Raiders and Steelers Have Played Some Classics

As the Las Vegas Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare to play on Christmas Eve, we look back at some of the classic games between these historic franchises.

The Las Vegas Raiders come off one miracle and head into the anniversary of another when they play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday evening, Christmas Eve, at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.

The Steelers will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of “The Immaculate Reception,” on which running back Franco Harris supposedly caught a 60-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Terry Bradshaw with 15 seconds remaining to give Pittsburgh a 13-7 victory over the Oakland Raiders in an AFC Playoff game at Three Rivers Stadium in 1972.

Raider Nation will always dispute the play because it claims running back Frenchy Fuqua while being hit by Raiders safety Jack Tatum, was the only player to touch the ball before it went to Harris, which in those days would have made it an incomplete pass.

“I didn’t see [Tatum] coming,” said Fuqua who was telling people after the game that he was the one to touch the ball before Harris, when he was told by teammates to shut up. “He just blew in and gave me a good lick. I went down and I was dizzy from the blow and all the tension. Then I looked up and saw Franco roaring by. I really didn’t know what happened.”

Regardless of that famous game, the Raiders lead the all-time series, 17-13, and have won four of the last five times the teams have met.

The last time the teams played was during the 2021 season at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, with the Raiders winning 26-17 when Derek Carr completed 28-of-37 passes for 382 yards without an interception and threw touchdown passes of nine yards to tight end Foster Moreau and 61 yards to wide receiver Henry Ruggs, while Daniel Carlson added field goals of 46, 33, 41 and 45 yards.

The Raiders also won, 24-21, 2018 at the Oakland Coliseum in 2018 when Carr threw his second touchdown pass of the game to tight end Derek Carrier from six yards out with 21 seconds remaining in the game to give the Silver and Black the victory.

However, these were two of the best teams in the NFL during the 1970s and gave pro football some of its greatest games during that time.

In the 1974 AFC Championship Game, Harris ran for 111 yards and two touchdowns, including a 21-yarder on the first play of the fourth quarter to power the Steelers to a 24-13 victory with three touchdowns in the final quarter on their way to later winning Super Bowl IX, 16-6, over the Minnesota Vikings.

After the Steelers won Super Bowl X, 21-17, a year later when they  beat the Raiders, 16-10, in the AFC Championship Game after the outside zones on the Three Rivers Stadium field reportedly were watered down to hamper wide receivers Fred Biletnikoff and Cliff Branch, the Raiders’ time finally came.

The Raiders beat the Steelers, 31-28, by scoring the last 17 points of the regular-season game at the Oakland Coliseum, and then in the 1976 AFC Championship Game, quarterback Kenny “Snake” Stabler threw touchdown passes of four yards to tight end Warren Bankston and five yards to running back Pete Banaszak to give the Silver and Black a 24-7 victory over Pittsburgh at the Coliseum.

“We knew that to get to the Super Bowl and win it, we had to beat the Steelers,” Stabler said.

And that the Raiders did, dominating Minnesota Vikings, 32-14, as Stabler engineered a perfect game, Banaszak ran for two touchdowns, and Willie Brown returned a pass interception 75 yards for the final score at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

The Raiders beat the Steelers to get there, but “The Immaculate Reception” still sticks in the craw of all members of Raider Nation.

The game against the Steelers kicks off on Saturday at 8:15 p.m. EST/5:15 p.m. PST and can be seen on NFLN.

Watch the Silver and Black live when you get your Raiders tickets from SI Tickets HERE.

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