There’s nothing special about the numbers put up thus far this season by Jason Taylor, but Luke Petitgout isn’t a numbers guy as he evaluates his task today of containing the Dolphins athletic defensive end.
Taylor led the NFL last season with 18½ sacks but has just one-half sack in three games this year.
“He’s got half a sack but he’s certainly getting a lot of pressure and making a lot of plays in the run game, creating pressure making the quarterback run around and throwing his rhythm off,” Petitgout, the Giants’ left tackle, said. “He’s big, tall, long arms, fast, athletic. Just go out there and play, do what you do and hopefully it works.”
Petitgout said he compares Taylor physically with Simeon Rice of the Buccaneers, another tall, rangy end, but Taylor is better at playing the run.
Getting Petitgout back in the lineup – he missed most of the season opener and all of the loss to the Cowboys with back spasms – was the key in stabilizing on offensive line that started three rookies against Dallas. That figure is down to two rookies – Wayne Lucier at center and David Diehl at right guard – now that Petitgout has returned.
Still, it’s not as if the Giants can enter any game just yet fully confident that their line will hold up. Chris Bober is making his third career start at right tackle and is hardly a finished product at that position. Diehl has been solid and Lucier is improving, but they are first-year players.
“I know that I still have two rookies in the middle and Bober who’s not been a tackle,” Jim Fassel said, “so we’re a long way away from saying we’re a pretty veteran group.”
As long as Petitgout stays healthy and on the field, the entire group benefits. The back spasms, he said, are gone, but he cautions, “It can come back at any time.”