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Sean Taylor memories
November 27, 2007Sean Taylor might have been the best safety in the NFL. Unfortunately he died this morning from a gun shot wound suffered from a robbery at his Miami house.
When I first heard the news yesterday I didn't think it was that big a deal. I hear gunshot to the groin. Then later in the day I heard the bullet hit a femoral artery. At that point I knew it was serious.
I loved to watch Sean Taylor play. Last night I figured he had to be OK because he was a immortal football player. Someone people discuss for ages.
I can see down the line...my brother, family and me sitting around talking football and trying to determine who was better Roy Williams, Bob Sanders or Sean Taylor.
When I heard the news this morning my feelings drifted towards football fan. I felt like I was robbed of any future Sean Taylor experiences from some greedy guy with a gun.
When I tried to explain to my wife how much of an impact Sean Taylor had on a game I compared him to Terrell Owens.
From Miami, or "The U," he was an instant bad-a. He played the game with a reckless abandon. He was so big and fast, and I loved watching him come up and but a lick on a runner. He might have been one of the better center fielding safeties in the league as well.
Two games stick out in my mind that Sean Taylor played. One was last year's Pro Bowl. Brian Moorman, a punter for the Buffalo Bills, who is a good athlete I might add, decided to get fancy and try to run a fake punt.
Well he failed because Sean Taylor hit him and they both went vertical. One of the nastiest hits I've ever seen. Yeah it was a safety on a punter, but it's still fun to watch.
Another game I remember was during Sean Taylor's rookie year. He wore No. 36 at the time, I forget who wore No. 21 at the time, but at the end of the season they squared off against the Minnesota Vikings. (You might remember it as the day Randy Moss walked off the field with about 20 seconds to go.)
That was the day of the super-freak Randy Moss. The guy did what he wanted to on the field. Well, most of the coverage responsibility fell on Taylor when the Vikings sent Moss deep. It was an interesting match-up. Both extremely talented, but one with way less experience.
I think Moss won the individual match-up that day, but it was the first time I actually got to experience, fully, Sean Taylor as a Redskin. One touchdown Moss caught diving over Taylor while both were lunging for the ball is still a special NFL replay.
Watch and see...
http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d801b4989
Posted by Clayton Hein at 08:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
