C4 Sports The Boston Globe FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2019
JIM DAVIS/GLOBE STAFF FILE
1996 — Ty Law picked off Dallas’s
Troy Aikman twice as the Patriots
held their own in a close loss.Lawmadehimselfano-doubtHallofFamer
between the fourth and seventh
rounds. (The Patriots selected him
with the 23rd pick of the first round.)
He remembers the disappointment
of New England fans when his selec-
tion was announced, some booing. (He
finished his career tied with Raymond
Clayborn for the franchise record for
interceptions with 36 and nabbed ar-
guably the biggest one in franchise his-
tory in Super Bowl XXXVI.)
He remembers having to convince
his first pro coach, Bill Parcells, to
trust him to shut down the opposing
team’s top receiver. (This became a
specialty of Law’s during his 15-year
career, 10 of those seasons in New
England.)
He remembers people saying he
wouldn’t be the same when he re-
turned from the broken foot in Octo-
ber 2004 that ended his Patriots ca-
reer. (He led the league in intercep-
tions for the New York Jets in 2005
with a career-high 10.)
He remembers people saying he
was a talented corner, but not Hall of
Fame material. (He’s the fifth longtime
Patriots player and the second corner
to be elected to Hall of Fame, joining
Mike Haynes.)
Beat him for a big play, and it hard-
ly made a dent in Law’s temporal lobe.
Doubt him, and it was seared in his
mind forever.
“That stuck with me more than
somebody actually beating me on the
field because that’s more of a long-
term effect when they doubt your abili-
ties,” said Law. “But I live to prove
somebody wrong. I trust myself. I be-
lieve in myself, but if I have to make
you believe in me by my performance,
you’re going to understand what I’m
about.””
The amalgam of Law never forget-
ting doubts, never doubting himself,
and playing with the rude physicality
of a bouncer and the lithe footwork of
a ballerina forged a Hall of Fame cor-
uLAW
Continued from Page C1
nerback whose penchant for game-
changing plays made him one of the
best of his era.
“There was really no weakness in
Ty’s game,” remarked Patriots coach
Bill Belichick. “He was good in cover-
age, good on the jam, good against the
run, and he could change the game
with his ball skills.”
A five-time Pro Bowler and two-
time first-team All-Pro selection, Law
is the first core player from the Patriots
dynasty to be enshrined in Canton. He
was a member of their first three Su-
per Bowl title teams (2001, 2003, and
2004). Law is the ideal representative
for a football dynasty birthed and fu-
eled by an us-against-the-world men-
tality.Agoodbet
Ask any of his former coaches and
teammates about Law, and what in-
stantly comes up is his uncommon and
unshakable confidence. Law has lived
by a mantra he has repeated since he
was running around for the Aliquippa
Little Quips in Pop Warner, reversing
field as a running back to score on the
48 Pitch play: Bet on yourself.
In a Sports Illustrated story in
1999, he boasted that one day he
would be in the Hall of Fame.
Former Patriots linebacker Ted
Johnson was part of the same 1995 Pa-
triots draft class as Law. Johnson was
taken in the second round, sand-
wiched between Law and another Hall
of Famer, running back Curtis Martin.
Johnson said his first impression of
Law was that he exuded supreme con-
fidence, even as a rookie.
“Whenever you see a guy stand out
amongst other guys as far as his confi-
dence and self-assuredness, you just
always made note of that,” said John-
son. “That was always Ty.
“I would never see the guy down. I
would never see the guy discouraged. I
would never see him beat himself up.”
Law could instill that confidence in
his teammates. His 47-yard intercep-tion return for a touchdown off Rams
quarterback Kurt Warner in Super
Bowl XXXVI, putting the Patriots up,
7-3, in the second quarter, was a signa-
ture play in one of the biggest upsets in
NFL history.
“I just remember that being like,
‘Oh, man, we’re winning this game,’ ”
said Johnson. “That was a play where I
literally for the first time thought,
‘We’re going to win the Super Bowl.’ So
that was a huge, huge, huge play in
that game as far as our collective confi-
dence, feeling like, ‘We got this.’ ”
Law loved to torture quarterback
Tom Brady in practice and talk trash.
He publicly called Belichick a liar
while trying to shoot (from the lip) his
way out of town during an acrimoni-
ous and ugly contract dispute before
the 2004 season that paved the way for
his release the following offseason. He
was known as a gambler who went for
the big play, the big hit, and the big
payday.
Law’s confidence “is and was off the
charts,” said former Patriots defensive
coordinator and current Houston Tex-
ans defensive coordinator Romeo
Crennel. “He felt like he could cover
anybody. He didn’t care about who it
was. He accepted the challenge and
looked forward to the challenge.
“Sometimes because of that confi-
dent personality some people think
that he didn’t have to work at his job.
He worked at his job. He would run a
couple of miles a day in the morning
before practice because he knew that
his job required some stamina.
“He would put that time in getting
extra running and conditioning in be-
fore we went to practice. I think that
was one of the things that made him so
successful.”Hills to climb
Law was blessed with great ability,
but his greatest talents were his pro-
pensity for hard work and his willpow-
er. Both were instilled in him growing
up in the hardscrabble environs of Al-iquippa, a steel mill town where foot-
ball is both religion and diversion. He
grew up in a place where people didn’t
give up or back down.
His climb to pro football’s apex
started with him running up and
down Griffith Heights hill in Aliquip-
pa. On hot summer days, Law’s life-
long best friend and Hall of Fame pre-
senter, Byron “Book” Washington,
would implore Law to abandon his
grueling workouts to cool down by the
pool.
He might as well have been asking
Law to stop breathing.
“Since he was little, he always had a
work ethic out of this world,” said
Washington. “We’re about 15 or 16
years old. It’s hot days in the summer-
time. He wants to go and train. I’m
like, ‘Cuz, it’s too hot. I’m going swim-
ming.’
“He was a talented guy anyway. But
he always did extra to just make him
better. He always went the extra mile.
This hill is a monster. He used to run
up and down it about 10 times, what-
ever it was, hot, cold, raining, it didn’t
matter. He had a goal. He knew what
he wanted to do.”
He wanted to play in the NFL like
his uncle and idol, Hall of Fame run-
ning back Tony Dorsett. Law would
spend summers tailing Dorsett. Now,
he’ll follow Dorsett, Mike Ditka, and
Joe Namath as Hall of Famers from
Beaver County in Pennsylvania.
Law also knew what he didn’t want
to be. As he revealed in The Players’
Tribune, Law briefly dabbled as a drug
dealer as a teen. He knew that life
wasn’t for him. That it was a dead end,
literally and figuratively. Law said foot-
ball and the guidance and discipline of
his late grandfather, Ray Law, “saved
my damn life.”
Law’s grandfather, who was a su-
pervisor at the Jones & Laughlin Steel
Corporation mill in Aliquippa until it
shut down, provided the strong male
role model he needed. (Law’s mother,
Diane, had him at age 16 and dealtwith personal struggles; his late grand-
parents, Ray and Ida, helped raise
him.) His football dreams provided the
structure and focus he needed.The time is right
It’s fitting that Law is going into the
Hall of Fame in the Year of the Defen-
sive Back, joined by Champ Bailey, Ed
Reed, and senior committee selection
Johnny Robinson, the first time that
four defensive backs have been induct-
ed in the same year.
Law’s résumé speaks for itself. He
was a member of the All-Decade team
for the 2000s. He twice led the NFL in
interceptions, becoming the first New
England player to do so in 1998 with
nine. He finished his career with 53 in-
terceptions and seven touchdowns in
203 games. Law had an additional six
interceptions in 13 postseason games,
four of those coming with the Patriots.
Law’s career is littered with great
memories and great games, like the
three-interception effort he had in the
2003 AFC Championship against Pey-
ton Manning and the Indianapolis
Colts. If there’s a hallmark of those
first three Patriots Super Bowl title
teams, it was the ability to suppress
some of the high-octane, high-flying
offenses of the era, the “Greatest Show
on Turf” Rams and Manning’s Colts.
The Patriots did it so well that Colts
president Bill Polian persuaded the
NFL’s Competition Committee, of
which he was a member, to make ille-
gal contact on receivers a renewed
point of emphasis following back-to-
back playoff losses to the Patriots dur-
ing the 2003 and 2004 seasons. Law
was at least partially responsible.
“We neutralized their speed and
their quickness with physical play,”
said Johnson. “Ty was kind of the tip of
the spear when it came to that. The
best cornerback I’ve ever played with,
obviously, hands downs.”
Before Law could master the mo-
ments in big games, he had to make a
name for himself. One game in partic-Pickingoffafew
ofhisverybest
By Andrew Mahoney
GLOBE STAFF
A look at the biggest games of for-
mer Patriots cornerback Ty Law, who
will be inducted into the Pro Football
Hall of Fame on Saturday:
Jan. 18, 2004: AFC Championship
After leading the Colts to wins over
the Broncos (41-10) and Chiefs (38-
31), Peyton Manning entered Gillette
Stadium with a postseason passer rat-
ing of 156.9 (a perfect rating is 158.3).
That trend did not continue against
the Patriots, who picked off Manning
four times and held him to a 35.5 rat-
ing. Law blanketed Manning’s top tar-
get, Marvin Harrison, and caught as
many balls from Manning as Harrison
did, coming up with three intercep-
tions as the Patriots defeated the Colts,
24-14, to advance to Super Bowl XXX-
VIII.
Feb. 3, 2002: Super Bowl XXXVI
The Patriots were 14-point under-
dogs when they took on the Rams and
The Greatest Show on Turf. With his
team trailing, 3-0, Law turned the
game around when he picked off
league MVP Kurt Warner and re-
turned it 47 yards for a touchdown to
give the Patriots a 7-3 lead.
Warner had been pressured on the
play by Mike Vrabel.
“I never saw Vrabel,’’ said Law, “but
Iknewweweregoingtopressurehim.
I was just out there waiting for the
play to unfold, so to speak, and the
ball just came my way and I took it in.’’
New England never trailed again,
and went on to capture the organiza-
tion’s first Super Bowl title with a 20-
17 win.
Dec. 15, 1996, at Dallas
The Cowboys were the defending
Super Bowl champions when the Pa-
triots rolled into town in the penulti-
mate week of the 1996 season with a
10-4 record. Law would be facing a
pair of future Hall of Famers in wide
receiver Michael Irvin and quarter-
back Troy Aikman, who targeted Irvin
10 times that day. Law kept Irvin out
of the end zone, limiting him to six re-
ceptions for 76 yards, and picked off
Aikman twice.
The Patriots would lose, 12-6, but
showed they could play against the big
boys in the league. One week later,
they clinched the AFC East for the first
time in 10 years, then went on to ad-
vance to the Super Bowl for just the
second time in franchise history.
Dec. 20, 1998, vs. San Francisco
Aikman and Irvin weren’t the only
Hall of Fame duo Law faced. The 11-3
49ers came to Foxboro Stadium with
Steve Young and Jerry Rice leading a
potent attack. The two did connect for
a 75-yard touchdown in the second
quarter, but otherwise Rice was held
in check, as Law helped limit him to
four more receptions for 40 yards.
Law also managed to pick off
Young as the Patriots prevailed, 24-21,
and clinched a playoff spot behind the
performance of Scott Zolak, filling in
for an injured Drew Bledsoe.
Nov. 16, 2003, vs. Dallas
The game was billed as The Battle
of the Bills, with Bill Parcells and the
Cowboys taking on Bill Belichick and
the Patriots at Gillette Stadium on
“Sunday Night Football.” Both teams
were 7-2. Law drew the assignment of
covering Terry Glenn, and held his for-
mer teammate to just one reception
for 8 yards. Law had more catches,
picking off Quincy Carter twice, in-
cluding once in the red zone with the
Patriots clinging to a 9-0 lead
“We just tried to play physical, tried
to get up in [Glenn’s] face and attack
him at the line of scrimmage,” Law
said. “You don’t want to let him find
soft spots in the zone. Because once he
gets running, it’s probably going to be
hard to catch him.
“Granted, he’s probably faster than
the majority of us out there; we have
to stop him any way we can. The only
way you can beat speed is with
strength, and that’s the way you hold
the guy down.”
The Patriots would go on to win,
12-0.Honorable mention
2005 season
After 10 years with the Patriots,
Law and the organization parted
ways, with Law signing with the Jets.
He had a career-high 10 interceptions
that season, 40 percent of those cour-
tesy of Kelly Holcomb and the Bills, as
Law had four picks in two games
against the AFC East rival, including
three in the season finale, a 30-26 win
at home.
Jan. 6, 2007, AFC wild card
Law joined coach Herm Edwards
and the Chiefs for the 2006 season.
Kansas City squeaked into the playoffs
at 9-7 and faced the Colts at Indianap-
olis in the wild card. Law again would
prove to be a thorn in Manning’s side,
recording two interceptions in a 23-8
loss. He would finish his career with
nine interceptions of Manning, includ-
ing five in the playoffs.Follow Andrew Mahoney on Twitter
@GlobeMahoney.STAN GROSSFELD/GLOBE STAFF FILE
2002 SUPER BOWL—A 47-yard interception return for a TD vs. the Rams turned the tide in the Patriots’ favor.JIM DAVIS/GLOBE STAFF FILE
1996 — In a 12-6 loss to the mighty Cowboys, Ty Law
blanketed Michael Irvin and had two picks.MICHAEL ROBINSON-CHAVEZ/GLOBE STAFF FILE
1998 —In a statement win over the 49ers, Ty Law picks
off a Steve Young pass intended for Terrell Owens.MATTHEW J. LEE/GLOBE STAFF FILE
2003 — Ty Law comes down with
one of his two interceptions in a
physical victory over Dallas.EZRA SHAW/GETTY IMAGES FILE
2004 — Three interceptions in an
AFC Championship victory against
the Colts was reason to celebrate.2019 NFL Hall of Fame | TY LAW