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A Short Career Full Of Good Memories: Sean Taylor
by Chris Brophy
3/12/2007
 The shocking news that Redskins safety Sean Taylor had been killed has brought plenty of reaction from around the league and beyond. In talking about Taylor, a lot of the thoughts from those who knew him were positive but at the same time, they felt the need to defend the negative issues that Taylor was probably better known for. As a Redskins fan myself, I choose to look back on Sean’s career and rather than defend some previous actions or just wax lyrical about how sad this whole situation is (and it is sad but….), I’d like to share some of the great moments he had in his all too short four year tenure as a Redskin. These are the things I’ll remember Sean for and while I certainly will look back in a few years time and think “what if?” in regards to what his potential and talent could have achieved, the memories I already have are enough to fill many a career that stretched twice as long as where Sean’s was when his life was sadly ended.
The Debut:
Pre-season games are usually instantly forgotten. At the time, as fans, we take an interest because the off-season is so long and we are desperate to see any kind of football but by the second or third week, we’re all ready for the real thing. Sean’s debut as a Redskin in a pre-season game is very memorable – partly because it was the first action in the return of Joe Gibbs as the coach of the Redskins – but more because of the impact Taylor had on this game and the talent he displayed that got Redskins fans excited real quick.
The game was the Hall Of Fame Game against the Denver Broncos. Taylor made two interceptions. The first stopping a Denver scoring drive when he showed his great leaping ability to intercept in the end zone. In the third quarter, he visited the end zone again with a three yard interception return, stepping in front of the tight end in the blink of an eye. He was mobbed by his team mates after that play and it was the start of what would turn out to be a very good rookie season for Taylor.
First Career Interception Is a Game Winner:
Taylor was slowly worked into the starting line-up by Defensive Co-Ordinator Gregg Williams in his debut season despite missing a game because of a team enforced one game suspension. He came into the Bears game in Week 7 of 2004 and recorded 6 tackles, a sack and a game sealing interception in the 4ht quarter as the Bears tried to drive for a tying or winning score. Taylor was all over the field this day and it was fitting he made the game sealing play. In typical Taylor style, he didn’t just make the interception and go down knowing the game was won, he tried to find a way to the end zone (but wasn’t successful).
The Hits:
Sean Taylor was known as a big hitter and he has three plays that I want to go back over. The first is a hit he made on the Raiders Wide Receiver Jerry Porter in the 2005. Porter caught a deep pass over the middle and Taylor collided with him around about the same time the ball got there. It made number one of Tom Jackson’s ESPN segment “Jacked Up!”. For me, it’s not my favourite hit because Porter actually held onto the ball (for which he deserves credit) but still, it seems well remembered by many.
Sean’s most infamous hit came in this years Pro Bowl. Bill’s punter Brian Moorman attempted a fake punt and Taylor came blasting through the blocking to flattened Moorman. To Moorman’s credit, he bounced back up and slapped Taylor on the helmet, appreciating a good football play but many choose instead to say that Taylor was taking an exhibition game too serious with hits of that magnitude. What they need to understand is that first, it was a clean hit, second, that’s Sean Taylor, he played at 100% all the time and for me, that’s the only way to play football.
 My favourite Sean Taylor hit though is from the 2005 season in a Monday Night game more remembered for a late Redskins comeback over Dallas. Whilst Santana Moss and Mark Brunell were shredding the Dallas defense late on to bring the Redskins back from 13-0 down to win 14-13, Sean Taylor made his mark on this game for a hit that knocked Cowboys Wide Receiver Patrick Crayton into the middle of the previous week.
Drew Bledsoe hits Crayton on a short crossing route and Taylor instantly comes up and puts his shoulder into the side of Crayton’s shoulder. Crayton flew backwards and the ball popped out. It was called an incomplete pass but I honestly feel Crayton had control and it could have easily have been ruled a fumble. Regardless, in a game where the Redskins offense didn’t wake up until late in the fourth quarter, it showed the Redskins defense – and Sean Taylor in particular – had been there all day.
The Touchdowns:
Sean Taylor scored three professional football TD’s. The first, as mentioned above in a pre-season game. The other two came in the 2005 season, one in the final regualar season game against the Eagles, helping to seal a play-off berth for the Redskins, the other, the following week in the wild card game versus Tampa Bay. Both times, the Redskins won the game.
Versus Philadephia, a dogged Eagles team were determined to spoil the Redskins party as they were embarking on a run of four wins heading into this game. The Redskins defense stepped up in the second half to deliver some knock out blows and Taylor’s return of a fumble was the icing on the cake.
He repeated the trick the following week, and given the final score of the game versus Tampa was 17-10, his TD proved to be the difference. In this game, Taylor was ejected for spitting at Michael Pittman of the Bucc’s, certainly not a moment to be proud of, but that always seems to overshawdow the difference maker play he had delivered eariler.
The Final Big Plays:
Before his death, Taylor was in the midst of his best ever season. There is a campaign currently underway by fans to get him voted to the Pro Bowl as a way of remembering him but he was doing a fine job of getting there himself in the way he was playing before he passed away. The best example I can give of his play this season is the Redskins loss to Green Bay a few weeks ago. Brett Favre is one of the best QB’s to have ever played and is having a superb season thus far. His worst performance of the season (apart from where he was knocked out injured this week against Dallas) was against the Redskins. Every time he tried to go deep, Taylor was there and he recorded the final two interceptions of his career that day. Taylor loved to go against the best and when he did, he usually looked like he belonged with the best.
I’ve not covered every big play Sean ever made, I could have mentioned his part in the flip flop of FG attempts against Dallas last year or some of his other interceptions or big hits, but those plays mentioned above are ones I think are the best ways of remembering Sean. My other endearing memory of Taylor comes from the 36-0 butt kicking the Giants put on the Redskins in 2005. Nothing went right that day but regardless, in the 4th quarter with the game all but done, Taylor was running round like a man possessed, trying to make something happen and just still going at 100%. Again, it was Taylor’s way. You either played giving everything you have or not play at all.
The real tragedy of Sean Taylor’s death is tht his family have lost a loved one and a young girl will grow up never knowing her father. Football players come and go but family is with you forever. I didn’t know Sean Taylor personally, I just know that when I watched him on the field, he brought a level of excitment, a complete commitment and an ability to make memorable plays. I’ll remember Sean for that.
RIP Sean Taylor, 1983-2007
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