The 1978 Oakland Raiders 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. Two new offensive line and defensive starts were named in the pre-season and All-Pro player, Monte Jackson, was not listed as a starter. Injuries were seen as a possible concern during the pre-season and during a pre-season game, Jack Tatum paralyzed New England Patriots wide receiver Darryl Stingley from the chest down while making a hit. Overall, the Raiders were plagued by one of quarterback Kenny Stabler'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, 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's tenth and final season and final game as head coach of the Raiders. He was replaced for the 1979 season by his wide receivers coach, Tom Flores.
NFL draft
Personnel Staff / Coaches
https://www.profootballarchives.com/1978nfloak.html
Roster
Regular season
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 September 3 at Denver Broncos L 6–14 0–1 Mile High Stadium 75,092 2 September 10 at San Diego Chargers W 21–20 1–1 San Diego Stadium 51,653 3 September 17 at Green Bay Packers W 28–3 2–1 Lambeau Field 55,903 4 September 24 New England Patriots L 14–21 2–2 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 52,904 5 October 1 at Chicago Bears W 25–19 (OT) 3–2 Soldier Field 52,848 6 October 8 Houston Oilers W 21–17 4–2 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 52,550 7 October 15 Kansas City Chiefs W 28–6 5–2 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 50,759 8 October 22 at Seattle Seahawks L 7–27 5–3 Kingdome 62,529 9 October 29 San Diego Chargers L 23–27 5–4 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 52,612 10 November 5 at Kansas City Chiefs W 20–10 6–4 Arrowhead Stadium 75,418 11 November 13 at Cincinnati Bengals W 34–21 7–4 Riverfront Stadium 51,374 12 November 19 Detroit Lions W 29–17 8–4 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 44,517 13 November 26 Seattle Seahawks L 16–17 8–5 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 52,978 14 December 3 Denver Broncos L 6–21 8–6 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 53,932 15 December 10 at Miami Dolphins L 6–23 8–7 Miami Orange Bowl 73,003 16 December 17 Minnesota Vikings W 27–20 9–7 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 44,643 Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries
Week 2
Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Jul-17.
The Holy Roller During this game, one of the most famous plays known as the Holy Roller occurred. Kenny Stabler fumbled the ball and Pete Banaszak moved it forward allowing Dave Casper to finish the job for a touchdown. It is one of the most controversial plays in the history of the NFL.
Week 3
Pro-Football-Reference.com
Week 6 TV Network: NBC Announcers: Curt Gowdy and John Brodie This game started with nearly all Oilers as future Raider Dan Pastorini throw touchdown passes of 58 yards to Mike Renfro and 17 yards to Mike Barber and Toni Fritsch 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 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 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
References
External links 1978 Oakland Raiders at Pro Football Reference 1978 Oakland Raiders at JT-SW.com