Pickel Was a Big Man in Middle for Raiders

Defensive tackle Bill Pickel from 1983-90 with the Los Angeles Raiders as a force that will never be forgotten.

Perhaps only the diehard member of Raider Nation will remember how good defensive tackle Bill Pickel was in his eight seasons with the Silver and Black from 1983-90 with the Los Angeles Raiders.

Perhaps that’s because Pickel played at nose tackle and defensive tackle inside defensive ends Howie Long, who wound up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Greg Townsend, the Raiders’ all-time leader in sacks with 107½, while Long was second with 84.

“Bill Pickel came to this team as a defensive end, a defensive tackle,” Long recalled. “He’s 6-6, 260, playing nose tackle. Nose tackles aren’t 6-6, 260. Nose tackles are 6-3, 6-4, 6-1; 280, 290, 300. They’re shorter, more compact. He’s played out of position.

“But did the job in a selfless manner that I think exemplifies the way an individual should play the game. The switch to a four-man front was a big thing. I think it was a big advantage for him.”

The Raiders selected the 6-5, 265-pound Pickel in the second round (No. 54 overall) of the 1983 National Football League Draft out of Rutgers, and played behind defensive tackle Lyle Alzado as a rookie while being slowed by injuries.

Even though he didn’t start full-time until 1985, Pickel had 29 tackles and six sacks in his first season while making the NFL All-Rookie team, plus a sack of quarterback Joe Theismann in the Raiders’ 38-9 Super Bowl XVIII victory over the Washington Redskins, plus 83 overall tackles and 12½ sacks as a backup in 1984.

That earned Pickel a starting spot in 1985, when he made 82 tackles and once again had 12½ sacks, and when he had 75 tackles and 11½ sacks, and he was selected first-team All-Pro for the only time in his career, even though he continued to play at a high level.

Pickel was known for his unique four-point stance, emulating Raiders great Tom Keating from the 1960s and early 1970s.

Perhaps Pickel didn’t receive more recognition and honors because of the other great players around him, such as Long plus linebackers Ted Hendricks and Matt Millen.

“Bill Pickel and Greg Townsend from have been all over the quarterback when we go to five defensive backs,” Hall of Fame Coach Tom Flores said early in the 1983 season when Pickel was playing only on a part-time basis.

Pickel finished his Raiders career with 454 total tackles to rank second in franchise history since tackles have been an official statistic, 53 sacks to rank fourth in 212 games, plus seven fumble recoveries. In four more seasons with the New York Jets as a part-time player, he added 122 tackles, three sacks, and four fumble recoveries while battling injuries throughout his career.

“Pain? It’s like a standing joke,” Pickel said. “The first day in training camp, that’s as good as you’re ever going to feel all season, and it just gets progressively worse. I don’t think anybody’s 100 percent from that first day in training camp. You go out and get beat up worse every week. It’s just who can sustain it and hang on the longest.”

At Rutgers, Pickel was a four-year starter for the Scarlet Knights and is a member of the school’s Hall of Fame, having earned the David Bender Trophy as Lineman of the Year in 1982, the Cronin Trophy as most improved player in 1980, and the Touchdown Club Trophy in 1982, while making honorable mention All-East in 1981, despite missing five games because of a back injury.

Pickel is sixth in school history with 16 sacks and 10th with 160 tackles.

Since retiring from the NFL in 1995, Pickel has done volunteer work with the Joshua Frase Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports research for centronuclear myopathy.

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