<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(LionofJudah89 @ Aug 12th ) [snapback]1661766[/snapback]</div>
From the storie:
ASHBURN, Va. --
For crying out loud, the guy blew up Mike Anderson in the Redskins-Ravens scrimmage on Aug. 4.
You've probably seen the hit on SportsCenter. Keep in mind Mike Anderson's not a little cat. Dude's 230 pounds. Sean Taylor didn't want to talk about the collision afterward, but one local reporter managed to get him to open up about it. Taylor's description of the hit: "That's routine."
May be. But that's probably not what comes to mind when the average fan thinks of Sean Taylor.
You know how TNT basketball analyst Kenny Smith, borrowing from the famous Nas lyric, calls NBA superstar Vince Carter "Half-man, Half-amazin'?" Well, Redskins outside linebacker Marcus Washington has dubbed Taylor "Meast," as in, half-man, half-beast. Asked about his teammate in the secondary, the one who took him and not the intended receiver out in a practice Wednesday night, Skins cornerback Shawn Springs simply shakes his head and utters the word "animal." Taylor is even rough with teammates when the team is practicing in pads and shorts. Assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Gregg Williams calls Taylor "a train wreck playing football."
Taylor's physical style of play coupled with his ability to cover some wide receivers man-to-man with his sub-4.4 speed, along with 43-inch vertical jump at 6-foot-2-inches and 232 pounds has secondary coach Jerry Gray comparing Taylor to Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott and the late Eric Turner, the former Browns/Ravens and Raiders standout safety who was the second overall pick of the 1991 draft. This is the kind of athlete we're talking about here: In high school, Taylor rushed for a Florida state record 44 touchdowns -- in one season. Redskins coaches even gush about how effective -- and just as important, committed -- he is on kickoff coverage. Williams has been in the NFL for going on two decades and says Taylor is "the best football player I've ever coached -- by far."
Except most fans probably don't know how good a player Sean Taylor is.
Taylor is the kind of player for which offenses have to account. Simply put, the boy's bad.
"If he stays healthy and really learns to play within the defense," Williams says, "he can be the best that ever played the position."
Says Springs: "When he adds that aspect of being a pro and listening to the staff we have, he'll be unreal."
Defensive coordinator/defensive line coach Greg Blache calls Taylor a throwback, "Dick Butkus playing safety." "He plays how we want him to play," Williams says. "I'd like a lot more people playing with that kind of tough attitude. Now he has to understand that he can't go too far and hurt the team. I think he's come to realize that he can't handle situations that way. I hope he says that. Behind the scenes he has."
"If he stays healthy and really learns to play within the defense, he can be the best that ever played the position." Gregg Williams, Redskins defensive coordinator
"Sean's something of a misunderstood person and player," Williams says. "They don't know how good a person and teammate he is behind the scenes. The players love him and the staff enjoys every aspect of him as a person and football player. I like the kid. And you'd be hard-pressed to find a teammate that doesn't like him."
"I see a whole different side," Randle El says. "Something happened to bring out that other guy, but it's not him."
To a man they all have this manchild's back. "He's a helluva guy," Washington says. "If you knew him and hung around him every day, some of the off-field stuff, you'd be like, 'Say what? Sean did that?' It would be shocking. He's soft-spoken. Everything is 'Thank you.' He's got great manners.
"But if you're going down a dark alley and three guys are waiting for you, you'd definitely want him with you. When he's with you, he's with you.
"He's just a guy that's not going to take any stuff, especially on the football field."
Washington says that just the other day Taylor expressed how he'd come to realize how much others are counting on him, including a newborn daughter.
Perhaps this is the year that Taylor grows up and begins to put it all together. If nothing else, to get it together. If you're into predictions and you're looking for a breakout star on defense in 2006, maybe a good bet for defensive player of the year, you might want to start with Taylor. His mind is clear and free to concentrate on football now that personal troubles seem to be behind him. Nothing but infinite professional possibility lies ahead. That is, if Taylor wants to seize it.
"He knows," Williams says, "that he has to be a more disciplined person and player."
We'll see. Change, and perhaps people will come to know the Sean Taylor the Redskins are talking about. A stranger to the rest of us
Michael Smith is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Contact him here.
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