Taylor Firing on All Four Cylinders Again

Lawrence Taylor plays in four different gears.

“The first notch is good,” CBS sportcaster John Madden said. “The second notch is very good. The third notch is great and the last one is unblockable.

“He’s been at the fourth one most of the season.”

In any other year, that would be no surprise.

But the New York Giants’ linebacker entered this season as a question mark, having been treated in the offseason for what was referred to as “substance abuse.”

Taylor won’t talk about it, nor does he talk about the great season he’s having. Last week, though, during a practice for today’s NFL playoff game with the San Francisco 49ers, he was unusually chatty.

“I guess I’m just a plain, wild dude,” Taylor said Tuesday. “I live life wild. I play wild and I do it my own way. I really don’t care what other people expect of me or what I’m supposed to do or how society says I’m supposed to do certain things.”

“I don’t put on airs or stuff, and I don’t try to act high society and go to high society places and stuff like that,” he added. “I hang with the bums. I hang with the regular people. I make mistakes like everybody else. I’m just here doing a job. I’m just like a blue-collar worker.”

He even tried to joke about his postseason problem.

Asked what he does better than most outside linebackers, Taylor cracked: “Drink.”

Then he added: “The biggest advantage I have compared to other outside linebackers is the respect I command. I go out on the field and teams have to respect me for the things I can do and try to change different things.”

What he can do stacks up this way: league’s most valuable player, defensive player of the year, NFL sack leader with 20 1/2 and the Giants’ third leading tackler with 105.

“He is one of the few players in the league who can dominate a game,” Madden said. “He is the only guy we can dominate a game on defense if he’s at that fourth notch.”

Taylor, a six-time All-Pro, had an advantage this year, essentially playing as a defensive en Last year, he was rushing the passer about 40 percent of the time, a figure that reached about 75 to 80 percent this season.

Changing plays and lineups to compensate for Taylor sometimes hurts rather then helps teams, but not always. For example, Taylor said he has had more than one frustrating game against the 49ers and their patient offense that allows quarterback Joe Montana to get rid of the ball quickly.

“If I was an offensive coordinator, I know the way I would attack me so I wouldn’t be able to play any ball at all,” Taylor said. “I’m not going to tell nobody, though.”

Taylor said he plays on different emotional levels, depending on the opponent.

“I have a pretty good switch,” he said. “I can turn it up when it has to be turned up. Sometimes it has to be turned up and I forget to turn the switch. Pretty much, I play around during the week and do whatever I want to do.