LB Johnson Was a Key for Raiders in Playoffs
Linebacker Monte Johnson was underrated in his career at Nebraska, not to mention in the eight seasons he played for the Oakland Raiders.
Even though Johnson never started a game in his four seasons while playing on the defensive line at Nebraska, which included the Cornhuskers claiming two national championships, the Raiders selected him in the second round (No. 49 overall) of the 1973 National Football League draft.
“Although I never started at Nebraska, during my senior year, I shared playing time with Bill Jansen, one of the team co-captains that year,” Johnson said. “After the season, I asked (Nebraska Coach) Bob Devaney to try to get me into a post-season game to try and get some additional exposure. He was successful, and I received an invitation to play in the All-American Bowl in Tampa, Fla. I probably got in because Bob was named a head coach for the game.
“At a practice before the game, Al Davis and Ron Wolf (who was head of player personnel for the Raiders) were watching a drill where I was filling in at linebacker. After the drill, Mr. Davis said he was going to draft me and believed I could play any one of seven positions for the Raiders.
I was told that on the day of the draft when the Raiders draft selection came up for the second round, Mr. Davis wanted to select me. He was the only favorable vote among the Raiders' front office. Since he was the owner and general manager, his was the only vote that counted.”
Johnson was a backup linebacker for the Raiders in his first two seasons, in which he played all three linebacker positions. However, he became a full-time starter at middle linebacker in 1975. He was a key contributor when the Raiders were forced to go to a 3-4 defensive alignment in 1976 because of several injuries along the offensive line.
The 6-5 240-pound Johnson showed his versatility by not only playing well against the run but being a strong pass rusher and playing well in pass coverage. In 1976, he had seven sacks, four interceptions that he returned for 40 yards, including a long of 22, and three fumble recoveries.
Johnson made another interception as the Raiders beat the New England Patriots, 24-21, in the first round of the playoffs that year, helped shut down the Pittsburgh Steelers running game in a 24-7 victory in the AFC Championship Game, and made five tackles in a 32-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI.
The Vikings recovered a blocked punt at the Raiders' two-yard line early in that game, and Johnson remembers what happened next.
“They came out, and I read it and slanted the line the other way,” Johnson, who calling the defensive signals, recalled. “They blew the blocking scheme by the way we were slanting because they thought we were going to be in a different defense because, in the past, we had always done something different in that particular formation.
“They lined themselves and we slanted in a way which normally we would have not done. Phil Villapiano came free and he hit the running back (Brent McClanahan) and (quarterback Fran) Tarkenton at the same time, and caused a fumble which Willie Hall recovered on the two-yard-yard line. Our offense came on the field and drove 98 yards for the first score of the game and Minnesota never got back into the game. Reading those plays and making those calls and the confidence that the coaches had in me was one of my biggest memories about that game.”
However, the best individual performance of Johnson’s career came the following season in the famed “Ghost to the Post Game” against the Baltimore Colts in the AFC Divisional Round of the playoffs. The Raiders stayed alive on a miracle pass from Kenny Stabler to Dave Casper to set up a game-tying field goal that forced overtime before Stabler hit Casper with a game-winning 10-yard touchdown pass in the second overtime.
Johnson was the unsung hero, making an amazing total of 22 tackles and two sacks of quarterback Bert Jones before he learned afterward that he had sustained a broken vertebra in his neck during regulation play. Still, he didn’t think of coming out of the game.
Johnson also was a starter in 1980, when the Raiders won Super Bowl XV, 27-10, over the Philadelphia Eagles, but he sustained a knee injury late in the season and missed the playoffs. In Johnson’s eight-year career, the Raiders played in 11 playoff games, with a record of 7-4, including six AFC Championship Games and two Super Bowls.
Johnson retired from professional football in 1981 after eight seasons in Oakland due to a career-ending knee injury he incurred early in the 1980 season. Tackles were not an official statistic during the regular season, but Raider Nation knows that Johnson made more than his share.
After retirement, Johnson moved to Atlanta, where his business is Family Capital Management. He lit the Al Davis Memorial Torch before a game against the Carolina Panthers on Nov. 28, 2016, at the Oakland Coliseum.
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