second-year defensive end took a monumental step forward in his comeback during a 27-0 win over the Chargers in the preseason finale.
Starting at SAM linebacker for the third straight exhibition game for Seattle, Taylor finally got home for his first NFL sack, bringing down backup quarterback Chase Daniel for an eight-yard loss on 2nd and 12. Teammates swarmed him to celebrate, including defensive tackle Poona Ford, who gave him a hearty chest bump after running over from the sidelines.
Two plays later, kicker Tristan Vizcaino missed a 47-yard field goal and Los Angeles ended the possession empty handed.
"It felt good man. I can't complain," Taylor smiled, sporting a pair of sunglasses on the podium in his post-game press conference. "It felt real good. But I can't wait until it's the real thing though."
Playing well into the second half of Saturday's victory, Taylor easily played his most complete game as a Seahawk, playing with more physicality and exhibiting greater confidence than he did in the first two preseason contests. The versatile defender filled the stat sheet with four tackles, 1.5 sacks, and a pass deflection on a fourth down pass play in the third quarter, forcing a turnover on downs.
It was a stark improvement from Taylor's performance one week earlier, as he didn't make a single tackle in a 30-3 loss to the Broncos and whiffed badly trying to bring down running back Royce Freeman in open field. Even in the exhibition opener when he produced three tackles, he wasn't able to finish off several promising rushes with sacks, allowing quarterback Nathan Peterman to escape from his grasp multiple times.
Considering Taylor's lengthy absence away from the game and the learning curve that comes with jumping from college football to the NFL, such struggles were expected as he worked to "knock off the rust."
But following such a lengthy layoff, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll has been pleased by Taylor's growth through three games and couldn't have been happier to see him finally notch his first pair of NFL sacks, even if they don't officially count on his career stat line.
"He's been flashing throughout the preseason. He hasn't been able to quite put it together to make some plays that he wants to make, but I thought he really showed again," Carroll commented. "This is a guy that just missed everything last year, so we had to keep playing him and leave him out there, get him a ton of reps. Like I've said the whole time, he made so much progress this offseason with us and that was great for him to celebrate a sack and a half tonight. He had fun with the guys about that, so we'll take this next step. We're really happy for him."
What keyed Taylor's first breakout outing? According to the player himself, he astutely broke down all of his snaps on film from his first two preseason games, identifying two clear areas of improvement for him to address.
"Just working on my rush angles when I'm rushing the passer and covering the flat routes out of the backfield or whether they're coming from the other side of the field or a tight end just right in front of me," Taylor assessed. "Just getting better at those little things and I think that's definitely helped me improve as the preseason went on."
Working diligently on both of those deficiencies in his game over the past few weeks, the results of Taylor's labor began to show on the field against the Chargers.
In the first two preseason games, Taylor showcased outstanding burst off the edge as a speed rusher, but he was struggling with drifting too far upfield, taking him out of potential sack opportunities. On Saturday, however, he did a far better job of consistently staying low and bending around the corner, flattening out the top of his rushes to create better angles to pursue the quarterback.
In coverage, after Freeman put him on skates only one week earlier, Taylor also fared much better defending the flats. Midway through the first quarter, he worked around a block to corral running back Larry Rountree, breaking down and bringing the ball carrier down for no gain.
Coming off his best showing to this point, Taylor still has a long way to go to become the player the Seahawks believe he can be and ongoing growing pains will be part of the process. He still has played in only three games and the regular season will be a different animal altogether playing against superior competition after going up against mostly backups this month.
But as the Seahawks gear up to travel to Indianapolis to face the Colts in the season opener on September 12, Taylor feels far more comfortable than he did only a few weeks ago with invaluable snaps under his belt and his first real taste of success. Now with a baseline to build off of and his confidence continuing to soar, he feels preseason games did their job preparing him for the challenge that awaits him as a Week 1 starter.
“They’re definitely important to my success. Getting out there and getting some real reps, not just practice. So, it feels really good to get those reps and be in on the preseason and play those games, and get that time to simulate what it’s going to be like in the season.”
