'Twas the day before Christmas, and one of the two teams would receive an early present—a spot in the AFC championship game. The Denver Broncos with their "Orange Crush" defense had come on strong in the second half of the season and ended the Raiders' nine-year reign as AFC West champions. So Oakland's defense of its Super Bowl championship would have to take place on the road, starting with the Colts, who won their third straight AFC East champ­ionship. The Raiders had never won a playoff game away from home.

Both coaches were worried about the opposing quarterback. "Bert Jones scares me," said Raiders' head man John Madden. "That's our whole game plan. Three words: Contain Bert Jones."

"Ken Stabler scares me to death," said the Colts' Ted Marchibroda. "And he's got all those receivers. And their pass rush is tremendous. And they're well coached too."

Stabler's favorite target was TE Dave Casper. One writer described Caster as "among the most complete tight ends of all time." Casper had the body of an offensive lineman and played offensive tackle at Notre Dame. He was a 6'4" 240lb crunching run blocker as well as an out­standing receiver. Stabler looked for him in crucial situations.

Oakland DT Jon Matuszak recalled the bleak terrain of Baltimore's Memorial Stadium.

"What I vividly remember is that there wasn't a single blade of grass on the field. It was so cold and barren looking that I felt as if I was playing on the surface of the moon."

The defenses prevailed through the first 13 minutes until Oakland HB Clarence Davis broke loose off the left side behind the blocks of future Hall of Fame linemen Art Shell and Gene Upshaw and sped 30y to the end zone. Raiders 7 Colts 0

The second quarter belonged to the Colts although it didn't start promisingly for the home team. The Raiders drove into Baltimore territory again. On third and six, Stabler called a play that would send three receivers—Cliff Branch, Fred Biletnikoff, and FB Mark van Eeghen—to the same side. He wanted to flood the Colts' coverage to see where the leak might be.

Stabler decided to throw to van Eeghen, but Baltimore S Bruce Laird rotated into the area.

"I had the flat," Laird explained, "and I read the pattern, and I just looked at Stabler, waiting for him to throw the ball."

The pass floated toward van Eeghen, but Laird picked it off. "I took it right off his hip."

The six-year veteran from American International College raced 61y to tie the score. Raiders 7 Colts 7

With their defense stuffing the Raiders with five straight three-and-outs, the Colt offense finally got the running game rolling. RB Lydell Mitchell ran for 1,159y during the season and led NFL backs with 71 receptions.

With 225lb FB Roosevelt Leaks joining Mitchell running the ball, the Raiders had to start respecting Jones's play fakes. That opened up pass plays to WR Freddie Scott and RB Don McCauley for key first downs. Eventually, the Raiders drew the line at their 19, forcing the Colts to settle for a Toni Linhart field goal. Colts 10 Raiders 7

The Raiders stormed back behind Stabler, moving to the Colts' 23 in less than a minute. Madden turned to LB Ted Hendricks on the sideline and said, "Wonder how we'll stop our­selves this time?"

The coach's skepticism proved true when Davis was leveled on a run up the middle and lost the ball. DE John Dutton recovered for the Colts with 46 seconds left in the half.

The Raiders had almost doubled Baltimore in total yardage. Stabler had not been sacked. So it wasn't that Oakland was plaing poorly. They simply weren't scoring. Madden left the field planning to ream out his team, but by the time he reached the locker room, he had talked himself out of it.

"We need some consistency, and we need some big plays," Madden told his team.

Matuszak remembers thinking that "neither team wanted to take charge."

Marchibroda took the same approach with his Colts. "They're staying close only because Bert got sacked three times to ruin our momentum, and their punter is having a great day. We've been backed up almost every series with no field position to work with. Otherwise, we'd probably be way ahead. Their kicker is outkicking his coverage. We can break something on them with good blocks."

Oakland got the ball to start the second half. On their first play, Stabler handed to van Eeghen over right guard for a yard. "Same old, same old," Oakland fans must have muttered.

But on second down, Stabler faked the handoff to van Eeghen, holding the secondary in place for a second to give speedy Mel Branch a chance to zoom into the clear. As three Colts buried van Eeghen, Stabler lofted a 41y pass to Branch at the Baltimore 28.

Running behind Shell and Upshaw, van Eeghen gained 16, then four to put the ball on the eight. Stabler then threw a touchdown pass to TE Dave Casper. Raiders 14 Colts 10

The lead didn't last long. Guy did the kickoffs as well as the punts. If he outkicked his punt coverage, he underkicked the kickoff coverage. The Colts return man, Marshall Johnson, ran up to catch the kick at the 13, burst past the first wave of Oakland tacklers at the 25, then roared down the left sideline. Guy was the last Raider with a chance to make the tackle, but Johnson ran away from him. Just like that, Baltimore had regained the lead.
Colts 17 Raiders 14

On the sideline, Madden stomped over to Stabler and said, "Gotta get it right back. Right now."

On second down, Stabler faded back, looking for Casper. But Snake didn't see Laird again. Laird's second interception gave the Colts the ball on the Raiders' 40.

Jones wanted to get another touchdown quickly. Instead, DT Otis Sistrunk deflected a pass, then sacked Jones, forcing David Lee to punt. However, "The Stork," 6'7" LB Ted Hendricks, blocked the punt, and rookie LB Jeff Barnes picked up the ball and ran to the 16.

Madden said, "Nobody in the history of football has ever been better than Ted Hendricks at punt blocking. He just has a real knack."

After van Eeghen carried twice for 6y, Stabler, getting excellent protection, pumped twice before connecting with Casper on a post route, this time from the left side, for a 10y touch­down. Raiders 21 Colts 17

"This time I also remembered to look for Laird too," said Stabler.

This thriller was already shaping up as one of the great playoff games in NFL history, but there was much more to come.

Undaunted, the Colts took the kickoff and drove 80y to retake the lead. Key plays were a 20 pass to Glenn Doughty, a 21y connection with Lydell Mitchell, and a pass interference call on rookie Lester Hayes that gve the Colts a first down at the Oakland one.

Baltimore ran the ball three times but gained nothing as Hendricks made one stop and FS Jack Tatum made the other two. Marchibroda had to make a decision—kick a field goal or go for it on fourth down?

"It wasn't so tough," said the Colts coach. "A field goal still kept us behind. We wanted the touchdown."

FB Ron Lee leapt into the end zone, and Madden dropped to one knee on the sideline. Colts 24 Raiders 21

Oakland came right back, starting with Carl Garrett's 44y kickoff return. A 23y pass to van Eeghen and a pass interference against the Colts' Nelson Munsey put the ball on the one. Madden sent in his designated short-yardage touchdown maker, Pete Banaszak, who dove over right guard to put the Raiders back on top again. The possession had taken only 63 seconds off the clock. Raiders 28 Colts 24

"We really had it going," said Madden. "But so did they. Things were really back and forth."

The Colts quickly retook the lead. Jones hit TE Raymond Chester, a former Raider, then threw for 16y to Ron Lee to the Oakland 27. RB Lee swept around left end for 14y, then burst through left tackle for a 13y touchdown. Just like that, Baltimore regained the lead, 31-28 with almost eight minutes remaining.

Almost as if the offenses had exhausted themselves, the defenses prevailed, forcing an ex­change of punts until the Raiders got the ball with almost three minutes left.

"We had time, so it wasn't like we needed a miracle," said Madden. "Snake was so good at using the clock. So we weren't really worried. Well, put it this way, we weren't any more wor­ried than usual."

Stabler passed for one first down to set up the most crucial play of the game: "Ghost to the Post."

"Casper the Friendly Ghost" was the main character in Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. So the Raiders gave TE Dave Casper the nickname "Ghost." He had been running short curls and crossing patterns underneath the Colts zone defense all afternoon. "Ghost to the Post" was the play that sent him on a deep post route up the middle of the field.

"The pass was kinda like a wounded duck," Stabler admitted.

"The pass was right over my head," said Casper. "Kenny throws such a soft ball that it really was a piece of cake to catch. If it looked tough, it really wasn't. I just ran under it, and it stuck in my hands."

Matuszak remembers the catch as much more difficult.

Casper "was running toward the end zone and looking over his left shoulder when he saw the ball coming over his right shoulder. So he twisted around in mid-air at the last second to make the catch."

The play gained 42y to the Baltimore 14. Playing conservatively to guarantee at least a tie, the Raiders gave the ball to Banaszak three straight times to the 12. From there, Mann kicked the field goal. Raiders 31 Colts 31 with 26 seconds left.

Casper was confident the Raiders would prevail in overtime. His former teammates on the Colts were older and larger and therefore likely to have less stamina for an exra period.

Matuszak also had confidence. "I don't remember ever thinking that we going to lose, even when we were losing late in the fourth quarter. I remember thinking that if I do my job, and everyone else does there, we will win."

The Raiders got the ball first in overtime and drove to the Colts' 33. But Mann's field-goal try was blocked by Barnes.

Madden: "I didn't feel good about things then. I was afraid that would be our only chance."

But the Raiders defense forced three-and-outs on the Colts next two possessions. With 4:16 left in overtime, Oakland took over at their 42y line.

Stabler threw three straight times to Biletnikoff, the prototype possession receiver. Then he connected with Branch to the Colts 13 as the first overtime period ended.

Madden noticed that the Colts were still trying to cover Casper with a single defender. So he sent in a pass play. With the defense apparently expecting Oakland to run the ball to set up the winning field goal, Casper zoomed past CB Nelson Munsey and headed for the corner of the end zone, where he caught Stabler's pass in the 75th minute of playing time. That was the ninth lead change in the game.

Matuszak on the winning touchdown: "Snake put up a pass toward the left corner of the end zone. It looked like it was going out. But Ghost leaped up and just grabbed it over his shoulder like an outfielder would catch a ball if he was running toward the wall with his back to the plate. I remember after the game Ghost told some reporters, 'Any stiff could have done it.' But I don't think so."

FINAL SCORE: RAIDERS 37 COLTS 31

The Raiders were too exhausted to have an exuberant victory celebration. Instead, they felt only a quiet relief. The atmosphere in the Colts' locker room was silent acceptance.

No one said the game had been "fun." Casper said a better word for it would be "hell."

"I didn't like the game very much at all," he said. "When it goes back and forth like that, it's not a case of having fun. It's pressure and anxiety and fear you're going to lose. Playing checkers with your daughter is fun. Not this. This was the hardest football game I ever played."

Almost two hours after the ordeal ended, Casper was still in his uniform.

"I'm suddenly so tired," he said as he sat at his locker. "I'm too tired to get undressed. I really don't think I can move."

The Raiders lost to the Denver Broncos 20-17 in the AFC Championship game the next week.

Years later, after he left coaching, Madden described the overtime thriller as "the most ex­citing game I ever was involved with. That game had everything." Speaking about one of the top receiving threesomes—Casper, Branch, and Biletnikoff—in football history, Madden said: "When a team throws a double zone against us, then Casper goes up the middle. Zingo! Just like that. When you have one or even two great receivers, then defenses can double up. When you have three, it's impossible to stop them. And we had three."

When Casper was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002, Raiders Hall of Fame T Art Shell spoke about him. "I Know this: You could adjust to the ball and catch the ball as good as any wide receiver. The 'Ghost to the Post' play was phenomenal, the way you ran that ball down and adjusted to it in flight—that was typical of your great career."