NFL Old School Game of the Week: Controversial Penalty Allows Raiders To Beat Patriots

Ken Stabler dives for the game-winning touchdown with 10 seconds left to give the Raiders a 24-21 win over the Patriots in their 1976 AFC Divisional Playoff.

When NFL fans think about the Oakland Raiders and the New England Patriots and playoff controversy, they think about the infamous "Tuck Rule" that allowed a Tom Brady fumble to be overturned into an incomplete pass, allowing for the Patriots to defeat the Raiders in the 2001 NFL Playoffs.
However, that was not the first time that the Raiders and the Patriots were embroiled in a controversial call that helped determine a NFL playoff game.
25 years earlier on December 18, 1976, the Raiders hosted the Patriots in the Divisional Playoffs.
For the Raiders, this was their 10th straight trip to the playoffs, eight under head coach John Madden, but Oakland had made it to the Super Bowl only time in 1967 and had lost in six conference championship games, including the previous three with the last two coming courtesy of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Even though they were the #1 seed in the AFC with a 13-1 record entering their game with New England, there was an enormous amount of pressure on Madden, quarterback Ken Stabler, and the rest of the Raiders to get the job done and finally win a Super Bowl.
While the Raiders were no strangers to the playoffs, the New England Patriots were making their postseason appearance since they played for the 1963 AFL Championship.
Led by head coach Chuck Fairbanks and second-year quarterback Steve Grogan, the Patriots had gone from 3-11 the previous season to 11-3 in the 1976 season to earn the AFC's Wild Card berth and a trip to Oakland.
Even many of their players had never played a playoff game and they entered as a touchdown underdog, the Patriots had to feel confident because they were the team that handed the Raiders their only loss of the 1976 season, a 48-17 shackling in Foxboro.
Plus, New England felt they were playing with house money as they were the "Cinderella" team and were note excepted to go far while the Raiders were excepted to finally exorcise their playoff demons.
After both teams punted on their opening possessions, the Patriots took over at their 14-yard-line and proceeded down the length of the field on the right arm of  Grogan as he completed all four of his passes for 78 yards on the 10-play drive which included a 41-yard reception by tight end Russ Francis and then a 24-yard pass to Daryl Stingley that gave New England a 1st-and-goal at the one-yard-line where Andy Johnson punched it for the game's first touchdown, giving the Patriots a 7-0 lead.

Andy Johnson(32) and Sam Cunningham(39) combined for 100 yards on 34 carries and scored one touchdown.

Following the ensuing kickoff, the Raiders took over at their 32-yard-line, but it only took them one play to drive into Patriots territory as Stabler hit Fred Bilentikoff for 22 yards to give Oakland a 1st down at the New England 46-yard-line.
Then, Stabler found Cliff Branch for 18 more yards to give the Raiders another 1st down at the New England 25-yard-line.
However, the Raiders would only pick up two more yards and were forced to settle for a 40-yard field goal by Errol Mann that cut the Patriots lead to 7-3 with 1:13 left in the opening quarter.

The score was still 7-3 in the second quarter the Raiders were given an excellent scoring opportunity after running back Sam Cunningham fumbled the football, which was recovered by Oakland linebacker Willie Hall inside the Patriots' 20-yard-line.
But the Raiders gave the ball right back to the Patriots two plays later when running back Clarence Davis fumbled the football, leading to a recovery by New England defensive end Mel Lunsford at the Patriots' 11-yard-line.
New England proceeded to drive deep into Raiders territory, even converting a 4th-and-inches at the Oakland 43-yard-line as running back Don Calhoun picked up seven yards on the 4th down play.
Then the Patriots tried to pull a rabbit out of their hat as they called an end-around reverse for Francis who was going to throw it, instead of run it.
The trick play backfired as Francis was intercepted by Raiders cornerback Skip Thomas, who made the pick at his own six-yard-line and then returned it 18 yards, to give Oakland the ball at their 24-yard-line with 2:27 left in the first half.
A 13-yard pass to Bilentikoff and a a 18-yard pass to Casper help lead to a spectacular one-handed catch by Bilentikoff for a 31-yard touchdown to give the Raiders a 10-7 lead with 39 seconds left in the half(click to play).

The Patriots would run out the clock and go into the locker room trailing by just a field goal.
The Raiders punted following their opening drive of the second half and it looked like the Patriots were going to punt as well on their opening drive as they punted the ball from their 22-yard-line, only to have Thomas be called for a holding penalty, to give New England a 1st down at the Raiders' 32-yard-line.
On the next play from scrimmage, the Patriots were in Raiders territory as Cunningham busted through the middle for a 22-yard run to the Oakland 46-yard-line.
Then, Francis took over as he made a 20-yard catch and then on 3rd down from the Raiders 26-yard-line, Francis caught Grogan's strike over the middle at the 15-yard-line and then outran the Oakland defense for the go-ahead touchdown to give the Patriots a 14-10 lead with 6:46 left in the third quarter.
Things did not get better for the Raiders as they went three-and-out on their next offensive possession, giving the Patriots the ball back at their 45-yard-line, who were able to drive to the Oakland 20-yard-line, thanks in large part to three Raider penalties, which included Oakland linebacker Ted Hendricks jumping offsides on a New England punt.
From the Raiders' 20, New England ran the ball five straight times, with Jess Phillips getting the call on the last run, which happened to be a three-yard touchdown to increase the New England lead to 21-10 with 1:23 left in the third quarter.
Oakland fans grew nervous as their beloved Raiders were staring down at another disappointing playoff loss as they needed two touchdowns in the final 16 1/2  minutes to win.
The Raiders would respond with a 11-play, 70-yard drive as Stabler completed all five of his passes on the drive for 53 yards, with three of those completions going to Bilentikoff totaling 38 yards.
The drive was capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by Mark van Eeghen to cut the Patriots lead to 21-17 with 11:03 left in the fourth quarter.
Following an exchange of punts, the Patriots drove to the Raiders' 28-yard-line where they faced a 3rd-and-1 with 4:30 left in the game.
One more 1st down wouldn't put the game away, but it would go a long way in paving the way for the Patriots to pull off the upset.
But New England jumped before the snap drawing a five-yard penalty and making it 3rd-and-6, instead of 3rd-and-1.
That is when Grogan dropped back and threw a pass intended for Francis that the tight end failed to catch because he was held by Raiders linebacker Phil Villapiano.
However, no penalty was called on the Raiders and the Patriots were forced to call on John Smith to attempt a 50-yard field goal to extend the lead to a touchdown.
But Smith's kick was short and the Raiders took over at their 32-yard-line with 4:12 left in the game.

Fred Bilentikoff makes one of his nine catches for 137 yards and a touchdown in the Raiders' 1976 Divisional Playoff with the Patriots

Back-to-back completions to Bilentikoff for seven yards and Branch for eight yards had the Raiders at their 47-yard-line, which was followed by a one-yard run, and then a 12-yard reception by Bilentikoff that put the Raiders in New England territory at the Patriots' 41-yard-line.
Then, Stabler hit Casper for 21 yards to give the Raiders a 1st-and-10 at the Patriots' 20-yard-line with over two minutes left.
Following Casper's catch, the Patriots defense came to life as they forced an incomplete pass and a quarterback sack by Lunsford pushed Oakland back to the 28-yard-line where they faced a 3rd-and-18 when the controversial moment arrived.
On the play, Stabler took the snap, dropped back, and fired a pass intended for Carl Garrett that fell incomplete, only to have referee Ben Drieth called Patriots nose tackle Ray "Sugar Bear" Hamilton get called for roughing the passer, giving Oakland a 1st down at the Patriots' 13-yard-line.
Though Sugar Bear did hit Stabler in the helmet, which probably would have been roughing the passer in today's NFL, he seemed to arrived just a microsecond after Stabler lofted the duck for Garrett, to which Patriots players and coaches cried out that no roughing the passer should be called.
Nevertheless, the call was made and instead of facing 4th-and-18 at the 28-yard-line, Oakland had 1st-and-10 at the 13-yard-line with 57 seconds to go(click to play).

On the very next play, Stabler hit Casper for five yards, who promptly got out-of-bounds to stop the clock, which was followed by a four-yard run by Davis setting up 3rd-and-1 from the four-yard-line with 40 seconds left.
That is when Pete Banaszak got the ball and got the one yard needed for the first down, plus an extra yard-and-half when Patriots strong safety Prentice McCray was called for unsportsmanlike conduct and giving the Raiders 1st-and-goal from the one-and-half yard-line when they called timeout.
After the timeout, Stabler handed the ball off to Banaszak who was stopped for no gain, leading to a 2nd-and-goal.
That is when Stabler called for a run-pass option where the "Snake" would roll to the left side and either loft a pass for Casper in the end zone or try to run it in himself.
With 14 seconds to go, Stabler took the snap, rolled left, and decided to dive for the touchdown which he got to put Oakland ahead 24-21 with 10 seconds left(click to play).

The Patriots could do nothing in the final 10 seconds as they lost 24-21, ending their Cinderella season.
New England would go 9-5 the following season but would miss out on the playoffs, which was followed by their first division title since 1963 as the Patriots won the 1978 AFC East title.
However, chaos ensued before the Patriots' regular season finale as Fairbanks was suspended by Patriots ownership for negotiating with the University of Colorado on becoming its head coach.
Fairbanks returned for the playoffs but he had lost the locker room as New England showed a poor effort in the Divisional Playoffs as they were beaten at home by the Houston Oilers 31-14.
Fairbanks would leave to take the job at Colorado following the loss to the Oilers.
As for the Raiders, they carried the momentum from their comeback win over to the Patriots all the way to their first Super Bowl title as they defeated the two-time defending Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers 24-7 in the AFC Championship and then knocked off the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 in Super Bowl XI.
The Raiders would return to the playoffs the following year were they were eliminated in the AFC Championship Game by their AFC West division rival, the Denver Broncos.
After the Raiders went 9-7 in 1978 but missed the playoffs for the first time since 1966, Madden resigned as head coach of the Raiders and was replaced by offensive coordinator Tom Flores who lead Oakland to a 9-7 season in 1979, which was the final year with Stabler as the Raiders starting quarterback as he was traded to the Houston Oilers for their starting quarterback, Dan Pasteroni.
However, it would be Jim Plunkett, who would come off the bench and lead the Raiders to two more Super Bowl titles in the next four years, while Stabler played two seasons in Houston, then three more with the New Orleans Saints, until his retirement after 15 NFL seasons.
Though the two teams played in the 1985 NFL playoffs with the Patriots upsetting the Raiders 27-20 in the Divisional Round, it would not be until the 2001 playoffs when once again the two teams were at the center of a controversial call in a playoff game, though this one went in the Patriots' favor and help kickstart their run of five Super Bowl championships in 16 years.
In New England Patriots fans' minds, the "Tuck Rule" was the football gods returning the favor for the Sugar Bear Hamilton penalty.