They may be good friends off the football field, but Tom Brady and Jason Taylor have had enough hard-hitting, face-to-face meetings on the field over the years to strain even the best relationships.

• Coach Sparano Press Briefing
• Greg Camarillo Media Availability
• Nathan Jones Media Availability
• Justin Smiley Media Availability
• Jason Taylor Media Availability

TODAY'S TRANSCRIPTS

• Miami Dolphins Transcripts

Brady in his 10th season in the NFL, all with the New England Patriots, and Taylor is in his 13th, all but one (2008) with the Miami Dolphins. Since their teams are in the same division and meet twice a year in the regular season, Taylor and Brady have gone up against each other 14 times, with Brady's Patriots coming out on top nine of those times.

Of course Taylor has gotten the better of Brady in the individual battle, sacking him 9.5 times, more than any other quarterback Taylor has sacked in his career. Entering this Sunday's game between the two teams at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., Taylor has 5.5 sacks on the season and 126.0 for his career, which makes him the leader in that category among active players. As much as Brady likes Taylor as a person, he wasn't too thrilled to see the six-time Pro Bowler back in aqua and orange after spending last season in Washington with the Redskins.

"I was a little disappointed when he signed back," Brady said on his conference call with the South Florida Media. "I thought that once he left for Washington I'd never have to play him again. He's a great player. I've always enjoyed the rivalry with the Dolphins and he and Zach Thomas were really the defensive leaders for an awful long time. He's back to his usual playing style and he's playing great football. He leads the team in sacks and he's a tenacious player. He's always been that way and he gives great effort on every play. When he makes plays the entire team rallies around him."

Both Brady and New England head coach Bill Belichick cringed when they saw the highlight's of Taylor's 48-yard fumble return for a touchdown at the Meadowlands last week in Miami's 30-25 win over the New York Jets because it brought back bad memories for them. Brady, who has been to four Pro Bowls himself and of course has three Super Bowl wins to his credit, had to watch in vain back on October 7th, 2001, when he was hit and fumbled the ball near his own end zone and Taylor scooped it up at the 1 and scored in Miami's 30-10 victory, and he and Belichick saw Taylor pick off a pass thrown by Matt Cassel and run it back 36 yards into the end zone on October 21st, 2007 in a 49-28 Patriots victory.

Taylor downplays his success against Brady because and laughed a little when he heard about Brady's remarks concerning not wanting to play against him anymore,

"We've had some good battles and obviously they've gotten the upper hand in a good bit of those and ultimately have the championships to go with it," said Taylor, who as an outside linebacker in Miami's 3-4 defense is lining up at a different position than when he faced the Patriots those first 14 times. "It's always been interesting games when we've played the Patriots and we've gone at it over the years, but again he's had the upper hand so we'll try to get it this week."

As far as having sacked Brady more than he has any other quarterback, Taylor quickly attributed that statistic to the fact that he has been played Brady and the Patriots so many times. He has managed to get at least one sack in half of those meetings - seven games - and it would stand to reason that the more a pass rusher like Taylor sees a quarterback the easier it should become for him to figure out the best way to get to him.

Brady actually missed all but one quarter of last season as he suffered a torn ACL in his left knee in the first quarter of New England's season-opener against the Kansas City Chiefs so his mobility was a concern coming into this season. But through seven games he has only been sacked eight times, and three of those came against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 4, so Taylor isn't so sure the blueprint can be found in those old Miami-New England game tapes.

"I don't know how familiar I am with what his tendencies are," Taylor said. "There are certain things that he does and sometimes those things don't change, but every year's a challenge. You can't really draw back on what you did in year's past against a guy like Tommy. He changes so much and is such a master of the game and a student of the game. He really makes it difficult for you."

Taylor has made it difficult on the Patriots and Brady to the point where even Belichick isn't afraid to admit he'd rather nor face the 2006 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, especially not twice a year. The fact that Taylor is playing a different position doesn't fool Belichick as he knows the player is still just as dangerous.

"It's no fun," Belichick said. "He plays linebacker in their regular defense and then it goes down to sub-groupings, so I'm sure we'll see him in both places. They flip him around. ... I think he showed great pass rushing ability against Buffalo. He had a big pass rush there [2.5 sacks, two tackles for loss and two quarterback hurries), a strip sack against New Orleans [Taylor forced two fumbles by Saints quarterback Drew Brees], so he's shown what he's always had, which is great speed at the edge; speed to power and then an inside move off his speed move. Those tackles get running and worry about the edge and then he beats them on the up-and-under and speed to power."

Belichick also has noticed how well Taylor is playing against the run by using his long arms to his advantage, and he has not seen any decrease in Taylor's speed. Come Sunday, Brady is hoping that Taylor has lost a gear because he'd rather not be on his back again like he has been many times before against the Dolphins.

INJURY UPDATE: Miami's injury report remained the same as Wednesday, with inside linebacker Channing Crowder (shoulder) and nose tackle Jason Ferguson (elbow) both still limited in practice.

For the Patriots, wide receiver Julian Edelman (forearm), defensive end Jarvis Green (knee), offensive tackle Matt Light (knee), running backs Sammy Morris (knee) and Fred Taylor (ankle) and cornerback Jonathan Wilhite (illness) did not participate in any drills. Defensive end Ty Warren (ankle) and tight end Ben Watson (back) were limited and Brady (right shoulder) and wide receiver Randy Moss (shoulder) practiced in full.

AN EVER CHANGING SECONDARY: Another example of how willing this coaching staff is to mix things up on either side of the ball is the decision last week to line Nate Jones up at strong safety next to rookie free safety Chris Clemons on the first play of the game against the Jets. Jones is not built like a typical safety but Head Coach Tony Sparano expected nothing less than the solid performance he got out of the sixth-year veteran.

"He plays it fine. He can play every position back there," Sparano said. "He is a smart guy and he has played every position back there. That ever concerns me. His size is one of the things when people look at him, I think his size is what they think they can exploit, but he is probably one of the tougher guys we have out there on the field."

Jones took the switch in stride.

"I was in the back a lot so it was a little different," he said. "But it's nothing I hadn't done and it worked out well for us and we'll see how that goes. You do what you've got to do to win a game."

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