Inside The Pocket #007: Lawrence Taylor

One man, two initials. Lawrence Taylor: LT. To many people, the greatest defensive player there ever was. Taylor changed the way the game is played, and I mean that in the literal sense, not the commonly applied hyperbolic. So dominant was Taylor coming off the edge that he had coaches rewriting not only game scripts, but entire defenses and offenses. He evolved the protection of the quarterback, he got left tackles paid, made the blind side famous (topical)… dammit, Sandra Bullock wouldn’t have an Oscar without LT! A two-time Super Bowl winner – the face of the 80s – he is one of only two defensive players to win NFL MVP in the 100-year history of the NFL. No man has done it since.

Whilst many know him as a footballer, to some he’s the guy that headlined a Wrestlemania with Bam Bam Bigelow! That’s just how big a star he was. LT; the footballer and the entertainer. Always the man for the biggest of moments.

The fury and madness followed Taylor into retirement and his antics off the field were as headline grabbing as those on it. He struggled with drugs, he had brushes with the law and was placed on the sex offenders list. His unlikely career is all the more remarkable considering his lifestyle throughout his playing days. And like many of the great stars, he couldn’t deal with reality when his dreamlike career came to an end.

Chaotic and complicated, when all is said and done you can’t tell the story of football without telling the story of Lawrence Taylor.