1971 Oakland Raiders season

1971 Oakland Raiders season
Owner	F. Wayne Valley
General manager	Al Davis
Head coach	John Madden
Home stadium	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum
Results
Record	8–4–2
Division place	2nd AFC West
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
←  1970 Raiders seasons 1972  →

The 1971 Oakland Raiders season was the team's 12th season. The Raiders failed to make the playoffs as their main rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs, won the division title.

This was the only season between 1966 and 1977 in which the Raiders did not win the AFL/AFC West title.

This would be the final season where Wayne Valley was the majority owner of the Raiders the next season, he would be pushed out in favor general manager Al Davis who by 1976 bought out the remaining shares from Valley to become the sole owner.

Offseason

Draft

Main article: 1971 NFL Draft

1971 Oakland Raiders draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	19	Jack Tatum *	DB	Ohio State
2	45	Phil Villapiano *	LB	Bowling Green
3	73	Warren Koegel	C	Penn State
4	97	Clarence Davis	RB	USC
5	123	Bob Moore	TE	Stanford
6	149	Greg Slough	LB	USC
7	157	Don Martin	DB	Yale
9	227	Dave Garnett	RB	Pittsburgh
10	238	Bill West	DB	Tennessee State
10	253	Tim Oesterling	DT	UCLA
11	279	Jim Poston	DT	South Carolina
12	305	Horace Jones	DE	Louisville
13	334	Mick Natzel	DB	Central Michigan
14	357	Tom Gipson	DT	North Texas State
15	383	Andy Giles	LB	William & Mary
16	412	Tony Stawarz	DB	Miami (FL)
17	442	Charles Hill	WR	Sam Houston State
Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

^[1]

Roster

1971 Oakland Raiders roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 16 George Blanda 3 Daryle Lamonica 15 Don Milan 12 Ken Stabler Running backs (RB) 40 Pete Banaszak 28 Clarence Davis 32 Don Highsmith 44 Marv Hubbard 23 Charlie Smith Wide receivers (WR) 25 Fred Biletnikoff 89 Drew Buie 10 Eldridge Dickey 13 Rod Sherman Tight ends (TE) 87 Raymond Chester 88 Bob Moore

Offensive linemen (OL) 76 Bob Brown T 64 George Buehler G 70 Jim Harvey G 56 Warren Koegel C 77 Ron Mix T 00 Jim Otto C 65 Paul Seiler G 78 Art Shell T 63 Gene Upshaw G Defensive linemen (DL) 84 Tony Cline DE 83 Ben Davidson DE 82 Horace Jones DE 74 Tom Keating DT 80 Art Thoms DT

Linebackers (LB) 50 Duane Benson 55 Dan Conners 86 Gerald Irons 54 Terry Mendenhall 34 Gus Otto 58 Greg Slough 41 Phil Villapiano 49 Carl Weathers Defensive backs (DB) 43 George Atkinson FS 24 Willie Brown CB 42 Tommy Maxwell CB 31 Jack Tatum FS 20 Jimmy Warren 48 Nemiah Wilson CB Special teams (ST) 4 Jerry DePoyster K/P 11 Mike Eischeid P

Reserve 81 Warren Wells WR Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 19	at New England Patriots	L 6–20	0–1	Shaefer Stadium	55,405	Recap
2	September 26	at San Diego Chargers	W 34–0	1–1	San Diego Stadium	54,084	Recap
3	October 4	at Cleveland Browns	W 34–20	2–1	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	84,285	Recap
4	October 10	at Denver Broncos	W 27–16	3–1	Mile High Stadium	51,200	Recap
5	October 17	Philadelphia Eagles	W 34–10	4–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,615	Recap
6	October 24	Cincinnati Bengals	W 31–27	5–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,699	Recap
7	October 31	Kansas City Chiefs	T 20–20	5–1–1	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,715	Recap
8	November 7	at New Orleans Saints	T 21–21	5–1–2	Tulane Stadium	83,102	Recap
9	November 14	Houston Oilers	W 41–21	6–1–2	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,705	Recap
10	November 21	San Diego Chargers	W 34–33	7–1–2	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,681	Recap
11	November 28	Baltimore Colts	L 14–37	7–2–2	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,689	Recap
12	December 5	at Atlanta Falcons	L 13–24	7–3–2	Atlanta Stadium	58,850	Recap
13	December 12	at Kansas City Chiefs	L 14–16	7–4–2	Municipal Stadium	51,215	Recap
14	December 19	Denver Broncos	W 21–13	8–4–2	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum	54,651	Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

The sites of the two games with the Denver Broncos were switched. ^[2]

Game notes

Week 2

1 2 3 4 Total • Raiders 3 3 14 14 34 Chargers 0 0 0 0 0 Date: September 26 Location: San Diego Stadium, San Diego, California Game start: 1:00 p.m. PDT Game attendance: 54,084 Game weather: 68 °F (20 °C), wind 10 mph (16 km/h) Referee: Jack Vest

Scoring summary 1 OAK George Blanda 37-yard field goal Raiders 3–0 2 OAK George Blanda 42-yard field goal Raiders 6–0 3 OAK Fred Biletnikoff 36-yard pass from Daryle Lamonica (George Blanda kick) Raiders 13–0 3 OAK Clarence Davis 2-yard run (George Blanda kick) Raiders 20–0 4 OAK Fred Biletnikoff 13-yard pass from Daryle Lamonica (George Blanda kick) Raiders 27–0 4 OAK Ken Stabler 1-yard run (George Blanda kick) Raiders 34–0

^[3]

Week 4

1 2 3 4 Total •Raiders 3 3 14 7 27 Broncos 3 6 0 7 16 Date: October 10 Location: Mile High Stadium, Denver, Colorado Game start: 2:00 p.m. MDT Game attendance: 51,200 Game weather: 58 °F (14 °C), wind 9 mph (14 km/h) Referee: Jim Tunney Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

Scoring summary 1 Broncos Jim Turner 43-yard field goal Broncos 3–0 1 Raiders George Blanda 38-yard field goal Tie 3–3 2 Broncos Jim Turner 10-yard field goal Broncos 6–3 2 Broncos Jim Turner 24-yard field goal Broncos 9–3 2 Raiders George Blanda 24-yard field goal Broncos 9–6 3 Raiders Ken Stabler 2-yard run (George Blanda kick) Raiders 13–9 3 Raiders Raymond Chester 9-yard pass from Ken Stabler (George Blanda kick) Raiders 20–9 4 Raiders Jimmy Warren 55-yard interception return (George Blanda kick) Raiders 27–9 4 Broncos Dickie Post 13-yard pass from Steve Ramsey (Jim Turner kick) Raiders 27–16

Week 14

1 2 3 4 Total Broncos 3 0 0 10 13 •Raiders 7 7 0 7 21 Date: December 19 Location: Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California Game start: 1:00 p.m. PST Game attendance: 54,651 Game weather: 44 °F (7 °C), wind 4 mph (6.4 km/h) Referee: John McDonough Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

Scoring summary 1 Raiders Raymond Chester 67-yard pass from Daryle Lamonica (George Blanda kick) Raiders 7–0 1 Broncos Jim Turner 14-yard field goal Raiders 7–3 2 Raiders Charlie Smith 1-yard run (George Blanda kick) Raiders 14–3 4 Broncos Jim Turner 29-yard field goal Raiders 14–6 4 Raiders Pete Banaszak 2-yard run (George Blanda kick) Raiders 21–6 4 Broncos Clem Turner 7-yard pass from Steve Ramsey (Jim Turner kick) Raiders 21–13

Standings

AFC West
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Kansas City Chiefs	10	3	1	.769	4–1–1	8–2–1	302	208	W3
Oakland Raiders	8	4	2	.667	4–1–1	7–3–1	344	278	W1
San Diego Chargers	6	8	0	.429	2–4	4–7	311	341	L1
Denver Broncos	4	9	1	.308	1–5	3–6–1	203	275	L2

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

References

1. "1971 Oakland Raiders Draftees". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
2. "Raiders may have to move games if A's gain Series". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. August 13, 1971. p. 22.
3. Pro-Football-Reference.com

• Raiders on Pro Football Reference
• Raiders on Database Football ^[usurped]