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Originally Posted by THUMPER
I was disappointed that the Raiders were in the SB instead of the Chargers as I had picked Dallas and San Diego to be in the big game (actually I picked them 3 years in a row beginning with 1980 and all 3 years Dallas lost in the NFC Championship game and twice the Chargers lost in the AFC). The Raiders were the AFC Wild Card team but had tied with the Chargers in the West at 11-5 so they weren't slouches.
We had beaten both teams in the regular season so I wasn't worried about either of them if we met in the SB but I would have preferred to play the Chargers.
[View Full Quote]It was Raiders LB Rod Martin who picked off 3 Ron Jaworski passes but Plunkett won the MVP for the game. Jim Plunkett was always sneaking in to play a big game when you least expected him to. Plunkett had played pretty poorly in the Raiders 2 playoff games (vs the Oilers and Browns) leading up to the AFC Championship Game but came on against the Chargers and played very well in the SB. It was kind of strange to see Kenny Stabler playing against his former team in the Oilers game. He outplayed Plunkett but Houston lost anyway.
Plunkett hadn't done squat with the Patriots or 49ERs but with the Raiders he stepped up when needed. In 1983 we were playing them (they were in LA then) and Marc Wilson was the QB and he sucked. The one thing I didn't want to see was for us to knock him out of the game because we were kicking their butts. But John Dutton (I think) hit him a little after he threw a pass and down he went. In comes Plunkett who proceeds to shred our secondary and bring them back for a 40-38 win.
Being a UCLA fan I hated Plunkett when he was at Stanford and was glad when he went to New England where I would rarely see him again only for him to wind up with the Raiders and playing well at the worst possible times.
Anyway, I was glad to see the Eagles lose since they were all talking so much smack, Vermeil was crying his eyes out at every opportunity, and the media was already crowning them after they beat us. I guess they forgot that there was one more game to play. 
The Eagles last championship was in 1960, when I was 2! Let's hope it stays that way forever.  |
Yep, your right. Plunkett could not throw an out to save his life. Everything was lofted and soft. He looked like a wounded duck with a stick up his back side every time he tried to scramble but that guy would just get it done. I too liked San Diego back then. Those were the old Fouts Air Coryell teams and they were awsome offensively. In 1980, Fouts completed 59% of his passes, threw for 4715 yards and 30 TDs. Muncie ran for 659 yards, 4.9 YPC and caught another 234. Winslow had 1290 yards, Jefferson had 1340 and Joiner had 1132. They were awsome. Between 79 and 81, Fouts threw for 13599 yards, 60% completion percentage and tossed 87 TDs. They were just unbelievable. Just couldn't stop anybody is all.
I also remember the game your talking about. Christiansen had a big game against us, as I recall, and he rubbed it in to anybody who would listen.
With regards to that Oakland team that beat the Eagles, there's a funny story (well, not funny depending on what side of the story your on but...) about the Raiders and how hard they partied. Story goes that the Raiders were out howling well past 3 AM the morning of the game. Story goes that John Matuzak was seen out at a club with the wife of former NY Giants QB Charley Connerly well past Midnite. Was with her for hours and left with her sometime after 3. That was a huge deal at the time, as you can imagine.
Anyway, I'm with you. I was very happy to see the Eagles get stomped in that one.