The Oakland Raiders are a expert American football team in the NFL based in the city of Oakland, California. They at present play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL).
Right after the but-unnamed Minneapolis expansion team accepted an offer you to join the established NFL as an alternative of the American Football League (AFL), the city of Oakland was granted their position in the league and inherited their inaugural draft selections. The Raiders began play in 1960 as the eighth charter member of the American Football League.
In the course of their initial three seasons, the Raiders struggled both on and off the field. In 1963, Al Davis was brought to the team as head coach and general manager, and from 1963 until 2002 the team had only seven losing seasons. As members of the AFL they won a single league championship (1967), 3 division titles (1967, 1968, 1969), and appeared in a single Super Bowl (II).
The team joined the NFL in 1970 as element of the AFL/NFL merger. Given that joining the NFL, the Raiders have won twelve division titles, 3 Super Bowls (XI, XV, XVIII), and appeared in a single other Super Bowl (XXXVII). Thirteen former players have been enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The rivalry in between the Raiders and the New England Patriots dates to their time in the AFL, but was intensified in the course of a 1978 preseason game, when Patriots wide receiver Darryl Stingley was permanently paralyzed after a vicious hit delivered by Raiders totally free safety Jack Tatum. The two teams met in a divisional-round playoff game in 2002, which became identified as “The Tuck Rule Game”.
Late in the game, a fumble by Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was overturned, and New England went on to win in overtime and sooner or later won the Super Bowl against the heavily favored St. Louis Rams.
Given that that game, the Patriots have won two of the final three standard season contests amongst the two teams. The 1st contest being the following year throughout the 2002 season in Oakland, with the Raiders winning 27/20 they met on the 2005 season opener in New England with the Patriots ruining Randy Moss’s debut as an Oakland Raider 30-20 the most recent meeting saw the Patriots victorious, 49/26 in the course of the 2008 season.
The New York Jets began a strong rivalry with the Raiders in the AFL for the duration of the 1960s that continued via a lot of the 1970s, fueled in portion by Raider Ike Lassiter breaking star quarterback Joe Namath’s jaw during a 1967 game (even though Ben Davidson wrongly got the blame),the well-known Heidi Game during the 1968 season, and the Raiders’ bitter loss to the Jets in the AFL Championship later that season.
The rivalry waned in later years, but saw a minor resurgence due to some late-season and playoff meetings from 2000-2002.The Jets won the most current matchup 38- on October 25, 2009.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ rivalry with the Raiders was really intense in the course of the 1970s. The Steelers knocked the Raiders out of the playoffs in three of 4 consecutive seasons in the early 1970s (the 1st loss was the “Immaculate Reception” game) until the Raiders lastly beat the Steelers in the 1976 AFC Championship (and went on to win Super Bowl XI).Sports Billiard Supplies, Kenny Chesney Cowboy Hats, Mens Belts, Birthday Ideas
For the duration of the 1975 AFC Championship game, Raiders powerful safety George Atkinson delivered a hit on Pittsburgh wide receiver Lynn Swann that gave him a concussion.
When the two teams met in the 1976 season opener, Atkinson hit Swann once again and gave him one more concussion. Immediately after the second incident, Steelers head coach Chuck Noll referred to Atkinson as element of the “criminal element” in the NFL. Atkinson subsequently filed a million defamation lawsuit against Noll and the Steelers, which he lost. Most not too long ago, Oakland recorded a 27-24 win more than Pittsburgh on December 6, 2009.
The San Francisco 49ers, situated on the other side of San Francisco Bay, are the Raiders’ geographic rivals. The 1st exhibition game played in 1967, ended with the NFL 49ers defeating the AFL Raiders 13-10. Immediately after the 1970 merger, the 49ers won in Oakland 38-7. As a result, games between the two are referred to as a “Battle of the Bay.”
Given that the two teams play in distinct conferences, regular-season matchups are at least each four years. Fans and players of the winning team can claim “bragging rights” as the greater team in the region. The 49ers have won the last 3 occasions the teams played every single other on November 3, 2002 (20-23), October 8, 2006 (20-34) and on October 17th, 2010.
Each of the most current match-ups have taken spot at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The 49ers also won the most recent pre-season game match between the teams on August 28, 2010 at the Oakland Coliseum.Business Gifts, Camp Shirt, Customized Gifts, Infant Bedding Sets
New Orleans Saints
The Saints was founded in 1967, as an expansion team. The team went more than a decade prior to they managed to finish a season with a.500 record and two decades just before getting a winning season. The team’s 1st profitable years had been from 1987-1992, when the team produced the playoffs 4 times and had winning records in the non-playoff seasons. In the 2000 season, the Saints defeated the then-defending Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams for the team’s very first playoff win.
The Saints’ residence stadium is the Louisiana Superdome it started to play its property games in the “dome” given that 1975. Nevertheless, due to damage triggered by Hurricane Katrina to the New Orleans location, the Saints’ 2005 house opener was played at Giants Stadium against the New York Giants. The remainder of their 2005 home games were split amongst the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, and LSU’s Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Following a five million renovation of the historic stadium, the team returned to the Superdome for the 2006 season. The team played its 2006 house opener in front of a sold-out crowd and national television audience on September 25, 2006, defeating its NFC South rival, the Atlanta Falcons by a score of 23-three. The victory received a 2007 ESPY award for “Finest Moment in Sports.”
One particular of the franchise’s brightest moments was on November 8, 1970, when Tom Dempsey kicked an NFL record-breaking 63-yard field goal to defeat the Detroit Lions by a score of 19-17 in the final seconds of the game. This record has but to be broken, but was equaled 29 years later by Jason Elam of the Denver Broncos.
On December 17, 2006, the Saints clinched their third division title and their initial NFC South title in franchise history. For the very first time in Saints’ history, they clinched their NFC South title on their house field. Sean Payton became the second consecutive Saints coach to win a division title in his initial season.
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