1969 Oakland Raiders season

The 1969 Oakland Raiders season was the team's tenth as a franchise, and tenth in both Oakland and the American Football League. The campaign saw the team attempt to improve upon its 12–2 record from 1968. The season is notable for being the last for the AFL, which merged into the NFL in 1970.

The Raiders stormed to a 12–1–1 record in 1969 and led the league in wins for a third consecutive season. In doing so, they posted a staggering 37–4–1 (.893) record over their final three years of AFL regular season play. The season ended with an upset loss at home in the AFL Championship Game to division rival Kansas City, the eventual Super Bowl champion.

Additionally, the season marked the debut of Hall of Fame head coach John Madden, previously the linebacker coach,^[1][2] promoted after the January departure of John Rauch for Buffalo.^[3][4] Madden led the Raiders to seven division titles, seven AFL/AFC Championship Games, and a Super Bowl championship before leaving after 1978, his tenth as head coach, with a 112–39–7 (.731) regular season record.

Roster

1969 Oakland Raiders roster

	Quarterbacks  3 Daryle Lamonica 12 Ken Stabler Running backs 40 Pete Banaszak 35 Hewritt Dixon FB 30 Roger Hagberg 39 Marv Hubbard 23 Charlie Smith 22 Larry Todd Wide receivers 25 Fred Biletnikoff 89 Drew Buie 13 Rod Sherman 81 Warren Wells Tight ends 33 Billy Cannon 36 Lloyd Edwards		Offensive linemen 64 George Buehler G 70 Jim Harvey G 65 Wayne Hawkins G 00 Jim Otto C 79 Harry Schuh T 78 Art Shell T 76 Bob Svihus T 63 Gene Upshaw G Defensive linemen 53 Dan Birdwell DT 83 Ben Davidson DE 71 Al Dotson DT 74 Tom Keating DT 77 Ike Lassiter DE 85 Carleton Oats DT 80 Art Thoms DT		Linebackers 50 Duane Benson 48 Bill Budness 55 Dan Conners 56 Chip Oliver 34 Gus Otto Defensive backs 43 George Atkinson FS 24 Willie Brown CB 45 Dave Grayson S 47 Kent McCloughan CB 26 Nemiah Wilson CB Special teams 16 George Blanda K 11 Mike Eischeid P		Reserve lists Practice squad Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 14	Houston Oilers	W 21–17	1–0	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	49,361	Recap
2	September 20	Miami Dolphins	W 20–17	2–0	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	50,277	Recap
3	September 28	at Boston Patriots	W 38–23	3–0	Alumni Stadium	19,069	Recap
4	October 4	at Miami Dolphins	T 20–20	3–0–1	Miami Orange Bowl	35,614	Recap
5	October 12	at Denver Broncos	W 24–14	4–0–1	Mile High Stadium	49,511	Recap
6	October 19	Buffalo Bills	W 50–21	5–0–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,418	Recap
7	October 26	at San Diego Chargers	W 24–12	6–0–1	San Diego Stadium	54,008	Recap
8	November 2	at Cincinnati Bengals	L 17–31	6–1–1	Nippert Stadium	27,927	Recap
9	November 9	Denver Broncos	W 41–10	7–1–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,416	Recap
10	November 16	San Diego Chargers	W 21–16	8–1–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,372	Recap
11	November 23	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 27–24	9–1–1	Municipal Stadium	51,982	Recap
12	November 30	at New York Jets	W 27–14	10–1–1	Shea Stadium	63,865	Recap
13	December 7	Cincinnati Bengals	W 37–17	11–1–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,427	Recap
14	December 13	Kansas City Chiefs	W 10–6	12–1–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,443	Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

• Saturday night (September 20, October 4), Saturday (December 13)

Standings

AFL Western Division
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	PF	PA	STK
Oakland Raiders	12	1	1	.923	7–1	377	242	W6
Kansas City Chiefs	11	3	0	.786	5–3	359	177	L1
San Diego Chargers	8	6	0	.571	2–6	288	276	W4
Denver Broncos	5	8	1	.385	3–5	297	344	W1
Cincinnati Bengals	4	9	1	.308	3–5	280	367	L5

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings of the AFL.

Game summaries

Week 1

1 2 3 4 Total Oilers 0 0 10 7 17 • Raiders 14 0 0 7 21 Date: September 14 Location: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Game weather: 60 °F (16 °C); wind 9 mph (14 km/h)

Scoring summary Q1 OAK Smith 5 yard run (Blanda kick) OAK 7–0 Q1 OAK Smith 5 yard run (Blanda kick) OAK 14–0 Q3 HOU Granger 1 yard run (Gerela kick) OAK 14–7 Q3 HOU Gerela 28 yard field goal OAK 14–10 Q4 HOU LeVias 15 yard pass from Beathard (Gerela kick) HOU 17–14 Q4 OAK Wells 64 yard pass from Lamonica (Blanda kick) OAK 21–17

^[5]

Week 6

1 2 3 4 Total Bills 0 7 0 14 21 • Raiders 14 28 6 2 50 Date: October 19 Location: Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California Game attendance: 54,418 Game weather: 56 °F (13 °C) • Wind 8 mph (13 km/h)

Scoring summary 1 OAK Billy Cannon 53 yard pass from Daryle Lamonica (George Blanda kick) Raiders 7–0 1 OAK Pete Banaszak 10 yard pass from Daryle Lamonica (George Blanda kick) Raiders 14–0 2 OAK Pete Banaszak 1 yard pass from Daryle Lamonica (George Blanda kick) Raiders 21–0 2 OAK Warren Wells 13 yard pass from Daryle Lamonica (George Blanda kick) Raiders 28–0 2 OAK Fred Biletnikoff 16 yard pass from Daryle Lamonica (George Blanda kick) Raiders 35–0 2 OAK Fred Biletnikoff 23 yard pass from Daryle Lamonica (George Blanda kick) Raiders 42–0 2 BUF Haven Moses 39 yard pass from James Harris (Bruce Alford kick) Raiders 42–7 3 OAK George Blanda 20 yard field goal Raiders 45–7 3 OAK George Blanda 36 yard field goal Raiders 48–7 4 BUF Bill Enyart 30 yard pass from Jack Kemp (Bruce Alford kick) Raiders 48–14 4 BUF Marlin Briscoe 50 yard pass from Jack Kemp (Bruce Alford kick) Raiders 48–21 4 OAK Safety, Kemp tackled by Dotson in end zone Raiders 50–21

• Daryle Lamonica 21/36, 313 Yds, 6 TD

^[6]

Week 14

1 2 3 4 Total Chiefs 0 0 0 6 6 • Raiders 0 3 0 7 10 Date: December 13 Location: Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California Game attendance: 54,443 Game weather: 55 °F (13 °C); wind 7 mph (11 km/h)

Scoring summary Q2 OAK George Blanda 30 yard field goal OAK 3–0 Q4 OAK Charlie Smith 8 yard pass from Daryle Lamonica (George Blanda kick) OAK 10–0 Q4 KC Wendell Hayes 1 yard run (kick failed) OAK 10–6

^[7]

Postseason

Round	Date	Opponent	Result	Venue	Attendance	Recap
Divisional	December 21	Houston Oilers	W 56–7	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,539	Recap
AFL Championship	January 4, 1970	Kansas City Chiefs	L 7–17	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,544	Recap

AFL championship game

	1	2	3	4	Total
Chiefs	0	7	7	3	17
Raiders	7	0	0	0	7

Kansas City Chiefs 17, Oakland Raiders 7

January 4, 1970, at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California

Scoring Summary

• OAK – Smith 3 run (Blanda kick)
• KC – Hayes 1 run (Stenerud kick)
• KC – Holmes 5 run (Stenerud kick)
• KC – Field goal Stenerud 22

Awards and honors

• Daryle Lamonica, Co-AFL MVP

References