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The Greatest NFL Game I Ever Saw.

On December 21, 1974 I was a 12-year old kid living in the projects on the Upper East Side of New York City. I was a typical 12-year old who liked baseball, hockey and football. I collected my heroes on Topps baseball and football cards, many of which I still have.

This Saturday before Christmas I was in my room watching an NFL Playoff game between the Miami Dolphins and the Oakland Raiders on a black and white TV. It would be at least five more years before we got a color TV.

I actually liked the Dolphins. What was not to like? Whey were winners and they had the best running back in the league, Larry Csonka who along with his quarterback, Bob Griese, wide receiver Paul Warfield, linemen Jim Langer and Larry Little and their coach Don Shula, would eventually make it to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton.

The Dolphins were the two-time defending World Champions, having won Super Bowls, VII and VIII. Their appearance in Super Bowl VI, made it three straight Super Bowl appearances. This feat something no other team had accomplished to date.

The Raiders of the early ‘70s, while a league powerhouse, could never get over that playoff hump and into the Super Bowl. They would run into a better team in the playoffs, usually the Pittsburgh Steelers, who would send them home for the season. Their roster was stacked with future Hall of Famers as well. Wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff, center Jim Otto, offensive linemen, Art Shell and Gene Upshaw, coach John Madden, the ageless wonder George Blanda and even their owner, the original maverick himself, Al Davis would all get busts in Canton.

The 1974 campaign saw the Raiders finish with a 12-2 record, best in the league. They would be ready for the playoffs this year. Things would be different.

When I saw the Raiders come out of the tunnel in those black uniforms with the silver numbers and lettering, I was hooked. My allegiance to the Dolphins was over. These Raiders looked like total bad asses, lead by their left-handed quarterback, Ken “The Snake” Stabler. And as history would prove, they were bad asses! For reference look up: Ben Davidson-Joe Namath: broken jaw as a starting point.

As the game kicked off, the Dolphins Nat Moore, who wore number 89, settled under the ball and promptly returned it 89 yards. After the extra point was successful, it was 7-0 Dolphins. A stunned Oakland Coliseum crowd, most of who were just settling into their seats, was silent.

The score remained 7-0 through the first quarter. In the second quarter, the Raiders finally broke through for a score when Stabler hit Charlie Smith with a 31-yard pass to knot the game at 7-all. Later in the quarter Garo Yepremian kicked a 33-yard field goal to send the Dolphins into the locker room with a 10-3 halftime lead.

The second half would be one for the ages. The lead would change hands five times. Oakland started the scoring when Stabler hit Biletnikoff who made an unbelievable circus- like catch in the end zone. The 13-yard strike put the Raiders up 14-10. Miami would counter with a Griese to Warfield hook up of 16 yards for a 16-14 lead (the PAT failed) as the teams headed into the final quarter.

Yepremian added to the Miami lead with a 46-yard field goal. Cliff Branch, one of the fastest human beings I have ever seen on a football field hauled in a Stabler pass for a 72-yard scoring strike and a 21-19 Oakland lead. The Dolphins would jump ahead 26-21 when Benny Malone scampered 23 yards for a score with just over two minutes remaining. Things looked bleak for the Raiders as well as in apartment 8-A in the projects.

But what would this story be without a happy ending? Stabler marched his team down the field. With just 26 ticks of the clocks left, and the Raiders on the Miami 8-yard line, The Snake dropped back to pass, he scrambled and eventually let a pass fly. As Stabler was releasing the ball he was hit from behind by Miami defensive end Vern Den Herder and was falling to the ground. Miraculously the ball found its way between three Miami defenders and into the hands of Clarence Davis. Touchdown Raiders!

Later Stabler called it a “dumb play.”

When asked why it was dumb , he said, “It was first down.”

Dumb, lucky or a combination of both, I didn’t care. I began screaming and hollering which caused my mother to rush in to my room and ask what was the matter.

“Ma, you gotta see this play,” I urged her.

“What play? What are you talking about? Oh the football game,” she said nonchalantly.

She had no idea that her son had just witnessed the greatest football game he had ever seen.

The Raiders would go on to lose the following week the Pittsburgh Steelers, 24-13, in the AFC Championship Game.

The following season, the Raiders would compile an 11-3 record and go on to lose to the Steelers again in the AFC Championship Game. Are you beginning to see a pattern here?

The 1976 season would see the Raiders lose only once during the regular season for a 13-1 mark, the best record in the league. A divisional playoff win over the New England Patriots, the only team to beat the Raiders that season, set up another AFC Championship showdown with the Steelers.

Many football fans and historians, consider the 1976 Steelers team to be the best team the franchise has ever fielded. That squad finished a respectable 10-4 and took first place in the AFC Central. Of the 14 games the team played, five were shutouts, including a five week stretch where they didn’t allow their opponents a touchdown. All totaled, the Steeler defense didn’t allow a touchdown in eight of the 14 regular season games they played.

On the day after Christmas, 1976 it was the Raiders defense who played like champions. They held the Steelers to 72 rushing yards as they went on to win 24-7 for their second Super Bowl appearance and first since the NFL-AFL merger. They would go on to beat the Minnesota Vikings, 32-14 in Super Bowl XI.