Lawrence Taylor is rooting for Abdul Carter, and would love nothing better than to see the rookie make No. 51 as famous as Taylor made No. 56 as a rookie in 1981.
LT, from the moment he donned No. 56 for the Giants, was a human tornado who carved a terrifying path of destruction on his way to the quarterback as Defensive Player of the Year and Defensive Rookie of the Year.
Carter’s preseason dream, you may recall, was to wear LT’s retired No. 56. In two of the past three games — benched for one series against the Packers for missing a walk-through and for two series against the Patriots for missing a team function — the third overall pick of the draft has brought no honor to his No. 51 or to his team.
LT would endure his well-documented personal demons later on in a Hall of Fame career that occasionally saw him wreck games even with a hangover. Bill Parcells always used to say that no one wanted to win the game more than Lawrence Taylor come game day.