Joe Soriano
O.J. Lewis9/2011 Historical Player Profile: Otis Taylor
September 28th 2011 15:15
And on I march with these historical player profiles, while listening to Nirvana of course. Is Dave Grohl not the best rock personality in recent history? While that would be a very entertaining topic to discuss, my "job" here is sports analysis. It's an equally fruitless activity in the eyes of the equally ignorant public, but why listen to the ignorant who have not reaped the rewards of sports? I mean, every diehard sports fan admits that they have learned a lot about life with sports as a medium. Life is like Shawn and sports are like Gus, Gus translates the incoherent nonsense Shawn says. Likewise, sports help translate the craziness and seeming randomness of everyday life. Alright, I'm gonna stop being philosophical- and not get religious- and hit up this HPP.
Before I start this post, I want to go off on another monologue (an aside would be if I was talking to myself, but I'm not Jack White). Why is Dwight Howard's nickname D12? Like, how does that make sense at all? I hate it when people make basketball player's nicknames out of their initial and jersey number. AK47 is cool, but D12 is as ludicrous as the rapper. The guys who made up this nickname are popping too many purple pills and seeing too many purple hills.
Otis Taylor may never have shown his All-Pro talent had legendary scout Lloyd Wells not spotted him and signed him on to the Chiefs. In his first full season, Taylor broke out in a big way. He was a Pro Bowler and First-Team All-Pro after hauling in eight touchdown catches for 1,297 yards and a league-leading 22.4 yards per catch. According to Pro Football Reference, his AV of 20 in 1966 was the best in the NFL
The way Otay went to the Chiefs is also interesting, because he was originally under the control of Eagles scouts. In the famous baby-sitting incident, Taylor snuck out of his hotel room and met up with Wells and the Chiefs scouts.
Len Dawson and Otis Taylor had an incredible rapport that is akin to what Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison had a few years back. At 6-3, Taylor was an incredible talent in the middle of the field and could beat you deep. Many agree that Otay revolutionized the wide receiver position and should be in the Hall of Fame. Without a doubt, however, Taylor is the best receiver in Chiefs history. He is deserving of a place in the Hall of Fame, even if he played before the AFL-NFL merger.
In 1967, his 11 touchdown catches were the highest in the league. Taylor was also a Pro Bowler in the years 1971 and 1972, as he caught seven touchdown passes with a league-high 1,110 yards in 1971. He was also a First-Team All-Pro in '71, and he wore the number 89 for the Chiefs for 11 seasons from 1965-1975.
In Super Bowl IV (the last before the merger), the Chiefs upset the Vikings 32-7 when the Vikes were supposedly the greatest team ever before that game. In that game, Otis Taylor caught a pass from Len Dawson and ran it the rest of the way for a 46 yards touchdown. He also had one of his signature stiff-arms on that highlight play.
However, Taylor was not just a great pass-catcher, he was also a formidable blocker. For a guy of his height, it's not exactly hard to see why. But more importantly, however, he was an elusive receiver who could get a ton of yards after the catch. Taylor was also athletic enough to make unheard of one-handed grabs.
"Otis made my job easy,"Len Dawson said. "If you got the pass to Otis, you knew he'd catch it."
A season after their Super Bowl victory, Otay had one of those games that a player just wishes it never happened. The Chiefs were beating their hated rivals- the Raiders- 17-14. It looked like a sure victory after Len Dawson's scramble led to a first down, but defensive end Ben Davidson pretty much jumped into Dawson's helmet while the star QB was already on the ground. As you now know, Taylor was great friends with Dawson and did what any good friend does; take action.
Needless to say, the ramifications of this incident led to an outcome that wasn't very positive from a Chiefs perspective. Taylor came at Davidson, and the benches cleared like it was a baseball game (or a Suns-Spurs game). Both penalties basically turned the first down into nothingness- under the awful rules at the time- and the Raiders would go on to register a comeback victory. What makes this worse is that the Raiders went into the playoffs, and the Chiefs were stuck at home because of a head-scratching rule that is- thankfully- not in place today.
So you can plainly see that Otis Taylor was a pretty damn good football player. I mean, he was one of the best players in football when he was playing, and he made the wide receiver position the marquee position that it is today. He was the guy who started the highlight-reel plays, and Otay is also the best wideout in Chiefs history. Taylor was slighted from the Hall of Fame, and that's because of the statistics. For his era, Taylor was as elite as a wide receiver as you can get.
Before I start this post, I want to go off on another monologue (an aside would be if I was talking to myself, but I'm not Jack White). Why is Dwight Howard's nickname D12? Like, how does that make sense at all? I hate it when people make basketball player's nicknames out of their initial and jersey number. AK47 is cool, but D12 is as ludicrous as the rapper. The guys who made up this nickname are popping too many purple pills and seeing too many purple hills.
Otis Taylor may never have shown his All-Pro talent had legendary scout Lloyd Wells not spotted him and signed him on to the Chiefs. In his first full season, Taylor broke out in a big way. He was a Pro Bowler and First-Team All-Pro after hauling in eight touchdown catches for 1,297 yards and a league-leading 22.4 yards per catch. According to Pro Football Reference, his AV of 20 in 1966 was the best in the NFL
The way Otay went to the Chiefs is also interesting, because he was originally under the control of Eagles scouts. In the famous baby-sitting incident, Taylor snuck out of his hotel room and met up with Wells and the Chiefs scouts.
Len Dawson and Otis Taylor had an incredible rapport that is akin to what Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison had a few years back. At 6-3, Taylor was an incredible talent in the middle of the field and could beat you deep. Many agree that Otay revolutionized the wide receiver position and should be in the Hall of Fame. Without a doubt, however, Taylor is the best receiver in Chiefs history. He is deserving of a place in the Hall of Fame, even if he played before the AFL-NFL merger.
In 1967, his 11 touchdown catches were the highest in the league. Taylor was also a Pro Bowler in the years 1971 and 1972, as he caught seven touchdown passes with a league-high 1,110 yards in 1971. He was also a First-Team All-Pro in '71, and he wore the number 89 for the Chiefs for 11 seasons from 1965-1975.
In Super Bowl IV (the last before the merger), the Chiefs upset the Vikings 32-7 when the Vikes were supposedly the greatest team ever before that game. In that game, Otis Taylor caught a pass from Len Dawson and ran it the rest of the way for a 46 yards touchdown. He also had one of his signature stiff-arms on that highlight play.
However, Taylor was not just a great pass-catcher, he was also a formidable blocker. For a guy of his height, it's not exactly hard to see why. But more importantly, however, he was an elusive receiver who could get a ton of yards after the catch. Taylor was also athletic enough to make unheard of one-handed grabs.
"Otis made my job easy,"Len Dawson said. "If you got the pass to Otis, you knew he'd catch it."
A season after their Super Bowl victory, Otay had one of those games that a player just wishes it never happened. The Chiefs were beating their hated rivals- the Raiders- 17-14. It looked like a sure victory after Len Dawson's scramble led to a first down, but defensive end Ben Davidson pretty much jumped into Dawson's helmet while the star QB was already on the ground. As you now know, Taylor was great friends with Dawson and did what any good friend does; take action.
Needless to say, the ramifications of this incident led to an outcome that wasn't very positive from a Chiefs perspective. Taylor came at Davidson, and the benches cleared like it was a baseball game (or a Suns-Spurs game). Both penalties basically turned the first down into nothingness- under the awful rules at the time- and the Raiders would go on to register a comeback victory. What makes this worse is that the Raiders went into the playoffs, and the Chiefs were stuck at home because of a head-scratching rule that is- thankfully- not in place today.
So you can plainly see that Otis Taylor was a pretty damn good football player. I mean, he was one of the best players in football when he was playing, and he made the wide receiver position the marquee position that it is today. He was the guy who started the highlight-reel plays, and Otay is also the best wideout in Chiefs history. Taylor was slighted from the Hall of Fame, and that's because of the statistics. For his era, Taylor was as elite as a wide receiver as you can get.
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