I was watching Top Ten Raiders on NFL Network on Friday (yet another in a long series of Top Ten shows by NFL Network) when during a segment on former Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler, a look at the controversial play known as “The Holy Roller” was aired.
If you aren’t aware of the play and if you’re a true NFL fan, how can you not, it’s one of the most controversial in NFL history. It happened during a game between AFC West Division rivals the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers. Played at San Diego-Jack Murphy (now Qualcomm) Stadium, the Chargers were leading the Raiders, 20-14.
The Raiders were on the Chargers’ 14 yard line driving for the winning score when with :10 left to play, Stabler went back to pass. He was hit and about to be sacked by Chargers linebacker Woodrow Lowe. The game appeared to be just about over when Stabler flipped the ball forward onto the ground. The ball was bouncing freely and that was where all things went haywire.
Raiders Running Back Pete Banaszak ran towards the ball and knowing if he got tackled, the game would be over. So as Banaszak was falling to the ground, he too flipped the ball forward towards the goal line. At the 2 yard line, Tight End Dave Casper kicked and batted the ball forward in the guise of trying to pick it up, then when he was safely inside the endzone, fell on it and the officials inexplicably ruled it a touchdown tying the game. And with the extra point, the Raiders won, 21-20. And following the season, the NFL outlawed any flipping forward of the ball.
Since that fateful day in 1978, the footage seen of that moment is usually from NFL Films, on ground level and from inside the Chargers endzone with the play coming towards us.
NBC Sports which had the rights to the AFC at the time aired the game in 1978. Now I can’t recall if it was a national or regional game. When I looked at the video that is posted below, I’m not sure if NBC had brought the audience from another game to this one or if this was the actual showcase game. I don’t think it was the showcase game, perhaps another late game was.
Jim Simpson and Paul Warfield are on the call. By this time, Simpson was a year from leaving NBC and joining an upstart cable sports network called ESPN. Simpson had been the “B” announcer for NBC for both MLB and the NFL during the 1970’s, but by 1978, Dick Enberg had supplanted Simpson as the “B” announcer behind Curt Gowdy. The following season, Enberg would replace Gowdy as NBC’s NFL “A” announcer and Don Criqui would become the “B” play-by-play man.
Here’s the final 54 seconds of the game as it aired on NBC on September 10, 1978.
Interesting to see how the NFL was produced back then. There were no constant scoreboards and the time was hardly shown. And you can hear that neither Simpson nor Warfield felt that any foul play was afoot.
To get another perspective and from those involved in the play, we have from the Raiders QB Ken Stabler, RB Pete Banaszak, LB Ted Hendricks, executive Al LoCasale, tight end Dave Casper, WR Fred Biletnikoff, DE George Atkinson, coach John Madden and from the Chargers, LB Woodrow Lowe, LB Jim Laslavic, QB Dan Fouts and yes, the San Diego Chicken all talking about what became known as “The Holy Roller”.
And here’s another perspective of the play from yes, Top Ten from NFL Network, this one, “Top Ten Controversial Plays” and it’s Number Ten.
So funny to hear the comments from everyone involved.
