41 Years Ago Today the Raiders Were the Super Wild Card
The Las Vegas Raiders made an impressive surge down the stretch this season by winning four straight games to earn a Wild Card berth, but unfortunately, they didn’t come close to the achievement of the 1980 Oakland Raiders.
It was 41 years ago today, on Jan. 25, 1981, that the Raiders overpowered the favored Philadelphia Eagles, 27-10, in Super Bowl XV at the Superdome in New Orleans to become the first Wild Card team to capture the Super Bowl.
That capped a brilliant 4-0 run through the NFL playoffs.
Managing General Partner Al Davis was attempting to move the Raiders to Los Angeles, which he eventually did, but a court order issued earlier that year forced the Silver and Black to play one more season in Oakland.
The Raiders did not let the distraction of Davis’ battle with the NFL get in their way.
“The relocations and legal actions were never allowed to become major distractions to our players and coaches,” said Raiders Hall of Fame Coach Tom Flores, who three years later would lead the Silver and Black to another victory in Super Bowl XVIII. “Al Davis would never let these things be distractions.
“The main purpose was for us to win. Anything 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.”
The Raiders also had to overcome the loss of starting quarterback Dan Pastorini to a broken leg early in the season, but Jim Plunkett, the 1970 Heisman Trophy winner from Stanford, would step in a lead the Silver and Black to the Promised Land.
The Eagles beat the Raiders, 10-7, earlier in the season in Philadelphia but Oakland, 11-5 during the regular season, won 13 of its last 15 games—including 27-7 over the Houston Oilers in the Wild Card game; 14-12, over the Cleveland Browns on safety Mike Davis’ gave-saving end-zone interception in the final minute of a divisional playoff game, and a stunning 34-27 upset of the San Diego Chargers in the AFC Championship Game.
To the surprise of many outside of Raider Nation, it was much the same in the Super Bowl, as Plunkett threw three touchdown passes and linebacker Rod Martin intercepted three passes as Oakland rolled to that 27-10 victory before 76,135 fans.
It started on the first series of the game when Martin picked off Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski’s first pass of the game and returned it 17 yards to the Philadelphia 30. Seven plays later, Plunkett threw a two-yard touchdown pass to Cliff Branch and the Raiders had a 7-0 lead with 8:46 left in the first quarter.
The Eagles, who were 14-4 entering the game, would never catch up.
“The Eagles somehow felt they could exploit Rod Martin,” said Raiders linebacker Ted Hendricks, a future member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “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.”
In the final minute of the first quarter, the Raiders scored again when Plunkett scrambled before hitting running back Kenny King 20 yards down the left sideline, and King ran untouched for an 80-yard touchdown.
“I was running a simple six-yard pattern when I saw Plunkett scramble,” said King, who caught the pass that defensive back Herm Edwards reached for and missed. “I took off up the field. The linebacker dropped me when he saw Plunkett scrambling, and Jim got me the ball.”
The Eagles managed a 30-yard field goal by Tony Franklin in the second quarter, but Hendricks blocked a 28-yard try by Franklin and it was 14-3 at halftime, and the Raiders broke it open in the third quarter.
Plunkett, who was sacked eight times by the Eagles in that previous meeting, threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Branch, Chris Bahr added a 46-yard field goal to make it 24-3 and it was virtually all over with one quarter to play.
“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 completed 13-of-21 passes for 261 yards including the three touchdowns and was voted the game’s Most Valuable Player.
“It wasn’t our job to get caught up in the legalities. We just had to go out and play Raider football.”
Branch led the Raiders with five catches for 67 yards and two scores, while Chandler had four for 77, and fullback Mark van Eeghen rushed for 75 yards on 18 carries behind a line led by future Hall of Famers Art Shell and Gene Upshaw.
The Raiders limited Jaworski to 291 passing yards as he completed only 18-of-38 passes while throwing the three picks to Martin, although the guy they called “Jaws” threw a meaningless eight-yard touchdown pass to tight end Keith Krepele in the fourth quarter.
Oakland also limited running back Wilbert Montgomery to 44 yards on 16 carries.
“We deserve to be the World Champions, and I’m proud of you,” Flores told his team after the game. “I love it. This is the greatest moment of my life. I’m very proud of this bunch of guys. We won the game, we were the best team.”
No one could argue.
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