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Lawrence Taylor is regarded by many as the best defensive player to ever play in the NFL, including one of his former coaches with the New York Giants: Bill Belichick.
Belichick has always raved about “L.T.” and how great of a player he was to coach. But, during an appearance on “Hang Out with Sean Hannity,” Belichick revealed the two-time Super Bowl champion and eight-time All-Pro linebacker’s instincts is what set him apart from the rest.
In fact, Taylor’s instincts were so great, he could tell who had him on any given play just by looking across the line of scrimmage.
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New York Giants legend Lawrence Taylor enters the field before a game against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Sept. 8, 2024. (John Jones/Imagn Images)
“Taylor had instincts beyond instincts,” Belichick explained. “He was tremendously gifted, but he also knew the game extremely well instinctively. He could tell who was going to block him, Sean, by how scared they were. If they weren’t nervous, they weren’t blocking him. If they were nervous, that’s who was going to block him.
“If the quarterback was nervous, it was a pass. If the quarterback wasn’t nervous, he was handing the ball off. He could just tell.”
Taylor’s fear factor has been well documented, but to simply look at a player’s expression across the line and know where the ball was going is something else.
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Belichick started to see this from Taylor when he was the second overall pick by the Giants in the 1981 NFL Draft. At the time, Belichick was serving as the team’s linebackers and special teams coach under head coach Bill Parcells.
Belichick would eventually be promoted to defensive coordinator in 1985, a post he held through the 1990 season before his first crack at being a head coach with the Cleveland Browns.
While he’s coached great players – he said Tom Brady was his top player during his coaching career – Belichick simply couldn’t teach how Taylor would dissect an offense.
New York Giants players Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson celebrate with defensive coach Bill Belichick using a water bucket during an NFC playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers in East Rutherford, N.J., on Jan. 4, 1987. (Jerry Wachter/Sports Illustrated)
“Within two or three plays within the start of the game, he had a good sense of how they were trying to deal with him and what their gameplan was for him,” he told Hannity. “Sometimes, it was what we had planned on. Sometimes, he would come to the sideline and he would say, ‘Coach, they’re not doing what you said they were going to do. Here’s what they were doing.’ I trusted him because he really could see where they were looking, how their posture was, and so forth. Then, he never came off the field. When I was the special teams coach, I had him out there. He covered punts, he rushed punts, he was on kickoff return, he was on kickoff coverage, he was on field goal protection and he blocked field goals. He didn’t come off the field, but he made plays.
“He wasn’t a guy who took plays off. He picked his spots a little bit, but any time it was a big play, you got his best effort.”
Belichick even said that he believed Taylor could’ve played multiple positions on the offensive side of the ball if he wanted to, showing the amount of respect in his talent during his days on the gridiron.
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Taylor was a pivotal piece in the Giants’ Super Bowl victories in 1986 and 1990, while on his way to being named the 1986 NFL MVP. He was also a three-time Defensive Player of the Year winner.
In his 13-year career, all of which with the Giants, Taylor racked up 142 sacks, including a league-high 20.5 in that MVP season, 41 forced fumbles, and nine interceptions across 184 games.
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