Super Bowl XV Highlight of Raiders-Eagles History
The Philadelphia Eagles come to Allegiant Stadium for the first time on Sunday to take on the Las Vegas Raiders (4-2). The Raiders will play their second game under interim head coach Rich Bisaccia after beating the Denver Broncos, 34-24, last Sunday.
The Eagles (2-4) after losing four of their last five games) hold a 7-6 lead in the all-time series against the Silver and Black that dates to 1971, when the Raiders won, 34-10, at the Oakland Coliseum after falling behind 10-0 at halftime but scoring the last 34 points.
However, there is no question that the Raiders won the biggest game the teams have played, dominating the favored Eagles, 27-10, in the Louisiana Superdome at the end of the 1980 season to become the first wild card team to win the Super Bowl after losing to the Eagles, 10-7, earlier in the season.
Jim Plunkett, who started the season on the bench but took over at quarterback after Dan Pastorini sustained a right knee injury in the fifth game, threw touchdown passes of two yards to wide receiver Cliff Branch and 80 yards to running back Kenny King to give the Raiders a 14-0 lead and the Eagles were never really in Super Bowl XV after that.
King got behind the Eagles defense on the left sideline and caught Plunkett’s 20-yard pass on the run and went untouched all the way to the end zone.
Plunkett added a 29-yard touchdown pass to Branch to make it 21-3 in the third quarter and Chris Bahr chipped in with field goals of 46 and 35 yards in the second half to put the finishing touches on the victory.
That gave the Raiders a 2-1 record in the Super Bowl after they beat the Minnesota Vikings, 32-14, in SB XI at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena after the 1976 season, and lost to the Green Bay Packers, 33-14, in Super Bowl II.
“(Managing General Partner) Al Davis didn’t say anything special to us that week about the game, other than the fact that he knew we could win it,” said Plunkett, who later helped lead the Raiders to a 38-9 rout of the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII.
“It wasn’t our job to get caught up in the legalities. We just had to go out and play Raider football.”
Davis was tied up in legal action with the National Football League at the time as he was trying to move the Raiders from Oakland to Los Angeles, which he eventually did in 1982.
Plunkett completed 13-of-21 passes for 261 yards and the three touchdowns without an interception as the Raiders kept their minds on football, with fullback Mark van Eeghen giving balance to the offense with 75 yards rushing on 18 carries. Branch added five receptions for 67 yards and fellow wide receiver Bob Chandler had four catches for 77 yards.
The Raiders defense terrorized quarterback Ron Jaworski of the Eagles all day, and even though they were unable to sack him, Jaworski threw three interceptions—all to linebacker Rod Martin, who set a Super Bowl record.
“The Eagles somehow felt they could exploit Rod Martin,” linebacker Ted Hendricks said after the game. “They decided to attack the right side of our defense, away from me. They tested Rod the whole game, and all they got out of it was three interceptions.”
The Raiders won three of the first four games they played against the Eagles, but now Philadelphia has won three of the last four to take the series lead.
The Eagles claimed a 19-10 victory over the Raiders in 2017 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia to take the series lead, despite a 63-yard pass from Derek Carr to Amari Cooper that tied the score, 7-7, in the second quarter.
However, longtime members of Raider Nation are satisfied that the Silver and Black won by far the biggest game the two teams have played.
Of course, that was Super Bowl XV, and the crowning glory came when NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle—Davis’ rival since he was AFL Commissioner during the Pro Football War—had to present him with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after the game.
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