Renaissance of a Rivalry: The Raiders of the Lost Mark are back.
We missed you, Oakland.
The Broncos and the Raiders will play for the 114th time Sunday. Thirty-three games have been decided by three or fewer points. Two others were ties. Eight have been decided in overtime by field goals. The Raiders have the overall victory advantage in the regular season, 60-49, and they've split two postseason games.
Following Al Davis' death Oct. 8, 2011, a month after Oakland won in Denver in the season opener, the Raiders, with Al's son Mark Davis the owner, lost eight consecutive times to the Broncos before winning here last December by three.
My last conversation with Al occurred outside Oakland Alameda Coliseum in 2010. The frail Davis stepped from his limousine, and I said: "Good to see you, sir." He replied: "You're still an [obscenity]" and walked away.
The Broncos and the Raiders meet for the 22nd occasion on a Sunday or a Monday night. The first was in 1973 when Monday Night Football finally came to Colorado.
It ended at 23-23.
The one that sticks out was at Mile High Stadium on Sept. 26, 1988, when the Oakland coach was young Mike Shanahan, who, after being lured away from the Broncos, returned to confront his best friend/former pupil John Elway.
I predicted the Broncos would win 100-0.
The Broncos grabbed a 24-0 lead, and Shanahan, as he told me later, turned to an assistant and said: "That [obscenity] is going to be right." But the Raiders picked off Elway, who glared at Shanahan and, with hand in helmet, gave him a universally recognized sign. Oakland outscored Denver 27-3 in the second half and won in overtime.
However, that outcome couldn't match the three remarkable 1977 conflicts. The first in Oakland matched 4-0 teams. The Broncos intercepted Kenny Stabler seven times -- "by far, my worst game in history," Stabler told me after he retired -- and scored a touchdown on a fake field goal reception by kicker Jim Turner for a 30-7 beat-down. Linebacker Tom Jackson shouted at Oakland Coach John Madden: "It's all over, fat man."
Two weeks later Oakland won in Denver, 24-14. The teams played at Mile High for the AFC Championship, with the Broncos prevailing 20-17 when the officials failed to call a fumble on a Rob Lytle run near the goal line.
Oakland and Denver, the two worst teams in the old American Football League for the first three seasons, became the fiercest, most bitter rivalry in the AFC in the late 1970s and through the 1980s and the 1990s, particularly when Shanahan took over as Broncos coach. During pregame warmups once, Shanahan asked a backup quarterback to throw a pass and hit Davis. Shanahan compiled a 21-7 record against the Raiders.
Elway struggled (2-11) when the Broncos played the Raiders at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Elway has somewhat of a rivalry with Jack Del Rio, who became the Raiders' coach last season after serving as the Broncos' defensive coordinator. JDR and The Duke were not close at Dove Valley.
In 1993, the Broncos dropped the final regular-season game in L.A.; the Raiders became the division champions, and the Broncos were a wild card. They re-played a week later in Los Angeles, and the Broncos fell again under Wade Phillips.
This will be the only time the teams have played with identical 6-2 records (tied for first in the AFC West).
But, in 1984, each was 7-1 when they met for the second time in Los Angeles. The Broncos triumphed in overtime and would win the division. The Raiders were forced to accept wild-card status. The next season the Broncos and the Raiders owned 8-3 and 7-4 records when they played in L.A. With a victory, the Raiders outlasted the Broncos in the division race. In 1986 the Broncos won twice over the Raiders and ultimately would reach the Super Bowl.
Now, it's O vs. D -- Oakland vs. Denver and Offense vs. Defense.
The rivalry reincarnation with the Raiders is grand for the Broncos.
Oh, and they play again on New Year's Day.
Sports on 11/03/2016