Neha Patil (Editor)

1983 Los Angeles Raiders season

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Record
  
12–4

Head coach
  
Tom Flores

Owner
  
Al Davis

Division place
  
1st AFC West

Start date
  
1983

General manager
  
Al Davis

1983 Los Angeles Raiders season httpsiytimgcomviDnMNmckgmsUhqdefaultjpg

Playoff finish
  
Won Divisional Playoffs (Steelers) 38–10 Won Conference Championship (Seahawks) 30–14 Won Super Bowl XVIII (Redskins) 38–9

Pro Bowlers
  
8 TE Todd Christensen LCB Lester Hayes LOLB Ted Hendricks RT Henry Lawrence LDE Howie Long ROLB Rod Martin FS Vann McElroy KR/PR Greg Pruitt

AP All-Pros
  
5 TE Todd Christensen LCB Lester Hayes LDE Howie Long ROLB Rod Martin FS Vann McElroy

Home field
  
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

Similar
  
1976 Oakland Raiders s, 1978 Pittsburgh Steelers s, 1984 San Francisco 49ers sea, 1996 Green Bay Packers s, 1986 New York Giants season

The 1983 Los Angeles Raiders season began with the team trying to improve on their 8–1 record from 1982. The 1983 season was the second season in Los Angeles. The 1983 season is also the Raiders third Super Bowl winning season. To date, it was the team's most recent NFL championship season. NFL Films titled the season highlights of the 1983 Los Angeles Raiders, Just Win, Baby!, narrated by John Facenda, and on November 24, 2006, NFL Network aired America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions, the 1983 Los Angeles Raiders, ranking them #20, with team commentary from Marcus Allen, Todd Christensen and Howie Long, and narrated by Alec Baldwin.

Contents

NFL Draft

During the draft the Raiders had attempted to execute a 3-team trade that would have brought future Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway to Los Angeles, but this trade was blocked, and Elway was instead drafted by the Colts, whom he refused to play for, then traded to the Broncos.

Schedule

Notes:

Pre Season Game Officials

Schedule

Notes:

Regular Season Game Officials

Individual leaders

Offense

1Completions/attempts 2Carries 3Long gain 4Receptions

Defense

Special Teams

Schedule

Notes:

Playoff Game Officials

AFC Divisional Playoffs

The Raiders scored 3 touchdowns in the third quarter en route to a 38–10 win over the Steelers. In the first quarter, Pittsburgh advanced on a 78-yard drive, but when faced with fourth down and inches near the goal line, they opted for kicker Gary Anderson's 17-yard field goal. But the Raiders controlled the rest of the game, as Lester Hayes returned an interception 18 yards for a touchdown. A 4-yard touchdown by running back Marcus Allen and a 45-yard field goal gave the Raiders a 17–3 lead. The Raiders then scored three touchdowns in the third period, including Allen's 49-yard run. Allen finished the game with 121 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns on just 13 carries, while also catching 5 passes for 38 yards. The Steelers' lone score in the second half was wide receiver John Stallworth's 58-yard touchdown reception.

AFC Championship Game

Seattle had defeated Los Angeles twice during the regular season, but this game had a very different outcome.

The Raiders jumped to a 20–0 halftime lead en route to a 30–14 victory. The Seahawks were held to 65 rushing yards while Raiders Running back Marcus Allen ran for 154 yards, caught 7 passes for 62 yards, and scored 2 touchdowns. Lester Hayes' interception on Seattle's first drive of the game set up a 20-yard field goal. In the second quarter, Raiders running back Frank Hawkins then scored two touchdowns. In the second half, Seahawks starting quarterback Dave Krieg was benched and replaced by Jim Zorn. Zorn threw two touchdown passes, but it was not enough as Allen's 3-yard touchdown reception and another Raiders field goal put the game away. Seahawks running back Curt Warner, the AFC's leading rusher during the regular season, was held to just 26 yards on 11 carries.

Super Bowl XVIII

Less than five minutes into the game, Derrick Jensen blocked Redskins Jeff Hayes punt and recovered the ball in the end zone to give the Raiders a 7–0 lead. On their ensuing drive, Washington was forced to punt, but Los Angeles punt returner Ted Watts muffed the kick and Washington safety Greg Williams recovered the ball at the Raiders 42-yard line. However, the Redskins could only advance to 27-yard line.

The Redskins regrouped in the second half, and scoring on their opening drive by marching 70 yards in 9 plays. First, Garrett returned the opening kickoff 35 yards from 5 yards deep in the end zone to the Washington 30-yard line. Then, Theismann completed a 23-yard pass to receiver Charlie Brown to the Raiders' 47-yard line. Eight plays later, fullback John Riggins finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run. (Riggins became the second player to run for touchdowns in back-to-back Super Bowls. He had one in Super Bowl XVII en route to winning that game's Super Bowl MVP). Moseley's extra point attempt was blocked by Don Hasselbeck, but the Redskins had cut the score to 21–9 and were just 2 touchdowns away from taking the lead.

However the Raiders completely took over the rest of the game, preventing any chance of a Washington comeback. On the ensuing drive, Washington defensive back Darrell Green was called for a 38-yard pass interference penalty while trying to cover Raiders receiver Malcolm Barnwell, setting up running back Marcus Allen's 5-yard touchdown run 7 plays later to make the score 28–9.

On the next Raiders possession, the last play of the third quarter, Plunkett handed the ball off to Allen, who started to run left. But then he saw a lot of defenders in front of him so he cut back to the middle and took off for a then Super Bowl record 74-yard touchdown run, increasing Los Angeles' lead to 35–9.

In the final period, the Raiders sacked Theismann 3 times, forcing him to fumble once, and intercepted a pass. Meanwhile, a 39-yard run from Allen set up a 21-yard field goal from kicker Chris Bahr to make the final score of the game 38–9.

References

1983 Los Angeles Raiders season Wikipedia