Matt Light faces the task of stopping Miami defensive end Jason Taylor.

FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) – Matt Light says he’s getting better at stopping Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor – his assignment this Sunday when the Patriots travel to Florida for the first game of the season between the AFC East rivals.

The Dolphins (4-1) and Patriots (4-2) meet Sunday with first place in the division on the line.

In four meetings in which Light and Taylor have lined up against each other, Taylor has posted 17 tackles and three sacks, forced two fumbles and was credited with one pass defense.

But Light, whose job is protecting quarterback Tom Brady’s blind side, is showing improvement against Taylor, one of the NFL’s best defenders. He held Taylor without a sack in the Patriots 27-24 overtime victory at Gillette Stadium on Dec. 29.

“It’s just seeing a guy,” Light explained. “If you’ve never seen him before, then obviously, there’s going to be a lot of things that you’re not ready for. You can watch all the film you want, but it’s not going to do him justice when you’re out there and it’s game speed.”

Taylor led the league with 18.5 sacks last season and has the second-highest number of sacks in the NFL over the last three seasons.

But he enters Sunday’s the game with just 16 tackles and 1.5 sacks, numbers that surprised Patriots coach Bill Belichick.

“I would have put them a lot higher than that,” Belichick said. “He’s put a lot of pressure on the quarterbacks, batted a lot of balls and forcing the quarterback up. I guess other guys are getting the final hit, but he has been in there a lot. He’s got to be as good as any pass-rusher we’ve seen and certainly as good as anybody in the league.”

While Light is more confident about facing Taylor, he’s not complacent.

“I don’t think there’s any offensive lineman out there that says they’re comfortable going against the guy, because he does a lot of things really well,” Light said.

“That’s what I’m going to gear up for. That’s what I’ll be watching tape on all this week.”

The Patriots have the added pressure this Sunday of having lost all 13 of their games against the Dolphins in Miami in the months of September and October.

That streak dates back to Miami joining the American Football League as an expansion franchise in 1966.

“Say all you want what we’ve done in the past, but were going down there with an attitude that we can win,” Light said. “There’s a lot of things we have to do to make that happen, but that’s what we have this week of preparation for.”

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