Four perspectives on what makes the new L.T. great

L.T.

Didn't you always think those two letters were reserved for the player I consider to be the best defensive player of all-time, Lawrence Taylor? That's why when they started calling LaDainian Tomlinson by those initials it was somewhat of insult to Taylor.

San Diego's LaDainian Tomlinson has 123 career touchdowns. (Getty Images)

It isn't anymore. Tomlinson has earned the right to use the moniker, sharing it with Taylor.

"Once in a while the greatest player comes around and you never expect to have him on your team," San Diego fullback Lorenzo Neal said. "That's what's so special about this. I will think in the moment that I am watching a guy re-write the record books and how great it is to be playing with him. It's an honor to play with him. One day, I'll be sitting with my grandkids telling them I played with L.T."

In his six-plus seasons, Tomlinson has 10,225 rushing yards. That puts him 8,130 yards behind Emmitt Smith, the league's all-time rushing leader. Using his current pace, which is 95.5 yards per game, Tomlinson can take down Smith in just 86 games, 193 for his career. Smith played 226 games.

Tomlinson has 123 touchdowns. That puts Jerry Rice's 207 career touchdown mark in sight. At his pace of 1.14 touchdowns per game, he will break Rice's record in his 197th game. Rice played 303 games to get the record.

We should all consider ourselves lucky to be watching his greatness. You know how your fathers talk up Jim Brown all the time? Years from now we'll be talking up L.T.

To help understand the greatness of his running ability, I enlisted the help of four men who can offer their keen insight into what makes him go. One was Neal, who is still his bodyguard, leading the way. Another was his former coach, while the others were an opposing defensive coordinator and a contact-seeking middle linebacker.

Four different angles to look at one player, all reaching the same conclusion:

L.T., this offensive L.T., is truly something special.

The Coach

Marty Schottenheimer was Tomlinson's coach for five of his first six seasons with the Chargers. It was under Schottenheimer's reign that Tomlinson emerged as a true star, a player who became a fantasy owner's delight, a touchdown-making, yards-churning running back that has done it with class.

"He's the finest running back in the history of the league," Schottenheimer said.

Okay, so Schottenheimer is a bit biased. But it's not that much of a stretch. He's at least in the conversation.

Schottenheimer was let go after the 2006 season, and now lives in North Carolina, where he said he's working on his golf game and spending time with the grandkids. He still catches Tomlinson's games when he can and speaks highly of him, almost like a proud parent.

"As good a player as he is, he's an even finer person," Schottenheimer said.

So I asked Schottenheimer to put into words his thoughts about Tomlinson's greatness. This is what he had to say:

"He has all the skills. He has the natural instincts and the ability to catch the football. And we all know about his passing prowess. In my opinion, he's the consummate professional football player. In terms of skill and attitude and leadership, he's the best I've seen.

"The thing that makes him such a great runner is his instincts. All the great runners have it. It sometimes takes time for guys to learn the blocking schemes, when to make the cuts, but the great ones seem to have it earlier. He had it right away.

"Those instincts allow him to see things and react quickly and make his cuts. He does so with a burst of speed -- and it is a burst -- that enables him to get through the hole and make people miss.

"His vision is really what makes him go. LaDainian has that natural ability to make the game slow down. He sees it unfold in front of him and can anticipate what he will do. And then it's, bang, and off he goes. The game slows down for all the great ones.

"People will ask how I know that since I was never a good player. I never had the skills to make the game slower for me, but I understood how it happens. For a guy like L.T., it's been that way since he came into the league. That's special. He plays fast while the game slows down. That's why you see him doing what he does."

The Opposing Defensive Coordinator

As the architect of the Baltimore Ravens defense, Rex Ryan knows a thing or two about stopping great players.

"Yeah, but the only guy who can stop L.T. is his offensive coordinator," Ryan said.

Meaning if he doesn't give him the ball enough, which has happened on occasion this season.

Ryan's defense faced the Chargers and L.T. last month in San Diego. Tomlinson didn't go wild, getting 77 yards on 24 carries, as the Chargers won 32-14. But it was more than the numbers that impressed Ryan.

"The way we whipped them up front, he should have had 20 yards," Ryan said. "He got a lot of it himself."

So how do you defend a great runner like Tomlinson? What goes through a defensive coordinator's mind as he plans to try and limit L.T.? Here's how Ryan described it.

"You can't play San Diego like you play anybody else. You have to keep the eight-man front all the time. You have to try and stop the run, which means stopping him. The problem with that is he's such a great runner, with such great vision, that even the eighth man sometimes isn't good enough.

"He has the vision and the balance to get through holes and he has the speed to get to the corner. He's faster than you think he is. He also knows how to set up blocks. All of that makes him dangerous every time he touches the ball. He can do it all.

"We hit him a lot and did a good job containing him, but he found ways to bounce it outside a couple of times and he has the speed to do that. There were times that we pulled guys off their pass rush to help defend against him in the pass, almost like doubling him. That's how good a receiver he can be.

"We did a great job against him and he still almost got 80 yards. And most of that he did himself. I can tell you this, getting ready to play him and then facing him sure wasn't much fun."

Can't imagine it was.

The Fullback

Neal has blocked for a lot of good backs in his career. He blocked for Corey Dillon in Cincinnati. He led Eddie George through many of his holes. And he has spent four years blowing up linebackers for L.T.

Poll Who is the greatest running back ever?   18%  Jim Brown     10%  Emmitt Smith     36%  Barry Sanders     22%  Walter Payton     8%  LaDainian Tomlinson     6%  You're not even close     Total Votes: 53359

Unlike most players, he gets to see the runs from a different perspective. And he feels them, L.T.'s wind blowing by him as he makes his way past Neal's crushing block.

"Let's just say I'm glad we play in stadiums with JumboTrons so I can see the replays," Neal said.

I asked Neal to describe what it's like blocking for such a special player and what he sees from Tomlinson.

"I think it's a treat because you feel like, for me as a fullback, when I break the huddle that I know if I get my block there is a chance this guy is gone. If I get my block, he's into the secondary. He has a great nose for the end zone and he gets up on you so fast as a lead blocker. It's like poetry in motion.

"He's like a cat out there. I've seen trained dogs and trained tigers. But I've never seen a training running back. He's that way. You don't know where he's going. He's so quick. Have you ever seen a cat cornered? He moves so quickly. That's what he does. You never know where he's going and he does it with such quickness.

"I've blocked for Eddie George and Corey and they were both good players. But this guy is special. This dude is special. He has that ability to really make people miss. And he has that breakaway speed. That's why he can take it all the way on any play. When you combine that with his quickness and his cutting ability, now you see why he's doing what he does."

The Middle Linebacker

Jacksonville Jaguars middle linebacker Mike Peterson loves to talk during games. It's part of the way he plays games, his rapid-fire staccato a way to take players out of their games.

So when the Jaguars played the Chargers earlier this year, he gave L.T. the business. It didn't work. This is how Peterson remembered facing Tomlinson.

"I couldn't get him going. He has that shield on and I kept telling him, 'I know you can see me in there. I know you can hear me.' But I couldn't get him going. I was trying to get into his head. Finally, he said something after one play. He said he was used to playing hard, working hard. I told him I didn't want any of that talk like his commercial. I could see him laughing.

"He didn't get caught up in what I was trying to do. I was trying to get him off his game, but he didn't talk trash. There are a lot of guys who would, and I can get them off their games. He wouldn't talk. He's real classy.

"This game has gone so Hollywood. Some guys are that way on and off the field. He could be that way if he wanted to be that way, and he isn't. He just does his job. Seeing how he carries himself before games and on the field and then after it, I have even more respect for him.

"As far as him as a runner, the one thing that stood out to me is how hard he runs. He's fast and has vision like most backs, but he runs it hard every single play. That's something that I think goes unnoticed is how hard he runs. That's his biggest asset. And he brings it the entire game. That's why he's so good at what he does."

• • •

L.T.

Yeah, it just seems so right now. Mr. Tomlinson, you have earned the right to be called by those initials.