NT Rowe Was Key to Raiders Winning Super Bowl XI

The Oakland Raiders seemed to be in big trouble early in the 1976 season when defensive linemen Art Thoms, Horace Jones, and Tony Cline were knocked out for the rest of the year because of injuries.

However, the Raiders made a bold move after trading with the San Diego Chargers for defensive tackle Dave Rowe, replacing their 4-3 defense was 3-4 while installing the 6-7, 280-pound Rowe as the nose tackle.

It carried them through a victory over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI.

“After the injuries on our defensive line, Dave Rowe made our defense complete again,” Raiders Hall of Fame Coach John Madden said. “He plugged the middle, and we had playmakers all over the field. Going to the 3-4 was the best move we could have made.

“We already had a terrific defense, but at that time Dave Rowe was the missing piece who made our defense complete. I don’t know what we would have done without him.”

Rowe was flanked at defensive end by 6-8, 280-pound John Matuszak and 6-4, 265-pound Otis Sistrunk, while behind them at linebacker were 6-7 future Hall of Fame Ted Hendricks, 6-4 Monte Johnson, hard-hitting Phil Villapiano and unheralded Willie Hall, who made big plays all season long.

Quarterbacks had trouble throwing over the vast members of the front seven, and then guess what was waiting for them?

It was the famed secondary known as the “Soul Patrol,” which featured future Hall of Famer Willie Brown and Skip “Dr. Death” Thomas at cornerback, Jack Tatum, who should be in the Hall of Fame, and George Atkinson at safety in one of the best secondaries of all-time.

They also had the help of future Hall of Fame punter Ray Guy.

“That’s the best team I’ve ever played on,” quarterback Kenny Stabler said before he passed away in 2016. “We had so many weapons on offense that defenses couldn’t try to shut down anything or anybody without leaving me an opening elsewhere.

“And the defense made so many big plays all season to get us the ball with excellent field position. Adding Dave Rowe to the defense made a huge difference so that teams couldn’t do much against them, making it much easier for the offense.

“Obviously winning the Super Bowl was the greatest moment of my career and the defense had a lot to do with it.”

The Raiders went 13-1 during the regular season, got past the New England Patriots, the only team to beat them during the regular season, 24-21, in the first round of the playoffs at the Oakland Coliseum, routed the Pittsburgh Steelers, 24-7, in the AFC Championship Game at the Coliseum and dominated the Vikings, 32-14, in Super Bowl XI at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena.

Rowe made only two official tackles in Super Bowl XI, but he forced Viking star running back Chuck Foreman to go outside, and he rushed for only 44 yards, as Villapiano, Atkinson, and Hendricks all made six tackles.

In addition, Rowe made a one-handed deflection of a pass by quarterback Fran Tarkenton and might have returned it for a touchdown had he gotten both hands on the ball.

“It’s almost like I should have ended my career then,” said Rowe, who later was a TV sports analyst for NBC and won an Emmy, which he keeps alongside his personal Super Bowl trophy on a shelf in his office at Randolph Electric Membership Corp. in Asheboro, N.C., where he is a spokesman.

“What a moment it was to walk off that field and realize that you had accomplished a goal that you had set 10 or 12 years before.”

Rowe played four seasons with the Raiders, and while we again don’t know how many tackles he had because they were not yet official statistics, he had 7.5 sacks, and the Silver and Black compiled a 42-18 regular-season record while he was with them in the middle.

The New Orleans Saints drafted Rowe in the second round (No. 53 overall) of the 1967 NFL Draft out of Penn State, and he had 35.5 sacks in his 12 seasons with the Saints, Patriots, San Diego Chargers, Raiders, and Baltimore Colts.

But his best season came when Silver and Black first made him their man in the middle.

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