Lawrence Taylor has weighed in on the GOAT debate, and he’s not coming down on Tom Brady’s side.
The Giants great instead opted for Joe Montana, pointing to rule changes that made Brady’s era a more favorable one for QBs.
“Joe Montana is still my man,” Taylor said on the “I Am Athlete” podcast this week. “Still my man. You say greatest quarterbacks ever, I’m still with Joe Montana. I’m not going with Tom Brady. … Listen, Tom Brady got all the rules on his side. You can’t touch him. You can’t touch him. If you hit him, if you breathe on him, they’re gonna throw a flag.”
Brady, who retired last week after a 23-year career that saw him win seven Super Bowls, three MVPs, and finish as the NFL’s all-time leader in passing yards and touchdowns. The stats, however, aren’t swaying Taylor — and neither would the NFL’s attempts to protect QBs.
“I don’t understand how he drops back eight yards, and he sits in a little cocoon, and they’re not sending people at him,” he said. “Why is the defense not sending people? Man, let me tell you something. … If I’m playing, I’m hitting him every play. Even if I had to just pat him on the ass, I was right there beside you, brother.”
Brady was the recipient of some help from officials this season — a dubious roughing the passer call on Atlanta’s Grady Jarrett in Week 5 helped the Bucs to a win — though even the 43-year-old acknowledged the game has changed.
“The game has definitely changed from a physical standpoint — you look at the concussion situation,” he said in October. “We look at boxing or MMA and they show highlights of people getting knocked out all the time. When it comes to another contact sport like football, you can’t imagine that a concussion takes place. There’s almost this aspect that we as players — no one wants to get hurt, but we know what we’re showing up for. We know that we’re gonna do the best we can to prepare our body for the contact.”