John Taylor

Originally posted by Bali-Niner:

Originally posted by VaBeachNiner:

I was there on the goalline sitting about 30 rows up, JT caught the ball practically in front of me what a rush! I was also at the Rams/Niners Monday nite, he took both 90+yard catch and run TDs to the house right on my side on the Anaheim stadium! surprised we got out the parking lot after draping exiting Rams fans with a huge Niner flag my sweeties made for me.. Those were the day, those were the days. Now if JG can get the feeling back, and the team feels it hell us older fans could could get another rush of high quality football...Been a long time.. GO NINERS!!!

That is cool. IIRC, Rams fans were thinking they were champs in that MNF game before JT took over.

Originally posted by darockzillahitman:
If there was one downside to Shanahan's offense, I think it was that he eventually became enamored with, "draw up stuff for Rice," and didn't involve Taylor as much as he should have. Taylor was phenomenal in 1993...actually led all NFL receivers in DVOA, which normally is a bogus statistic, but he actually deserved it based on his play that year. I think that was the best season performance-wise of his career...he was so smooth that year, and schooling some of the best cover corners in the game - Kevin Smith, Eric Allen, Cris Dishman, etc. In the season opener at Pittsburgh, the color commentator mentioned that Taylor had really worked his ass off in the off-season to get back to where he was after being disappointed with how he returned from the broken leg the year before...and I think that resulted in him being in the best shape of his career.

But he didn't get the ball as much as he should have, which contributed to losing the NFC Championship game @ Dallas. He was owning Kevin Smith on deep comebacks, while they kept trying to force the ball to Rice and Rice just wasn't getting open.

Shanahan got into the mode of drawing up all these whip routes and square outs to Rice and the "Rice with 100+ catches" era began.

That 1986 draft was awesome, Tom Rathman, Charles Haley, and John Taylor! one of the greatest drafts in 49 history. That and the best draft in 49er history - the 1979 draft.

Originally posted by brodiebluebanaszak:

Originally posted by darockzillahitman:
No, Taylor was stronger, but Rice broke 10 times more tackles anyway. Rice tried to turn every catch into a touchdown. He had one thing on his mind after catching it, and that's, "get this to the house." Taylor's mindset was more Marshawn Lynch, bull-in-a-china-shop, "let me just punish them after I catch it." It's why he never broke another big punt return after 1988 and was eventually relieved of his punt return duties.

A discussion of Rice vs. Owens after the catch would be close. Rice vs. Taylor is not.

I never got that sense that taylor was looking for contact after the catch. He was pretty shifty, I think thats what everybody is saying. Jerry was more a turn on the jets guy. Jerry had the strongest core in the league in his prime. So he was tough to bring down. Ask steve at**ter right?

An example of what I'm talking about: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMv_YLvD9Tk&t=68m50s

This was the norm for him...he would rather just take guys on.

Originally posted by VaBeachNiner:

20 Half-Back Curl X-up . . . Also Bill Walsh's final play call as 49ers head coach.

Originally posted by SonocoNinerFan:

Originally posted by VaBeachNiner:

20 Half-Back Curl X-up . . . Also Bill Walsh's final play call as 49ers head coach.

Didn't Bengals drop an easy int right before this? Lol

Originally posted by GNielsen:
Taylor had great hands and wicked moves - very under-rated. And, what a class act, playing opposite Jerry Rice and never the slightest bitterness or whining about his chances. Taylor owns two of the greatest moments in Niner history: obviously, the catch at the end of the '88 season's Superbowl, but also that incredible Rams game where he took two different short slants from Montana and turned both of them into 90-yard TD's. Great player.

First wasn't a slant. It was off a vertical throw after Clifford Hicks tried to jam him at the line and fell down (or Taylor overpowered him...we'll never know which).

Our fans think everything was a slant for some reason. They have slant on the brain. Stereotypical "West Coast Offense" route, even though the route had existed for decades before Walsh came around.

Originally posted by darockzillahitman:

First wasn't a slant. It was off a vertical throw after Clifford Hicks tried to jam him at the line and fell down (or Taylor overpowered him...we'll never know which).

Our fans think everything was a slant for some reason. They have slant on the brain. Stereotypical "West Coast Offense" route, even though the route had existed for decades before Walsh came around.

Both 90 yard TDs were on slants. It was "X" Slant. On the first one Joe threw it early because of the coverage blow. The other Route give away what the play was. Jerry runs a slant, Craig motions and runs a flat/out and Jones gets bumped but it looks like he was running the hook right over center. These are both the 90 yarders

Top one is the first TD and the bottom one is the second. They are essentially the same play first just had motion on it.

On the first one Joe threw it here:


On the second one he threw it here:

Originally posted by Niners816:

Originally posted by darockzillahitman:
First wasn't a slant. It was off a vertical throw after Clifford Hicks tried to jam him at the line and fell down (or Taylor overpowered him...we'll never know which).

Our fans think everything was a slant for some reason. They have slant on the brain. Stereotypical "West Coast Offense" route, even though the route had existed for decades before Walsh came around.

Both 90 yard TDs were on slants. It was "X" Slant. On the first one Joe threw it early because of the coverage blow. The other Route give away what the play was. Jerry runs a slant, Craig motions and runs a flat/out and Jones gets bumped but it looks like he was running the hook right over center. These are both the 90 yarders

Top one is the first TD and the bottom one is the second. They are essentially the same play first just had motion on it.

It's not a slant when the receiver never slants. You can design a play any way you want, but when the receiver breaks off the route and does something different from the design (Taylor does this because Hicks falls down), it's not the same route. And Joe didn't throw it early, he double clutched and threw it late because of Hicks being on the ground and Taylor adjusting the route.

Originally posted by Young2Rice:

Originally posted by SonocoNinerFan:

Originally posted by VaBeachNiner:

20 Half-Back Curl X-up . . . Also Bill Walsh's final play call as 49ers head coach.

Didn't Bengals drop an easy int right before this? Lol

They did.

Originally posted by darockzillahitman:

It's not a slant when the receiver never slants. You can design a play any way you want, but when the receiver breaks off the route and does something different from the design (Taylor does this because Hicks falls down), it's not the same route. And Joe didn't throw it early, he double clutched and threw it late because of Hicks being on the ground and Taylor adjusting the route.

Slants are ran different based on coverage. Joe threw it early in relation to the in-break of the slant.


Taylor's route was like the boxed slant here. Taylor lines up outside the numbers and by the end of his route he's running on the numbers so there is an in break to it even if it's a slight in-break. He's following rule 4 "get inside bump coverage". It's hard to tell if Joe's pump was caused by hands up on the d-line or rule number 3 there for quarterbacks "allow for adjustments on bump".

Originally posted by darockzillahitman:

First wasn't a slant. It was off a vertical throw after Clifford Hicks tried to jam him at the line and fell down (or Taylor overpowered him...we'll never know which).

Our fans think everything was a slant for some reason. They have slant on the brain. Stereotypical "West Coast Offense" route, even though the route had existed for decades before Walsh came around.

Does anyone in their right mind think bill walsh invented the slant? Doan think so.

Dont know about thinking everything is a slant. But fans think that play was a slant because it looked like a slant. Taylor was slanting inside when he caught it. So thats why.

Who cares about the quibbling.

Iconic moment for san fran.

Originally posted by VaBeachNiner:

Originally posted by Young2Rice:

Originally posted by SonocoNinerFan:

Originally posted by VaBeachNiner:

20 Half-Back Curl X-up . . . Also Bill Walsh's final play call as 49ers head coach.

Didn't Bengals drop an easy int right before this? Lol

They did.

I think the previous 49er drive yes, but not on this final drive....lol.

Since this is a John Taylor page, let's look at some playart of his notable plays.

SB23 winner

Of note, on the actual play the backs routes were flipped. Craig ran the Texas/HB curl on the opppsite side of Taylor's Nod.

First 90 yarder vs Rams in 1989


Second 90 yarder vs Rams in 1989

BTW, 816 and other film guys......any of you recall Jon Gruden mentioning during that MNF game against the Rams in 2013 (in St. Louis) a TD by either Crabtree or Stevie Johnson (I think) that was "the old Dino route we used to run with John Taylor"??

It was like a diagonal slant from the LOS towards the center of the defense with a quick sharp perpendicular 90 towards the corner route, then cut back 90 degrees the other way to a standard post pattern.

The fact that it was a pretty cool play and that it was designed with JT in mind was something notable to this Niner fan.