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| Bob Boyd at tight end in 1957 |
| John Adams |
| Bob Klein |
| Damone Johnson (left) and Pete Holohan (right) |
| Leon Clarke (left), Troy Drayton (middle), Ernie Conwell (right) |
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| Bob Boyd at tight end in 1957 |
| John Adams |
| Bob Klein |
| Damone Johnson (left) and Pete Holohan (right) |
| Leon Clarke (left), Troy Drayton (middle), Ernie Conwell (right) |
By John Turney
Roderick D. Martin, the hard-hitting right outside linebacker who spent his entire 12-year NFL career with the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders, passed away on April 18, 2026, at the age of 72. The Las Vegas Raiders announced his death the following day, stating in a release, "The Raiders Family is deeply saddened by the passing of Rod Martin, a standout linebacker and key player on two Super Bowl championship teams..."
No official cause of death has been publicly disclosed.
Born on April 7, 1954, in Welch, West Virginia, Martin played college football at USC before being selected by the Raiders in the 12th round of the 1977 NFL Draft. As the story goes, head coach John Madden called his friend John Robinson, then head coach at USC, looking for overlooked talent in the later rounds. Robinson replied that Rod Martin was better than anyone still available. Madden listened—and the Raiders got a steal. Martin’s draft stock was not as high as might have been expected because at that time he weighed in at about 208 pounds.
It was not a bump-free road to Raiders stardom, however.
He showed well enough in the 1977 training camp that the San Francisco 49ers were willing to give up a draft pick for him. He was with the 49ers for a couple of weeks before being waived. It wasn’t until December that the Raiders re-signed him, and beginning in 1978 he was on his way. That year he played both outside linebacker and filled in at both inside linebacker spots (Mike and Rover in Oakland's terminology) when starters went down.
The year after is when Martin (maybe around 218 pounds by them) quickly developed into a versatile and productive starter at linebacker. He excelled against the run, showed reliable coverage skills, and was a dangerous blitzer. Over his career, he recorded 56½ sacks, forced 14 fumbles (with 10 recoveries), intercepted 14 passes, and scored six defensive touchdowns plus two safeties.
Perhaps most importantly, he was a key part of two Raiders Super Bowl championship teams: Super Bowl XV (1980 season) and Super Bowl XVIII (1983 season).
His most famous performance came in Super Bowl XV against the Philadelphia Eagles, when he picked off Ron Jaworski three times—still, after 45 years, an NFL record for interceptions in a single Super Bowl game. Many argued (us included) that he should have been named MVP of that contest.
At least the performance got him on the cover of Sports Illustrated, and given the stature of that magazine at the time, it is something.
More than a coverage backer and more than a blitzer, he was an every-down linebacker who was on the field in the Raiders' nickel (Bandit) and dime (Pirate) packages. He would be a star in today’s NFL given his skill set, as an ideal off-ball linebacker in probably a Lavonte David-type role, we’d surmise.
It could be argued that his outstanding performance in Super Bowl XV jumpstarted his postseason honors, as we can that that his all-star run began in 1981 and continued through 1985. However, he was just as good in 1979 as he was in those other years, but the NFL was deep with outstanding outside linebackers at the time, and beating out Hall of Famers Jack Ham, Robert Brazile, Ted Hendricks, and others was a tall order. So he likely had to wait his turn to get invites to Hawaii and votes for All-Pro. In that 1979 season, Martin totaled 115 tackles with 11.5 of them behind the line of scrimmage, not counting his eight sacks.
In all, during his twelve seasons he played in 165 games (147 starts), made 996 total tackles (751 solo), recorded 56.5 sacks, picked off 14 passes, fell on 10 loose balls, and had eight defensive scores, including four pick-sixes and two scoop-and-scores.
Perhaps even more impressive were his playoff performance numbers.
In 12 games (11 starts), Martin was in on 69 tackles, 52 of them solo. Two of those were on special teams in a playoff game in Baltimore. He had the three interceptions in the Super Bowl and was credited with four other pass breakups. He recorded four sacks in playoff games, forced three fumbles, and recovered one. The man with giant hands—Lyle Alzado once said it was like shaking hands with a cow, comparing Martin’s mitts to an udder!—was a big-time player in big-time games.
Despite all that, Martin never received any serious Hall of Fame consideration. He appeared on the preliminary list three times as a modern-era candidate and has received no attention as a senior candidate either. Maybe that should change.
Martin was the classic late-round success story: undrafted-caliber talent who became a cornerstone of one of the most physical and successful defenses of his era.Rod Martin will be remembered as one of the great low round draft gems in NFL history, a clutch performer on the biggest stage, and a reliable force for the Silver and Black throughout the late 1970s and 1980s.
Rest in peace, #53.
His defensive stats, per NFL Gamebooks.
By John Turney
by Nick Webster
Researcher Eric Goska has spent decades chronicling the history of the Green Bay Packers using Books, journalists' notes, media guides, film, and, of course, play-by-plays. In all his studies, Goska has been able to use film to fill in gaps in play-by-plays, but to also to make corrections when they are erroneous; and boy are there opportunities for corrections.
It’s not quite the national debt clock, but the corrections already number in the 100’s – many as far back as the 40s and 50s, but some as recently as the 1980’s. And these are not just judgment calls, “Hey, I think John Anderson has more to do with taking down the ballcarrier than Mike Douglass”, these are out-and-out errors. Some errors are a distinction without a difference, e.g., Charles Johnson’s September 9, 1979, sack of Archie Manning should have been credited for three yards rather than two, but some matter.
In his research, Goska has found that an error in the press box, never corrected, allowed Doug Martin to be the lone leader in QB Sacks in 1982. We’ve done a lot of work on sack stats – if you’re here, you probably know that already – and there was historically lots of leeway in how particular teams counted them.
Finally, in 1982, the NFL decided that individual sacks would be an official stat with consistent rules and accounting. The League actually trailed the CFL, which officially started keeping track in 1981. But 1982 was an unusual season, marred by a player strike which shortened the season to a mere nine games. In such a small sample size, single games or outliers can have outsized effects, and this was certainly the case for the sack title. The anointed sack-champ in ’82 was Viking DE Doug Martin, topping the league with just 11.5 sacks in the shortened season.
Martin was a solid pass rusher and notched a total of 61.5 sacks over his 10-year career, all with the Vikings. But the third-year player had only notched five and six sacks, respectively, in his Rookie and Sophomore seasons heading into 1982. But in ’82, with a mere nine games to play, Martin led the NFL with the lowest leading number in history, and more than half of his 11.5 sacks were in just two solid games. Martin notched three sacks twice in a game at Detroit in the Silver Dome, but also in a game at The Packers in Milwaukee County Stadium. The Packers used their same “professional” crew in the County Stadium Box as they did in Lambeau, and the errors travelled with them.
In the waning moments of the second quarter, Lynn Dickey dropped back and was slammed to the turf by Defensive End Randy Holloway and Doug Martin. His happy compatriot pumps his fist in the air from ~five yards away. The announcers Frank Gleiber and recently retired Joe Greene call out Holloway, “I mean, no one touched Randy Holloway, number 75.” One last play, a desperate bomb to James Lofton and the half was over. But the Packer crew didn’t see it that way; from their perch in County Stadium the Packer crew credited Doug Martin with the downing of Dickey. And by the time the game came to a close, with 2 others to his credit, Martin had a three-sack game.
A little over a month later, the strike-shortened season became the first NFL season to stretch into the following year. On Jan 2, 1983, going into the final weekend of the season, Philadelphia Eagle Dennis Harrison and Doug Martin were tied for the League sack lead with 10.5 each. But at Home against the Giants – with Doug’s brother George on the opposing team – Harrison would get shut out, staying at 10.5. Doug Martin had till the following day with his Vikings hosting the Cowboys on Monday night in a game famous for a different reason.
A few days earlier, on December 30th, a hole was torn in the roof of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, and only after emergency repairs and re-inflating the massive dome could the Monday night game proceed. Doug Martin took advantage of the opportunity. In the 3rd quarter, Martin knocked the ball loose from Danny White’s grip, notching an 11.5 sack and claiming the sack title.
But the November 21st phantom sack awarded to Martin over Holloway was never corrected. Check any source, NFL.com, Pro-Football-Reference, anywhere you look, that was a three-sack game for Martin, Holloway notching none. We were tickled a few years back to see Bubba Baker’s reaction to the recognition of his 23-sack 1978. We wonder what Dennis Harrison might think if he knew he was rightfully the co-owner of the 1982 NFL sack title? Can we guarantee that every sack in every gamebook from the early years – including the unofficial history pre ’82 – is correct? Of course not. There will be other errors, some we will find and correct, some we won’t. Of course, a sack or two here and there won’t invalidate the overall dominance of a Deacon Jones, a Reggie White or a Doug Atkins; but leaders matter, and the record should reflect that in 1982 the sack title was co-owned.
In the years that followed the Quarterback sack started to garner more attention. Credit Mark Gastineau’s antics, Lawrence Taylor’s greatness and the rivalries in the NFC East between Reggie White, Dexter Manley and Taylor. By 1986, there was a huge rivalry among the NFC East pass rushers. After week 13, Manley led the league with 17.5, Taylor was right on his heels with 16.5 and Reggie was training with just 12. But over the final three games, Taylor notched four to Manley’s one, taking the league lead and the NFL Defensive Player of the Year as well as the AP Most Valuable Player award, the last defender to do so. Reggie picked up six sacks in the final three weeks to reach 18, just a half sack behind Manley.
The race was on, and the numbers counted.
Beginning in 1987, Elias, official keeper of the League’s numbers, began issuing “corrected” Gamebooks in mid-week. Errors could be corrected – and often were – a meaningful portion of corrections came on sacks, and we’re better now for the scrutiny. Unfortunately for Dennis Harrison, the change didn’t come around nearly soon enough.
By Nick Webster
Today, Lavonte David, an all-time great Tampa Bay Buccaneer, retired from the NFL rather than move elsewhere, but will he eventually have to suit up with a different look in Canton? Sadly, I think the likelihood is no, as David is one of the most underrated players in a generation. He is harmed by playing in a small market, by playing at a non “premium” position (whatever that is) by playing in an era when Pro Bowl and All-Pro voters get confused about off-ball versus on-ball OLB’s by coming out of the draft in the same season as Luke Kuechly, Bobby Wagner and Demario Davis (man, was the LB position stacked in 2012) and by speaking softly and letting his play do the talking.
The consensus top off-ball LBs of the era are Luke Kuechly and Bobby Wagner, each were fantastic linebacker, team leader, and star player on Super Bowl-winning teams. David himself has a claim to fame on all these dimensions, though his leadership role on the Buccaneer defense is overshadowed by a guy named Tom Brady. Comparing these great LB’s, David’s numbers stand up well. Look at just how similar David and Wagner’s numbers are – yet Wagner is frequently discussed as “future Hall of Famer” Bobby Wagner.
The only categories where Wagner has a meaningful lead are on overall tackles (much of which is a vestige of the Seahawks press-box being liberal with assists as Wagner’s ~300 TT lead drops to 22 when you’re counting solo tackles) and QB Hits. David, quite simply, made bigger more impactful plays, more sacks, more forced fumbles and more stuffs (tackling a runner or receiver for a loss).