More than 30 years ago, Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor broke the leg of Washington quarterback Joe Theismann in gruesome fashion. Apparently, three decades is the waiting period for Taylor to make jokes about the injury.
Speaking last week at the Charlotte Touchdown Club, Taylor said of Theismann and his compound, skin-piercing fracture: “I did him a favor. That man was on his way out of football a long time before that. Listen, that was going to be his last year. He wasn’t playing very well. I did him a favor.”
Taylor also said that Theismann was “screaming like a little girl” in the aftermath of the play and that, when Theismann said he’d be back, Taylor fired back, “Not tonight!”
Theismann’s response could have gone in plenty of directions, given Taylor’s off-field history. Theismann opted for something fairly tame.
“It’s just a shame that that’s the only thing he’s famous for, is breaking my leg,” Theismann joked to Josh Peter of USA Today.
Theismann also said it was Taylor, not Theismann, who was screaming.
“You could tell how visibly upset he was the night of my injury,’’ Theismann told Peter. “Oh, yeah. He was waving and screaming at our sideline to get out there. I wasn’t the one screaming. Because truthfully as far as the leg goes, the pain was excruciating, but almost instantaneously there was no feeling in my leg whatsoever. It was numb.’’
It’s unclear why Taylor decided to tee off on Theismann now. It was a horrific injury, a moment that anyone who saw it live will never forget.
Taylor apparently has forgotten how he felt after he did it. Which could be a product of some of the other behavior that Theismann could have referred to, directly or indirectly, in response to Taylor’s effort at humor.
