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Taylor’s legacy still impacts the game"iants NewsGiants Training Camp 2016Giants vs. Eagles 2015 Carl Banks Color Rush Jersey , Week 17New York Giants NewsLT is the GOAT (but you already knew that)New,62commentsTaylor’s legacy still impacts the gameEDTShareTweetShareShareLT is the GOAT (but you already knew that)Lawrence Taylor is the greatest Giant of all-time, as voted on by you.The fear would begin to rise in Jerry Sisemore by Wednesday.Other NFC East offensive tackles knew the feeling all too well.Twice a year they would find themselves alone on the edge against the greatest linebacker of his generation — and maybe any other.Lawrence. Taylor.”There were many sleepless nights,” Sisemore, the Eagles’ two-time Pro Bowl right tackle, told author Michael Lewis for his 2006 book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. “You played New York twice a year. “Toward the middle of the week, something would come over you, and you’d just start sweating.”The NFL had never seen anything like Lawrence Julius Taylor.No one had. The 6-foot-3, 240-pound Taylor dominated like no pass rusher before or after him. And he revolutionized the linebacker position — and the entire NFL.That impact is just one reason he is the greatest Giant of all-time, as voted on by Big Blue View’s readers. He was chosen in a landslide (87%) over fellow finalist Eli Manning, who joined Taylor, Frank Gifford and Michael Strahan on the Giants Mount Rushmore after a tournament-style voting competition.”LT” brought a combination of size, speed and athleticism to the league that terrorized tackles, quarterbacks and opposing coaches. It was no coincidence that sacks became an official NFL statistic after his rookie season. The evolution of the league took a significant leap forward in 1981. Taylor’s arrival was the reason.And he was a winner.Taylor was the heart of the 1986 and 1990 Super Bowl championship teams. And he was the alpha on the Big Blue Wrecking Crew defense that boasted Harry Carson, Leonard Marshall and Carl Banks among others. Taylor earned the 1986 NFL MVP award, becoming the first defensive player bestowed the honor since Alan Page in 1971. No defender has won it since Taylor. The 1999 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee registered 20.5 sacks in 1986 and 132.5 from 1982 to 1993. The eight-time All-Pro and 10-time Pro Bowler was the Associated Press’ Defensive Player of the Year in 1981, 1982 and 1986.He played aggressively. He played hurt. He covered the whole field, sideline to sideline.Taylor left players, coaches and fans in awe. Even Bill Belichick.Instilling fearThe awards and statistics fail to capture the impact Taylor made. Especially on quarterbacks.”Intimidation. Lack of confidence. Quick throws. Nervous feet. Concentration lapses. Wanting to know where Lawrence is all the time,” Parcells once said, describing what Taylor did to signal callers. ”I’ve seen quarterbacks look at Lawrence and forget the snap count,” former Giant Beasley Reece once told The New York Times.In fact, the second overall pick in the 1981 draft out of North Carolina took pleasure in the fear he instilled.The Giants leaped from the second-worst scoring defense in 1980 to the third best in Taylor’s first season. By the middle of the decade, the unit was dominant.Opponents had no choice but to respond.Taylor engendered that fear even before the gruesome injury Joe Theismann suffered in 1985 in front of a Monday Night Football national TV audience. The Redskins quarterback endured a compound fracture of his right tibia — with one end of the bone protruding through his skin — and a shattered fibula on a Taylor sack.Theismann never played again.His right leg has been slightly shorter than the left since the injury.LT’s legacyTaylor’s legacy remains very much secure.The linebacker position evolved because of his influence.Once upon a time, the best played in the middle. Dick Butkus. Mike Singletary. Jack Lambert.But after Taylor, the power position shifted to the edge. He and the pass rushers who rose in his image no longer needed to be stationed in the middle to impact — or in Taylor’s case, dominate — the game.He also changed the requirements of the position. Toughness and instincts were no longer enough.Linebackers needed to be faster and more athletic.There would be no Derrick Thomas without LT. No Pat Swilling. No DeMarcus Ware.But of course, there would never be another Taylor.His influence was so profound that even the position charged to stop elite pass rushers changed.Once an afterthought compared to running back and receiver, left tackle suddenly became the most valuable and highest-paid position in the game behind only quarterbacks — whose blind sides they protect — and pass rushers — who they are paid to stop. The league began to rethink the position to prevent Taylor from mangling their quarterbacks and wrecking their seasons.Left tackles became more athletic, long and powerful to deal with the next-generation skill sets that Taylor boasted.”In 30 or 40 years, I’m going to take out the tapes and show them to my grandkids, to show them I really played against Lawrence Taylor,” retired Pro Bowl running back Keith Byars told ESPN. ”The greatest.” First trip to Indianapolis proves eventful"WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections New York Giants NewsGiants Training Camp 2016Giants vs. Eagles 2015 Mark Bavaro Color Rush Jersey , Week 172019 NFL DraftEd’s excellent NFL Scouting Combine adventureNew,47commentsFirst trip to Indianapolis proves eventfulESTShareTweetShareShareEd’s excellent NFL Scouting Combine adventureBrian Spurlock-USA TODAY SportsI have been bugging my boss at SB Nation to credential me to cover the NFL Scouting Combine for years now. Just ask him. Joel, I know you’re reading. I wouldn’t call covering the Combine a “bucket list” item, but I have always thought that being in Indianapolis would help me, and by extension Big Blue View itself.As you know if you have been reading the site for the past few days, this was the year when SB Nation finally put me on its credential request list and the NFL issued its magic “yes” decree.Thus, my excellent NFL Combine adventure began.For a bunch of reasons — well, mostly because my travel plans were made late and I wanted to save some money — I chose to drive to Indy rather than fly. That’s just a shade under 800 miles. A trip the GPS estimated at 12 hours. In a car I never really wanted and that’s never been my favorite.Now, Plan A was to split the drive from the upstate New York (Albany) area in two. My son and granddaughter live just outside of Buffalo, roughly 300 miles and 5 hours into the trip. It made sense to drive there Monday, crash, then finish the trip on Tuesday. Only that didn’t happen. I felt like having dinner at home with my wife on Monday. I also didn’t feel like driving up the New York State Thruway while battling 60+ miles per hour wind gusts.So, Tuesday morning at 6:30 I hopped in my 2010 Subaru Forester with 120,000 miles on it for the longest solo drive of my 58 years on the planet. Yes, I recognize that was just a little bit nuts. Something I reminded myself several times over the next 13 hours.The drive to IndyI figured the drive was going to take more than 12 hours, mostly because I expected to needmore bladder-related stops (age and prostate surgery will do that to you) and a “car nap” at some point along the way. The bladder stops I needed. Amazingly, the car nap was never necessary.The biggest problem? I need a new phone!I am clunking along with an ancient Samsung Galaxy S5, a phone I’ve always liked but has its issues. I didn’t account for the fact that my car charger doesn’t do a thing unless the phone is in the exact right spot, and that the aging battery drains quickly when I’m using the GPS. I had to stop several times just to go into a rest area, find an outlet and charge the phone. Annoying, and time consuming!On the plus side, I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets of my life. Forget football. Forget everything. Sometimes you just have to appreciate the beauty of nature. Driving through Ohio and into Indianapolis daylight was waning and the sky was clear. As the massive orange sun began to settle behind the skyline, it left an amazing purplish tint to the sky. That’s a sight I won’t soon forget.Walked by this every day in Indianapolis.Photo by Ed ValentineIn IndianapolisStory-wise, this is the boring part. At least to me. Work is work, whether it’s in my office, the MetLife Stadium press box, a ballroom at the Indiana Convention Center or wherever. It was nice to finally meet GM Dave Gettleman one-on-one. I have sat through a number of his media sessions and asked him questions, but until Wednesday morning I had never been able to introduce myself and shake his hand. Mission accomplished. I also discovered that DG and I wear the same sneakers. Nike Air Monarch’s, because I know you have to know. And yes, I made sure to point that out to the GM. Because, well, because it was important for us to bond over our shared footwear.Also bumped into running backs coach Craig Johnson outside the media workroom while stepping out to clear my head between posts on Thursday. What Johnson was doing there I’ll never know, since the Convention Center is across the street from Lucas Oil Stadium. Johnson is originally from Rome, N.Y. Eli Manning Color Rush Jersey , so we chatted about our upstate roots while I impressed him with my tale of driving 13 hours just so I could run into him. Johnson and I also share some University of Maryland history since he was once a Terrapins assistant coach and I graduated from there.Media, except for a select few Pro Football Writers of America members who get to see quarterbacks work out on Saturday, is not allowed into Lucas Oil Stadium for the testing. All of our work is done in the aforementioned Indiana Convention Center, a place that doesn’t look like much from the outside but is a massive structure that is kind of like its own city inside a city.It proved excellent for burning calories since the media workroom is ion one corner of the second floor, while public Combine events are on the opposite corner of the first floor. Ah, those public Combine events. Weirdest meat market I’ve ever seen. On one side, eight podiums for player interview sessions — with all eight going on simultaneously and echoing across each other. Players not at podiums are jammed into tables in a corner. On the other side, Radio Row. Or really, Radio Corner. A bunch or tables stuck in the far corner of the half-dozen or so adjoining ballrooms used for the public events.In the middle of all of this? Make-shift bleachers and a make-shift stage where bench-pressing players are put on display like cattle for paying fans. By the way, those paying fans can’t really see the players, anyway. There is so much in the way that all they can really see is the big screen behind the bench-pressing player, showing him furiously pumping 225 pounds up and down as many times as he can before the weight practically collapses on top of him.My big Indianapolis adventure came Wednesday night. Went out to dinner with Patricia Traina at one of the hotel restaurants attached to the Convention Center via skywalk. After dinner, Pat wanted to do a couple of things so I figured I’d walk the half-mile back to my hotel. Only coming out of the restaurant I was in unfamiliar territory and I even managed to confuse my GPS. I managed to go about four blocks in the wrong direction and turn a 10-12 minute walk into a rather nerve-wracking half-hour journey back to my hotel.By the way, many thanks to Pat for helping a newbie navigate his way around the Combine.The media scrum during player interviews on Thursday.Photo by Ed ValentineFriday did not go as plannedRemember what I said about not exactly liking my Subaru Forester? Well, now I have another reason. Checked out of my hotel early Friday, went to put my stuff in the car and figured I’d work at least until mid-afternoon before heading to Buffalo to spend the evening.My car, though, had other ideas. I knew there was a problem when I hit the keyless entry and nothing happened. I ended up having to manually use the key to get in, which let me put my luggage away. The car, though, was dead. Dead. Dead. Completely dead, to the point of not making a sound.That started a nearly 3-hour adventure with AAA which included multiple calls, AAA sending out a tow truck that didn’t fit into the parking garage instead of a battery truck carrying the new battery I ended up needing and lots of panicked waiting around. By the time I was good to go — not to mention out $131 — it was nearly 11 a.m. and I decided to just hit the road rather than go wait around for quarterback media availability. That, honestly, is something I really wanted to attend. By then, though, I didn’t care how big Kyler Murray was or how cool Dwayne Haskins thought it would be to play for the Giants.I just wanted to hit the road and head home. So, I did.Fortunately, no issues getting to Buffalo. Had a nice dinner with my son and a beautiful 3-year-old granddaughter who puts a smile on grandpa’s face. Got home Saturday for my older son’s birthday, which meant play time with my soon-to-be 2-year-old grandson. Got to watch the CYO basketball team I coach win a 47-46 thriller on Sunday that had my heart pounding two hours after the game was over.So, all’s well that ends well.Would I do this again?You bet. I’m not driving, though. I’m already turning over how to do a better job covering the Combine next year. I’d fly. I’d spend an extra day. I’d have a better idea how things worked, what stories to cover and where to be in the evening to meet and greet the movers and shakers of the Giants and the NFL.I’m ready. At least I will be when my body recovers from the truck that figuratively ran me over and my heart stops pounding from a buzzer-beating victory.