NEW YORK’S OTHER Linebackers : In Taylor’s Giant Shadow, Banks, Carson and Friends Lie in Wait for the Broncos

You play linebacker on the same team as Lawrence Taylor and, well, it’s not easy. OK, you’re good, but you’re not that good. You’re quick but not that quick. You’re fast but he’s faster. You make a sack but he always makes a SACK!

He’s always Lawrence Taylor and you’re always you. Every day. You’re a background shot in his highlight film, a footnote in his life’s story.

You’re another linebacker for the New York Giants. You are Carl Banks or Harry Carson or Gary Reasons or Pepper Johnson or Byron Hunt or Robbie Jones or Andy Headen. And it takes a Super Bowl appearance against the Denver Broncos for anyone to notice you.

And while it’s not as bad as all that, the last few weeks have at least allowed a football world to watch and admire some of the guys who play alongside Taylor who, incidentally, stopped in New York last Wednesday to pick up his NFL Most Valuable Player trophy.

Taylor aside, the Giants just may have the NFL’s best young linebacker in Carl Banks and best old linebacker in Harry Carson.

This is one of those Karate Kid type of relationships, with Banks the young star and student and Carson the veteran and tutor.

Banks will turn 25 in February. Carson, 34, will soon be turning gray.

For Carson, the 11-year veteran inside linebacker, the Super Bowl is the culmination of more than a decade of struggle. Carson lived through the 3-11 season of 1977, fought through the 4-12 season of 1980 and died a little through the 3-12-1 season of 1983.

He was for many years an All-Pro on a bad team; a concert pianist trapped in a junior high marching band.

“He used to get depressed having played so great yet playing on a loser every year,” former Giant Hall of Fame linebacker Sam Huff said. “I feel as good for Carson as anybody. He’s waited a long time, he’s seen some tough times. It just proves that you can’t do it by yourself.”

After the NFC title win over the Redskins, Huff fought his way through a crowd in the Giants’ locker room to congratulate Carson.

The importance of the moment had not yet struck Carson, recently named to his eighth Pro Bowl.

“It’s still hard for me to believe,” he said of going to the Super Bowl. “When I get there, I’ll tell you what it’s like. Every year I think it will happen, even my first year. For whatever reasons, it didn’t happen. When you go to training camp, everyone expects to get to this point. You don’t go to training camp and expect to play 1-15 ball. My goals are no different than those of the guys on every other club.”

Success came much quicker for Banks, who goes to the Super Bowl at the end of his third season.

He plays opposite Taylor at left outside linebacker and has been feasting on leftovers created by teams who double-team Taylor or refuse to run Taylor’s way altogether.

Banks was dominating in playoff wins over San Francisco (seven tackles) and Washington (nine tackles).

His only problem is that he kicks in the chorus line with Taylor and Carson, so Banks’ name somehow was left off the Pro Bowl list. He made it as an alternate.

Some league know-it-alls claim that the tag-team of Banks and Taylor have replaced Chicago’s Wilber Marshall and Otis Wilson as the league’s premier outside linebacker tandem.

One such thinker is Taylor.

“Carl has come into his own,” Taylor said. “Every time you see him play, you say someone’s got to be kidding that this guy didn’t make All-Pro. I’m so proud of him.”

Banks has said he doesn’t mind being passed over. He can turn to his right on the field and see Carson, who’s waited a decade for this moment. Or even the great one Taylor, who was forced to suffer through the indignity of 1983.

Anyway, there are plenty of Pro Bowls waiting for Banks. In the meantime, he studies at the finest linebacker school in the league. He watches the way Carson and Taylor walk and breath.

“Harry, he’s the leader for us,” Banks said of Carson. “You pick up little things. His intensity going into a game is amazing. One of the first things I noticed about them (Carson and Taylor) was their approach to the game. The tempo they set. When you’re playing next to them, you’ve got to turn it up a notch. You have to be better or you’re going to be watching the game on the sideline for the rest of your career.”

There is a method in the Giants’ linebacker madness.

Some fans did a double take when Giant Coach Bill Parcells used the team’s No. 1 draft choice in 1984 on Banks, the third player taken overall in the draft. Remember, the Giants were coming off a three-win season. They could have used an offensive player or two. They already had Taylor and Carson at linebacker. But Parcells didn’t see it that way, deciding to stockpile players on defense, especially at linebacker.

In fact, this season the Giants used their first six draft choices on defensive players.

Parcells first saw Banks, from Michigan State, at the 1983 Senior Bowl. He said it took him six minutes to decide that Banks was his man.

Parcells likes big linebackers, and Banks was 6-4 and 232 pounds.

He also had a little Lawrence Taylor in him. Banks once busted a helmet in half after a loss in college. He does not take losing well.

Partly because of injuries, Banks couldn’t beat out Hunt at linebacker in his rookie season.

He did this season. Banks had a 14-tackle game against the Raiders in week 3, led the Giants in tackles for the season (120) and finished third in sacks (6 1/2) behind Taylor and defensive end Leonard Marshall.

Banks is of the breed of linebacker that plays until he drops. While reporters crowded around Taylor after the win over Washington, Banks slumped alone at his locker.

“It’s exciting,” he said. “But I’m too exhausted to scream. It’s been high school since I’ve won a championship. But we want more. We’re not happy just to be going. We’re going there to win, we’re not just going there to go to Disneyland.”

A brief look at other Giant linebackers:

--Gary Reasons (6-4, 234; third year, Northwest Louisiana): He’s the least known of the starters, playing next to Banks at left inside linebacker. “This crew is as good as I’ve ever seen,” Huff said of the Giant linebackers. “They really have three legitimate All-Pros in Carson, Banks and Taylor. The poor other guy, you have to look him up in the program.”

Poor Reasons. He doesn’t like the fact that he’s been playing less and less these days, usually coming out of the lineup on passing downs. Yet, in the title game, Reasons led the team with 11 tackles, had a sack and an interception.

--Byron Hunt: (6-5, 242; sixth year, SMU): An outside linebacker, it was Hunt who knocked Philadelphia quarterback Ron Jaworski out for the season. But with the emergence of Banks, Hunt has played less this season than ever before. Still, a great guy to have in the bullpen.

--Pepper Johnson (6-3, 248; rookie, Ohio State): Some are looking at Johnson in the mold of Taylor and Carson. Johnson, who plays on the inside, is progressing fast enough to push Reasons for playing time. He was a second-round choice who led Ohio State in tackles his last two seasons.

--Andy Headen (6-5, 242; fourth year, Clemson): Playing time limited in the past month because of nagging injuries. Headen is also a right outside linebacker, same as Taylor. You can guess how his playing time might be affected.

--Robbie Jones (6-2, 230; third year, Alabama): Like Hunt, Jones is an excellent special teams player who might be starting on other teams. A right inside linebacker, the best Jones can do is place his name on the Giants’ long linebacker waiting list.