Huard: Seahawks DE Darrell Taylor’s ‘play of destruction’ a ‘huge moment’

There were a number of standouts for the Seahawks in their 28-16 win over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1, with many of the team’s star players performing well.

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Quarterback Russell Wilson threw four touchdowns, three of which went to Pro Bowl receivers Tyler Lockett and DK Metcalf, and perennial All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner led all players with 13 tackles.

But there were also some fairly surprising standouts as well.

Defensive end Rasheem Green was one of the stars of the game after getting a sack and dominating at the line of scrimmage, but he wasn’t the only young pass rusher to cause some havoc.

In his first NFL game, Darrell Taylor, Seattle’s second-round pick a year ago, made quite the impact.

After missing all of 2020 with a shin injury, Taylor started his pro career with a bang, recording a sack and two quarterback hits while coming off the edge Sunday.

Welcome to the league, @darrelltaylorst! 💪

📺: #SEAvsIND on FOX pic.twitter.com/RvkUKf1Nhl

— Seattle Seahawks (@Seahawks) September 12, 2021

His fourth quarter sack as well as an additional hit of Colts quarterback Carson Wentz were standout plays, but he made a tone-setting play on the Seahawks’ first defensive drive of the game. On Monday, former NFL quarterback Brock Huard joined The Mike Salk Show on 710 ESPN Seattle and broke down that play and its importance.

“Darrell Taylor, I think, had one of the biggest plays of the game,” he said. “Indy drives right down the field, and they’re 7:30 into that opening drive and they have first-and-goal inside the 10. That first play, they try a run at Darrell Taylor and he decimates the edge. He had two of the biggest ‘wow,’ ‘juice,’ plays of destruction that anybody had on that defense.”

On that play, the Colts ran right at Taylor with second-year back Johnathan Taylor from the 9-yard line. The play went for just two yards as Darrell Taylor blew it up. The next play, Benson Mayowa recorded a tackle, and on third down Seattle kept the Colts out of the end zone to make them settle for a field goal.

“If (Taylor) gets sealed on that play – and (the Colts) were super efficient on that opening drive – and (Jonathan) Taylor bounces it out and all of a sudden he gains 4 or 5 yards and they’re at the 2- or 3-yard line, they’re going to score a touchdown,” Huard said. “And just the complexion of the game, just that moment (prevented a feeling of), ‘Oh my gosh, we just gave up a nine-minute touchdown drive and couldn’t get off the field again.’ That was huge.”

With it being Taylor’s first NFL game, Huard was especially impressed.

“Put a little gold star by that one in that game because that was a huge moment for him – and I’m going to call him a rookie because he didn’t play last year – for that rookie, for that defense,” he said. “And (that play) really allowed Seattle to make a couple explosive plays (on offense) and jump up 14-3.”

Listen to the full conversation between Huard and Salk at this link or in the player below.

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