Q& A with Myers on The Athletic
Myers: You mentioned there are some rules today that would be a problem for you. For example?
Taylor: The rules are what they are. But you know, the safety you put on quarterbacks…sometimes when you get into a collision, you can’t really tell where your helmet is going to be. If you look at where your helmet is going to be, I don’t know if I want that son of a bitch playing defense for me, okay? Just like the wide receivers now. Antonio Brown and all these guys. All of a sudden they got their mouth chirping, nobody gets to touch them, you get to run the whole field. Man, when I was playing, you come across the middle, it’s a no-fly zone. You don’t come across there. You get knocked the fuck out if you come across there. Nowadays, they come through there with tutus. |
https://theathletic.com/1280339/2019/10/09/the-athletic-qa-lawrence-taylor-on-the-legacies-of-bill-belichick-and-bill-parcells-and-more/ - (
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Sure it was awesome to see LT at work, but there were terrible consequences..
A brutal game
Andre Reed went over the middle on a crossing pattern in the first quarter and Greg Jackson leveled him. He hung on and made the catch, but he started getting alligator arms after that. I remember him saying after the game that he'd never been hit as hard in his entire career as the Giants hit him in that game.
Andre Reed went over the middle on a crossing pattern in the first quarter and Greg Jackson leveled him. He hung on and made the catch, but he started getting alligator arms after that. I remember him saying after the game that he'd never been hit as hard in his entire career as the Giants hit him in that game.
There was a play in the second quarter of that game where Pepper Johnson and I think Myron Guyton both lit Reed up, and he had the jitters the rest of the night.
Personally, I remember the 80's as much deeper patterns in general which had the effect of minimizing the short range blow ups. Usually the big hits came with the Tight Ends running the seams
This. The NFL cares more about offensive production for the fantasy football crowd than player safety. It’s a convenient way to silence critics who hate what the sport has become.
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Not whatever this crap today is.
This. The NFL cares more about offensive production for the fantasy football crowd than player safety. It’s a convenient way to silence critics who hate what the sport has become.
I agree.
Football was actually safer during the time when LT played than the following generation because defenses tackled and hit the midsections as the game was designed.
The rules being instituted now don't disallow the football LT and that generation largely played. I don't remember the Giants be cheap shot, head shot, kill shot, artists.
You can still hit a guy. He's just got to have the ball and you can't blast his head.
Reducing the number of practices in training camp seems to have had the opposite effect. Again, not too long ago, there were two-a-day practices, with one practice being in full pads and including full-contact goal-line drills. Perhaps the body needs a certain amount of physical contact in order to be able to tolerate impact better?
Reducing the number of practices in training camp seems to have had the opposite effect. Again, not too long ago, there were two-a-day practices, with one practice being in full pads and including full-contact goal-line drills. Perhaps the body needs a certain amount of physical contact in order to be able to tolerate impact better?
Too bad it doesn't cut both ways. Had a heart to heart with James Harrison recently and that was his biggest parting pet peeve (unsurprisingly not his only).