Raiders Hope Jimmy G Can Make Them Super Again
Jimmy Garoppolo of the Las Vegas Raiders hopes to become the second quarterback from the San Francisco 49ers and lead the Silver and Black to victory in the Super Bowl.
Garoppolo signed as a free agent with the Raiders after playing the last six seasons with the 49ers and will be the starter after spending the first four seasons of his career with Coach Josh McDaniels as a member of the New England Patriots.
“I think the reality is he’s just been a good football player,” McDaniels said after watching Garoppolo, who was 38-17 with the 49ers, coming off a foot injury during training camp and the preseason. “He’s just been a good football player, as he was with the 49ers.
“He didn’t play much for me in New England. You know, I got to be around him when he was developing, but he really put a stamp on what he’s about in San Fran. I know he was coached well by an incredible coaching staff there, and he’s doing some really good things here already.”
Jim Plunkett, the Heisman Trophy winner at Stanford, came to the Raiders in 1978 after being the first pick of the 1971 NFL Draft before being beaten up in his first six seasons with the expansion Patriots and spending the next two seasons with the 49ers.
Raiders owner Al Davis, who certainly recognized talent, signed Plunkett as a free agent in 1978 after the 49ers let him go.
“You don’t even have to practice,” Davis told Plunkett at the Raiders practice facility in Alameda, Calif., after first signing him. “Just heal yourself up physically and mentally until we need you.”
Plunkett was ready in 1980 when he posted a 9-2 record as a starter and passed for 2,299 yards and 18 touchdowns before leading the Raiders to four consecutive victories in the playoffs, including a 27-10 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XV at the Louisiana Superdome.
After completing 13-of-21 passes in that game for 261 yards, touchdown passes of two and 29 yards to wide receiver Cliff Branch, and 80 yards to running back Kenny King, Plunkett was voted the game’s Most Valuable Player.
Three seasons later, Plunkett passed for 2,935 yards and 20 touchdowns while going 10-3 as a starter during a 12-4 season and led the Raiders to three straight wins during the playoffs, including a 38-9 rout of the favored Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XVIII at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Fla.
Plunkett passed for 172 yards and a 12-yard touchdown pass to Branch during that game while engineering an offense that amassed 385 yards, including 191 yards rushing and two touchdowns, including a 74-yarder by Marcus Allen, the game’s Most Valuable Player.
That was the third and final time the Raiders won the Super Bowl, and Plunkett, along with Eli Manning, are the only quarterbacks who have won the NFL’s most fantastic game twice and have not been enshrined at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
“Jim Plunkett belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame,” Raiders Hall of Fame Coach John Madden, a legendary television color commentator, said before he passed away in 2021. “I didn’t get a chance to really coach him, but I would have liked to.
“He led the Raiders to two wins in the Super Bowl and had several other outstanding seasons. He belongs in Canton.”
Garoppolo knows all about the Super Bowl, having been a backup quarterback to the great Tom Brady when the Patriots captured Super Bowls XLIX and Super Bowl LI.
Raider Nation hopes Jimmy G can take the lessons he learned then and lead them to a fourth Super Bowl victory.
The Silver and Black open the regular season at the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Sept. 10, at 4:25 p.m. EDT/1:25 p.m. PDT.
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