NFL Football Season 2008- 09
Favorite Players by Team
AFC - Oakland Raiders
Kirk Morrison and Thomas Howard
Morrison and Howard might be the best pass-defending linebacker duo in football, combining for 10 interceptions last season, but a linebacker’s primary job is to stop the run. Morrison and Howard didn’t do that.
The two ranked first and second on the team in tackles, but that’s only because somebody had to make a stop.
Oakland’s run defense ranked 31st overall, giving up a dreadful 4.8 yards per carry.
All this despite having a front line that featured a still-vibrant Warren Sapp, backside containment master Derrick Burgess and young run-stopping ace Jay Richardson. (Defensive tackle Terdell Sands did not play up to par, but being 6’7”, 335, he still took up space.)
In other words, where were Oakland’s linebackers?
Morrison and Howard both lack awareness against the run and neither is great in traffic.
If the Raiders want to get better defensively, their twenty something-year-old linebackers must step up.
We know they will.