Tag: lawrence taylor

Giants legends Lawrence Taylor, Ottis Anderson speak at Trump rally

New York Giants legends Lawrence Taylor and Ottis “O.J.” Anderson made surprise appearances on Saturday in Wildwood, New Jersey, taking the stage at Donald Trump’s campaign rally.

The pair were welcomed to the microphone by the former president and received a rousing ovation from the thousands in attendance.

“I grew up a Democrat, and I’ve always been a Democrat until I met this man right here,” Taylor said. “Nobody in my family ever will vote for a Democrat again.”

Anderson was a bit more subdued when it was his turn to speak.

“Don’t you just love that guy?” Anderson said, referring to Taylor. “It has been a very exciting day. You guys, not one person left. You’re still here yelling and screaming.

“Thank you guys for all of your support. And how about a great shout-out for Metro Exhibits, baby. We made it happen. All because of you!”

Trump acknowledged the all-time Giants greats as they left the stage but admitted they don’t always see eye-to-eye on all things.

“He’s doing quite a great job. What do you think, Lawrence? Doing a great job!” Trump said. “Look at those two guys, O.J., Lawrence, my golfing friends. We don’t have to agree on everything!”

Anderson was a first-round pick of the then-St. Louis Cardinals in the 1979 NFL draft. He was traded to the Giants during the 1986 season and went on to rejuvenate his career in East Rutherford, highlighted by winning MVP in a Super Bowl XXV victory over the Buffalo Bills. The two-time Super Bowl champion and 1989 Comeback Player of the Year was enshrined in the Giants’ Ring of Honor in 2022.

Taylor was a first-round pick of the Giants in the 1981 NFL draft and his resume is too extensive to list. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year and one-time league MVP changed the way the game of football is played, both offensively and defensively. He is widely regarded as the greatest of all time.

In 1999, Taylor became a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer. He was inducted into the Giants’ Ring of Honor in 2010 and had his No. 56 jersey retired in 1994.

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Lawrence Taylor only NFL-ready Day 1 rookie ever

Legendary coach and future Hall of Famer, Bill Belichick, knows a thing or two about talent at the pro level. Like many of the greats who coached at the NFL level, he rarely put much stock in rookies. Except one.

That was linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who burst on the scene with the New York Giants in 1981. In a recent interview on The Pat McAfee Show, Belichick said that Taylor was the only rookie he ever coached who was ready for the NFL from Day 1.

“Lawrence Taylor was a different story,” Belichick said, via Yardbarker. “Lawrence Taylor from Day 1 impacted the team, showed he was the best player on the field — way better than everyone else — and (we) built a defense around him from that point going forward. It’s usually not Day 1 of (a player’s) rookie year. I would say Lawrence Taylor would be the one exception to that rule.”

In 1981, the Giants selected Taylor second overall out of North Carolina, a godsend of a pick after the New Orleans Saints passed on him at No. 1 in favor of South Carolina running back and Heisman Trophy winner George Rogers.

Belichick was a special teams and defensive assistant under head coach Ray Perkins and defensive coordinator Bill Parcells. All Giant fans know how this story turns out, so there’s no sense in going through the glory days that came while Taylor roamed the Meadowland.

Taylor was All-Pro and Hall of Fame caliber from the second he stepped on the practice field that summer. The Giants already had two Pro Bowl linebackers in Harry Carson and Brad Van Pelt and another solid one in Brian Kelley.

That’s why fans were perplexed why general manager George Young chose to take a linebacker at No. 2 overall instead of trying to fix one of the league’s worst offensive units.

But that questioning would end quickly once they saw the energy and power of Taylor, who transformed the Giants into a contender practically all by himself. It was an amazing moment in NFL history.

Few could ever remember a defensive player who had so much impact on a team’s fate, not even the great Dick Butkus. The Giants went from a doormat to a playoff team in Taylor’s first season.

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Peter King names 8 New York Giants to his All-Time 53-Man Roster

Bob Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports

Maurice Carthon is an interesting choice at fullback when you consider other players like Lorenzo Neal, Larry Csonka, and Mike Alstott.

Here’s what King had to say:

Came to the Giants the first year I covered them, 1985, from the USFL’s Trump-owned New Jersey Generals. What an amazing year. He started 19 games for the Generals, including a playoff game, then 18, including two playoff games, for the Giants, in a 10-month span. Three weeks off between seasons. A rock-solid blocker and totally unselfish, two crucial traits for a fullback.

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Lawrence Taylor named New York Giants’ best Hall of Famer

The New York Giants are a consistent and dominant presence at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but which of those enshrined is the best of the franchise?

Barry Wilner of The 33rd Team recently pondered that question for all 32 teams and when it came to the Giants, the answer was obvious: Linebacker Lawrence Taylor.

Another team with a fascinatingly deep history of stars, none more celestial than Lawrence Taylor. If Deacon Jones invented the sack, LT refined it with the strip-sack, using that arm chop to not only knock loose the ball from quarterbacks but recovering it. A do-everything linebacker, Taylor outdid Jones by actually winning MVP honors in 1986, a Super Bowl year for New York. He established the prototype for the modern-day LB/edge rusher, too.

Taylor is widely regarded as the best defensive player of all time. He is a three-time Defensive Player of the Year and one of two players to win the MVP award as a defender. The accolades continue for L.T. as he had eight First-team All-Pro nominations and 10 straight Pro Bowl appearances.

He absolutely dominated the 1980s and early 90s recording 142 sacks (with a 20.5 sack season) and nine interceptions. Taylor also won two Super Bowls during that run, putting Big Blue on the map as one of the best franchises in football.

When people say defense wins championships, Taylor is the definition of it. He revolutionized the game and is well deserving of this spot as the best Giants Hall of Famer.

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4 New York Giants make the cut

The NFL is entering its 104th season in 2023 and many great teams and great players have graced their fields and events for over a century. Over that time, every uniform number has been worn and made immortal by those players.

Which leads us to ask: which players wore each number the best?

In a recent article titled, ‘The best pro football player to wear every jersey number,’ Touchdown Wire’s Dug Farrar gives it his best shot.

For enthusiasts of the New York Giants, several members of Big Blue made the list:

  • Benny Friedman, No. 6
  • Emlen Tunnell, No. 45
  • Lawrence Taylor, No. 56
  • Roosevelt Brown, No. 79

All four are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Other Giants receiving’ honorable mentions’ include the following:

Kerry Collins (No. 5), Ray Flaherty (No. 6), Mel Hein (No. 7), Steve Owen (No. 9), Eli Manning (No. 10), Phil Simms (No. 11), Y.A. Tittle (No. 14), Frank Gifford (No. 16), Sam Madison (No. 29), Harry Carson (No. 53), Kareem McKenzie (No. 67), Sam Huff and Leonard Marshall (No. 70), Andy Robustelli (No. 81), Fred Dryer (No. 89), Jason Pierre-Paul (No. 90), Michael Strahan (No. 92) and Jesse Armstead (No. 98).

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Lawrence Taylor selected to The 33rd Team’s best all-time front 7

If you ask New York Giants fans who the greatest player in the nearly 100-year history of the franchise is or was, most will say linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who terrorized opponents from 1981-1993.

Taylor is widely regarded as the best outside linebacker of all time and was the original ‘edge’ rusher that teams still seek out to this day.

In a recent piece for The 33rd Team, former college and NFL head coach and defensive guru, Dave Wannstedt, named Taylor as one of his all-time ‘front seven’ players in NFL history.

If we are talking edge rushers, it has got to be L.T. Bill Belichick, the greatest coach of all-time, said he was the best player of all-time, and his statistics back this up.

Taylor is a three-time Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY). That speaks for itself.

But, more importantly, in my opinion, he played in that 3-4 New York Giants defense with Bill Parcells and Belichick, and he changed the game.

True. “L.T.” as he went on be known turned the Giants from doormats into contenders overnight. He was truly feared by offenses around the league from the very first moment he stepped on the field as a rookie out of North Carolina in 1981.

In 1981, the Giants rode the Taylor wave to their first postseason appearance in 18 years and eventually would win two Super Bowls with him.

People do not realize what a game-wrecker Taylor was as a pass rusher. That’s how he made his living. So much so that when he would drop into coverage, offensive live coaches and coordinators would put a smile on their faces and clap.

His dominance on the line forced offenses to turn protection to whichever side Taylor was on. Coordinators wanted to make sure you got a big offensive lineman blocking L.T. rather than running the opposite way and expecting a running back to block him.

That’s what most teams did. When L.T. was on the field, you must use the lineman to him to give you the best chance to slow him down.

As a six-decade follower of the Giants and the NFL, I can personally tell you that Wannstedt got this right. Taylor was a player with skills that the NFL had never seen before — and perhaps have not seen since. He was playing on a different plane than the other 21 bodies on the field.

Rounding out Wannstedt’s front seven are: linemen Reggie White, Aaron Donald and’Mean’ Joe Greene and linebackers Junior Seau, Derrick Brooks and Ray Lewis.

A solid front if there ever was one. This is all debatable as many would ask where players such as Deacon Jones and Bruce Smith landed on Wannstedt’s list.

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