Jason Taylor won't be bringing his act to New England after all.

AP photo / ABC, Kelsey McNeal

In the end, noted hoofer Jason Taylor decided to dance, as former Texas Longhorns coach Darrell Royal liked to say, with who “brung” him.

Brung him into the NFL, that is – returning to the Miami Dolphins, for whom he played the first 11 years of his career before spending an injury-plagued 2008 season with the Redskins.

So much for the predictions, expectations, speculations, hopes, wishes and dreams of all those who wanted to see the six-time Pro Bowler dance his way into the hearts of Patriots rooters while replacing fan favorite Mike Vrabel and providing more pressure on opposing passers.

And what does it say about the status of the Pats’ linebacking corps that so many people were placing so much hope that the soon-to-be-35-year-old sack specialist would sign with New England?

Nothing good.

Which was the case at the end of last season, when the Pats’ linebacking situation was so desperate they had bring 39-year-old Junior Seau out of retirement and pluck the injury-ravaged Rosevelt Colvin off the scrap heap.

Now Vrabel, a versatile mainstay of New England’s three Super Bowl championship teams – he not only was equally adept as a run-stuffer, pass-rusher and in coverage (he has 11 career interceptions), but also has caught eight touchdown passes as a tight end in goal-line situations, including two in Super Bowls – is gone, having been traded to Kansas City as in a “throw-in” in the Matt Cassel deal after starting for the Patriots the past eight seasons.

The current candidates to replace him are Pierre Woods, Tully Banta-Cain and Shawn Crable.

No wonder Pats fans were hoping Taylor, who partnered with the lovely Edyta Sliwinska during his highly publicized performances on “Dancing With The Stars,” would choose to team up with Adalius Thomas at outside linebacker in New England.

Instead, he spurned a more lucrative offer from the Patriots to return to Miami, which nipped New England for the division title last season, as the Pats missed the playoffs, despite finishing 11-5, for the first time since 2002.

With star quarterback Tom Brady back in the lineup after missing all but the first half of the first quarter last year, when he tore ligaments in his left knee, it’s reasonable to expect that the Patriots will be back atop the AFC East this season.

To do that, however, they may need Brady and the offense to put up plenty of points – as they did in 2007, when they racked up an NFL-record 589.

Even with the inexperienced Cassel at QB last season, the Patriots ranked eighth in the NFL in scoring, averaging 25.6 points per game. They also were eighth in scoring defense, allowing 19.3 ppg. Their differential of 6.3 ppg compared favorably with Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh (7.8), AFC South champion Tennesee (8.8), and league-leader Baltimore (8.9), which lost to the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game.

New England was in the middle of the pack in both sacks (tied for 14th with NFC champion Arizona, with 31) and interceptions (tied for 15th with the Jets, with 14) last season.

The two often go hand-in-hand. Put more pressure on the passer, and you’ll get more interceptions. Have better coverage, and you’ll get more sacks.

The Patriots have made several moves in the offseason in hopes of upgrading their secondary, signing veteran free agents Shawn Springs from Washington and Leigh Bodden from Detroit, and drafting safety Patrick Chung in the second round out of Oregon, where he started a school-record 51 games and was a two-time all-Pac 10 selection.

How much of an improvement that is remains to be seen. Bodden started 15 games last year for the 0-16 Lions, intercepting one pass, while the 34-year-old Springs intercepted more than one pass just once in his last four seasons with the Redskins.

While the Pats appear very strong, and very deep, along the defensive line –– with former first-round picks Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren starting, veteran backups Jarvis Green and Mike Wright, and the addition of 330-pound, second-round draft choice Ron Brace of Boston College –– they look shaky and thin at linebacker.

Tedy Bruschi has had a marvelous career in New England, but he’ll be 36 next month. Thomas, who’ll be 32 in August, missed the last seven games of last season with a broken arm. Jerod Mayo was outstanding last year as a rookie, leading the team in tackles with 126 after being taken with the 10th overall pick. But behind him and Bruschi on the depth chart at inside linebacker are Gary Guyton and Eric Alexander, neither of whom was drafted out of college.

The situation isn’t any better outside.

Woods, currently penciled in as the starter opposite Thomas, also was undrafted. He has started three games in his three years with the Patriots, all of them last year, after Thomas was injured. But then Woods went on I.R. with a broken jaw.

Banta-Cain had 5-1/2 sacks for the Pats in 2006, which prompted the 49ers to sign him as a free agent. But he had a total of only four sacks in two years in San Francisco, and didn’t start a single game last season. Now he’s back with the Patriots.

Crable, a third-round draft choice last year out of Michigan, spent his rookie season on I.R.

Is it any wonder, then, that Patriots fans were hoping Taylor – or, before him, Carolina’s franchised pass-rushing terror, Julius Peppers – might be coming to New England?

The season opener still is nearly four months away, but it certainly seems as if the Pats need to do something to shore up their linebacking situation, lest they find themselves grasping again for the likes of Seau and Colvin by the end of the year. Or, heaven forbid, by midseason.

In which case coach Bill Belichick could find himself doing a tap dance that wouldn’t be likely to dazzle the judges.

jdonalds@projo.com