Raiderstation

It is the same with safety. The two best we’ve had were Ronnie Lott and Rod Woodson, neither of which were drafted by us, of course, and both of which were in the twilight of their career. Another position we have sucked at for decades is linebacker. Kirk Morrison was tackling machine for a couple of years and beyond that we’ve had zilch forever.

THIS IS EXACTLY WHY WE SUCKED FOR MORE THEN 20 YRS

RunOverByHubbard wrote: Sat Jun 27, 2026 8:22 am It is the same with safety. The two best we’ve had were Ronnie Lott and Rod Woodson, neither of which were drafted by us, of course, and both of which were in the twilight of their career. Another position we have sucked at for decades is linebacker. Kirk Morrison was tackling machine for a couple of years and beyond that we’ve had zilch forever.

Morrison also missed a ton of tackles and took absolutely horrible angles

Where's our punters and kickers? We have to fight for the scraps we get.

Attyla wrote: Sat Jun 27, 2026 9:02 am Morrison also missed a ton of tackles and took absolutely horrible angles

What is it with you and 'angles'?

What, you put a protractor on the screen?

raider_kin wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 1:53 pm What is it with you and 'angles'?

What, you put a protractor on the screen?

Linebackers and safeties work in space quite a bit. If you take a poor angle in coverage, particularly in zone coverages, your opponent beats you way too often. Morrison was horrible in space, he was a good tackler when the player was coming at him but when he dropped his lack of coverage skills betrayed him. Watch the tape, he was just very subpar in that regard.

Attyla wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 1:56 pm Linebackers and safeties work in space quite a bit. If you take a poor angle in coverage, particularly in zone coverages, your opponent beats you way too often. Morrison was horrible in space, he was a good tackler when the player was coming at him but when he dropped his lack of coverage skills betrayed him. Watch the tape, he was just very subpar in that regard.

I give you credit for even responding to that nonsense.

BoKnows81 wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 2:17 pm I give you credit for even responding to that nonsense.

Eh, I get it from one way of looking, it was not his game, but the best were not just good hitters, they knew how to anticipate where a player might go into coverage and were there to meet them. Kirk was just horrible at it and was often running to a spot that gave him almost no chance of catching a guy. Reading the play at the middle linebacker position was always about being right more often than not and he was not. If a guy was running one of the interior gaps, he could smack him down. If that guy was going into coverage, he often jumped instead of dropping and when he did drop his angles to where the play was going were way often wrong. And he did not have closing speed when that happened.

raider_kin wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 1:53 pm What is it with you and 'angles'?

What, you put a protractor on the screen?

Pardon the intrusion but this may simplify things. Anthony Dorsett and Shannon Sharpe.

Toast wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 4:10 pm Pardon the intrusion but this may simplify things. Anthony Dorsett and Shannon Sharpe.

I'm assuming you are semi serious, as I was. Talking about 'angles' like you are some coach or analyst, just too much full of himself I guess.

Look at who we have used first rounds picks on over the past years.

Among them are
Tyree Wilson

Alex Leatherwood

Damon Arnette

Clelin Ferrell

Gareon Conley

Terrible drafting is one reason why the Raiders have only made the playoffs twice in the last 20 years.

The safety position in particular has been a parade of busts. Derrick Gibson, Micheal Huff, Stuart Schweigert, Trev'on Moehrig, Jonathan Abram, Obi Melifonwu, Karl Joseph, Patrick Bates.

Mike Mitchell hung around Pittsburgh for a while but was marginal.

In all reality Stacy Toran was the last safety that the Raiders drafted who became a solid starter.

raider_kin wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 4:39 pm I'm assuming you are semi serious, as I was. Talking about 'angles' like you are some coach or analyst, just too much full of himself I guess.

So we are not supposed to talk about such things, do you want me jus to say things like "Morrison sucks, durrrrrrr" so that you can feel better about your football knowledge?

You know Sio Moore should maybe be on that list…he was a really good linebacker until he had career ending injurie….he just was not the same after that

He probably was better than Kirk Morrison

Toast wrote: Sun Jun 28, 2026 4:10 pm Pardon the intrusion but this may simplify things. Anthony Dorsett and Shannon Sharpe.

That play pissed me off