December 21, 1974: The Oakland Raiders host the Miami Dolphins in an AFC Divisional Playoff at the Oakland Coliseum. The Raiders went 12-2 and won the AFC Western Division, while the Dolphins went 11-3 and won the AFC Eastern Division.
The Dolphins had won the last 3 AFC Championships and the last 2 Super Bowls. In contrast, the Raiders were already known as a team that "can't win the big one": They had lost Super Bowl II to close the 1967 season, the 1968 and 1969 AFL Championship Games, the 1970 and 1973 AFC Championship Games, and a Divisional Playoff in 1972 on the Pittsburgh Steelers' "Immaculate Reception."
The 1974 season was the one in which NFL Films producer Steve Sabol was inspired to write a poem about the Raiders, a 4-verse piece titled The Autumn Wind, closing:
The Autumn Wind is a raider
pillaging just for fun.
He'll knock you 'round and upside-down
and laugh when he's conquered and won.
Sabol showed it to Raiders owner Al Davis, who loved it, and said, "This is what the Oakland Raiders are all about." So Sabol gave it to his voiceover maestro, John Facenda, who spoke the words over highlights, making it an NFL Films classic.
Raider fans were ready to dethrone the Champions. A banner -- incorrectly identifying dolphins as fish, rather than mammals, and also incorrectly writing "Super Bowl" as one word -- read, "THE DOLPHINS BELONG IN A FISHBOWL NOT A SUPERBOWL."
George Blanda, a former quarterback still playing for the Raiders at age 47, kicked off, and Nat Moore returned it 89 yards for a touchdown. But on the Raiders' next drive, despite holding them off, the Dolphins lost safety Jake Scott to injury. In the 2nd quarter, Ken Stabler threw a touchdown pass to Charlie Smith, but Garo Yepremian gave the Dolphins back the lead with a field goal, making it 10-7 Miami at the half.
A great catch of a Stabler pass by Fred Biletnikoff gave the Raiders a 14-10 lead early in the 3rd quarter. But a dumb pass interference penalty by the Raiders aided the Dolphins' drive, and Bob Griese threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Paul Warfield. Former Baltimore Colts star and future actor Bubba Smith blocked Yepremian's extra point attempt, so the Dolphins only led 16-14. Yepremian made it 19-14 with a field goal early in the 4th quarter.
With 4:37 to play, Cliff Branch made a great catch of a Stabler pass, and took it 72 yards for a touchdown, and a 21-19 Oakland lead. The Dolphins struck back, and Benny Malone ran broke 4 tackles on a 23-yard touchdown run. With 2:08 left, the Dolphins led, 26-21.
The Raiders took over on their own 32-yard line, with 2 minutes and all 3 timeouts remaining, but facing the Dolphins' "No-Name Defense." It was a bad name: linebacker Nick Buoniconti was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame; and ends Bill Stanfill and Vern Den Herder, tackle Manny Fernandez, and safeties Dick Anderson and the injured Scott were regular Pro Bowlers.
Stabler threw a pair of 1st-down passes to Biletnikoff. He got the ball to the 8-yard line, calling his last timeout with 35 seconds left. On the next play, he looked for Biletnikoff in the end zone, but he was too well-covered. Den Herder bore down on him, and perhaps Stabler was thinking this was his "Immaculate Reception" moment. He threw in mid-sack. Clarence Davis was covered by 3 Dolphins in the end zone: Safety Charlie Babb, linebacker Larry Ball and Mike Kolen. Still, he made the catch.
Stabler later told NFL Films: "Clarence Davis made the play. I certainly didn't make the play. Vern Den Herder hits me, and I get very little on the ball, and it's kind of a dying duck, end-over-end deal, back into a sea of hands in the end zone." The term "Sea of Hands" would be applied to this game for all time.
The Raiders led, 28-26, but the Dolphins still had a chance. That chance ended with Phil Villapiano intercepted Griese on the Raider 45, and Stabler ran out the clock. Of all the crazy games in Raider history -- in Oakland, in Los Angeles, in Las Vegas, and on the road -- this may be their most cherished, outside of the 3 Super Bowls they've won.
In contrast, Dolphin head coach Don Shula -- who, remember, was the head coach of the Baltimore Colts when they lost Super Bowl III to the New York Jets in a shocking upset, 6 years earlier -- said, "This has to be the toughest loss I've ever suffered."
But, just as the Steelers did when they beat the Raiders with the Immaculate Reception, the Raiders ended up losing the AFC Championship Game, to the Steelers. And, as with the Steelers, it would take them 2 more years to go all the way, winning Super Bowl XI. The Dolphins have been to only 2 Super Bowls since, losing both.
In 1981, author John Thorn left his comfort zone, baseball, and published Pro Football's 10 Greatest Games. He included this game as one of them.
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December 21, 1974 was a Saturday. There was 1 other NFL Playoff game that day: The Minnesota Vikings beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 30-14 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
There was a college football bowl game that day: Miami University of Ohio beat the University of Georgia, 21-10 in the Tangerine Bowl, at the stadium of the same name in Orlando, Florida. Miami, Champions of the Mid-American Conference, completed an undefeated season: 9-0-1. The game and the stadium would later be known as the Citrus Bowl, and the stadium is now named Camping World Stadium.
There were 7 games played in the NBA that day:
* The New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, 109-91 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Washington Bullets beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 117-101 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.
* The Houston Rockets beat the Atlanta Hawks, 101-96 at The Omni in Atlanta.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 87-74 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.
* The Kansas City-Omaha Kings beat the Golden State Warriors, 107-84 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 114-104 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Detroit Pistons, 108-97 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
There were 4 games in the American Basketball Association:
* The New York Nets beat the Indiana Pacers, 134-122 at the new Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. Billy Paultz led the Nets with 30 points. Julius "Dr. J" Erving scored 18. George McGinnis had 33 points and 18 rebounds in defeat.
* The Virginia Squires beat the Spirits of St. Louis, 99-93 at the Hampton Coliseum outside Norfolk in Hampton, Virignia.
* The Kentucky Colonels beat the Memphis Sounds, 115-98 at Freedom Hall in Louisville.
* And the Denver Nuggets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 119-104 at the Denver Auditorium Arena. Mike Green scored 39 points.
There were 6 games played in the NHL that day:
* The New York Islanders and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a tie, 3-3 at the Nassau Coliseum.
* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins, 8-4 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
* The Montreal Canadiens and the Los Angeles Kings played to a tie, 2-2 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.
* The Detroit Red Wings and the Philadelphia Flyers played to a tie, 2-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.
* The Minnesota North Stars beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 8-7 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.
* The St. Louis Blues beat the cross-State Kansas City Scouts, 6-4 at the St. Louis Arena.
* And the New York Rangers, the Oakland Seals, the Buffalo Sabres, the Vancouver Canucks, the Atlanta Flames and the Washington Capitals were not scheduled.
And there were 3 games in the World Hockey Association:
* The Houston Aeros beat the New England Whalers, 5-3 at the Big E Coliseum in West Springfield, Massachusetts.
* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Chicago Cougars, 3-0 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago.
* And the Vancouver Blazers beat the San Diego Mariners, 2-1 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
Also, Arsenal traveled to Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, and beat Stoke City, 2-0 at the Victoria Ground.
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