Lawrence Taylor, who revolutionized defense in the NFL with his game-breaking outside linebacker play, announced Saturday that he is retiring after 13 seasons with the New York Giants.
Following the Giants' 44-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL playoffs, Taylor made official the decision many had expected."I think it's time to pretty well call it quits," said Taylor, who had announced a year ago he would retire, then decided to return after he ruptured an Achilles tendon at midseason.
"I've been to the Super Bowl. I've been to the playoffs. I've earned the respect of players and people around the country."
Taylor, 34, was one of just two defensive players ever named the NFL's most valuable player. He won it in 1986 when he had 201/2 sacks and led the Giants to the first of their two Super Bowl championships.
He was twice named NFL defensive player of the year and was selected as a Pro Bowl starter in each of his first 10 seasons, an unprecedented accomplishment.
He retires with 1321/2 sacks, tops among linebackers and second only to the 137 of Green Bay defensive end Reggie White. That, however, doesn't count the 91/2 he had in his rookie season of 1981, the year before sacks became an official statistic.
Taylor went out as he wanted, playing for a winner. Saturday's crushing loss obscured the fact that the Giants finished 12-6 and made the playoffs for the first time since winning the Super Bowl following the 1990 season. That was due in part to the replacement of coach Ray Handley after two seasons by Dan Reeves.
Taylor was the second overall choice in the 1981 draft after New Orleans had taken running back George Rogers, who has long since left the league.
He almost immediately turned around the Giants, who hadn't been to the playoffs for 18 years. New York made the playoffs in seven of his 13 seasons.
He also changed the principles of linebacker play, leading coaches to put their best pass rushers there and aim them at the quarterback, a job that until then had been left principally to down linemen.
Players like Derrick Thomas of Kansas City, Cornelius Bennett of Buffalo, Pat Swilling of Detroit and Tony Bennett of Green Bay, among others, owe their success to Taylor because coaches put them at linebacker to take advantage of their athletic skill and ability to rush the passer.
Many linebackers now ask to wear 56, Taylor's number.
"When I came into the league, I wanted to be the next Lawrence Taylor," says Thomas, who holds the NFL record of seven sacks in a game.
During the first part of his career, Taylor was as reckless off the field as on. He was suspended for the first four games of the 1988 season after testing positive for cocaine use and later acknowledged in an autobiography that his wife Linda had to literally drag him out of a party where cocaine was being used freely.
He took up golf with almost equal passion. "The golf course was my rehab ward," he wrote. In fact, he usually missed much of training camp while playing golf, but almost always picked up where had left off when he took the field.
Taylor said this time his retirement is for real.
"I want to take a couple of weeks off. Maybe I'll look for Michael Jordan and play some golf with him," Taylor said.
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L.T.'s career stats
Career statistics and highlights of New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who announced his retirement Saturday:
Regular Season
Yr., Tm Int Sacks Tackles
1981 NY Giants 1 9.5 133
1982 NY Giants 1 7.5 55
1983 NY Giants 2 9.0 125
1984 NY Giants 1 11.5 114
1985 NY Giants 0 13.0 104
1986 NY Giants 0 20.5 105
1987 NY Giants 3 12.0 62
1988 NY Giants 0 15.5 73
1989 NY Giants 0 15.0 83
1990 NY Giants 1 10.5 84
1991 NY Giants 0 7.0 67
1992 NY Giants 0 5.0 47
1993 NY Giants 0 6.0 35
Totals 9 142.0 1087
Postseason
Yr., Tm Int Sacks Tackles
1981 NY Giants 0 2.0 12
1984 NY Giants 0 3.0 12
1985 NY Giants 0 1.0 19
1986 NY Giants 1 0.0 12
1989 NY Giants 0 2.0 7
1990 NY Giants 0 0.5 7
1993 NY Giants 0 0.0 2
Totals 1 8.5 71
Career Highlights
-Giants' first-round selection in 1981 NFL draft out of North Carolina.
-NFL-record 10 consecutive Pro Bowl selections (1981-1990).
-NFL's Most Valuable Player in 1986, only the second defensive player ever to win the award along with Alan Page in 1976.
-All-NFC and All-Pro selection 10 consecutive seasons (1981-1990).
-One of three players selected unanimously to NFL's All-1980s team.
-Two-time AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year (1981-1982).
-Giants' career official sack leader (1321/2).
-Set Giants record with 97-yard interception return for a touchdown against Detroit in 1982.
-Eight-time NFC Player of the Week.
-Two-time NFC Player of the Month.
Career Sack Leaders
Reggie White, Phi-GB 137.0
Lawrence Taylor, NY Giants 132.5
Richard Dent, Chi 124.5
Rickey Jackson, NO 115.0
Greg Townsend, LA Raiders 107.5