Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
PODCAST Ex-safety Muse takes on linebacker role
Support coming from his former Clemson mates
numerous amount of sports through high school — basketball, baseball or football — just being able to do so many different things and being able to adjust on the fly, as soon as the season ends, a new one begins. So, I was always learning new things and figuring out how things work. So, I think that translates to football. I played safety for a long time through high school and college. Now I’m a linebacker. So it’s easier to adjust for me. But obviously, it’s a whole ’nother level. So, I’m just going to have to get used to this whole linebacker thing and see how I really develop and what I need to work on.
HF: General manager Mike Mayock has said he wants you to play both the middle and weakside linebacker roles. How much of a challenge has that been with only virtual workouts available?
TM: Yeah, it’s a lot to learn, especially on these Zoom meetings. I’m just not used to them. I don’t think anybody is. I like to get out on the field and learn. You’re going to make mistakes. I’d rather make a mistake and then be able to have that memory of the mistake and know what I could’ve done better and then rewatch it and learn from it. Now I just have to watch somebody else’s mistakes and learn from that. But obviously, I gotta do my best with these Zoom meetings and learn from them.
HF: There’s a lot of eyes on the linebacker position, especially with the addition of Corey Littleton, Nick Kwiatoski and yourself. So when you start looking at this linebacker corps as a whole, what goes through your mind?
TM: Yeah. I think it’s hard ’cause you got new guys, but you don’t really know how they’re going to adapt to this new system. So, you see what they’ve done at other teams. They got to prove themselves to the Raider Nation. Then you’ve got myself wanting to prove myself. So it’s gonna be a lot of competition. I’m really excited about that, but I think there’s a lot to learn from these guys. So it’s gonna be my job just to fall in line, learn as much as I can as fast as I can.
HF: I wanted to find out if, because you’ve run a 4.38 40-yard dash, do you plan to have a footrace with Henry Ruggs to see who is faster?
TM: (Laughs) Henry Ruggs. I don’t know. What was it? A 4.28 laser? Yeah, I don’t know. I think there needs to be a 225-(pound)-plus, mega-race in the NFL. Now that I can get behind. I can compete there.
In keeping with the theme of this feature, it would have been great were there only five Raiders who had played on all three of the team’s Super Bowl-winning teams. Alas, there are six. Two are in the Hall of Fame — linebacker Ted Hendricks and punter Ray Guy. Three — wide receiver Cliff Branch, center Dave Dalby and offensive tackle Henry Lawrence — also are familiar to the average Raiders fan.
But the sixth lord of the (three) rings was the answer to Branch’s favorite trivia question, according to the book “100 Things Raiders Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die,” authored by former Review-Journal sports writer and longtime Raiders beat man Paul Gutierrez.
His name was Steve Sylvester. Here are four things about him, as well as a bonus trivia question about Raiders’ Super Bowl rings that hits closer to their new home:
Sylvester was an offensive lineman drafted out of Notre Dame (he also has a 1973 NCAA national championship ring) in the 10th round in 1975. Over his nine-year Raiders career, he played in 196 regular-season games, starting 31. So it wasn’t as if he was Al Davis’ long-lost nephew, or something like that.
But he said he was beholden to the Raiders’ long-time owner for giving him an opportunity to play on Sunday and the occasional Monday night. “I was fortunate that Mr. Davis had enough confidence in me because I wasn’t good enough to start, but I was good enough to back up,” Sylvester said. “And I was wise enough to volunteer for as many jobs as possible.”
When Hall of Famer Jim Otto retired, it created a roster spot for Sylvester. Dalby assumed Otto’s starting position and Sylvester raised his hand to back him up. “He gave everything and played 15 years and doesn’t have a ring,” No. 66 (Sylvester) said of No. 00 (Otto). “And I have three? How do you explain that?”
Other jobs Sylvester volunteered for: blocking wedge man (since outlawed) and long snapper on special teams.
Second trivia question: Who is the player listed on the 1976 and ’83 Raiders Super Bowl rosters but not 1980? Second trivia answer: David Humm. The team’s longtime backup quarterback from Las Vegas was carrying the clipboard as Joe Ferguson’s understudy for the Buffalo Bills when the Raiders won their second Super Bowl.
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