by Mike Siani
“It was a great comeback for us and we did what we had to,” said Madden. “Sometimes the only thing remembered is the Sugar Bear Hamilton controversy—like we didn’t do anything and they called roughing the passer on Hamilton and that gave us the game. That’s just not true.” Final score: Raiders 24, New England 21, and on to the Super Bowl!
Only one team stood between the Raiders and the Super Bowl: their rival and nemesis, the Pittsburgh Steelers. For the third year in a row, Oakland was pitted against the Steelers for the AFC Championship. All the hype was meaningless; this was the big one and the Raiders had to win.
Madden knew his Raiders had to play a near perfect, if not perfect game.
“We’re going to have to play our best next week cause we’ve been here before and, dammit, this is a hurdle we have to get over.
“Swann, Atkinson, the Pittsburgh rivalry meant nothing at this point. But when you are this close to the Super Bowl, we can’t let this one get away from us.”
The Steelers, however, were not at full strength. Their two best running backs had been injured the week before against Baltimore.
Stabler didn’t want to hear any excuses.
“Their excuse was not having Franco [Harris] or Rocky Bleier. Coulda woulda shoulda. Take the guys you got and go. The game we lost, we didn’t have any excuses. They beat us—they beat the devil out of us. You gotta dance with the girl that you brought. No excuses!”
While having Harris and Bleier out gave the Raiders an advantage, Villapiano wanted them both to be available.
“A lot of people were saying that we were lucky we didn’t have them there. I wanted Franco and I wanted Rocky. I wanted them all. I wanted the coach to suit up. I wanted to get them all.
“All of a sudden Mr. Bigshot, Frenchy Fuqua, wasn’t good enough for them anymore. He was good enough when Jack Tatum nailed his ass and the ball bashed over to Franco, but now he wasn’t good enough. They had their people and we stuck it to them.
“I wish that game could have gone seventeen quarters. The Steelers got what they deserved. They got a good and well-deserved butt kickin’ that afternoon.”
Madden had this to say at the press conference after the Raider win:
“There was a time when we took over, there was a time when Miami had taken over, and there was a time when Pittsburgh had taken over. Now it was our time to take over and dominate them all.”
“No one can criticize us now!” said Stabler after the win.
“We had been criticized for not being able to win the big one. John and I had been criticized for not winning the big one. After the game was in hand it was like a piano falling off your back.”
The Raider crusade had ended like it had begun sixteen games earlier: with George Atkinson crossing paths with Lynn Swann. But this time the only casualty was the Steelers’ reign as World Champions.
Final score: Steelers 27, Raiders 24.
“Beating Pittsburgh was one thing, but the biggest thing was us going to the Super Bowl, and it was in California—in Pasadena!” said Madden. “And we’re gonna win it!”
“We were so excited and having so much fun!” said Stabler. “We had finally accomplished what we had wanted to. Cigars and backslapping, high fives and throwing the coach in the shower were all part of the locker room celebration.”
Madden was overjoyed, but he knew it meant nothing without a championship.
“You’re just so happy that you can’t wait to be in this position and you finally get there and you do a lot of stupid things. But I remember saying, ‘Hey, we haven’t done anything yet. If we get this far and don’t finish the job in Pasadena, we haven’t done anything this entire season.’”
* * *
The Oakland Raiders arrived at Super Bowl XI on the brink of greatness. A victory would cap one of the most remarkable seasons in the history of the game. Standing between the Raiders and their destiny were the Minnesota Vikings. Like the Raiders, the Vikings were another team who had been unable to win the big one.
John Madden’s short, pregame speech to the team will live forever in Villapiano’s memory.
“I’ll never forget what he told us in the locker room before the game. Coach Madden said, ‘This will be the single biggest event in your whole life . . . as long as you win.’”
The Raider offensive line never had a finer hour. Upshaw and Shell chewed up Minnesota’s “Purple People Eaters” and Oakland rolled up more rushing yards (266) than any other team in Super Bowl history.
Behind a wall of silver and black, the Snake was flawless—picking Minnesota apart, piece by piece.
For the Raiders, Super Bowl XI was never a contest. It was instead total domination.
This Super Bowl Sunday had been a long time coming. After sixteen victories and just one defeat, the greatness of the Raiders was indisputable. And to make this special day even more perfect, the ageless Willie Brown carried them into the history books.
“With less than five minutes to go in the game, the Vikings were on the Oakland 28-yard line when Fran Tarkenton threw a short pass to the left sideline,” said Brown. “I cut off the receiver’s route, drove to the ball, picked it off, and headed down the right sideline.
“I ran 75 yards for the score and that run turned out to be a Super Bowl record interception return.”
Final score: Raiders 32, Vikings 14.
Like all other winning Super Bowl coaches, John Madden would be carried off the field by his adoring team. John was no different except for one thing: he was a little bit heavier than most.
“John was not the smallest coach in the league, and carrying him off the field was kind of a big task even for our biggest guys,” said Stabler. “It was such a great sight to see him smile that way.”
“I was surprised they could get me up,” said Madden. “To make matters worse, the guys who were carrying me tripped over a photographer. Then it was just like an avalanche—we all fell down, which was kind of fitting. Carry the coach off and you drop him. I wouldn’t be surprised if I was the first and only coach in Super Bowl history to be dropped by his players.”
“The biggest kid of all was John and he had a whole bunch of reasons to win that Super Bowl game,” said Villapiano. “He got it done and became one of the few great coaches to be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He’s a terrific coach, and a great guy to have as a friend.”
After a decade of dominance, the Oakland Raiders had finally earned a championship ring. Madden wanted this Super Bowl ring to be different than that of any other Super Bowl team.
“Myself and the team wanted it in silver and black with a football that had more diamonds than any other team had had before and, most important, we wanted it to be bigger than the Steelers’ ring.”
“The ring was really impressive!” said Stabler. “The big stone in the middle represents Super Bowl XI and the sixteen stones that make up the football represent our sixteen victories. It has the score of the championship game with Pride on one side and Poise on the other.”
“To me,” said Villapiano, “this ring is probably the closest thing [as an object] that’s me. This ring, I’m sure, means the same thing to all of my teammates.”
Coach Madden said it all when the rings were presented to his players.
“No one can ever take it away from you. In 1976 we won this ring and it will always be ours. But bigger than the ring are the memories. You look at it and you remember all those players; not only the big stars, but all of them, and you remember how they sacrificed and what they did. You earned it be playing hard, by winning, and by being a champion.”
And that’s exactly how it was. A Super Bowl championship, a ring, and a season’s worth of memories that no one can ever take away from you.
* The Green Bay Packers were also flagged thirteen times in that game for a total of 151 yards.
MORE UNFORGETTABLE GAMES
SEA OF HANDS, GHOST TO THE POST, AND THE HOLY ROLLER
WHEN IT COMES TO profess
ional football lore, momentous events such as “The Immaculate Reception,” “Sea of Hands,” “Ghost to the Post,” and the “Holy Roller” are few and far between. For a team to experience even one of these bizarre plays would be considered incredible, but for a team such as the Oakland Raiders to experience four bizarre events, well that’s phenomenal . . . but then so were Raiders of the 1970s.
SEA OF HANDS: DECEMBER 21, 1974
AFC Divisional Playoff: Miami @ Oakland
NBC Sports’ top play-by-play telecaster, Curt Gowdy, called the 1974 AFC playoff game between the Oakland Raiders and the Miami Dolphins “the greatest game I have ever seen.”
The 52,817 present in the Oakland Coliseum knew they had witnessed an extraordinary event. Forty million television viewers shared their view.
In the early ’70s, the Miami Dolphins were as close to perfection as any NFL team could be. Following two consecutive Super Bowl titles in ’72 and ’73, the Dolphins were intent on capturing a third. However, in 1974, Miami wasn’t the only team flying its colors proudly.
The radio station that carried the Raider games in the Bay Area had promoted the game as one for which fans should wear black, carry black, and wave black. The Coliseum was transformed into an ocean of black.
“I have never heard any louder cheering in the Coliseum than when we came out to be introduced,” said Raider executive Al LoCasale. “The stadium left the ground.”
“When we came out for that game there was more excitement in the stadium than I had ever heard before,” said Madden. “Everyone had a black handkerchief and they were waving them. They were wired. We were playing the Dolphins. I’m excited and the team’s excited.
“We kick off, they get the ball, and the Coliseum went silent in an instant.
“Miami’s wide receiver Nat Moore received the short kick at the Miami 11-yard line, started up field, broke to his left and went unstopped and untouched 89 yards to the end zone for the score.
“So it’s 7–0 with only fifteen seconds off the clock and the fans haven’t even sat down yet!”
The Raiders’ fortunes went from bad to worse when their explosive passing attack failed to ignite. But while the offense let opportunities slip away, the Raiders’ defense took a firm hold on the Dolphins’ elusive running game. And when the first quarter ended, the opening kickoff return remained the only score.
The Raiders stuck with their passing game and the all-out assault from the end zone eventually paid off. Charlie Smith pulled clear of Miami’s man-to-man coverage, reached up, and pulled in a perfect pass from Stabler to complete a 31-yard touchdown play. The score was now tied at 7 apiece. And as the game wore on, the Raiders continued to focus their attention on the Dolphins’ secondary.
Miami came right back to put three points on the board on a 33-yard field goal by Garo Yepremian with 1:01 remaining in the half. Miami left the field leading 10–7.
With 11:43 remaining in the third quarter, Stabler went long to Biletnikoff from 40 yards out, but Freddy’s circus catch along the right sideline at the goal line was signaled by the referee to be out of bounds.
Madden then called for a repeat performance and this time Biletnikoff scored. Raiders 14, Dolphins 10.
“Freddy’s catch was the best catch I’ve ever seen!” said Stabler
Biletnikoff relished the pressure.
“The ball’s not always going to be perfect. The whole thing about being a receiver for me was: you gotta keep going. You may not be successful that one time. You may have to wait to make up for a mistake. Being either a success or a failure in a matter of seconds was always intriguing for me.”
Trailing for the first time, 14–10, Don Shula refueled his team’s competitiveness.
A 29-yard interference call on 3rd and 7 aided Miami and allowed a Paul Warfield TD to put the Dolphins back on top, 16–14. However, in the fourth quarter, the Raiders answered the score with a 72-yard touchdown reception by Cliff Branch. This gave Oakland the lead once more but, with time becoming a factor, Miami called upon its punishing running attack to eat up both the yardage and the clock while on its way to the Raiders end zone.
With 4:54 left in the game, Stabler threw to Cliff Branch, who was on the Miami 27. Branch dropped to the ground to make the catch, but because he was untouched by Dolphin defenders, he got up and ran from the surprised defensive backs to complete a 72-yard score. George Blanda kicked the extra point, and the score was now Raiders 21, Dolphins 19.
But with 2:08 to play, the game was far from over.
Larry Csonka muscled his way to the Oakland 23 and, on the next play, rookie running back Benny Malone ran 23 yards into the end zone to give Miami the lead once again, 26–21.
Just two minutes remained after Malone’s touchdown.
Miami fullback Larry Csonka knew just how dangerous Stabler could be.
“I was concerned because there was so much time left. I knew that Stabler had the capacity to take the ball down the field . . . and he did.”
Madden knew that Stabler thrived in pressure situations.
“When you get in a pressure situation where everything is riding on a single player, there’s no one that you’d rather have involved in that play than Kenny Stabler. He has the uncanny knack of putting the ball between people and between hands and just being able to slip things in there from all different angles and that’s just what he did.”
With time running out, Stabler dashed Miami’s hopes of a third consecutive title in dramatic fashion.
The following is an excerpt about what happened next from announcer Bill King’s broadcast of that game.
Here he is, fading, looking, looking, looking, he’s under the gun, he throws . . . it is caught! Touchdown, Clarence Davis! Unbelievable! Davis took it away from the Miami defenders with 26 seconds to go. What a finish! Stabler had to loop the ball up because he was hit as he threw. It looked like he had lobed it into the promise land for Miami. But no! Davis got their first and it was the Raiders’ promise land!
With Oakland now ahead, it was Villapiano who put the nail in the coffin.
“There was still enough time for Miami to score. Griese began to move his team down the field. With 13 seconds left in the game, and on second down from his own twenty, Griese threw a 30-yard pass to midfield and I intercepted. I ran over to John and gave him the game ball.”
Oakland’s 28–26 win brought out emotions characteristic of only the greatest of games.
Carl Taseff was a Miami assistant coach at the time. He remembers Shula’s response to the loss.
“After the game, Don just cried. He said he was so disappointed for the guys’ sake.”
For guard Bob Kuechenberg, it was the most bitter loss of his career.
“This game was the toughest loss I have ever had to endure. It’s the game I sleep with almost every night, and will forever.”
Jim Langer, the Dolphins’ center, shared his feelings about the loss.
“That was the toughest game I’ve ever been in, and the toughest loss I’ve ever been through. It was a kick in the balls.”
“We were stunned and disappointed,” said halfback Jim Kiick. “They were like enemies. Everybody disliked Oakland as a team. Basically the Raiders were disliked by everybody. But we had mutual respect for them. Yeah, they were all crazy, but I guess that’s why they were so good.”
On the final Oakland score, the ball was supposed to go to tight end Bob Moore.
“The ball was supposed to go to me. It was a tight end delay. I banged against Miami linebacker Doug Swift, but he just grabbed me—a very smart guy. I’m trying to slap him, get rid of him, fight him off, but he figured it out. So Snake had to go the other way.”
Jim Kiick was watching from the sidelines.
“It was one of those freak things. From where I was standing I was sure that Stabler was going down.”
“I think that play represents the attitude of that team,” said Stabler. “You find a way to win. It doesn’t matter how, it doesn�
��t matter who, as long as you get it done. You trust that somebody will make a play—and they did.”
GHOST TO THE POST: DECEMBER 24, 1977
AFC Divisional Playoff: Raiders @ Colts
It was the last great game in one of the last original pro football stadiums.
On a warm Christmas Eve, 60,000 Colts fans postponed holiday travel to see their team play football in a decaying shrine to fan loyalty in Baltimore, Maryland.
And if you ask anyone who was there in 1977, they might swear they saw the last autumn sun shine across Memorial Stadium. And they’ll remember the game: 76 minutes, 68 points, and nine lead changes. They will remember the last great Colts battle before everything changed—a time that will live forever on the gridiron of Baltimore past.
It was the 1977 AFC Divisional playoffs, where the Raiders and the Colts slugged it out for nearly four hours. The contest would be decided in double overtime, and would be forever remembered for one critical play: “The Ghost to the Post.”
Just before the game Madden said, “We have our work cut out for us. We have got to be solid. This tournament thing is so final, there is no tomorrow. It’s just one day, one game and that’s the way it has got to be.”
Colts coach Ted Marchibroda said, “I think we are as ready to play this one as we ever have been. It will be the type of game that will take a total team effort. They [Oakland] are the type of club that can beat you on offense, they can beat you on defense, and they can beat you with their specialty teams. They are just an excellent football team in all aspects of the game. They do not have any weaknesses.”
In 1975, the Colts had emerged from the AFC’s cellar to become one of the league’s most talented teams. Led by quarterback Bert Jones, their offense was one of the game’s most powerful while their defense featured a young and formidable pass rush.
Though Baltimore captured three consecutive division titles, by 1977 both the Colts and their fans were eager for the team to ascend to a World Championship.
Championship games were one thing the Oakland Raiders were familiar with after topping Minnesota in Super Bowl XI the previous year. For Oakland, winning was second nature.
