Ike Taylor Gets One More Opportunity To Make Folks Pay Attention
by Blitzburgh on Jan 29, 2009 4:19 AM EST
15 comments
The Pittsburgh Steelers have sported the league's #1 ranked defense for two years running, with a pass defense ranked 1st this year and 3rd in 2007. After a sub-par 2006, a year in which he found himself benched at one point, Ike Taylor has played magnificent football for the better part of both 2007 and 2008. Below is a sizable sampling of the performances of various opponents' big name WRs that Taylor lined up across from the past two years. In parentheses you can find their league ranks that year in both the receptions and receiving yards categories. Granted, there are a few big games tainting his generally polished resume in 2007-2008, but not many. And in several instances, the numbers don't tell the story very well - see: Andre Johnson in Week 1 of 2008 (10 meaningless catches, many late in the game) and Reggie Wayne in 2008 (100+ yards and 1 TD, but the vast majority came on a fluke play).
2008:
Week 2 vs. Cleveland: Braylon Edwards - 3 catches (51st), 32 yards (31st)
Week 8 vs. New York Giants: Plaxico Burress - 3 catches (109th), 15 yards (86th)
Week 9 @ Washington: Santana Moss - 2 catches (19th), 14 yards (14th)
Week 13 @ New England: Randy Moss - 4 catches (29th), 45 yards (21st)
Week 14 vs. Dallas: Terrell Owens - 3 catches (28tg), 32 yards (13th), 1 TD
2007:
Week 2 vs. Buffalo: Lee Evans - 2 catches (51st), 17 yards (33rd)
Week 7 @ Denver: Brandon Marshall - 6 catches (5th), 77 yards (6th)
Week 8 @ Cincinnati: Chad Johnson - 5 catches (13th), 51 yards (3rd)
Week 10 vs. Cleveland: Braylon Edwards - 1 catch (21st), 16 yards (7th), 1 TD
Week 16 @ St. Louis: Torry Holt - 3 catches (12th), 41 yards (10th)
***********************
Moral of the story? Not necessarily one here, but if nothing else, it's worth remembering that Ike Taylor has gone up against the league's best time and time again the past two years and had plenty of success along the way. Can he have a big game on the biggest of stages against the dynamic duo of Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald? It's very possible if the past is any indication. Taylor has had a few slip ups in recent memory so it's not entirely surprising that even members of the Steelers faithful are doubting his prowess on the perimeter of our defense. Fair enough. It is important though to acknowledge the data (not a trivial amount either)that substantiates the claim that Taylor is one of the league's most unheralded and under appreciated shut down corners.
Taylor clearly doesn't have the same celebrity as the Asante Samuels and Champ Baileys of the league - and that's fine. But with all eyes on Pittsburgh for the final game of the 2008-2009 season, here's hoping that Taylor can get some far overdue recognition after stymieing the celebrated Larry Fitzgerald.
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Taylor is a beast
We give him crap because he’s dropped 30+ INTs in the last two years. I know this is sacrilegous, but Taylor is almost as important to this D as Polamalu and more important than Harrison. Face Me never gets help either (except one deep safety). It’s invaluable to be able to counter a WR who is often an opponent’s #1 weapon with one defensive player.
Plus, since Rod Woodson left, we have had years of mediocre corners even on our better defenses (Hank Poteat, Chad Scott, etc.). It seems the Steelers could turn half of the people in America into quality LBs but we have struggled to find top flight CBs like Ike.
by CarlWeathersMustache on Jan 29, 2009 7:08 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Tomlin makes a difference
I think Mike Tomlin has single-handedly resuscitated Taylor’s career — and he seemed to make a point in doing so. Don’t forget that Mike T knows a thing or two about defensive backs…
Coach Cowher benched Ike to “motivate” him. Problem is a lot of a corner’s game is mental. You have to believe in yourself. You have to trust your instincts. Mike T knows this. That is why one of his first acts as a Steelers coach was to call Ike and tell him that he was his guy.
http://www.steelersfever.com/editorials/0720.html
The one thing that is different about this defense has been pass coverage. We are used to seeing the Steelers shut down running games. We’ve seen our defenses get after quarterbacks like kids after pinata candy — but this is the first time I can think of that we have had the number 1 PASS defense. Ike is a big reason for that. And Mike T is a big reason for Ike’s resurgance.
Mike T did some pretty good things with a guy named Ronde Barber, after all…
http://www.fannation.com/blogs/show/428951-markjoel66s-blog
by MarkJoel66 on Jan 29, 2009 8:23 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
i'd love to see Ike make another interception in the Super Bowl.
With time seemingly standing still I went back and watched Super Bowl XL. Ike had an interception right in his hands early in that game, and then came back with an interception against Matt Hasselback late to seal the game. Heres hoping that history repeats itself!
by bradyquinnsclipboard on Jan 29, 2009 8:38 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
Anyone here critical of Ike's 08 playoffs play thus far?
I’ve heard some rumblings from others (Steelers fans) who think that Ike hasn’t played very well as of late. I just don’t see it. Anyone?
by The IC Lion on Jan 29, 2009 8:53 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
My impression after the SD game was that he was trailing his guy on quite a few plays. I don’t have the game tivo’d, and I can’t remember any plays in particular. A few friends I talked to after the game agreed with me, but nobody on this site really mentioned anything.
Other than that game, I recall his play being solid and I think he’ll do well against fitz.
by HereWeGo on Jan 29, 2009 10:24 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Baltimore didn’t throw much, athough not turning around on that one PI call was pretty bad. The whole defense wasn’t great against SD – shows you how important Troy’s health is to this defense as a whole. However, between the Jackson TD and the garbage time Sproles TD, I don’t remember their offense doing much of anything.
I don’t blame Ike for the Jackson TD, either. He didn’t have great position, but he almost made a play. SD needed a perfect pass and a very solid catch to make that work, and they got it. The real question was why was he 1-on-1 with their best WR? I watched the play a few times, and it looks like Ike has Jackson in man coverage and Clark has a deep middle zone. Clark should help him over the top, increasing the chance that the ball gets tipped or Jackson loses focus, but he stays to the offensive right of the field and doesn’t really do a lot. This could be because Clark made a bad read, someone else should have been in a deep left zone but wasn’t, or because LeBeau called a defense that put single coverage on their best WR – maybe a blitz that didn’t get home or a tricky defense that didn’t trick.
In any case, the Chargers made a great play and Ike would have had to make a great play to break it up, but he didn’t. Ike hasn’t had a great post season, but he’s been steady if you ask me.
charity standing orders
by BadMaafala on Jan 29, 2009 12:30 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
This guy was one of the ultimate Steelers projects. He had played only one season of CB at a small school (Louisiana-LaFayette). What he did have was the top time in the 40 and the highest vertical at the draft combine. So basically all he was, was raw athletic ability that needed a lot of polishing.
Anyone remember when he shut down Ocho Cinco the year he had the list of DB that would be covering him.
by PensFan024 on Jan 29, 2009 9:22 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
ha!
thats exactly what i think of when i think about ike taylor.
hopefully he is getting pissed that Larry Fitz is getting all the attention, and everyone is ignoring who has to cover him.
by bradyquinnsclipboard on Jan 29, 2009 1:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
A Big SB
Could cement Ike’s place in the top 5 CBs in the league. The main reason he isn’t up there with Samual, Asomogha etc. is because he has moose hands. If ol’ Ike could catch he’d be the #1 guy hands-down IMHO. Too many people judge CBs solely on INTs, which isn’t necessarily the true measure of excellence at that position. The fact that the Steelers have shut down the likes of Moss, TO, Houshmanzilly et al speaks volumes about Ike’s abilities.
In all actuality i think taylor is the perfect CB to cover the seemingly unstoppable Cardinal WRs. His athleticism matches Fitz, and while he surrenders a few pounds and an inch or so in heighth(sp?) he makes up for it in pure speed, agility and leaping ability.
If Taylor gets 2 INTs on Sunday Pittsburgh wins. If he knocks down 4-5 deep balls, PIT wins. If he consistently tackles Fitz after catches and prevents big YAC, Steelers win. If he doesn’t do these things, it will be a lot harder to succeed on Sunday i think.
This SB is definitely Ike Taylor’s chance to gain stardom. Something in my gut, or my instinct, or my latent psychic(psych-IC, not psych-O!) gifts say he could come away with the MVP after a big showing.
by tobiathan on Jan 29, 2009 4:12 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
I think we can have this game in hand without Ike having to catch 2 interceptions.
I don’t know if any of them will come to pass, but us having a running game is a better bet than that by far.
by steelguy99 on Jan 29, 2009 4:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs
I'm not following-
There are a lot of ways Pittsburgh can own this game, but Ike is the topic of this post. Not sure if/why you thought i was saying it all rested on Taylor having a big day. I wasn’t saying that at all. I was saying that IF Ike has a big day, we will definitely win. If not, we can still win but it won’t be as easy as it would be with Ike on fire with sticky hands and hot legs.
by tobiathan on Jan 30, 2009 12:14 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs
Ike would be Epic if....
If he had hands you’d hear about him all the time. The media doesnt like shut down corners. They like big game corners that “ball-hawk” (god I hate that term) and snatch Pick sixes out of nowhere.
But in my opinion, the less you hear a secondary-man’s name, the better he is playing. Thats how I prefer it.
And Cowher was an ass for benching him after one horrid game against Javon Walker. One bad game over 5 years. And we bench him. Cowher started to lose it that year.
by Mechem on Jan 29, 2009 5:28 PM EST reply actions 0 recs
dropping int. is severely overstated
Ike is shut down, although he’s been burned a few times but every great corner in history gets burned once n a while but Ike has been doing his thing since 2005 and generally gets no props, he should be a pro bowler 2 times over and I’ll take Ike any time any game
by JokerPace on Jan 30, 2009 4:31 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
qb's don't throw to Ike's side
yes Ike has dropped a more than a few potential INT’s in his day but the real reason he doesn’t have a lot of INT’s is because qb’s don’t throw over his way which means he doesn’t have a lot of opportunity to catch INT’s….5 or 6 times a game Ike might get action to his side but that’s it, that’s the resume of a great Corner
by JokerPace on Jan 30, 2009 4:34 AM EST reply actions 0 recs
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