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TSN Archives: Lawrence Taylor, linebacker at large (Nov. 17, 1986)

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TSN Archives: Lawrence Taylor, linebacker at large (Nov. 17, 1986)

This cover story, by Peter King, first appeared in the Nov. 17, 1986, issue of The Sporting News, as New York icon Lawrence Taylor was returning to top form after a stint in a substance-abuse facility following a subpar (for him) 1985 season. He was voted TSN's NFL Player of the Year for 1986. EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Bill Parcells, smiling, had reason to be happy. Very happy. A day earlier, his New York Giants had completed a two-game sweep of Washington and Dallas in six days, putting them in a tie for the NFC East lead with the Redskins after nine games. Walking toward the locker room in the dank concourse under Giants Stadium, Parcells was happy about something else. Three things, actually. 1. Lawrence Taylor, the player 2. Lawrence Taylor, the person 3. Lawrence Taylor, the positive force instead of destructive influence. TSN Archives: New York icon Walt Frazier led Knicks in style (Feb. 14, 1970) "Remember when I said this Lawrence Taylor story wouldn't be the central issue on the team this year?" the Giants' coach asked a reporter. The reporter said yes. "Has it been?” Parcells asked. No, came the reply Parcells smiled — with good reason. Nine months ago, when the best defensive player of the '80s checked himself in as an outpatient for substance abuse rehabilitation, the immediate future of a team and a man went on IR (injured reserve). "They don't sell insurance for these kinds of things,” Parcells told a Giants booster club dinner in May But the Taylor time bomb, through 10 weeks of the season, had been effectively defused. These days, it's the rest of the NFL that needs Taylor insurance. Playing with the energy of a Doberman pup and the familiar quick strikes of a pit bull, Taylor has resumed his role as the NFL's best outside linebacker. He's close to being all the way back to his game plan-busting days of 1984 — considered his most forceful season as a pro — and his nine-game totals put him on course for career highs in the most significant categories for his position. After 10 games, he had an NFL-high 14 sacks, one more than his career best, and 59 quarterback pressures, 28 less than his career high. Perhaps as significantly, the Taylor story hasn't become a sideshow. He has refused all print-media and most electronic-media interviews since his rehabilitation. So, after home games, his locker flanked by team statesman Harry Carson, All-Pro defensive end Leonard Marshall and reporters wondering about the play of the NFL’s second-ranked defense, Taylor, its most important player, is an island. He dresses in silence though he occasionally exchanges wisecracks with teammates. Off the field, Taylor is not as monastic. "Lawrence is not a choirboy," said Giants General Manager George Young. "But great players tend not to be choirboys. Look at Jim Thorpe and Babe Ruth." But associates say Taylor, whose wife Linda had their third child in September, has toned down his nightlife significantly. "Let me make the ultimate statement on Lawrence Tavlor," said good friend and former teammate Beasley Reece. "I go to his house now and there's no beer in the refrigerator. Anybody in the NFL knows how big a statement that is." TSN Archives: Babe Ruth homers in Yankee Stadium opening (April 26, 1923) On the field, Taylor insists he hasn’t changed, though he's rushing the pass more than ever. After a career record-tying four-sack game against Philadelphia October 12, Taylor in his only extensive interview since the rehabilitation, told WNEW radio, "I really don’t feel I've played any different than I have in the past. Maybe people see me in a different light and think I have something prove. But I really don't get that excited about a game. If I can do it I do it. If I can't I can't." Before the Giants opened their season, one high-ranking member the organization stressed that Tavlor could not be judged on his impressive preseason or his exemplary behavior to that point. "Do you have a crystal ball? You tell me how he's going to play in November," the official said. It is November. Here are the reviews on Taylor. — CBS-TV analyst John Madden: "I thought in 1984 he was the best player in the league, the most dominant defensive player in football. When a game had to be won, he won. Last year he fell off. Falling off for him was to become a human player. Now, I think he's somewhere in between." — Philadelphia Director of Personnel Joe Wooten: "He's had some season. I think he’s playing better than ever before. Teams are putting tight ends on him, backs on him, tackles on him and he’s going through them. I think Washington tackle Joe Jacoby is a good football player and he had trouble with Taylor. He manhandles most offenses. Right now to me he’s the most dominant player in football, offense or defense." — Philadelphia tight end John Spagnola: "I think he's playing his greatest football. I think his knowledge of the game and how he's playing — with total reckless abandon — has put him on a new plateau." — Young: "He's been so much of a bigger factor in games than stats. It's amazing how much he influences the quarterback." — Giants defensive end George Martin: "This year, I think he's a more mature ball player in all phases of the game. In his coverage and his performance as a pass-rusher, he's more of a veteran ball player. As a rookie in 1981, he'd make a super-spectacular play, then blow a coverage or miss a tackle. He's playing more consistently and that comes with experience." — Reece: "He has regained the title of the best football player in America, which means the world." * * * I don’t think his problem was anywhere near the Buster Rhymes or Micheal Ray Richardson stage. He wasn't going out on the streets and shooting up or anything like that. Lawrence was not — I repeat was not — entered in a rehabilitation center. — Agent Gary Kovacs The news began to leak out February 12, just 10 days after Taylor played in his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl and enjoyed a Hawaiian vacation with his wife and children. Taylor, saying he needed to visit his ailing grandmother in North Carolina, asked Giants quarterback Phil Simms to step in for him at a White Plains, N.Y., speaking engagement. TSN Archives: Lou Gehrig's Death Shocks All in Game (June 5, 1941) Two days later, an ABC Radio report by Howard Rosen said Taylor was in a drug rehabilitation center and called him "a sick man" in this regard. Sources told three New York newspapers that Taylor was being treated for cocaine use. Taylor said nothing. The Giants said nothing. Then on March 20, in a statement issued through the Giants, Taylor admitted in the past year due to substance abuse "I have left the road that I had hoped to follow both as a player and as a public figure. In recent months, I have privately sought professional assistance to help me with these problems. I have just completed the first phase in what I now will be a difficult and ongoing battle to overcome these problems." Said Reece: "I think he took a look at himself and said, 'This is not Lawrence Taylor. I have got to get this cleaned up.'" Understand this followed what had not been a poor year. Taylor played well. It's just that at times he didn't play Tayloresque. He led the Giants in tackles and forced fumbles and tied for the lead in fumble recoveries. He had a career-high 13 sacks. But in Weeks 13-16, Taylor compiled just 12 tackles and no sacks. He often seemed distant in the locker room. When his agent tried to get the Giants to restructure Taylor’s seven-year, $6.25 million contract to give him some deferred money for his retirement years, the club refused. The season ended after Taylor screamed at Bear fullback Matt Suhey for continually blocking him at the legs during a 21-0 playoff loss in Chicago and some Bears were yelling names at him after the game. When reporters approached him later, Taylor said with a glare, "Don't ever come near me." The problem last year, said Young, was that he was competing with his own legend, his own excellence. Madden said, "Lawrence is like a baseball player who hit .400 early in his career so then he never gets another good pitch to hit. Now they have big guys on Lawrence blocking him." Paul Hackett, the passing game coach of the Cowboys, told me there's no one way to block Taylor. When Hackett was with the 49ers, the first time they played the Giants they used John Ayers, the left guard, to block him and they had success. The next time, they used Ayers and Taylor ate them up. The next time, they used a tackle or guard or a tackle and running back or something like that, giving Taylor lots of different looks trying to fluster him. Madden: "Against Dallas (November 21), I noticed they were using tight ends right away so he doesn’t ever line up against air." So Taylor was competing in 1985 against the greatness he created. A very good season is what he had. A very good season though becomes open season for critics when Lawrence Taylor is having it. Which is probably why the world is only seeing the revival of this terrific player and not listening to reasons why he is terrific. Perhaps these screaming February 15 headlines in New York explain the impact of the Taylor substance abuse bombshell and also why Taylor isn’t spilling his guts these days. DRUGS SACK LT Booze, coke send LT to rehab clinic SAY IT AIN'T SO Taylor in drug rehab clinic Some of the other headlines that day befitted a mass murderer, not a substance dabbler. Examples: Robustelli, Huff grieve for Taylor Up-and-down year haunted superstar LT's mom says she's shocked On May 20, a day after three reporters sought unsuccessfully to interview Taylor at a charity golf tournament in Purchase, N.Y., the New York Post ran a picture of Taylor, golf club in hand, that was captioned "Ironing out his problems". That infuriated Parcells, who threatened to revoke long-standing press freedoms around the club if reporters either pressed Taylor on the issue or continued to stress it in their reporting. It was a dir
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