Taylor (Icons of the NFL) [Hardcover]

Lawrence Taylor (Author)

Book Description

Series: Icons of the NFL | Publication Date: November 13, 2006

TAYLOR is a high octane ride through the life of the boldest, baddest linebackers to ever play the game. Featuring never before seen photographs TAYLOR includes a full length highlight DVD of LT's greatest hits, candid insights, and most telling interviews with teammates and competitors.

Leader of the New York Giants' "Big Blue Wrecking Crew" Lawrence Taylor is widely acknowledged as the most feared defenseman to ever play professional football. Unleashed on the NFL in 1981, his instincts, skills, smarts, and fury changed the way players, coaches and fans viewed football. The personification of "shock and awe," LT was equally adept at sacking quarterbacks, intercepting passes, and forcing fumbles- he created on-field chaos.

TAYLOR, who often played despite pain (torn shoulder ligaments, a detached pectoral muscle, or a broken bone in his foot) was better known for inflicting it with his punishing tackles.

In a game that had become highly regimented, Taylor took football back for the individual player and showed how a savvy adrenaline-fueled defenseman could be a titanic star.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 236 pages
• Publisher: Rugged Land; Har/DVD edition (November 13, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590710827
• ISBN-13: 978-1590710821
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #814,304 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful photos and a focus on football, LT-style, December 15, 2006

By 

Douglas Gorney "Voracious Reader" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Taylor (Icons of the NFL) (Hardcover)

Great stuff! TAYLOR really puts you in the shoes of the greatest defensive player ever to step onto the field.

It's a different kind of LT book. First of all, it's a big, coffee-table edition with all the gorgeous color photos; shots I've never seen before. Second, this book mostly stays away from LT's off-field troubles. I'm a big LT fan and have read the other autobiographies he's done with other people, but the focus here is on the football. You get lots of action sequences that really put you on the field with LT. It's a "cleaner" version of his career, without any bad language, even. Maybe that's a little weird, given that it's LT, but then you can share this book with your kid.

The thing is, it's a great read. I liked it better than his other books -- it feels like you really get LT's voice. The story's exciting, funny and sticks to the point. Informative, too. He explains a lot about the way he played linebacker, how Parcells turned him loose and how that changed the way the game is played.

I think it's a must-get gift for any LT or Giants fan. But LT's such a character, the story's so good and the football stuff is so real, I think anybody would like it. (Even a Redskins fan.)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LT...Linebacker...Legend, December 14, 2011

By 

Ernesto Del Mundo (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Taylor (Icons of the NFL) (Hardcover)

This book/dvd recounts the storied life and football career of Lawrence Taylor, probably the greatest defensive player of all time. There are a lot of classic photos and stories, some that I was unaware of even though I thought I knew them all. It was great to read of the early interactions LT had with Bill Parcells, who was infamous for riding players until they couldn't take it anymore. LT actually reached his limit and yelled at Parcells during practice one day, which was unheard of for a rookie. Of course LT was no ordinary rookie and Parcells let it slide. There was also the story of how LT would get flagged early in his career for some of his vicious hits, mostly because refs had never seen anyone make the kind of plays LT was capable of making, and thought for sure it must be illegal. One such flag was for LT's patented "Tomahawk Chop" where he would stretch out and bring his arm down hard on the football to knock it loose. Giants head coach Ray Perkins told LT to never change his style of play no matter how many flags he got.

This is a coffee table book with lots of photos, with some really cool shots of the young LT playing football in high school and college. The DVD has the NFL highlight reel of LT, which is about as impressive a collection of the skill, strength and speed of a football player that you will ever see on this planet. Some of the tackles and sacks can only be truly appreciated if you slow it down to frame by frame, and even then they are hard to believe. One other cool thing: LT dedicates the book to Eagles QB Ron Jaworski, who took some famous beatings by the rookie phenom, to the point where he once famously fumbled a snap from center after looking up and seeing LT grinning "like a crazed dog" at him.