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1977 Oakland Raiders season

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1977 Oakland Raiders season
OwnerAl Davis
General managerAl Davis
Head coachJohn Madden
Home fieldOakland–Alameda County Coliseum
Results
Record11–3
Division place2nd AFC West
Playoff finishWon Divisional Playoffs
(at Colts) 37–31 (2OT)
Lost AFC Championship
(at Broncos) 17–20
The Raiders playing the Broncos in the 1977-78 AFC Championship Game.

The 1977 Oakland Raiders season was the team's 18th season overall, and 8th season since joining the NFL. The Raiders entered the season as the defending Super Bowl champions. The team could not improve on their 13-1 record from last year and finished 11-3, which was only good enough for second place in the AFC West next to the Denver Broncos, who won twelve games (the two split victories over each other in the regular season).

The Raiders reached the AFC Championship Game for the fifth consecutive season, and their sixth in eight years. They lost the AFC Championship, however, to the division rival Denver Broncos.[1] This marked the seventh time in ten seasons that the Raiders' season ended one game short of the Super Bowl. They did not return to the AFC Championship for the next two seasons.

The 1977 Raiders set a professional football record with 681 rushing attempts.[2] Fullback Mark van Eeghen 324 times for 1273 yards, and running back Clarence Davis ran 194 times for 787 yards.[3]

Offseason

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NFL Draft

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1977 Oakland Raiders Draft
Round Selection Player Position College
2 35 Mike Davis DB Colorado
2 56 Ted McKnight RB Minnesota-Duluth
4 112 Mickey Marvin OG Tennessee
5 126 Lester Hayes DB Texas A&M
5 139 Jeff Barnes LB California
7 190 Rich Martini WR California-Davis
8 223 Terry Robiskie RB Louisiana State
12 317 Rod Martin LB Southern California
12 334 Rolf Benirschke PK California-Davis

Roster

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1977 Oakland Raiders roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL)

Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams

Reserve


Rookies in italics

Source:

Regular season

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Schedule

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Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance
1 September 18 San Diego Chargers W 24–0 1–0 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 51,022
2 September 25 at Pittsburgh Steelers W 16–7 2–0 Three Rivers Stadium 50,398
3 October 3 at Kansas City Chiefs W 37–28 3–0 Arrowhead Stadium 60,684
4 October 9 at Cleveland Browns W 26–10 4–0 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 80,236
5 October 16 Denver Broncos L 7–30 4–1 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 53,616
6 October 23 at New York Jets W 28–27 5–1 Shea Stadium 56,734
7 October 30 at Denver Broncos W 24–14 6–1 Mile High Stadium 75,007
8 November 6 Seattle Seahawks W 44–7 7–1 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 50,929
9 November 13 Houston Oilers W 34–29 8–1 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 53,667
10 November 20 at San Diego Chargers L 7–12 8–2 San Diego Stadium 50,887
11 November 28 Buffalo Bills W 34–13 9–2 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 51,558
12 December 4 at Los Angeles Rams L 14–20 9–3 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 67,075
13 December 11 Minnesota Vikings W 35–13 10–3 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 52,771
14 December 18 Kansas City Chiefs W 21–20 11–3 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 50,304
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Results

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Week 1

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Quarter 1 2 34Total
Chargers 0 0 000
Raiders 7 10 7024

at Oakland Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California

  • Game time: 1:00 p.m.
  • Game weather: 66 °F (19 °C) (24.4 °C), wind 11 mph (18 km/h)
  • Box Score

Week 2

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1 234Total
• Raiders 0 907 16
Steelers 0 007 7

[4]

Week 3

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1 234Total
• Raiders 7 6213 37
Chiefs 0 2107 28

[5]

Week 6

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1 234Total
• Raiders 14 0014 28
Jets 13 1400 27

[6]

Week 11

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1 234Total
Bills 3 730 13
• Raiders 13 7140 34

[7]

Week 13

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Oakland capitalizing on Minnesota mistakes, scored three times in the first 8 minutes and kept their hopes for a playoff berth alive. "We Got Stomped", Vikings coach Bud Grant said after his team had lost a total of five fumbles and had three passes intercepted. Ken Stabler threw three touchdown passes one to Carl Garrett for 2 yards, and two others to Cliff Branch from 32 and 10 yards. Mark Van Eeghan who rushed for 112 yards on 28 yards got the Raiders day going with a 2-yard touchdown run. While Willie Hall of Super Bowl XI fame scored a fumble recovery touchdown off a Tommy Kramer blunder.

Standings

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AFC West
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Denver Broncos(1) 12 2 0 .857 6–1 11–1 274 148 L1
Oakland Raiders(4) 11 3 0 .786 5–2 10–2 351 230 W2
San Diego Chargers 7 7 0 .500 3–4 6–6 222 205 L2
Seattle Seahawks 5 9 0 .357 1–3 4–9 282 373 W2
Kansas City Chiefs 2 12 0 .143 1–6 1–11 225 349 L6

Playoffs

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Oakland made the playoffs as a wild card and won its divisional round game against the Baltimore Colts when Errol Mann tied the game with a late field goal, set up by a pass to tight end Dave Casper, a play known as the Ghost to the Post. In the second overtime, Casper caught another touchdown pass for the victory.[8][9][10] The following week on New Year's Day, they lost the AFC Championship Game 20–17 in Denver.[1][11][12][13]

Round Date Opponent Result Attendance
Divisional December 24 at Baltimore Colts W 37–312OT
60,763
AFC Championship January 1 at Denver Broncos L 17–20
74,982

Statistics

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Passing

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Player Comp Att Yards TD INT
Ken Stabler 169 294 2176 20 20

[14]

Rushing

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Player Att Yards TD
Ken Stabler 3 −3

[14]

Receiving

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Player Rec Yards TD
Dave Casper 48 584 6
Cliff Branch 33 540 6
Fred Biletnikoff 33 446 5

[14]

References

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  1. ^ a b Jenkins, Dan (January 9, 1978). "Wholly Moses for Denver". Sports Illustrated. p. 14.
  2. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com: In a single season, from 1978 to 2011, in the regular season, sorted by descending Rushing Att
  3. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com: 1977 Oakland Raiders
  4. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com
  5. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com
  6. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Mar-10.
  7. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com
  8. ^ Reid, Ron (January 2, 1978). "The Ghost to the Post". Sports Illustrated. p. 12.
  9. ^ Livingston, Pat (December 25, 1977). "Oakland stops Baltimore, 37-31". Pittsburgh Press. p. D1.
  10. ^ "Suddenly, the Raiders win a 37-31 decision". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire service reports. December 25, 1977. p. 3C.
  11. ^ "Broncos turn a dream into Super reality". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). wire service reports. January 2, 1978. p. 1B.
  12. ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com
  13. ^ Howitt, Bruce (January 2, 1978). "Denver and Dallas in Super shoot-out". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. p. 1B.
  14. ^ a b c Pro-Football-Reference.com
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