1976–77 NFL playoffs
The National Football League playoffs for the 1976 season began on December 18, 1976. The postseason tournament concluded with the Oakland Raiders defeating the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI, 32–14, on January 9, 1977, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
Participants
Bracket
Schedule
fell on a Saturday in 1976. In order to avoid scheduling playoff games on the holiday, the regular season opened a week earlier than normal so that the Divisional Playoffs could be held on December 18 and 19 instead of December 25 and 26, and thus no games would be needed on Christmas Day. The conference championship games were played Sunday, December 26, and Super Bowl XI was played on January 9, the earliest date in Super Bowl history.Due to the at-the-time Maryland state law that prohibited Baltimore Colts home games from starting earlier than 2:00 p.m. EST on Sundays, the two divisional playoff games on Sunday, December 19 were pushed to 2:00 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. EST.
In the United States, CBS televised the NFC playoff games, while NBC broadcast the AFC games and Super Bowl XI.
Divisional playoffs
Saturday, December 18, 1976
NFC: Minnesota Vikings 35, Washington Redskins 20
The Vikings jumped to a 35–6 lead by the end of the third quarter, led by running backs Chuck Foreman and Brent McClanahan who each rushed for more than 100 yards.McClanahan's career-long 41-yard run on Minnesota's first play of the game set up quarterback Fran Tarkenton's 18-yard touchdown pass to tight end Stu Voigt. Eddie Brown gave his team some early scoring opportunities with big special teams plays, first returning the kickoff 26 yards to the 38-yard line, and later returning a punt 17 yards to the Vikings 45; but Washington was unable to capitalize. Following the kickoff return the Redskins went three-and-out, and on the first play after Brown's punt return, Billy Kilmer threw a pass that was intercepted by Bobby Bryant. With momentum seeming to slip away, on the first play after Bryant's pick, Washington took the ball right back with an interception by safety Jake Scott, who returned it 17 yards to the Minnesota 34-yard line. Three plays later, Mark Moseley kicked a 47-yard field goal that cut the Washington deficit to 7-3. Later in the quarter, Minnesota drove 66 yards and scored when Tarkenton threw a 27-yard pass to Sammy White. Safety Ken Houston deflected the ball, but it bounced to White, who made a diving juggling catch for a touchdown to put the Vikings up 14-3. By the end of the first quarter, the Vikings had gained 143 yards, while holding Washington to 18 yards and no first downs.
The situation only got worse for Washington in the second quarter. A promising drive into Vikings territory ended with no points when Moseley missed a 51-yard field goal attempt. Minnesota then drove 66 yards, featuring a 35-yard completion from Tarkenton to Ahmad Rashad, to score on Foreman's 2-yard touchdown run, putting them up 21-3. The Redskins' next drive ended with an interception by Nate Wright. On the next play, Houston intercepted the ball from Tarkenton and returned it 8 yards to the Vikings 38. But Washington was unable to move the ball and had to punt. In the final seconds of the half, Washington had a chance for a touchdown with a deep throw from Kilmer to receiver Frank Grant. Grant had broken open in the end zone, but was unable to make the catch and the pass fell incomplete.
Washington had to punt on the first drive of the second half, and Leonard Willis returned it 10 yards to the Vikings 48, from where Minnesota proceeded to drive to a 28-3 lead on a 30-yard touchdown burst by Foreman. This time the Redskins were able to respond, converting a 20-yard catch by tight end Jean Fugett, a 20-yard run by Mike Thomas, and a 10-yard reception by fullback John Riggins into a 35-yard Moseley field goal, making the score 28-6. But after this, the Vikings drove 77 yards and scored on a 9-yard pass from Tarkenton to White. By the time Kilmer completed two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, the game was already out of reach.
This was only the second postseason meeting between the Redskins and Vikings, with Minnesota having won the previous meeting.
| Minnesota leads 1–0 in all-time playoff games |
AFC: Oakland Raiders 24, New England Patriots 21
The Raiders stormed into the 1976 playoffs in dominant form, with an NFL-best 13–1 record. However, their only loss of the season was to New England, a brutal 48–17 thrashing in week 4. New England finished the year with an 11–3 record, a spectacular turnaround after going 3–11 the previous season, to make their first playoff appearance since 1963.The Raiders overcame an 11-point fourth quarter deficit to win on quarterback Ken Stabler's 1-yard touchdown run with 14 seconds left in the game.
Raiders return man Neal Colzie gave his team an early scoring opportunity by returning a New England punt 24 yards to the Pats' 46-yard line. Oakland was unable to move the ball, and despite a solid Ray Guy punt that pinned the Patriots back at their own 14-yard line, their defense could not stop New England from driving 86 yards in 10 plays to take a 7–0 lead on Andy Johnson's 1-yard rushing touchdown. The key plays of the drive were a spectacular one-handed 48-yard catch by tight end Russ Francis on 3rd down and 7 from the Patriots' 33-yard line, and a 24-yard 3rd-down reception by receiver Darryl Stingley. On Oakland's next possession, Stabler's completions to Fred Biletnikoff and Cliff Branch for gains of 22 and 17 yards set up Errol Mann's 40-yard field goal, making the score 7–3 with 1:14 left in the first quarter.
The score would not change until near the end of the second quarter, after Oakland defensive back Skip Thomas made a clutch interception in his own red zone of Francis passing on an option play, and returned it 18 yards to the Raiders' 24. Oakland subsequently drove 76 yards in 8 plays to score on Stabler's 31-yard touchdown pass to Biletnikoff with 45 seconds left in the half, giving the Raiders a 10–7 halftime lead.
New England regrouped in the second half. After forcing Oakland to punt on their opening drive, Steve Grogan led the Patriots 80 yards in 9 plays to score on his 26-yard touchdown completion to Francis. The Raiders had to punt again on their next possession, and New England got the ball with good field position on their own 45, where they drove 55 yards in 10 plays to go up 21–10 on Jess Phillips' 3-yard rushing touchdown with 1:13 left in the third period.
Oakland responded by driving 70 yards in 8 plays. Stabler was a perfect 5-for-5 passing on the drive, including a 17-yard completion to Biletnikoff on the last play of the third quarter, as the team cut their deficit to 21–17 on running back Mark Van Eeghen's 1-yard touchdown run. After an exchange of punts, New England got the ball on their own 48 with a huge chance to increase their lead or run out the clock to win the game. After driving to the Raiders' 28, on 3rd and 1 at the Raiders 28-yard line, Grogan changed the snap count to draw the Raiders offsides, but the Raiders were barking out dummy snap counts themselves and Hannah, Leon Gray, and Pete Brock all jumped offsides. On the next play Grogan threw to Russ Francis but Francis could not raise his arms because of holding by the Raiders Phil Villapiano, holding so blatant that according to Francis, " bruise marks on my arm....when I saw Phil at the Pro Bowl that year, he came right out and told me he had done it.". Now on 4th down, the Patriots decided to gamble on a 50-yard field goal attempt by John Smith, but his kick was no good, giving the ball back to Oakland with good field position and 4:12 left on the clock.
Stabler then led the Raiders 68 yards for the game-winning score. Several key completions, including a 12-yard catch by Branch and a 21-yard reception by tight end Dave Casper, gave the team a first down on the Patriots' 28-yard line. But on the next play, Stabler was sacked for an 8-yard loss by DT Mel Lunsford. After an incompletion, Oakland faced 3rd and 18 on the 36-yard line. Stabler threw an incomplete pass on the next play, but it was eliminated by a controversial roughing the passer penalty called by referee Ben Dreith on nose tackle Ray "Sugar Bear" Hamilton, giving Oakland a first down on the Pats' 13 with 57 seconds remaining. Following a 5-yard catch by Casper and a 4-yard run by Clarence Davis, a personal foul penalty on safety Prentice McCray brought up first and goal at the 1-yard line. Now with time running out, Stabler faked a handoff to running back Pete Banaszak, who was stuffed at the line of scrimmage, and rolled to the left. Led by guard Gene Upshaw, Stabler dove into the end zone with 14 seconds left to give the Raiders a 24–21 lead. Linebacker Monte Johnson then sealed the win with an interception on the last play of the game.
Biletnikoff finished the game with 9 receptions for 137 yards and a touchdown. Francis had 4 catches for 96 yards and a score. Stabler completed 19/32 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions, and scored a rushing touchdown as well.
Penalties played a huge role in the game. New England had 10 penalties, while the Raiders had 11. "That was one of the worst-called games I have ever seen in my life," said an angry Patriots DE Julius Adams. "I just hope they were right", Patriots coach Chuck Fairbanks said about the roughing the passer call against Ray Hamilton on Oakland's game-winning drive. "It looked to me like Ray Hamilton hit the ball first. If he did deflect the ball, it was an incorrect call." Later on, he added "I'm proud of my team and the way we played today. We’re going home knowing we played our hearts out."
"That's what you say," said Raiders Coach John Madden when the Pats' complaints were brought to his attention by a writer. "If you could sit there for 60 minutes and say the officials turned that game around with penalties at the end, you were wasting your time. You were eating a hot dog somewhere instead of watching what was going on. There was some great football out there."
This was the first postseason meeting between the Patriots and Raiders.