King, Owens Were Superb for the Raiders

Raiders Kenny Kings, and Burgess Owens had historic roles for the Silver and Black.

Quarterback Jim Plunkett threw three touchdown passes, while linebacker Rod Martin made three interceptions. They were the big heroes as the Oakland Raiders trounced the favored Philadelphia Eagles, 27-10, in Super Bowl XV at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, La.

Plunkett passed for 260 yards and was voted the game’s Most Valuable Player, while Martin returned his picks for 44 yards in addition to making five tackles, and some thought he should have been the MVP.

As always, several unsung heroes for the Silver and Black claimed their second Super Bowl title in five years after also beating the Minnesota Vikings, 32-14, in Super Bowl XI.

Running back Kenny King played six seasons for the Raiders but isn’t even in the top 10 of all-time leading rushers in franchise history for the Silver and Black, but he was a starter in Super Bowls XV and XVIII.

The 5-11, 203-pound King rushed for only 18 yards on six carries against the Eagles in /Super Bowl XV, but he made perhaps the game's biggest play.

The wild card Raiders held a 7-0 lead over the Eagles late in the first quarter when Plunkett was chased out of the pocket to his left and appeared ready to run for whatever yardage he could manage.

At the last second, Plunkett lofted a pass down the left sideline that King caught over the outstretched arms of Eagles defensive back Herm Edwards, and he ran untouched down the sideline with wide receiver Bob Chandler in convoy to complete an 80-yard touchdown pass that stood for a while as a Super Bowl record as the longest touchdown pass.

“I was running a simple six-yard pattern when I saw Plunkett scramble,” said King, who also caught a 13-yard pass for a key first down in the game. “I took off up the field. The linebacker dropped me when he saw Plunkett scrambling, and Jim got me the ball.”

King still has the football on the mantel of his office in Dallas.

And to this day, when people meet him, they still ask about the play, not only Raiders fans.

“That’s one of the first things people say,” King said a few years ago. “They remember the play where I caught a pass from Plunkett and went 80 yards down the sideline. It’s not just Raiders fans. It’s Eagles fans and football fans in general.”

In the secondary, the Raiders had safety Burgess Owens, who was drafted with the 13th overall pick of the 1973 NFL Draft by the New York Jets out of Miami (Fla.), but played for the Raiders from 1980-83.

After leading the Raiders with an unofficial total of 81 tackles that season, Owens made 11 stops in the Super Bowl, helped limit running back Wilbert Montgomery to 44 yards rushing, a 2.8 yards average, and hold quarterback Ron Jaworski to 18-of-38 passing.

“After seven years in the league, I got to the Raiders,” said Owens, who has served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Utah’s 4th congressional district since 2021. “ ... It was a locker room similar to our country. A lot of people are getting second chances. It was a motley crew. It taught me a lot about America, and about people. Too old, too rambunctious, too old.

“Al Davis, the owner, said ‘Come here, be part of our organization and be a part of our winning and you will always have a home.’ He said: ‘Once a Raider, Always a Raider.’ It was so true. You had a group of guys, so unbelievably awesome.

“With the Raiders, there were no excuses. You didn’t want to let down the other guy. It was really, ‘Just win, Baby.’ And that’s what we did in the Super Bowl.”

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