Lawrence Taylor Calls For 'Fairness' For Defenders On 'The Ricky Cobb Show'

Former New York Giants defensive star Lawrence Taylor appeared on "The Ricky Cobb Show" in New Orleans and discussed the predicament defenders are in when playing the quarterback.

The game is always evolving, but one of the most obvious ways is how much quarterbacks are protected from hard hits. Lawrence played in an era where protection was minimal - heck, he was the guy who bent Joe Theisman’s leg the wrong way. 

Despite being in that physical era, both defenders and quarterbacks played by an unwritten code. If quarterbacks were running towards the out of bounds, defenders wouldn’t lay a crushing hit. Likewise, quarterbacks wouldn’t take advantage of that and try to gain some cheap extra yards.

And when quarterbacks broke that code, Taylor was quick to tell them to stop. 

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - NOVEMBER 03:  Former New York Giants player Lawrence Taylor waves to the crowd prior to their game against the Indianapolis Colts at MetLife Stadium on November 3, 2014 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.  (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

"I remember playing Joe Montana, and I was chasing him down. He was running to the out of bounds and just before he stepped out of bounds I just let up. And you know what? He took that ball and ran another 15 yards. I went over to him and said, ‘If you ever do that again, I will light you up.’ And he apologized, he said, ‘Man, I understand.’"

However, Taylor noted that in today’s game, you can barely touch a quarterback without getting penalized for it, especially if that quarterback is Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. 

"Nowadays you can’t even touch the guy once he hits the ground. But what happens when you’re playing a guy like Mahomes, who does his fakes going down and then he gets up and runs? What happens? Let’s get some fairness in there," Taylor said.

Taylor isn’t advocating for a return back to his era, but for the defense to not have to play with one hand tied behind their backs. After all, it seems as though defenders can’t do anything when pursuing not just the quarterback, but pretty much an offensive player. Finding a way to allow the defense to do their job in a clean yet physical way would certainly seem like a worthy goal.