Tuck's Takes: Taylor hopes left side will be right with Redskins

With no football to play for the first time in 18 years, former pro Ross Tucker is passing the time reading about his favorite sport. What follows are a few links to NFL-related articles he found and his take on them.

The Washington Redskins have been roundly praised for the expeditious manner in which they moved to trade for Jason Taylor after losing starting defensive end Phillip Daniels, and rightfully so. The loss of Daniels created an obvious hole along the Redskins front, at a position most observers felt was lacking even before Daniels went down on the first day of training camp. The Redskins are extremely fortunate that a Pro Bowl-caliber player like Taylor was available, and they pounced on the opportunity immediately.

But this move doesn't come without some concern on the part of Redskins players and management. Though he never had much of a national media profile, Daniels was considered a core Redskin and was admired by everyone within the organization. He was a team leader, a player the team could count on in any adverse situation. Those intangibles cannot be discounted or minimized.

On the field, he was a standout run defender and had enough size at around 290 pounds to bump inside to tackle on passing downs and create a push while providing the hammer as an attack guy for a lot of the stunts in the passing game.

Though Taylor moved around quite a bit during his time in Miami, he was primarily a blind-side pass rusher working against left tackles. His transition to the other side will be more difficult than advertised for a multitude of reasons.

Taylor will now be covered by a tight end more often as most teams play-callers are historically right-side dominant when calling the strength of the formation. That will limit Taylor's freedom and ensures he will face more double teams in the run game than ever before. His lean, Dancing with the Stars physique will be tested on a weekly basis.

More importantly, Taylor will need to use the next six weeks to gain confidence in his pass-rushing prowess from the opposite side. It is not nearly as easy as one might think.

For starters, his line of vision to the ball will be different, as will his body lean as he runs the imaginary hoop towards the QB. Taylor is used to dipping his left shoulder. He will have to get accustomed to dipping his right.

The biggest difference will be with his pass rush moves. Taylor could previously use his right hand to club the outside arm of the offensive tackle or to grab his shoulder and pull himself through. He will have to become equally adept at using his left in order to have the same type of success.

Can Taylor become as dominant a force on the defense's left side as he was on the right? Absolutely. Is it a foregone conclusion? Not at all.