by Mike Siani
Final score: Oakland 34, San Diego 27.
SUPER BOWL XV
New Orleans during Super Bowl week was filled with distractions. For the Oakland Raiders, it was business as usual—even if business as usual meant breaking curfew for John Matuszak. Just ask Matt Millen.
“Did John show up late? Yeah. Was he late for practice? Yeah. Was he out on the town? Yeah. To John it was another regular season game. He was going to do that regardless.”
According to Matuszak, things tightened up during the Super Bowl.
“Now this is a Super Bowl game, and things are a lot different when it comes to Super Bowl. A lot of things tighten up like the gluteus maximus tightening up. You can’t even get a blade of grass up there—some people.”
Matuszak was referring to Eagles coach Dick Vermeil. Vermeil publicly criticized John’s off-field behavior and put strict team rules into effect.
“They could not go to Bourbon Street,” said John. “They couldn’t go into the French Quarter. We also heard that there were curfews and mandatory meetings at night. There was a tremendous amount of pressure on the Raiders because the Eagles were known for how they could not go and do things and have fun. We felt we had the burden of all the other teams to knock them off their perch.”
“The first night Tom gave us no curfew and let us go out and get it out of our system, but a lot of the guys had large systems, and it took a few days to get it out of their systems,” said Plunkett. Matuszak was one of those guys.
“The first night of curfew, there’s no Matuszak,” said Upshaw. “He staggers on the bus as we are leaving to go to the press conference. We asked, ‘Tooz, where have you been.’ He said, ‘I was out.’ And he looked like it.
“‘Tooz, after all the discussions we had in practice and we all decided it’s time to get serious and we have work to do—and you go out!’ His response was, ‘I went out to make sure that nobody else was out.’ That was what he said and then he sat down. And that was that.”
Tom Flores tolerated the late nights as long as the Raiders performed at practice. But Matt Millen got a little overexcited during those practices.
“Our practices were brutal! I got into a fight with Mickey Marvin. I tried to kill him. I head-butted him into oblivion. I was letting everything out. It felt so good to be on the field.”
By game day, not even world events could shake the Raiders’ focus.
“We drove to the Superdome and there was a big yellow ribbon around the Superdome,” said Millen. “‘What the heck is that up there for?’ I asked. They said, ‘The hostages are free!’ I was so focused as to what was going on that I didn’t have a clue what was going on in the world. Some would say that was great concentration; others would have said, ‘The kid needs a little perspective.’
“But our job was to play one more football game—and to go to that game and not be prepared to play would have just been awful for what we had already accomplished. It wouldn’t have meant anything.”
“It was a such great feeling!” said Plunkett. I was so proud to run out on that field. It was like a storybook finish all coming to a head!”
“In some ways the Super Bowl was anticlimactic because the best team in football, we thought, were the San Diego Chargers,” said Millen.
“I was ready the moment I stepped on that field,” said Plunkett. “I still had something to prove to myself and to whomever else didn’t believe in me.”
In just three months, Jim Plunkett had gone from Heisman bust to Super Bowl savior. His three touchdown passes capped one of the greatest personal comebacks in NFL history.
“Jim Plunkett had a masterful game and Rod Martin had a game for the ages,” said Millen. “He was everywhere. He had three interceptions. He played as good a Super Bowl as any defender has ever played. He did not get the MVP—Jim Plunkett got the honor—but Rod deserved it just as much.”
Upshaw felt that Plunkett was due.
“I felt really good for Jim because he had paid his dues just like anyone else, but it meant a lot to him to be the guy that led us to that Super Bowl.”
Plunkett finally got the monkey off his back.
“It was a great feeling. I finally accomplished something that everyone in the NFL wants to do.”
With the game finally over, the only suspense that remained was whether the tension that remained between Rozelle and Davis would affect the presentation of the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
Al had a talk with his players prior to the presentation.
“I will never forget him telling us to be gentlemen and show respect in the locker room,” said Upshaw.
Al’s main purpose was to win. Tom Flores and his team only talked about football—nothing else.
“The relocations and legal actions were never allowed to become major distractions to our players and coaches,” said Flores. “Al Davis would never let these things be distractions. The main purpose was for us to win. Everything else was secondary, and Al would take care of that in his own time. The team never talked about anything but football—winning football. This is a very courageous bunch of guys. They absolutely refused to believe anything but that they could win.”
Flores addressed the squad and staff in the crowded Louisiana Superdome locker room after the win.
“We won the game. We were the best team. We deserve to be the World Champions, and I’m proud of you. I love it. This is the greatest moment of my life. I’m very proud of this bunch of guys.”
The final word on this great season by the underdog Raiders belonged to the boss—to Al Davis—as he accepted the Super Bowl trophy from NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle.
“You know when you look back on the glory of the Oakland Raiders, this was our finest hour . . . to Tom Flores, the coaches, and the great athletes, you were magnificent out there . . . take pride and be proud. Your commitment to excellence and your will to win will endure forever. You were magnificent!”
Matt Millen had a surreal moment after the team’s victory.
“We won the Super Bowl. We all flew out back to Oakland. They were going to have a parade. I wanted to get home. I sat in my mom’s living room and turned the news on, and there were my teammates in the parade. And I sat there and I thought, ‘Was I even there? Did you even play that game?’ Because it didn’t seem real. Everything happened so fast and you don’t really appreciate it. I really think that it should be mandatory for every team that wins the Super Bowl to take one day—players and coaches only—to go back to their facility, get a bunch of food, and sit down and watch the film together as a group so you could enjoy what you did. I think if you did that it would be awesome because that’s the one time you don’t have to worry about the next game. You did it—you finally did it.”
Seventeen months after winning Super Bowl XV, the Raiders moved to Los Angeles. They returned to Oakland in 1995.
In 1983, Jim Plunkett led the Raiders to another championship in Super Bowl XVIII. He retired after the 1986 season.
OAKLAND RAIDERS OF THE 1970S IN THE PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME
*Went into the Hall of Fame as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles
EPILOGUE
YOU EITHER LOVED THEM or hated them, but those Oakland Raiders of the 1970s under the guidance of Coach John Madden were an entertaining cast of characters in the guise of one of the greatest NFL teams of their era.
Throughout the decade of the 1970s, the Raiders won 71.5 percent of their games. They lost 38 games, one fewer than either the Steelers or Cowboys. Both Oakland and Pittsburgh played in six conference championship games in the ’70s. They also produced ten players, one owner, and a head coach that would be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
It has been long argued that ’70s quarterback Kenny Stabler and wide receiver Cliff Branch should also be enshrined in the Hall, as well as Coach Tom Flores, quarterback Jim Plunkett, and defensive back Lester Hayes. It’s a compelling argument that needs to be reviewed by the HOF voting committee.
A to
tal of twenty retired quarterbacks were named to the NFL’s All Decade teams ranging from the 1930s through the 1990s. The only two quarterbacks not enshrined in Canton from those teams are Kenny Stabler and the Packers’ Cecil Isbell, who played for Green Bay in the 1930s and 1940s.
But even with all of those Hall of Fame players, they only had one Super Bowl victory that decade. The Raiders enshrined are one more than that of the Steelers, who won four Super Bowls in the 1970s. It is also three more than the Cowboys, who appeared in a record five Super Bowls that decade, winning two.
With all that talent it’s felt that they should have played in more Super Bowls than the Cowboys and won more than the Steelers . . . but that was not to be.
So the question remains: Were the Oakland Raiders of the 1970s a great team? Were they as great on the field—individually or collectively—as their image portrays?
That’s for you, dear reader, to be the judge of.
REFERENCES
Books
America’s Game, Michael MacCambridge, Anchor Books, 2004.
Badasses: The Legend of Snake, Foo, Dr. Death, and John Madden’s Oakland Raiders, Peter Richmond, HarperCollins, 2010.
Blanda: Alive and Kicking—The Exclusive, Authorized Biography, Wells Twombly, Nash Publishing, 1972.
Crusin’ with the Tooz, John Matuszak with Steve Delsohn, Franklin Watts, 1987.
The Garner Files, James Garner and Jon Winokur, Simon & Schuster, 2011.
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly, Steven Travers, Triumph Books, 2008.
Hey, Wait a Minute (I Wrote a Book!), John Madden with Dave Anderson, Villard, 1984.
Jim Otto: The Pain of Glory, Jim Otto with Dave Newhouse, Sports Publishing Inc., 1979.
Just Win, Baby, Glenn Dickey, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1991.
The League: The Rise and Decline of the NFL, David Harris, Bantam, 1986.
Raiders Forever, John Lombardo, Contemporary Books, 2001.
Slick: The Silver and Black Life of Al Davis, Mark Ribowsky, Macmillan, 1991.
Snake, Ken Stabler and Berry Stainback, Doubleday, 1986.
Stadium Stories: The Oakland Raiders—Colorful Tales of the Silver and Black, Tom LaMarre, Globe Pequot Press, 2005.
Tales from the Oakland Raiders: A Collection of the Greatest Stories Ever Told, Tom Flores with Matt Fulks, Sports Publishing, 2003.
They Call Me Assassin, Jack Tatum with Bill Kushner, Everest House, 1979.
Periodicals
“Al Davis Isn’t as Bad as He Thinks He Is,” Gary Smith, Inside Sports, May 31, 1981.
“Raider Nation,” Pat Toomay, ESPN.com.
Newspapers
Boston Globe
Dallas Morning News
New York Daily News
New York Times
Oakland Tribune
Internet
Dallas Morning News
“’70s Raiders had Hall of Fame talent, but were they great?”
by Rick Gosselin
www.dallasnews.com/incoming/20101019-70s-Raiders-had-Hall-of-9392.ece
November 3, 2010 (Accessed on April 2, 2015)
Denver Post
“Broncos RB Rob Lytle: Did he fumble against the Raiders? Well . . .”
by Terry Frei
http://blogs.denverpost.com/broncos/2013/09/22/broncos-lytle/21828/
September 22, 2013
ESPN
“Notorious Image Sticks with these Raiders”
by Jeffri Chadiha
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/cheat/news/story?id=2957892
August 9, 2007 (Accessed on April 6, 2015)
NFL Deadspin
“The 1970s Oakland Raiders: Boozin’ and Coozin’ Through El Rancho”
by Peter Richmond
http://deadspin.com/5646039/the-1970s-oakland-raiders-boozin-and-coozin-through-el-rancho
September 23, 2010 (Accessed on May 3, 2015)
Sun-Sentinel
“Raiders’ Camp Was Wild Affair”
by Charles Bricker
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2002-08-11/sports/0208100340_1_phil-villapiano-hells-angels-raiders-quarterback
August 11, 2002
DVDs
America’s Game: The 1980 Oakland Raiders.
America’s Game: The Immaculate Reception.
America’s Game: The Story of the 1976 Raiders—The Super Bowl Champions.
A Football Life: Al Davis, NFL Network.
A Football Life: The Immaculate Reception, NFL Network
Raiders: The Complete History, NFL Productions, 2004.
Raiders Season Highlights: 1970–1979, NFL Films.
Rebels of Oakland: The A’s, the Raiders, the ’70s, HBO Studio Productions, 2003.
