No videos there of him running down running backs from behind
or playing with a separated shoulder and making a game saving interception. He also played on a broken ankle. The man's pain tolerance was incredible. Today's players sit out for a stubbed toe. There will NEVER be another LT.
1) He was so good you expected him to make a play every down
2) The highlight reels don't even do him justice. they are just about all QB hits. But, early in his career, he was excellent in coverage and you couldn't run at him or away from him. He routinely ran down RBs on the other end of the field or down the LOS.
In 1980, we finished 4-12...the defense gave up 425 points.....it didn't look any better for 1981....17 straight years not making the playoffs...
Until the Saints drafted George Rodgers....and LT fell into our lap.....we knew he was good...just didn't know how good....
To see the speed and power he had that rookie season, was unreal.....no one had ever come into the league and had an impact on a defense like that....the defense gave up 168 less points that year....we had a winning record, and made the playoffs.....as a Giant fan, you had to be there to see it, and believe it....after all the years of frustrations, the Giants had finally turned the corner....
a tortured soul. He makes mistakes. He drinks...and acts like an idiot.
But this isn't about that nor should it be really. You want morals look elsewhere. LT was a joy to watch...he played the game with a ferocity and speed that no one will match.
The Giants as a franchise have conducted themselves as well or better than any other NFL franchise. They aren't perfect and some of their players weren't perfect human beings, to say the least. But the Giants don't owe any explanations. And ANY team going gladly employs LT for the duration.
So just be happy the best defensive player ever played for big blue...that's my take. Part of what made LT who he is was on the field is also his biggest detriment off the field.
I feel blessed to have seen this guy play in every game and I am not gonna sit here and lament that the Giants didn't win enough super bowls. They won 2...and one of them was by inches. Shut up and take it.
The reason the Giants failed in 1989 isn't as much as what they did on Sunday but the players they lost to injury that season. Mainly, Mark Bavaro. If he's healthy the Giants are playing the Niners for the NFC title in my view.
And don't act like the Giants just walked into the stick and beat arguably the best team of the modern era. That would have taken a herculean effort and then some. The 90 niners were good, but not 89 good.
Great vids...these are new. I never saw some of those clips of LT going nuts on the sidelines.
when the USFL shutdown, George Young choose OT Zimmerman who turned out to be a great tackle, but he had already let it be known he didnt want to play in NY, so he got traded for 2 #2 picks to Denver. Parcells was begging Young to draft Reggie White. He should have listened! Can you imagine? Kills me every time I thing about it. We probably would have 3-peated! Reggie White was in the same class as LT.
LT finished with 132.5 sacks credited. The NFL did not track them during LT's rookie season in 1981. Did anyone ever go back and figure what that number was based on films?
LT finished with 132.5 sacks credited. The NFL did not track them during LT's rookie season in 1981. Did anyone ever go back and figure what that number was based on films?
Is that right? The 90 niners were outstanding. IIRC many thought this was their best year of the three. They had two inexplicable losses - to the lowly Rams and to the Saints. Clearly they were caught off guard those two games. It's true that their 14-2 record included some really, really close games. The Redskins had no answer for them in the playoffs when the niners were able to win by 18.
That 90 niners defense was really underrated. Ten of their 18 games played they held their opponents under 14 points.
I think the 89 team was outstanding, no questions about it. The most impressive thing about that team was how they were playing at the end of the year, including shutting out Chicago in a blowout victory at the end and then steamrolling through the playoffs, winning by 28, 27 and 45 points.
Just the same it is not clear that the difference between the 89 and 90 team was so great either way that the Giants couldn't have had a good shot against them in 89, imo.
Especially against the Giants. 89 niners were disgustingly good while the 90 niners had one fatal flaw that Erik Howard so wonderfully exposed in the last minutes of the 90 NFC title game.
or playing with a separated shoulder and making a game saving interception. He also played on a broken ankle. The man's pain tolerance was incredible. Today's players sit out for a stubbed toe. There will NEVER be another LT.
Yes there were. Watch it again
Just NEVER gets old!
I love the panic in the body language of the QB's that see him coming.
2) The highlight reels don't even do him justice. they are just about all QB hits. But, early in his career, he was excellent in coverage and you couldn't run at him or away from him. He routinely ran down RBs on the other end of the field or down the LOS.
Until the Saints drafted George Rodgers....and LT fell into our lap.....we knew he was good...just didn't know how good....
To see the speed and power he had that rookie season, was unreal.....no one had ever come into the league and had an impact on a defense like that....the defense gave up 168 less points that year....we had a winning record, and made the playoffs.....as a Giant fan, you had to be there to see it, and believe it....after all the years of frustrations, the Giants had finally turned the corner....
LT-1988 vs Saints (Greatest Individual Game Performance of Alltime) - ( New Window )
Guys this good are one in a million. There will never be another LT.
But this isn't about that nor should it be really. You want morals look elsewhere. LT was a joy to watch...he played the game with a ferocity and speed that no one will match.
The Giants as a franchise have conducted themselves as well or better than any other NFL franchise. They aren't perfect and some of their players weren't perfect human beings, to say the least. But the Giants don't owe any explanations. And ANY team going gladly employs LT for the duration.
So just be happy the best defensive player ever played for big blue...that's my take. Part of what made LT who he is was on the field is also his biggest detriment off the field.
I feel blessed to have seen this guy play in every game and I am not gonna sit here and lament that the Giants didn't win enough super bowls. They won 2...and one of them was by inches. Shut up and take it.
The reason the Giants failed in 1989 isn't as much as what they did on Sunday but the players they lost to injury that season. Mainly, Mark Bavaro. If he's healthy the Giants are playing the Niners for the NFC title in my view.
And don't act like the Giants just walked into the stick and beat arguably the best team of the modern era. That would have taken a herculean effort and then some. The 90 niners were good, but not 89 good.
Great vids...these are new. I never saw some of those clips of LT going nuts on the sidelines.
He had 9.5 unofficial sacks in 1981.
LT wikipedia - ( New Window )
Is that right? The 90 niners were outstanding. IIRC many thought this was their best year of the three. They had two inexplicable losses - to the lowly Rams and to the Saints. Clearly they were caught off guard those two games. It's true that their 14-2 record included some really, really close games. The Redskins had no answer for them in the playoffs when the niners were able to win by 18.
That 90 niners defense was really underrated. Ten of their 18 games played they held their opponents under 14 points.
I think the 89 team was outstanding, no questions about it. The most impressive thing about that team was how they were playing at the end of the year, including shutting out Chicago in a blowout victory at the end and then steamrolling through the playoffs, winning by 28, 27 and 45 points.
Just the same it is not clear that the difference between the 89 and 90 team was so great either way that the Giants couldn't have had a good shot against them in 89, imo.