Source on Lawrence Taylor

“Lawrence Taylor, defensively, has had as big an impact as any player I've ever seen. He changed the way defense is played, the way pass-rushing is played, the way linebackers play and the way offenses block linebackers.  —John Madden”

“As a freshman playing on special teams, he'd jump a good six or seven feet in the air to block a punt, then land on the back of his neck. He was reckless, just reckless.  —North Carolina assistant coach Bobby Cale.”

“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. The greatest. (He was then asked what he will tell his grandkids) That he was everything they said he was.  —Keith Byars.”

“You saw hunger. Some guys were great at playing their position but didn't have that feeling inside and that was something that L.T. had with him every down of every game and he never lost it.  —Joe Montana, in response to the question "What did you see when you looked into Taylor's eyes?"”

“All I can say about Lawrence Taylor is that he's the best defensive football player I've seen. I've said many times he's the best player I've seen in my era defensively. Everyone else is a pretender.  —Howie Long, when asked whether Taylor should be in the Hall of Fame in 1999 (before Taylor was voted in).”

“I think that he was the greatest football player that I ever stepped on the field against. Nobody dictated what you could do offensively like LT.  —Steve Bartkowski”

“A transformation would take place when he'd put on his uniform. He would be transformed into this homicidal maniac.  —George Martin”

“We had to try in some way have a special game plan just for Lawrence Taylor. Now you didn't do that very often in this league but I think he's one person that we learned the lesson the hard way. We lost ball games.  —Joe Gibbs”

“I mean everything you did (on offense) was predicated to where he was and what he was doing.  —John Elway”

“Taylor is the best college linebacker I've ever seen. Sure, I saw Dick Butkus play. There's no doubt in my mind about Taylor. He's bigger and stronger than Butkus was. On the blitz, he's devastating.  —George Young, on Taylor before he was drafted in 1981Sansevere, Bob. Giants' L.T.: His mean streaks revolutionized NFL, made him the best., Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, January 8, 1994, accessed February 17, 2007.”