More Than Just A Pretty Face

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Audio Slideshow: Taylor Arrives

New Redskins defensive end Jason Taylor addresses the media upon his arrival in Ashburn on Monday evening.

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"Now, I also like pressure. I expect more from myself than anyone else expects from me. But I'm not a savior. My big thing is, I want to win."

Bless his humility, but he's not merely one of the guys. For one, linemen don't look this good. They're supposed to be big, sweaty, hairy and gross, like Jason Fabini.

Of course there has to be a concern that he will be a poser and talk the talk more often than he lays a blindside lick on someone. After all, the great Bill Parcells soured on his commitment in Miami.

Please. The other two NFL alumnus from "Dancing With the Stars" are Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith, Hall of Famers just as competitive as they are classy -- certainly classier than gruff and myopic men who try to administrate careers, men like Bill Parcells.

And yet, the idea of a metrosexual creating the same fear in an NFC East backfield as Dexter Manley, Charles Mann and Diron Talbert once did just seems incongruent, altogether odd. LaVar Arrington used to pass for a Renaissance man around here; a smartly dressed and articulate Taylor makes him look medieval.

In the team locker room yesterday someone remarked Taylor looked like Xerxes, the clean-shaven, baritone-voiced Persian king in the movie "300." Indeed, there was something about Jason Taylor that smacked of royalty.

Despite the presence and the polish, this is the same guy who spoke of how much he enjoys making quarterbacks nervous and of "making them do dumb things." He's got a wolf-in-sheep's clothing aspect about him. More than one NFL coach has called him "nasty."

But he simply can't replace all the people who ultimately led to his acquisition -- the injured, the aging, even the big hitter who was buried last November. He can't alone make the defense menacing.

But if Jason Taylor can get to Eli Manning, Tony Romo and Donovan McNabb, if he can show the fury and fire that marked six Pro Bowl selections, he doesn't have to be anything more in Washington than himself.