Golden Football Magazine
NFL Championship Games
This series covers the history of the NFL through the prism of its yearly championship games.
Note: The gray boxes contain asides that provide interesting material but could be skipped without losing the continuity of the article.
Super Bowl XV - Philadelphia Eagles vs Oakland Raiders: 2nd Half
Philly hopes for a comeback were diminished right away.

Quarter 3

  • The Raiders took the kickoff and drove 76y in five plays for their third touch­down. To make matters worse from the Eagles' point of view, Oakland overcame a holding penalty on the first play from scrimmage. On first-and-20, van Eeghen gained eight, then Plunkett flipped a screen pass to King in the right flat. Holding the ball dangerously with his right hand, then his left, he meandered for 13y to the 35. Next, Jim had time to go long to the other side of the field to connect with Bob Chandler for a 32y gain to the Eagle 33. After van Eeghan ran for 4y, Plunkett fired to Branch down the left side. Cliff leaped and stole the ball away from Roy­nell Young at the one and squirmed into the end zone. Oakland 21 Philadelphia 3 (12:24)
    Plunkett recalled: "We received the ball to begin the second half. I didn't want to sit on the lead so I went to the air."
    On the TD pass: "Philadelphia was defending against the run on that play, and we faked a running play to get them off-balance. But it was a pass to Branch all the way. ... Once in a while even a guy who has been around a lot gets fooled, and I was fooled. I misread the coverage. I thought it was man-to-man, but they ended up backing off into a zone, which I kind of threw into the heart of. But I threw it in a place I felt Cliff could catch the ball. I threw it toward the corner, and Cliff was so quick that he slipped in front of Young and made a great catch."

    Plunkett throws to King who runs for 13y.
    The Eagles moved swiftly into Raider territory only to have the turnover bug bite again. Jaworski hit Carmichael on the left side for 18y to the 32. Two plays later, a pass interference penalty on Millen made it first-and-10 at the 40. Jaws again went to Carmichael, this time over the middle to the Oakland 41. After two runs gained seven, Martin got his second interception of the game at the 30, cutting in front of Spagnola on a down and out at the sideline and returning 2y. Martin now had as many picks in the game as he had all season.
    Oakland zipped across midfield on consecutive Plunkett completions of 16y to TE Raymond Chester and 17y to Chandler to the 31. But an incompletion on 3rd-and-seven brought on Bahr for a 46y field goal. Oakland 24 Philadelphia 3 (4:35)

    Gene Upshaw leads Arthur Whittington.
    The Eagles used up the rest of the period on a drive that would lead to their first touchdown early in the fourth quarter. The big gainer came on a great play by Jaworski. The "Polish Rifle" eluded blitzing Mike Davis and threw a long pass to Charlie Smith, who got behind Hayes for a 43y gain to the Oakland 45. Three runs moved the chains again to the 34. Following Leroy Harris's 3y run, the pass rush forced Jaworski to un­derthrow the ball to Carmichael. Then Harold dropped the next pass. Going for it on fourth down, Ron found Rodney Parker behind McKinney on the left side for 19 to the 12. The period ended with Louie Giammona gaining seven.

    Dennis Harrison hits Jim Plunkett as he passes.
    End Quarter 3: Oakland 24 Philadelphia 3

Quarter 4

  • The teams traded penalties, but Oakland's was only half the distance to the goal. Facing 3rd-and-six from the eight, Jaworski fired a strike to Krepfle in the middle of the end zone. Oakland 24 Philadelphia 10 (13:59)
    The Raiders responded by driving 72y for another field goal. After the Eagles dropped Ira Matthews at the 11 on the kickoff return, two van Eeghen runs gained a first down at the 24. The chains moved again on a roughing the passer penalty on Claude Humphrey, who was so frustrated, he picked up the flag and tossed it at the official.
    Humphrey: "I just kind of lost it. All the other frustrations that I was feeling, to get that call on em - it was just all those things exploding inside me. Of course, I later apologized to the officials."
    Plunkett hit Chandler for 23y to the Philly 29. A 5y pass and a van Eeghen run for another five made it first down at the 19. But an excellent breakup by Edwards on a pass to Chandler in the end zone on third-and-eight led to Bahr's 35y three-pointer that put the Raiders three scores ahead. Oakland 27 Philadelphia 10 (8:29)
    MLB Bergey: "I talked to (Defensive Coordinator) Marion Campbell after the game. Defensively, we probably made 15 to 20 just flat mental mistakes. People going the wrong way. Jumping offsides. ... In a normal game? We'd have five at most."

    The Eagles started moving again on back-to-back passes to Smith for 16 and Montgomery for 19 to the Oakland 41. Philly fans booed when the Eagles called a running play. Then it got worse. Jaws fumbled the next snap, and DT Jones recovered at the 42.
    After forcing a three-and-out, Philadelphia got the ball on their 12 with 3:51 left after Guy's first punt of the second half. Jaworski completed two passes to Montgomery, then got 15 more on a roughing the passer flag on Jones to the 45. But guess what. Martin struck again, intercepting his third pass and returning 25y to the Philly 38. It was Jaworski's fourth and final turnover.
    Plunkett handed off to van Eeghen three times for a first down, then gave the ball to Derrick Jensen three times to run out the clock.

    Rod Martin runs with his third interception as Mike Davis (36), Burgess Owens (44), and Ted Hendricks (83) look for someone to block.
    FINAL SCORE: OAKLAND 27 PHILADELPHIA 10
    Raiders personnel man Ron Wolf on Rod Martin: "He's one of those stories that is really nice. He was a 12th-round draft choice from Southern California. He was small and real fast. What happened was, he built himself up and was in the Pro Bowl a couple years. His hands were like a vise, so big and so strong for a little guy."
    Plunkett     took a few seconds to give thanks as the game ended. "When the game ended, everybody ran around hugging each other. Tom and I hugged. I have a vivid memory of Dick Vermeil coming across the field and saying he couldn't leave without congratulating me. We'd known each other since 1965 when he had been my quarterback coach at Stanford."
Jim Plunkett easily won the Most Valuable Player award to cap one of the greatest comebacks in football history.
Jim recalled: "Considering how my first seven years [in the NFL] had gone and how I started out on the bench at the beginning of the season, the MVP award was special."
However, the Oakland coaching staff and many of the players did not understand why there weren't co-MVPs. Reggie Kinlaw years later: "To this day, I don't understand why Rod did not get MVP or at least a share of it. One linebacker that not only made key tackles [tied for second on the team] but had a record three interceptions that also set up some scores? Come on, man!"
Coach Flores agreed. "I thought to myself they should've had a dual MVP. One guy throws three TD passes, the other intercepts three passes. Why not?"

Final statistics

  • Time of possession: Raiders 29:49 Eagles 30:11
  • First downs: Raiders 17 Eagles 19
  • Rushing: Raiders 34-117 Eagles 26-69
  • Passing: Raiders 21-13-0/260 Eagles 38-18-3/291
  • Return yardage: Raiders 8-93 Eagles 9-107
  • Fumbles-Lost: Raiders 0-0 Eagles 1-1
  • Penalties: Raiders 5-37 Eagles 6-57
  • Punting average: Raiders 3-42.0 Eagles 3-36.7
  • Attendance: 76,135


Mark van Eeghen


Branch grabs TD pass away from Young.


Harold Carmichael


Plunkett fades to pass.


Roynell Young blasts Bob Chandler.


Davis looms over Jaworski, but Ron escapes and completes a 43y pass to Smith.


Claude Humphrey throws the penalty flag at the official.


Plunkett confers with Flores.


Derrick Jensen


Vermeil congratulates Jim.
Postgame

Raiders Locker Room

  • The much-anticipated awarding of the trophy disappointed those anticipating a juicy story. Both Commissioner Rozelle and Owner Davis behaved in a first class manner.
    Rozelle: "As the first wild-card team to win the Super Bowl, it's a tremendous compliment to your organization because you had to win four postseason games."
    Davis: "Thank you, commissioner. When you look back on the glory of the Oakland Raiders, this was our finest hour."
    The antagonists did not shake hands.
    Martin: "We were concerned. Pete Rozelle presented the trophy to Al and all of the players were being boisterous. They were waiting for this moment to see how Al was going to receive the trophy. Al kept his cool. He wasn't going to take away from anything we accomplished on the field."
  • Davis praised his ball club. "Dammit, they did it. This is a funny bunch. They did it no matter where Philly had the ball. They attacked all day. On both sides."
  • Tom Flores was not surprised his club went all the way. "I knew when we made the playoffs, we were as good as any of the teams and had a chance to go all the way. ... We weren't going to pull any horns back. We were going to go with the big play. We were going to go after them within the realm of our game plan, and it just worked out fine." He added that winning the Super Bowl was "the greatest moment of my life." He extolled his offensive line. "We challenged them. All we had to do was show them the game films from the last game with Philadelphia. And then we showed it to them again. They got the idea."
  • Plunkett: "Right now, I really don't think I can express my joy."
    Years later, Jim said, "I thought the media overdramatized my story. Everything I read that week had the same theme: 'Plunkett resurrected ... Plunkett back from the scrap heap.' I never thought I was that far gone. I mean, I didn't play for two years [in Oakland] because I was behind a Pro Bowl quarterback [Stabler]. I wasn't dead or anything."
  • Rod Martin revealed the secret of his success. "I studied films all week. I had a projector in my room, and I studied films of their pass patterns after curfew."
  • Gene Upshaw, the senior member of the Raiders, expressed the team's attitude. "We're the halfway house of the NFL. No one still believes we're here. We felt all season we were against the league and against the world. I really had that feeling. I wanted it for Davis because he was up against the world." Gene also said he asked Flores, "'Hey, where does all that [fine] money go?' He said, 'To me.' By the end of the week he had enough for a new BMW. ... Yeah, we had guys break curfew this week, but when that door opened today, we were ready to play." He added, "It might have looked easy, but believe me, it wasn't easy. Philadelphia is a great team, won the NFC championship and deserved to be here. But we knew if we could control the line of scrimmage, we'd win."
  • Upshaw's line mate, Art Shell, said, "We were well prepared this time. We picked up all their stunts and gave Jim time to throw the ball. ... We always try to score by going with the big play. I said before the game I'd be surprised if they score more than 10 points, and I felt like we would score at least 24."
  • Cliff Branch wound up with five catches two touchdowns. Referring to his fine for missing practice, he said, "My horoscope always reads: Miss practice and have a good game."

Eagles Locker Room

  • Vermeil: "For sure, the best team won. Believe me, they are the champions of football. " He added that Oakland "just outplayed us. They turned some broken plays into big plays and, in a game like this, the team that comes up with the big plays comes up with the victory." Asked if getting to Plunkett only once after sacking him eight times in December was a big factor, Dick replied, "No question about it. Their pass protection was much better, and they came up with the big play when Jimmy was pressured."
  • Jaworski, who set a Super Bowl record for pass attempts (38), took some time to face the media. "I had to just get by myself for a while and reflect on what happened. A lot of emotion, a lot of intensity goes into a game like this. I just had to make sure I came down from that situation before I came out here. I just had to think about what I wanted to say." Questioners wanted to know if he was tight. One went so far as to ask if he felt he had let his team down. "That is about the stupidest question I ever heard," Jaws bristled. Asked to evaluate his own performance, he replied, "I'm not one to evaluate my performance. My performance reflects what the team does. We didn't win."
    Jaws years later: "I recall sitting in the locker room after the game, talking with our offensive linemen. I remember saying we should be proud of what we accomplished that season. I mean, look at Merlin Olsen and O.J. Simpson. They were great players, and they never even got to a Super Bowl. I was saying that but, deep down, I felt awful that we had the opportunity, and we didn't do more with it. I really wish we had another chance. I think if we had gone back the next year or the year after, we would have been better prepared to deal with the whole atmosphere. As it turned out, we only had the one shot and we blew it. It's something I know I'll always regret."
  • LB Bunting was sitting on a stool in the shower room. "Roynell Young came up to me and said, 'We'll be back here next year.' I looked up at him and I said, 'You have no idea how hard it was to get here.'" When Bunting left the locker room and went back on the field, "I see my son, Brooks, who is laying in the end zone. I walk over, and he's got the program open and a pen in his hand, and he's scratching out the faces of the Raiders. I just had to laugh my ass off."
    Years later, Vermeil was asked whether his intense practices had anything to do with the defeat, Dick replied, "That had absolutely nothing to do with it. But you need a reason for losing. I never made any excuses for losing. The Raiders were a better team that day, and so they beat us. When you lose a Super Bowl game, they're going to give you a reason you lost. They chose to say that I was too strict with them, but that's a total exaggeration and not the truth."
    Vermeil praised Rod Martin. "He was very good at reading the difference between run and play action pass. He was a good football player going into that game, and we made him look better. I personally recruited him to UCLA, but he chose USC. So Rod beat me twice."
    LB Bunting was asked the same question but gave a different answer. "I think there is no question we were a very tight team. We went down there and had what amounted to a double-day session on picture day. I think we had the longest Friday practice we ever had for a Dick Vermeil-coached team. I love that man as much as I love anybody in the world, including my family, but we were a tired team, and we were a tight team."