BEGINNING THE NEW DECADE ON A HIGH NOTE: SUPER BOWL XV

1980: ANOTHER INCREDIBLE SEASON AND SUPER BOWL XV

From 1967 through 1977, the Oakland Raiders won nine division titles, a Vince Lombardi trophy, and the reputation of being the most feared team in the NFL.

But by the end of the ’70s, the silver and black were in decline. After not making the playoffs in ’78 and ‘79, Oakland made major changes to compete for a title in 1980. Still, most experts picked them to finish last in the AFC West.

Even though fifteen new players joined the team, Oakland retained their trademark of “Just Win, Baby.”

Veteran guard Gene Upshaw maintained his leadership role and rookie linebacker Matt Millen brought not only youth to the Raiders organization, but physical intensity.

Another new face was that of a former Heisman Trophy winner and number-one draft pick whose career in 1978 had hit rock bottom.

Stanford quarterback Jim Plunkett was drafted by the New England Patriots as the number-one pick of the 1971 NFL draft. The former Heisman Trophy winner spent five uneventful years with the Patriots and two more mediocre years with the 49ers before he was given a second chance with the Raiders.

“Talk about low points,” said Plunkett. “Here I was a first-round draft choice just seven years earlier—out of football. Talk about depression. I didn’t know what to do with myself. Maybe I should quit football altogether and seek employment elsewhere? It was a very difficult time in my life.”

But Gene Upshaw and the rest of the Raiders knew Plunkett had talent.

“We knew he could play. I can remember him being a number-one pick out of Stanford. The Raiders go back to New England to play him in his first game and he beats us.”

Jim still felt he could still play football.

“Even though I was down in the dumps and things weren’t going well for me, I still knew I could play ball. All I needed was another opportunity.”

They don’t call Oakland “the league of lost souls” for nothing. And because of that, Plunkett got the chance to redeem himself with the Raiders.

“It’s always a group that was seen as a renegade group—the halfway house of the NFL—guys who didn’t fit anywhere else,” said Upshaw. “And they always seemed to come to the Raiders and thrive. And it was a simple reason why it always seemed to work. Al Davis always gave you a chance to be you. We used to tell all the players, ‘There ain’t many stops after you leave here.’”

Plunkett felt comfortable with Al Davis.

“Everywhere you’ve gone you’ve been labeled as a savior. You’ve been brought in to help turn this team around. That wasn’t the case with Oakland. Davis told me that he wanted me to sit back, watch and learn our offense, and get myself prepared.”

Entering the 1980 season, Plunkett was the Raiders’ backup behind Dan Pastorini, who was his high school rival in Northern California, and the man selected two spots after Plunkett in the 1971 draft.

“I had just about had it,” said Jim. “Two years on the bench. Stabler was gone and they were now bringing in Pastorini—another strong-armed quarterback.”

Even with his past struggles, Plunkett was not happy with being a bench warmer.

“He didn’t like sitting on the bench,” said Madden. “He wanted to get in a play. It’s no fun to come to practice every day, work as hard as you work, and never get a chance to show it on Sunday and help your team win football games.”

One player expected to help Oakland win right away was a six-two, 250-pound Penn State lineman turned linebacker Matt Millen. Oakland had selected him in the second round of the 1980 NFL draft.

While the team was revered throughout the league, Millen wasn’t really familiar with the organization.

“I didn’t know much about the Raiders. I knew them by reputation only. I knew they were a rogue outfit. When I arrived to Oakland there was a sign that hung above our old locker room that said:

Raiders Rules

Raiders Rule #1: Cheating Is Encouraged

Raiders Rule #2: See Rule #1

According to Gene Upshaw, the Raiders’ rules were known only to the Raiders.

“It was something we said among ourselves when we would be out and away from the game. If we were playing golf, if we were playing shuffleboard—whatever was going on, the old saying was, ‘If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.’

“You laughed about it until you realized that what they were saying is, ‘Find a way to get it done.’ If someone is holding you, how do you make them stop? You need to talk to the official? Fine. You need to grab them by the throat? Great. You need to punch them in the throat—whatever you need to do, get it done. Is that cheating? Well, I read Raiders Rule #1. Is that cheating; no, actually it was not. I learned very early that every game has its own set of rules and every officiating crew calls them differently. Whatever those rules were that day, you learned them fast and then you learned how to skirt them.”

Whether the Raiders cheated or not didn’t matter. Few thought Oakland would win in 1980.

Matt Millen’s hopes were not high for the 1980 season.

“I really didn’t have very high expectations regarding Oakland because, the day I was drafted, I was quickly informed by the media that the Raiders weren’t going to be very good that year.”

But in 1980, the only surprise bigger than the Oakland Raiders would be the player who ended up leading them back to the Super Bowl.

A lineman in college, Matt Millen had six weeks in training camp to learn how to play middle linebacker. Millen made an impression on both his coaches and teammates almost immediately.

Gene Upshaw talks about Matt’s intensity during training camp.

“Matt Millen in training camp . . . now that has to be one experience you could never forget! That was because Matt Millen thought that every day was game day; he thought every play was a game, and he thought they were voting for the Pro Bowl every time he came onto the field. The guy is coming in full speed, and we don’t even have pads on, going right at Shell and myself. We’re thinking, ‘What’s wrong with this guy? Where did he come from?’”

“Art and Gene took me under their wing the moment I got there,” said Millen. “I was like their little puppy.”

“The guy was nuts and he would have something called ‘arm parties’ where he would bring this bar into the room and he and a couple of other guys would do curls at night until they couldn’t lift their arms,” said Upshaw. “He would do this all during training camp!”

“Gene and Art would tell me to just be aggressive,” said Millen. “You need to get that huddle straightened out over there. When I stepped into the huddle, they listened to me. They wanted somebody to take over. So, hey, I took over since no one else was going to.”

While he was having a successful camp, Millen’s ability to lead the defense faced an early obstacle.

“I was so proud to have a form-fitted mouthpiece. I brought it with me from Penn State and it fit in my mouth there perfectly. Kick ’em in the Head Ted Hendricks came walking over to me and said, ‘You got that mouthpiece?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ He goes, ‘Is that one of those form-fit mouthpieces?’ ‘Yeah, I got it at Penn State.’ He goes, ‘Let me see that thing.’ I showed it to him and he threw it and it went flying. I said, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ He goes, ‘I can’t understand a damn thing you’re saying. Don’t wear any mouthpiece of any kind. Just yell it out!’ That was the end of my form-fitting mouthpiece.”

There were always guys who did crazy things but they just fit right in. They might be crazy somewhere else, but they weren’t crazy for the Raiders.

John Matuszak had his own philosophy about the Raiders image.

“When you say I epitomize the Raiders, and then you say the Raiders aren’t very well liked, I guess you are trying to say that the Raiders, as well as John Matuszak, have always been controversial.”

Like the franchise he played for, Matt Millen was never afraid to tell it like it was.

“I didn’t know anything about John Matuszak other than he was supposed to be nuts. And he didn’t disappoint.”

Matuszak had his own thoughts on the game of football.

“It’s the closest thing to being a lion or a cheetah or a hawk that there is. It’s the most beautiful but the most brutal game in the world.”

The Raiders loved to have fun but they also knew how to work hard.

“Were they a bunch of guys who liked to have fun?” said Millen. “Absolutely! We had fun off the field and we had fun on the field. But the part that is missing is that we also worked hard. We were a hard-working group of guys who wanted to get better.”

MADDEN’S REPLACEMENT

Oakland’s coaching replacement for the Hall of Fame Madden was former Raiders assistant Tom Flores, whose low-key approach was a calming influence for the team.

Plunkett liked Flores’s relaxed attitude.

“Tom was laid back and a matter-of-fact kind of guy. He sits back and watches everything and doesn’t raise his voice very often.”

Upshaw respected Flores.

“I think what Tom brought to the table was confidence and a quiet approach to the game. And we wanted to play for him. When Tom Flores brought us out on the field, you wanted to win for Tom Flores.”

Flores’s team opened the 1980 season with a new quarterback and six new starters on defense. It also had to contend with the scorching heat of Kansas City.

“It was brutal!” said Millen. “It was probably 110 degrees on the field. It was an Astroturf field and it was hot!”

“The heat was almost unbearable!” said Plunkett. “It burned the bottom of your feet!

“In the middle of the third quarter they had a beer commercial on. Everyone turned to look up at the video board when Ted Hendricks said, ‘They’re killin’ me out here! They’re killin’ me! Somebody get rid of that fucking commercial!’”

Each day Millen was learning the Raider way. Play hard and have fun doing it. He began his NFL career by grabbing his first career interception. He also received a vital lesson in Raider etiquette.

“At Penn State we were instructed to address an official by saying, ‘Excuse me, Mr. Official.’ And then you asked the question. Now let’s fast forward to the Raiders in my first game. I didn’t know officials knew that kind of language. And I didn’t know you could address them that way. I was literally in shock. Ted Hendricks started cussing out an official and the official turned back and started cussing back. I thought, ‘Whatever happened to Excuse me, Mr. Official?’”

* * *

Dan Pastorini threw for 317 yards and two touchdowns as Oakland beat Kansas City in week one, 27–14. The revamped Raiders played like a contender, but it would take six weeks and another quarterback before they would finally become one.

During the season’s first five weeks, Plunkett remained on the Oakland bench with no playing opportunity in sight.

“I was disappointed, but I still had a job to do. It’s difficult to keep your edge and timing and keep focused on the chance that you will get in. I was just hoping for an opportunity to arise.”

The Raiders play added to Plunkett’s frustration. Oakland split their first four games as they struggled to adapt to Pastorini at quarterback.

“Dan had the bad habit of hitting his left hand with the ball before he actually threw it and we would think it was gone—but it wasn’t,” said Upshaw.

“They beat the piss out of him!” said Millen. “He would stand in there and see it coming and he would open himself up and get pounded. He came back the next week and did the same thing—and they got him and they broke him.”

In Week 5, Pastorini suffered a broken leg against the Kansas City Chiefs, and Plunkett finally got his chance. In his first substantial action of the season, Plunkett did little to help the Raiders.

“I hadn’t played in almost two and a half years,” said Plunkett. “I did throw a couple of TDs but threw quite a few interceptions. We were behind and I was trying to get back into the football game. I was very disappointed.”

The loss to Kansas City put the Raiders at 2–3. The Raiders were still confident, but could see their season slipping away.

“Losing was not something you got used to in Oakland,” said Upshaw. “We got hammered, lost our quarterback, and now we were going into this unknown. But together we felt we still had enough talent to win this thing.”

The team now turned to Plunkett, and nobody had any doubts that Jim could do the job.

“I was a little apprehensive, but in the back of my mind I knew I had to do well or I might be out of football again,” said Plunkett.

Al Davis gave Jim the confidence he needed to hear.

“I told Plunkett that he was part of this team, not the focus of it. I told him that it’s not important that you play well, but that we win.”

“I kept telling myself to stay in the pocket and hold the ball to the last possible second and not run too soon,” said Plunkett. “These were things I had to do in order to be successful.”

With this, Jim revived the Raiders’ offense.

With Plunkett in charge, Matt Millen and the rest of the team gained back their confidence.

“We took on the San Diego Chargers who were acknowledged as the best and highest scoring team in the NFL, and we whipped them. And what comes with a good whipping for a team that’s struggling? It’s called the great equalizer—confidence. And here I am as a young kid and I’m looking around the room and these guys are starting to believe that we have a chance. And so we finally start to show that we are starting to define ourselves—and Plunkett was our main guy.

“We had just beaten Dan Fouts and crew and now we were going to play the defending World Champions on Monday night. And with the Raiders I learned fast. When the lights turned off, we turned on.

“There was a lot of electricity. We were back in the Steel City on a Monday night. The criminal element was still there. You had the Oakland Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers. What an incredible rivalry!”

“We were down 17–7 early in the ballgame and had to claw and fight our way back in,” said Plunkett. “On the next play, the Steelers went into a curtain defense that allowed Cliff Branch to be covered one on one. As soon as I saw it, I audibled to it, and there went Branch for a long touchdown.”

Bradshaw never recovered.

“We put a beating on Terry Bradshaw,” said Millen. “We knocked Terry down I can’t tell you how many times. Terry was lying on the ground and I was talking to Jack Ham and said, ‘Gee, I hope he’s alright.’ Jack says, ‘What? Are you kidding me? It’s Monday Night Football! He knows there’s good camera time!’

“I think that was the game where we knew that we had a chance, because we just beat the defending Super Bowl Champions on Monday night in front of a national audience. And Pittsburgh needed that win.”

The question that needed to be asked in terms of the 1980 Raiders was: Do you get confident because you’re winning, or do you start winning because you’re confident?

Behind Jim Plunkett, Oakland won six straight games. The man who was out of football just three seasons earlier was now the league’s comeback story.

“It was a different area of the football team contributing to our victories week after week,” said Plunkett. “Our defense for the first half of the season was literally giving up 27 to 28 points a game, and right after that Pittsburgh game, they cut that in half.”

The Raiders took an 8–3 record into Philadelphia to take on the Eagles, the best team in the NFC.

Matt Millen, like the rest of us, despised the Eagles’ home field.

“Veteran’s Stadium was a dump. They had seams in the Astroturf, it was hard as a rock, but when it was cold outside, it was even worse.”

Raiders defensive coordinator Charlie Sumner gave Millen special instructions for the Eagles’ biggest weapon.

“Charlie told me, ‘Harold Carmichael is six-eight and, the first time they run a deep end, you go hit him in the middle of the chest and don’t worry about the flag. We’ll handle the flag.’ So the first time he ran that deep end, the ball was overthrown and I just tried to kill him. Hit him as hard as I could. I ended up hitting half of him and half of one of our guys. I think I hurt our guy.”

The Eagles didn’t hurt Plunkett—they just pressured him all day.

“They got eight sacks on me. They could have had more sacks. Art Shell felt I was dropping back too far. I was trying to give myself more time.

“When Philly scored their touchdown, one of our linebackers had Jaworski in his grasp. Jaworski ducked and slid over the top and made the play.”

Final score: Eagles 10, Raiders 7. The Raiders were 8–4 and still had a shot at the playoffs, but other things were brewing with the organization. Al Davis was about to go up against Commissioner Pete Rozelle.

DAVIS VS. ROZELLE

“If I had to sum up the Oakland Raiders with only a couple of words, it would start with Al Davis,” said Upshaw. “He is the Oakland Raiders. He is what the team is all about.”

“He wanted to win as bad as anybody if not worse,” said Plunkett.

Davis’s combative style often put him at odds with the rest of the league.

Plunkett continued: “Ever since I joined the Raiders in 1978, there was always some controversy surrounding Mr. Davis and the organization.”

After failing to extend the Raiders’ lease in Oakland, Davis began preliminary plans to move his team to Los Angeles for the 1981 season.

Pete Rozelle made it clear to Al as to what needed to be done in order to move his team to another city.

“Al told me that he was seriously thinking about moving to Los Angeles. I said, ‘Well, if you are, if you decide you want to pursue it further, let me know and I will schedule a league meeting and it will be reviewed.’ He said, ‘If I decide to move, I do not intend to ask for a league vote.’ I said, ‘That clearly was against the constitution and it would put us on opposite sides.’”

Upshaw was on Al’s side.

“Al felt he should have the right, if his lease was up, to move to a better facility in another city. He sued the NFL and spent many years in court. I felt Al was right and that the Coliseum was not up to the same standards as some of the other stadiums in the NFL.”

Davis was committed to his word.

“I’ve had three different owners, the commissioner, and league officials come to me and say if I were to stay in Oakland they will give me whatever I what. But I made a commitment and it’s too late.”

Rozelle differs with Davis.

“There were representatives from fourteen or fifteen teams who were at that meeting whose story will sharply contradict what Al Davis said.”

* * *

While Oakland fans rallied to save their team, the Raiders were racing toward the playoffs. Oakland won three of their last four games to clinch their first playoff berth since 1977. The key to the Raiders’ resurgence was “The Judge,” cornerback Lester Hayes. Hayes, who led the league in 1980 with 13 interceptions, had four more called back because of penalties.

“Lester had a year in 1980 that was arguably the greatest year a corner has ever had,” said Millen. “He just took the game over.”

On the field, Hayes’s play spoke volumes. But off the field he struggled with a speech impediment.

“Lester approached his stuttering like he did everything else. He attacked it straight on,” said Millen. “He didn’t make you feel uncomfortable with it because he knew that you knew he was struggling. He just stuck with it and he expected that you would stick with it too.”

Hayes worked tirelessly to improve his speech and used Stickum to help his hands. He put Stickum everywhere and stuck to opposing players like glue.

“Of course, Stickum is no longer allowed in the NFL,” said Upshaw. “But back then if you touched him, you would stick to him. That’s why he got all those interceptions.”

Matt Millen recalls a game with Houston where Lester left his mark.

“We were playing the Houston Oilers and they had a center by the name of Carl Mauck. They’re getting ready to kick a field goal. They’re in the huddle, Judge walks out with a big hunk of Stickum and slaps it on the ball nonchalantly and walks out. The Oilers come out and Carl reaches down and grabs the ball right on the Stickum. The veins pop right out of his neck. And he’s like, ‘That stuttering son of a bitch did something to the ball!’ He was screaming at the officials and they had to calm him down. We came off the ball, Carl snapped it over his head, and I always wondered how much the Stickum had to do with that.”

In that Wild Card playoff game against the Oilers, the Raiders drew first blood with a 47-yard field goal by Chris Bahr. Earl Campbell made the only score for Houston. The Raiders continued to roll with scores by Todd Christensen, Arthur Whittington, Lester Hayes and a second field goal by Chris Bahr. Oakland sacked former Raiders quarterback Kenny Stabler seven times and cruised to a 27–7 victory. In the fourth quarter, the Judge delivered his final verdict with an interception taken back for a touchdown.

DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS: RAIDERS @ BROWNS

The Raiders would have to travel to Cleveland to play the Browns in the bitter cold in the divisional round. The ground was completely frozen and the locker room showers didn’t work.

“It was freezing and our center, Dave Dalby, was in a T-shirt,” said Plunkett. “Why? I’ll never know.

“The wind was ferocious coming off the lake. There were 80 to 90 passes thrown during that game and only a few were completed against the wind.”

In the first quarter, Cleveland’s defensive back Ron Bolton intercepted a pass from Plunkett and ran it back 42 yards for the score. The Browns missed the PAT, but were still on top, 6–0. Cleveland took the lead in the third quarter and held it until the final nine minutes of the game, when Mark van Eeghen scored, which put Oakland up by two.

But Gene Upshaw was still a little nervous about a possible comeback from Cleveland’s “Kardiac Kids.”

“They were known as the Kardiac Kids—an offense that could move the ball down field and score within two minutes. And they started marching down the field again, and all we could do was stand there.

“I’m standing there thinking, ‘We’ve come this far. We’ve fought this hard.’ And I can tell you this: I had never felt that low in my life.”

“Now they’re going into the open end zone where the Dawg Pound was,” said Millen. “We had already blocked one field goal going in there.”

“And we look at their bench and we keep thinking that they are going to kick and we are going to lose,” said Upshaw. “Well, they go back for one more pass. I just could not believe it. I don’t think that anyone on our sidelines could believe it.”

“I don’t blame their play calling,” said Plunkett. “You’re taking a chance and their kicker Don Cockroft already had missed an extra point and they were afraid they were going to miss the field goal.”

As the Browns’ offense came out of the huddle and lined up for the play, nobody thought that quarterback Brian Sipe would chance throwing the ball . . . but he did.

The Raiders defensive back, “Mad Dog” Mike Davis, made the game-saving interception in the end zone on a play known as Red Right 88. Sipe’s pass fluttered in the strong wind, and Davis stepped in front of receiver Ozzie Newsome to win the game.

What was ironic about that play was the fact that Davis could not catch the ball very well; but when it counted he made a phenomenal catch!

Gene Upshaw agrees about Mike’s catching skills.

“Mike Davis was so bad that he couldn’t catch a cold in Alaska barefooted. So you go from as low as you could possibly be and in one snap of the ball you go as high as you could possibly be. Also, I could not believe that Mike Davis actually caught the ball because I’m telling you, he had absolutely the worst hands in that secondary.”

Final score: Oakland 14, Cleveland 12.

For the AFC Championship game, Oakland would travel from the Cleveland cold to the San Diego sun.

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME RAIDERS @ CHARGERS

“Going into the Conference Championship, we knew that we would be playing our old rivals on their home field. But deep down inside, we knew that we were destined,” said Upshaw. “We outplayed them the first time, so we approached this game with a lot of confidence.”

Against the NFL’s fourth-highest-scoring team, Plunkett went to the air early in the first quarter with a 65-yard pass to Raymond Chester. Following a Charlie Joiner pass from Dan Fouts to tie the score, Plunkett put the Raiders ahead with a 5-yard run to the end zone. On the next possession, Kenny King caught a 21-yard pass from Plunkett to take the lead to 21–7.

In the second quarter Mark van Eeghen rushed in for three yards to give Oakland a 28–7 lead, but San Diego responded with 17 unanswered points. The score was now Oakland 28, San Diego 24. Entering the fourth quarter, Oakland was worried.

Ted Hendricks grabbed Jim by his jersey.

“San Diego was getting back in the ballgame when Ted Hendricks grabbed me by the jersey, shook me and said, ‘Keep scoring. We can stop them. All we have to do is hold on to the ball, control it, run out the clock and we’re there.’”

And Oakland did just that.

“After Bahr’s two field goals, we were just minutes away from a Super Bowl,” said Millen, “an opportunity that we weren’t going to let slip away.”

“Our defensive back Burgess Owens and I were standing on the sideline and he’d say, ‘How are we doing?’ I said, ‘We picked up six.’ Two more first downs. One more first down and the game is ours.’ He said, ‘What happened?’ I said, ‘We’re going to the Super Bowl!’ And he was beside himself! ‘New Orleans, here we come!’”

Final score: Oakland 34, San Diego 27.

SUPER BOWL XV

New Orleans during Super Bowl week was filled with distractions. For the Oakland Raiders, it was business as usual—even if business as usual meant breaking curfew for John Matuszak. Just ask Matt Millen.

“Did John show up late? Yeah. Was he late for practice? Yeah. Was he out on the town? Yeah. To John it was another regular season game. He was going to do that regardless.”

According to Matuszak, things tightened up during the Super Bowl.

“Now this is a Super Bowl game, and things are a lot different when it comes to Super Bowl. A lot of things tighten up like the gluteus maximus tightening up. You can’t even get a blade of grass up there—some people.”

Matuszak was referring to Eagles coach Dick Vermeil. Vermeil publicly criticized John’s off-field behavior and put strict team rules into effect.

“They could not go to Bourbon Street,” said John. “They couldn’t go into the French Quarter. We also heard that there were curfews and mandatory meetings at night. There was a tremendous amount of pressure on the Raiders because the Eagles were known for how they could not go and do things and have fun. We felt we had the burden of all the other teams to knock them off their perch.”

“The first night Tom gave us no curfew and let us go out and get it out of our system, but a lot of the guys had large systems, and it took a few days to get it out of their systems,” said Plunkett. Matuszak was one of those guys.

“The first night of curfew, there’s no Matuszak,” said Upshaw. “He staggers on the bus as we are leaving to go to the press conference. We asked, ‘Tooz, where have you been.’ He said, ‘I was out.’ And he looked like it.

“‘Tooz, after all the discussions we had in practice and we all decided it’s time to get serious and we have work to do—and you go out!’ His response was, ‘I went out to make sure that nobody else was out.’ That was what he said and then he sat down. And that was that.”

Tom Flores tolerated the late nights as long as the Raiders performed at practice. But Matt Millen got a little overexcited during those practices.

“Our practices were brutal! I got into a fight with Mickey Marvin. I tried to kill him. I head-butted him into oblivion. I was letting everything out. It felt so good to be on the field.”

By game day, not even world events could shake the Raiders’ focus.

“We drove to the Superdome and there was a big yellow ribbon around the Superdome,” said Millen. “‘What the heck is that up there for?’ I asked. They said, ‘The hostages are free!’ I was so focused as to what was going on that I didn’t have a clue what was going on in the world. Some would say that was great concentration; others would have said, ‘The kid needs a little perspective.’

“But our job was to play one more football game—and to go to that game and not be prepared to play would have just been awful for what we had already accomplished. It wouldn’t have meant anything.”

“It was a such great feeling!” said Plunkett. I was so proud to run out on that field. It was like a storybook finish all coming to a head!”

“In some ways the Super Bowl was anticlimactic because the best team in football, we thought, were the San Diego Chargers,” said Millen.

“I was ready the moment I stepped on that field,” said Plunkett. “I still had something to prove to myself and to whomever else didn’t believe in me.”

In just three months, Jim Plunkett had gone from Heisman bust to Super Bowl savior. His three touchdown passes capped one of the greatest personal comebacks in NFL history.

“Jim Plunkett had a masterful game and Rod Martin had a game for the ages,” said Millen. “He was everywhere. He had three interceptions. He played as good a Super Bowl as any defender has ever played. He did not get the MVP—Jim Plunkett got the honor—but Rod deserved it just as much.”

Upshaw felt that Plunkett was due.

“I felt really good for Jim because he had paid his dues just like anyone else, but it meant a lot to him to be the guy that led us to that Super Bowl.”

Plunkett finally got the monkey off his back.

“It was a great feeling. I finally accomplished something that everyone in the NFL wants to do.”

With the game finally over, the only suspense that remained was whether the tension that remained between Rozelle and Davis would affect the presentation of the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

Al had a talk with his players prior to the presentation.

“I will never forget him telling us to be gentlemen and show respect in the locker room,” said Upshaw.

Al’s main purpose was to win. Tom Flores and his team only talked about football—nothing else.

“The relocations and legal actions were never allowed to become major distractions to our players and coaches,” said Flores. “Al Davis would never let these things be distractions. The main purpose was for us to win. Everything 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.”

Flores addressed the squad and staff in the crowded Louisiana Superdome locker room after the win.

“We won the game. We were the best team. We deserve to be the World Champions, and I’m proud of you. I love it. This is the greatest moment of my life. I’m very proud of this bunch of guys.”

The final word on this great season by the underdog Raiders belonged to the boss—to Al Davis—as he accepted the Super Bowl trophy from NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle.

“You know when you look back on the glory of the Oakland Raiders, this was our finest hour . . . to Tom Flores, the coaches, and the great athletes, you were magnificent out there . . . take pride and be proud. Your commitment to excellence and your will to win will endure forever. You were magnificent!”

Matt Millen had a surreal moment after the team’s victory.

“We won the Super Bowl. We all flew out back to Oakland. They were going to have a parade. I wanted to get home. I sat in my mom’s living room and turned the news on, and there were my teammates in the parade. And I sat there and I thought, ‘Was I even there? Did you even play that game?’ Because it didn’t seem real. Everything happened so fast and you don’t really appreciate it. I really think that it should be mandatory for every team that wins the Super Bowl to take one day—players and coaches only—to go back to their facility, get a bunch of food, and sit down and watch the film together as a group so you could enjoy what you did. I think if you did that it would be awesome because that’s the one time you don’t have to worry about the next game. You did it—you finally did it.”

Seventeen months after winning Super Bowl XV, the Raiders moved to Los Angeles. They returned to Oakland in 1995.

In 1983, Jim Plunkett led the Raiders to another championship in Super Bowl XVIII. He retired after the 1986 season.