Today in 1975, the Oakland Raiders hosted the Kansas City Chiefs
in a divisional contest and the last game of the regular season.
The Raiders got on the board first on a 5 yard touchdown run by
Pete Banaszak. The Chiefs answered with
a Jan Stenerud 35 yard field goal.
Stenerud closed the gap with a 29 yard field goal in the second
quarter. Kansas City took the lead on a 5
yard touchdown pass from Tony Adams to Barry Pearson. Oakland took the lead again on a Banaszak 3
yard touchdown run and increased the lead when Ken Stabler threw a 16 yard
touchdown pass to Morris Bradshaw. The
Raiders led at halftime 21-13.
After a scoreless third quarter, Kansas City closed the gap to
one on a 1 yard touchdown run by Jeff Kinney.
But Oakland put the game out of reach when Banaszak scored yet another
touchdown on a 1 yard run. The Oakland
Raiders beat the Kansas City Chiefs 28-20.
For the Chiefs, Tony Adams passed 18-31 for 245 yards, with a
touchdown and 2 interceptions. He also had
3 rushing attempts for 26 yards. Barry
Pearson had 6 receptions for 103 yards and a touchdown. Willie Lanier had an interception.
For the Raiders, Ken Stabler passed 11-12 for 134 yards and a
touchdown. The elder statesman of the
NFL, George Blanda, passed 1-3 for 11 yards and an interception. Pete Banaszak had 17 rushes for 72 yards and
3 touchdowns. He also had 2 receptions
for 22 yards. Jess Phillips ran 7 times for 84 yards. Charlie Phillips, Jack
Tatum, and Skip Thomas each had an interception.
The Chiefs finished the season at 5-9, third in the AFC West. The Raiders finished at 11-3 and were AFC
West Champions. Oakland lost to the
eventual Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers 16-10 in the AFC Championship
game.
Trivia
- There were 13 Hall of Famers present: Len Dawson, Buck Buchanan, Willie Lanier, Jan Stenerud, and Emmitt Thomas for the Chiefs, and Fred Biletnikoff, George Blanda, Willie Brown, Dave Casper, Ted Hendricks, Art Shell, Gene Upshaw, and head coach John Madden for the Raiders.
- The Raiders rushed for 246 yards in the game, 199 of them by Banaszak (72), Jess Phillips (84), and Mark Van Eeghen (43).
- This was Paul Wiggin’s first season as head coach of the Chiefs. He coached the team from 1975-77.
- This was John Madden’s seventh season as head coach of the Raiders. He coached the team from 1969-78.
- Wiggin played defensive end for the Cleveland Browns from 1957-67.
- Oakland offensive guard Art Shell was the head coach of the Raiders from 1989-94 and 2006.
- This was kicker George Blanda's last appearance ever as quarterback and his last season as a player. He played from 1949-75 for the Chicago Bears, Baltimore Colts, Houston Oilers, and Oakland Raiders.
- Emmitt Thomas was the interim head coach for the Atlanta Falcons in 2007.
Here are some historical scores on this day for teams facing
each other this week, on December 21,
1980 – Dallas 35 – Philadelphia 27
1997 – Seattle 38 – San Francisco 9
2003 – Baltimore 35 – Cleveland 0
2003 – Philadelphia 27 – Dallas 3
2008 – Buffalo 30 – Denver 23
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