Lawrence Taylor is rooting for Abdul Carter, and would love nothing better than to see the rookie make No. 51 as famous as he made No. 56 as a rookie in 1981.
LT, from the moment he donned No. 56, was a human tornado who carved a terrifying path of destruction on his way to the quarterback as Defensive Player of Year and Defensive Rookie of the Year as a Giants rookie.
Carter’s preseason dream, you may recall, was to wear LT’s retired No. 56. In two of the last three games — benched for one series against the Packers for missing a walkthrough and for two series against the Patriots for missing a team function — the third overall pick of the NFL 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 gameday.