steve09ru Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 Which EVERY team has to do when there is a dominate player on either side of the ball.That being said, Taylor's numbers simply to not merit this grandiose title. Seems that the OP and some posters are relying more on emotion and not on stats and the actual play of the greats when making this call. One more time, Sean's passing was tragic. He was probably one of the top 3 safeties in the league at the time of his death. HoF? No. Greatest ever? Not a chance. I agree...I wasn't really looking at the OP title or thought...just was saying how he effected the offenses he played. It's ashame cuz he COULD have been Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldskool Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 disagree....what more did he have to learn?? he was 4 years into his professinal career and had already established himself as an elite player...that doesnt sound like "has more to learn" works to me. ST was the prototype Safety.. The players nowaways are so much better than players back in the older days cus guys are bigger,stronger,faster, and are eat,sleep,drinking football and weights.. In my opinion, sean taylor was on his way to becoming the best to ever lace em up at his position, period.. im sorry but no other safety had hands like him, closing speed, or can lay the wood near as close as ST. THe onlythink ed reed has over sean taylor wsa ed reed is VERY smart, but ST was not a dumbass and was showing people once he took football serious how good he was... I mean he played for us the first 3 years not really focusing on football like he did this past year and look how good he was doing.. i mean you cant deny my man, when he started taking it serious and his diet and everything... look how hungry he was and he even earned AP all pro honors ad his 2nd probowl in a row. im sorry guys but if sean taylor was on dallas or the colts or the pats... no one would think twice about saying he is the best ever... HOLLA Again, is Taylor going to be a 1st ballot HoF in 5 years? Didn't think so. His stats don't match, and potential will not make you the best safety ever. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyinO Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 Again, is Taylor going to be a 1st ballot HoF in 5 years?Didn't think so. His stats don't match, and potential will not make you the best safety ever. Sorry. You're not a football savvy as you think. Actually, you're acting like a tool that needs stats to validate your opinions. After reading your posts, using your logic, Walt Harris should be considered one of the best DB's in the league. He had 8 picks last year and went to the probowl. Defensive stats are very misleading. Someone had to throw Sean's way for him to make a play. Furthermore, Ronnie Lott is overated. If he played on the Lions no one would talk about him. He would of just been considered good. He just happened to be a loud mouth that played for a dynasty. I call it the Deon effect. The 49ers would of won all their superbowls without Lott. Tackles is also the most overated stat for any DB. If they are making a lot of tackles (except in run support), then they are giving up a lot of yards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyinO Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 Oh, and for all the stat junkies that actually think that the overrated Troy Polamalu is better than Sean, the most interceptions he ever had in a season was 5 in 2004. He had 0 this year. He has had 10 interceptions his whole career. Averaging 2 picks a year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyinO Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 Stats are for nerds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumbo Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 Flying O, your asshat avatar that the staff recently removed still suits you at time. Olskool is being nothing of a tool at all, but you are getting close . Even allowing for Reed, Dawkins, etc. I am as big a ST homer as anyone and see his potential as almost unlimted in several key areas, but I am not delusional. I'd bet I've watched way more football live and on all film than most here, including seeing Lott, who made the probowl at BOTH safety positions AND cornerback! Lott is the Gold Standard and ST was not there yet. The previously mentioned Houston & Krause of Redskins and nfl history played the game well enough, long enough, and tough enough that they are folks ST had yet to pass in his skill level (not size or power), though I believed he would. As far as these things go, I do like to believe that given an 8-10 year career, ST would either have become regarded as the #1 ever (it was possible) or definitely mentioned in equal standing with Lott and those others. I miss him a great deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JaimeDeCurry Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 Yeah, it's pretty hard to say that Sean WAS the best ever. You could certainly easily make a case for him being the best pure athlete ever at the safety position (although Reed might give him a run for his money). He had all the tools, and looked this year like he had the devotion and dedication, but we'll never know. If he continued playing at his '07 level for 8, 9, 10 years, I think you'd have to label him as one of, if not, the best ever. Unfortunately, we'll never know. He'll always be the legend that never came to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scruffylookin Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 Sean didn't play nearly long enough to garner that title. He certainly had the talent to have become the best to ever play. I also think he had such a unique size/speed/instinct combo that he could have changed the way the position is played very much like LT (the real one not the other guy in San Diego) did for outside linebackers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLeVan Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 I agree Jumbo. Sean showed great potential and was evolving as a Top Free Safety, but all homerism aside; he was on his way but not there yet. He had the brawns and the brains to get there, but he was taken away and never got the chance to show his true potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MeNoRevs Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 Sean was not even the best safety in the league right now, comparing him to the best all time is silly in my opinion. if he could of put up what Ed Reed has put up, then you can move on about talking about the best of all time. He wasnt there yet, and will never see if he could of been. Could of, would of's gets you no where. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SBXVII Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 I think he was on the way and would have achieved this status. I remember talking to Gregg Williams after the Jags game last year (ST got a game ball for this game). I mentioned to Coach Williams that the defense had a great game and he singled out Sean. His quote to me was "i've never coached a better athlete". Combine his talent with his desire and I truly think he would have ended up in Canton was it not for the senseless act in November. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrFan Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 I don't think so. Sean was spectacular, awesome, but not the best, simply because his career was so short. On the other hand I do think that he could have been "the best" because he had it, he was really blossoming and kept on learning the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_cavalierman Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 The key word is POTENTIAL The Tarantula had all of the tools (speed, size, smarts, ball hawking tendancies, evil intent with hits, etc.) to be the best of all time but he did not put it all together long enough to take the title from Ronnie Lott. Oddly enough...The Grim reaper aka Laron Landry has everything Taylor had plus the discipline not to let guys get behind him. Landry/the grim reaper can be better than Taylor if he continues to grow and learn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamyesme1111 Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 So in your 21 years, youre going to give him this honor huh? Never seen Lott play did you?Did you ever see Ken Houston play? How about Paul Krause? How about Larry Wilson? Or and lets not forget Sammy Baugh. Let's go even more recent. For years Dawkins had been the best safety in the league. Reed and Polamalu all can be said to be equal to Taylor. Idol worship is bad for this reason. It clouds the mind. Reed Polamalu and Dawkins Weren't as gifted physically as Taylor was. They didn't hit as hard as him and they didnt have as good as range as them. Reed was basically like he said a punt returner waiting for the ball to be thrown deep Polamalu was a ball hawk who always gets to the ball carrier makes big tackles and big interceptions when needed Dawkins has always been a big hitter and a pretty good cover guy Sean Taylor was ALL of the above Why name a bunch of people because hes young? we are talking about SAFETIES here... Now I am not saying that he is the best ever, like some have said we will never be able to know how he would've played the rest of his career. He DID have the POTENTIAL to be the best ever though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcarey032 Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 He was one of the hardest hitters that I have ever seen play. I was so glad when we got him. I think that he was becoming a dominate safety, but unfortunately, I don't think that he has played long enough to be considered the greatest of all time. He was definitely on a serious rise. He was a great and outstanding player, but the best that ever played. He doesn't have enough experience. Currently, the best safety is Bob Sanders. He really is the reason that Indy won their Super Bowl. Between him and polamalu those are the best safeties in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLeVan Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 Reed Polamalu and Dawkins Weren't as gifted physically as Taylor was. They didn't hit as hard as him and they didnt have as good as range as them.Reed was basically like he said a punt returner waiting for the ball to be thrown deep Polamalu was a ball hawk who always gets to the ball carrier makes big tackles and big interceptions when needed Dawkins has always been a big hitter and a pretty good cover guy Sean Taylor was ALL of the above Why name a bunch of people because hes young? we are talking about SAFETIES here... Now I am not saying that he is the best ever, like some have said we will never be able to know how he would've played the rest of his career. He DID have the POTENTIAL to be the best ever though. I think that's what Oldskool was getting at. Sean was a great athelete, but the short time he was with us can't compare to an entire NFL career. We can speculate all we want, but after such a short time in the NFL, it would be ignorant to name him the best safety to ever play. We can all agree that he had phenominal potential, but it was just that. Potential. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuji869 Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 He could have been, he had to potential but we will never know. :cry: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demoonda Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 No. No way in hell is this accurate.Taylor was a very good safety, but he never reached is peak. Don't idolize and martyr him. Just be thankful for being able to witness the talent that he had that was taken way too soon from us and his family. Agreed. We never were able to see him peak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimmySmith Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 I love ST. Ronnie Lott was the best safety ever. Period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_cavalierman Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 I love ST. Ronnie Lott was the best safety ever. Period. Agreed....Sean Taylor could have been but he did not play enough and win enough to surpass Lott. Lucky for Redskins fans Laron Landry has a real shot to be one of the best ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sempre_victrix Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 While I think Taylor was an awesome safety, a beast just waiting to unleash hell on someone, he never got to realize his full potential. Another couple of years and he could have possibly been crowned the best safety ever. Dawkins and Reed are also awesome safeties, hard hitters and Reed is a ballhawk as well. Ronnie Lott could knock a ball carrier out of his shoes. I'm so sad that we never got to see Taylor at his full potential. He was beginning to show what he was capable of this year. His murder is such a tragedy. 21 RIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwbiggs Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 No he wasn't the best ever. Damn, pretty soon people will be giving him credit for inventing white bread and curing smallpox...lets keep everything in perspective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan since a Fetus Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 I am a huge ST fan, but he was not the best ever. Did he have the potential to be? YES! Even if he was around today, if you asked him if he was the best, he would say "not even close." There are so many great safties that came before him. Guys that proved themselves for years. Unfortunately, ST will not get that chance. He will not be in the HOF, and unfortunately, outside of Skins nation, in 10 years people won't remember him. However, at that same time people will still be comparing upcoming safties to Ronnie Lott. Ronnie Lott is not the "only" great safety to play the game, but his name has become synonymous with "dominate." He is considered the top tier safety. Maybe if Sean was here for another 10 years, we could have this discussion, but he won't be. This argument makes about as much sense as saying Romo sits to pee is the best ever. He is not, maybe he will be, but I definitely think not. Only time will tell though! I think you need to take off the Burgandy and Gold Glasses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riggo-toni Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 who was better? Ken Houston and Ronnie Lott, just to name a couple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lombardi's_kid_brother Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 And now we have completely progressed into the realm of the absurd. Only took six weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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