Raiders Beat Snake, Oilers On Way to Super Bowl XV Win

The 1980 Oakland Raiders became the first National Football League wild-card team to go all the way and win the Super Bowl, but not even every fan of Raider Nation remembers that it took them four games to accomplish the feat.

Everybody recalls that safety Mike Davis intercepted a pass in the end zone by quarterback Brian Sipe of the Cleveland Browns in the final minute of the game that became known as “The Mistake by the Lake,” to save the Raiders a 14-12 victory at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in the second game of the playoffs.

And in the next game, the Raiders scored early on a 65-yard deflected pass from quarterback Jim Plunkett to tight end Raymond Chester and led virtually all the way in a 34-27 upset of the San Diego Chargers at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.

And then, the Raiders dominated the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-10, in Super Bowl XV at the Louisiana Super Dome in New Orleans, when Plunkett passed for 261 yards and three touchdowns.

However, none of it would have been possible had the Raiders not got past the Houston Oilers in the wild card game.

Kenny Stabler, the greatest quarterback in Raiders history, had been traded to the Oilers before the season and led them to an 11-5 record, but in this game he threw two interceptions and was sacked seven times as the Silver and Black claimed a 27-7 victory at the Oakland Coliseum.

“The Raiders did a lot of things on defense today they never did when I was here,” a frustrated Stabler said after being sacked twice by blitzing cornerback Lester Hayes, who also had two interceptions, and also was sacked twice by safety Davis.

“They have a pressure-type defense. That’s what got them here. We didn’t handle it too well.”

Said Hayes: “We beat him (Stabler) by blitzing him from the corners.”

The Oilers took a 7-3 lead in the first quarter when star running back Earl Campbell ran one yard for a touchdown and he rushed for 91 yards in the game, but the Raiders virtually held him in check and Houston didn’t score again.

“The defense played tremendous and the offense came up with the big plays,” Raiders Coach Tom Flores said afterward. “I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a better game by a Raider defense. We were in corner blitzes on four of the times we got to him (Stabler). We know they like play-action on first down. We’ve been working on it all week."

Plunkett, who passed for 168 yards in the game, threw a touchdown pass of one yard to tight end Todd Christensen in the second quarter to give the Raiders the lead for good at 10-7, and threw a 44-yard scoring pass to wide receiver Arthur Whittington early in the fourth quarter to make it 17-7.

“It was first-down play action and we thought we could isolate Whit with a linebacker, and he beat his man, so it was almost an easy touchdown,” Plunkett said.

Added Flores: “We could see the way they defensed (other teams') three tight ends that Christensen could run a corner (pattern) on their corner and get open.”

The Raiders blew the game open in the fourth quarter with Plunkett’s touchdown pass to Whittingham, Chris Bahr’s a 37-yard field goal and clinched the victory when Hayes picked off a pass from Stabler and returned it 20 yards for the final score of the game.

Said Hayes: “There wasn’t much to that play. We were man-for-man and I just stepped in front of him.”

“That's the best I’ve seen any team play in 10 or 11 years,” Oilers Coach Bum Phillips said of the Raiders afterward.

The Silver and Black had much more to come over the next three games.

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