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If you look at all the other defensive players on the Giants in the late 1970s and early 1980s, you won't find very many of them who got noticeably better after LT showed up in 1981.

That's your subjective opinion. The point is that the Giants' defense got noticeably better with the arrival of LT. Let's look at the record: Taylor was named first-team All-Pro in each of his first nine seasons. He was selected to play in 10 Pro Bowls and in 1994 was named to the NFL’s 75th Anniversary All-Time Team.

Starting in Taylor’s first season, the Giants began a 10-season streak in which they made the playoffs six times and won two Super Bowls. This was quite an improvment over the previous ten years during the 1970s. LT was the difference maker in a team sport. Carson and Van Pelt became more productive because LT was attracting double and triple teams.

Your recollection of Giants history is a little hazy. The real difference-maker on that team was general manager George Young, who joined the team in 1979 under some pretty bizarre circumstances and promptly started building a team that would eventually become a dominant force in the NFC for more than a decade. Taylor was only one in a long series of draft picks that would play key roles on those teams -- starting with Phil Simms in 1979.

As far as players were concerned, I'd say the most important elements of those great Giants teams were not only the selection of Lawrence Taylor in 1981, but the emergence of a healthy Phil Simms in 1984, the development of Joe Morris as a legitimate top-tier NFL running back in 1985, and Young's ability to put together a great offensive line out of a group of unheralded draft picks and free agents from the USFL.

Starting in Taylor’s first season, the Giants began a 10-season streak in which they made the playoffs six times and won two Super Bowls.

You're right about that, but that's not a complete story. The Giants made the playoffs only once (1981) in Taylor's first three seasons. The team's rise to the top of the NFL began in 1984, and correlates almost precisely with the emergence of Bill Parcells as one of the best head coaches in the NFL. After the team went 3-12-1 in Parcells' first season at the helm, the Giants made the playoffs five times (and won two Super Bowls) in the next seven years -- the only two exceptions being the strike-shortened 1987 season and a 1988 season in which the team went 10-6 but failed to make the playoffs due to tiebreakers in a very strong NFC that included five 10-6 teams.

The team's decline after the 1990 Super Bowl season coincided with Parcells' departure from the team.