Taylor II is a Defensive Playmaker Extrordinaire
STILLWATER – Saturday’s game at Boise had all kinds of issues including a bout of subpar officiating. The best aspect of the officiating miscues was they were handed out both ways. Now, with Oklahoma State winning the game there will be less issues mentioned by Cowboys and Cowboy fans than there likely are up in Idaho with the Broncos and their fans.
I’m sure they are still mad about the whistle blowing the fumble dead that they had J.L. Skinner scoop and score on. Because of the whistle when the review revealed that Jaylen Warren of the Cowboys had fumbled, Boise State got the ball at the point of recovery at the OSU 41-yard-line.
As Mike Gundy pointed on his Monday night coaches radio show, that phantom roughing the passer penalty could have really messed things up. Fortunately, Oklahoma State responded on defense. Gundy was asked if the officials ever made it clear what they were thinking when the flagged Brock Martin for hitting Hank Bachmeier in the hip and sacking him for that roughing call?
"Yeah, they missed the call,” Gundy answered.
Then he was asked what he told Martin on the play and being jilted out of a sack and a big play for his team. This response could be the one that gets Gundy a reprimand.
“Bad breaks and crooked refs,” Gundy said, but he added that he understands that officials make mistakes.
The final cover for that call came on the field goal where Jonah Dalmas tried the 36-yarder to attempt to give Boise State a 23-21 lead. Dalmas appeared to hit it low. The kick was no good and Oklahoma State went on to win the game. Television replays showed that Jason Taylor II, the now starting bandit safety for the Cowboys replacing the injured Tre Sterling leaped and got his middle three fingers on the football.
“I didn’t know it was blocked until I in the locker room, because I watched it come off his foot and I thought it was low, but I didn't realize that he had blocked it until I was in the locker room,” Gundy said. “And then of course I watched it on tape. It was a low kick, but he got a pretty good piece of it. You can't determine whether, you know it might have gotten through, I can't tell. It might have lined through there, I can't say one way or the other based on the angle, but I was unaware of that until I got in the locker room."
The field goal block and its importance earned Taylor II the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week award. Taylor has that knack. Last season he returned a fumble by K-State quarterback Will Howard 84-yards to the end zone in Manhattan. Against Texas Tech, Taylor returned an onside kick to the house in Stillwater. Last week he had a pick six against Tulsa called back. It was unfortunate because it was a bad defensive holding call on his safety teammate Tanner McCalister.
"He's been around awhile, and he's experienced. He's played in big situations. He's one of those guys that seems to play a lot better in games than some people or coaches might expect,” Gundy said. “He likes to play in games. He's committed to the team and he's tough, which gives him an advantage on today's generation, just those three things. That's why he's played pretty good when he's in the game."
Gundy said he knew that was Taylor’s history back when he was earning The Oklahoman High School Defensive Player of the Year award at Carl Albert High School in Midwest City.
"Well, all my buddies back home told me those things about him. You know, these are guys I grew up with that live there, these weren't coaches,” Gundy explained. “He had good reports from his coaches, and he'd been on a football team that won a lot of football games, won championships and that makes a difference. The word on the street was he was tough, and he was competitive. There might be measurables or certain things he does that don't match up to what some people might think you have to have, but some of his other abilities can make up for that. So far that's what's happened."
Gundy was asked by a young reporter what he sees. What attributes does he think Taylor II has that allows him to make so many clutch and valuable plays? Taylor II does it so often. It is uncanny.
"Well, he's got good vision, has a pretty good feel for the game,” Gundy said of his player that wears 25 on the field. “He sees things maybe a count before other people do. Those are things that you can't coach, just his vision and awareness He's intelligent, so I'm guessing that he studies a lot of tape on his own. He gets a feel for when things start to develop, he can kind of see what's happening.”
Oklahoma State fans need to hope that his vision stays better than 20/20 and he stays healthy. Losing Sterling is tough, but with Taylor II it really doesn’t change defensive expectations at all.