The 1977 Oakland Raiders season was the team's 18th season overall, and 8th season since joining the NFL. The Raiders entered the season as the defending Super Bowl champions. The team could not match its 13–1 record from 1976 and finished 11–3, which was only good enough for second place in the AFC West next to the Denver Broncos, who won 12 games (the two split victories over each other in the regular season).
The Raiders reached the AFC Championship Game for the fifth consecutive season, and their sixth in eight years. They lost the AFC Championship, however, to the division rival Denver Broncos. This marked the seventh time in ten seasons that the Raiders' season ended one game short of the Super Bowl. They did not return to the AFC Championship for the next two seasons.
The 1977 Raiders set a professional football record with 681 rushing attempts.Pro-Football-Reference.com: In a single season, from 1978 to 2011, in the regular season, sorted by descending Rushing Att Fullback Mark van Eeghen 324 times for 1273 yards, and running back Clarence Davis ran 194 times for 787 yards.Pro-Football-Reference.com: 1977 Oakland Raiders
Offseason NFL draft
1977 Oakland Raiders Draft Round Selection Player Position College 235Mike DavisDBColorado256Ted McKnightRBMinnesota-Duluth4112Mickey MarvinOGTennessee5126Lester HayesDBTexas A&M5139Jeff BarnesLBCalifornia7190Rich MartiniWRCalifornia-Davis8223Terry RobiskieRBLouisiana State12317Rod MartinLBSouthern California12334Rolf BenirschkePKCalifornia-Davis
Personnel Staff / Coaches
Roster
Regular season
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 September 18 San Diego Chargers W 24–0 1–0 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 51,022 2 September 25 at Pittsburgh Steelers W 16–7 2–0 Three Rivers Stadium 50,398 3 at Kansas City Chiefs W 37–28 3–0 Arrowhead Stadium 60,684 4 October 9 at Cleveland Browns W 26–10 4–0 Cleveland Municipal Stadium 80,236 5 October 16 Denver Broncos L 7–30 4–1 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 53,616 6 October 23 at New York Jets W 28–27 5–1 Shea Stadium 56,734 7 October 30 at Denver Broncos W 24–14 6–1 Mile High Stadium 75,007 8 November 6 Seattle Seahawks W 44–7 7–1 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 50,929 9 November 13 Houston Oilers W 34–29 8–1 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 53,667 10 November 20 at San Diego Chargers L 7–12 8–2 San Diego Stadium 50,887 11 Buffalo Bills W 34–13 9–2 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 51,558 12 December 4 at Los Angeles Rams L 14–20 9–3 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum 67,075 13 December 11 Minnesota Vikings W 35–13 10–3 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 52,771 14 December 18 Kansas City Chiefs W 21–20 11–3 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 50,304 Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Results
Week 1
Week 2
Pro-Football-Reference.com
Week 3
Pro-Football-Reference.com
Week 6
Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Mar-10.
Week 11
Pro-Football-Reference.com
Week 13 Network: CBS Announcers: Vin Scully, Alex Hawkins Oakland capitalizing on Minnesota mistakes, scored three times in the first 8 minutes and kept their hopes for a playoff berth alive. "We Got Stomped", Vikings coach Bud Grant said after his team had lost a total of five fumbles and had three passes intercepted. Ken Stabler threw three touchdown passes one to Carl Garrett for 2 yards, and two others to Cliff Branch from 32 and 10 yards. Mark Van Eeghan who rushed for 112 yards on 28 yards got the Raiders day going with a 2-yard touchdown run. While Willie Hall of Super Bowl XI fame scored a fumble recovery touchdown off a Tommy Kramer blunder.
Standings
Playoffs
Oakland made the playoffs as a wild card and won its divisional round game against the Baltimore Colts when Errol Mann tied the game with a late field goal, set up by a pass to tight end Dave Casper, a play known as the Ghost to the Post. In the second overtime, Casper caught another touchdown pass for the victory. The following week on New Year's Day, they lost the AFC Championship Game 20–17 in Denver.Pro-Football-Reference.com
Round Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Divisional December 24 at Baltimore Colts W 37–31 1–0 Memorial Stadium 60,763 AFC Championship January 1, 1978 at Denver Broncos L 17–20 1–1 Mile High Stadium 74,982
Statistics
Passing
Player Comp Att Yards TD INT Ken Stabler 169 294 2176 20 20
Pro-Football-Reference.com
Rushing
Player Att Yards TD Ken Stabler 3 −3 –
Receiving
Player Rec Yards TD Dave Casper 48 584 6 Cliff Branch 33 540 6 Fred Biletnikoff 33 446 5
References
External links 1977 Oakland Raiders at Pro Football Reference 1977 Oakland Raiders at JT-SW.com