The 1978

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

season was the team's 19th season, and ninth as an NFL member. 1978 would prove to be an up and down year for the silver and black. During a pre-season game,

Jack Tatum John David Tatum (November 18, 1948 – July 27, 2010) was an American football safety. He played 10 seasons, from 1971 through 1980, with the Oakland Raiders and Houston Oilers in the National Football League (NFL). He was popularly known as " ...

paralyzed

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

wide receiver

Darryl Stingley Darryl Floyd Stingley (September 18, 1951April 5, 2007) was an American professional football player, a wide receiver whose career was ended at age 26 by an on-field spinal cord injury. He played his entire five-year career with the New England ...

from the chest down while making a hit. Overall, the Raiders were plagued by one of quarterback

Kenny Stabler Kenneth Michael Stabler (December 25, 1945 – July 8, 2015) was an American professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons, primarily with the Oakland Raiders. Nicknamed "Snake", he played ...

's worst seasons, tossing 16 TD's, while throwing 30 interceptions. The running game also fell off from seasons past. Even the great wide receiver

Cliff Branch Clifford Branch Jr. (August 1, 1948 – August 3, 2019) was an American professional football player who was a wide receiver with the Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders during his entire 14-year National Football League (NFL) career. He won three NF ...

, only caught one touchdown. The season started off with a 14–6 loss in Denver. The Raiders would rally to a 5–3 start, then climbed to 8–4. As a result of a last-minute defeat to the Seattle Seahawks 17–16, the Raiders lost twice to a single team in the same season for the first time since 1965. The following week, the Broncos completed their sweep of the Raiders with a 21–6 victory in Oakland, which was followed by a 23–6 defeat in Miami which eliminated Oakland from the playoffs for the first time since 1971. A meaningless 27–20 victory over the Minnesota Vikings kept the Raiders consecutive seasons with a winning record streak alive. This was head coach

John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pla ...

's tenth and final season as head coach of the team. He was replaced by his wide receivers coach,

Tom Flores Thomas Raymond Flores (born March 21, 1937) is a former American football coach and quarterback. After his retirement as a coach, he was a radio announcer for more than twenty years. Flores won a total of four Super Bowls in his playing and c ...

Offseason

NFL Draft

Roster

Regular season

Schedule

Game summaries

Week 2

The Holy Roller

During this game, one of the most famous plays known as the

Holy Roller #REDIRECT Holy Roller #REDIRECT Holy Roller {{R from other capitalisation ... {{R from other capitalisation ...

occurred. Kenny Stabler fumbled the ball and

Pete Banaszak Peter Andrew Banaszak (born May 21, 1944) is a former player of college and professional American football. A running back, he played college football at the University of Miami, and played professionally in the American Football League for the ...

moved it forward allowing

Dave Casper David John Casper (born February 2, 1952) nicknamed "the Ghost", is an American former football player best known for being a prominent member of the Oakland Raiders in the National Football League (NFL). He was a tight end and also played as a ...

to finish the job for a touchdown. It is one of the most controversial plays in the history of the NFL.

Week 3

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Week 6

*TV Network:

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

*Announcers:

Curt Gowdy Curtis Edward Gowdy (July 31, 1919 – February 20, 2006) was an American sportscaster. He called Boston Red Sox games on radio and TV for 15 years, and then covered many nationally televised sporting events, primarily for NBC Sports and ABC Sp ...

and

John Brodie John Riley Brodie (born August 14, 1935) is a former American football player, a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. He had a second career as a Senior PGA Tour professional golfer, and ...

This game started with nearly all Oilers as future Raider

Dan Pastorini Dante Anthony Pastorini (born May 26, 1949) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the Houston Oilers. He played college football at Santa Clara University and wa ...

throw touchdown passes of 58 yards to

Mike Renfro Michael Ray Renfro (born June 19, 1955) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the Houston Oilers and Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Texas Christian University. Early years Renfro a ...

and 17 yards to Mike Barber and

Toni Fritsch Anton K. "Toni" Fritsch (10 July 1945 – 14 September 2005) was an Austrian footballer who later started a successful career in American football in the United States. He is distinguished as being the first Austrian to play in the National Footba ...

kicked a 35-yard field goal. The only Raiders points in the first 3 quarters was a 4-yard touchdown run by Arthur Whittington. Then with the Oilers leading 17-7 lead and driving deep in Raiders' territory, Oiler running back

Earl Campbell Earl Christian Campbell (born March 29, 1955), nicknamed "the Tyler Rose", is an American former professional football player who played as a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints. Kn ...

ran around left tackle and lost the ball when Oakland's Dave Browning hit him, and Charles Phillips picked up the ball and ran it 96 yards to cut the Oilers lead to 3. Then in quarter four, and late Ken Stabler who had 3 interceptions prior to this drive suddenly came to life as he successfully passes 71 of the 80 yards ending with a pass to Dave Casper. Oiler defender

Greg Stemrick Gregory Earl Stemrick (October 25, 1951 – August 2, 2016) was an American football defensive back in the NFL for the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orl ...

got his hands on the short winning pass, but Casper yanked the ball loose and held on for the score. His four-yard touchdown reception helped the Raiders go to 4-2 and a tie for first with Denver in the AFC West standings.

Standings

Awards and honors

References

Raiders on Pro Football Reference

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

Oakland Raiders seasons

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