Looking Back on the Foundational 1967 Oakland Raiders

Oakland, Los Angeles and now Las Vegas Raiders legacy is immense, but to fully understand you must look back at the foundation laying 1967 team.

The 1967 Oakland Raiders were the first great team in franchise history.

The Raiders were 6-8, 2-12, and 1-13 in their first three seasons before Al Davis came to town as a coach and general manager and led the Silver and Black to 10-4, 5-7-1, and 8-5-1 records before leaving to become commissioner of the American Football League in 1967 during the AFL-NFL war.

John Rauch became the Raiders coach and they went 8-5-1 in 1966 before Davis returned as Managing General Partner in 1967.

“I wanted to build the Raiders into to greatest franchise in professional sports, and I believe I did,” Davis said years later. “I think that 1967 team really got us started in that direction.”

Davis pulled off a blockbuster trade, sending quarterback Tom Flores and wide receiver Art Powell to the Buffalo Bills for quarterback Daryle Lamonica, who had played for Notre Dame and was from Fresno in California’s San Joaquin Valley.

Lamonica turned the Raiders into a powerhouse sooner than expected.

“We were willing to wait a couple of years on Daryle,” Davis said. “We thought it would take time for him to fit into our system. We knew we could play defense and we knew we could run the ball, but it was up to Daryle to get our passing game going.

“He did it sooner than we had expected.”

The 1967 Raiders won their first three games, 51-0 over the Denver Broncos, 35-7 over the Boston Patriots, and 23-21 over the arch-rival Kansas City Chiefs, before losing to the New York Jets, 27-14, at Shea Stadium in New York.

That was their last defeat for more than three months before the Green Bay Packers beat them in Super Bowl II.

“Each game I’m getting more confidence,” said Lamonica, who passed for 3,228 yards and 30 touchdowns that season. “I feel that I’m becoming a leader. I had to improve in a hurry because I knew they were counting on me. By playing regularly, the game plan is becoming second nature to me.

“I’m getting to the point where I can see situations on the field and use plays, in special instances, that aren’t even in our game plan. Some day I want to finish a game with 100 percent completions. But the fans don’t ask about your statistics. All they ask about is whether you win or lose.”

And those Raiders did win, rolling off 11 consecutive victories, capped by a 40-7 rout of the Houston Oilers in the AFL Championship Game at the Oakland Coliseum, claiming the Silver and Black’s first conference title.

The Oakland defense led by defensive linemen Ike Lassiter, Ben Davidson, and Tom Keating, middle linebacker Dan Conners and Hall of Fame cornerback Willie Brown, forced three turnovers while holding running back Hoyle Granger to 19 yards rushing and the Houston offense to only 146 yards.

Raiders running back Hewitt Dixon rushed for 144 yards, including a 69-yard touchdown early in the second quarter, and Pete Banaszak added 116 yards on 15 carries behind a line anchored by Hall of Fame center Jim Otto.

“I had it made when I turned the corner,” Dixon said of his touchdown, which was made possible by a crushing block from rookie guard Gene Upshaw.

Lamonica had a pedestrian game, for him, completing 10-of-24 passes for 111 yards, and two touchdowns including an 18-yard score to tight end Dave Kocourek on a fake field goal.

Lamonica also scored on a quarterback sneak and George Blanda kicked four field goals.

“This is the best team I’ve ever played on, and I’ve played on 18 of them,” Blanda said. “This team is not going to roll over and play dead. We’re not awed by the Packers.”

The Raiders were in the game with the Pack for a half but wound up losing, 33-14.

Unfortunately, the Raiders’ chances to beat the Packers probably ended in Week 9, when star-running back Clem Daniels sustained a season-ending knee injury.

Daniels rushed for 5,138 yards and 30 touchdowns in his career, and was even more of a deep receiving threat out of the backfield, with 203 receptions for 3,314 yards and 24 scores.

Even great Kansas City Chiefs linebackers Bobby Bell, Willie Lanier, and Jim Lynch could not stay with him, so Dave Robinson, Ray Nitschke, and Lee Roy Caffey of the Packers would have had their problems with Daniels.

And having to commit more than one defender to Daniels would have opened things up for Lamonica to throw the ball to wide receivers Fred Biletnikoff and Bill Miller, who did catch two touchdown passes in the game, and tight end Billy Cannon.

To this day, Raider Nation laments that we will never know.

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