Saturday, December 18, 1976 NFC: Minnesota Vikings 35, Washington Redskins 20 The Vikings jumped to a 35–6 lead by the end of the third quarter, led by running backs
Chuck Foreman and
Brent McClanahan who each rushed for more than 100 yards. McClanahan's career-long 41-yard run on Minnesota's first play of the game set up quarterback
Fran Tarkenton's 18-yard touchdown pass to tight end
Stu Voigt.
Eddie Brown gave his team some early scoring opportunities with big special teams plays, first returning the kickoff 26 yards to the 38-yard line, and later returning a punt 17 yards to the Vikings 45; but Washington was unable to capitalize. Following the kickoff return the Redskins went three-and-out, and on the first play after Brown's punt return,
Billy Kilmer threw a pass that was intercepted by
Bobby Bryant. With momentum seeming to slip away, on the first play after Bryant's pick, Washington took the ball right back with an interception by safety
Jake Scott, who returned it 17 yards to the Minnesota 34-yard line. Three plays later,
Mark Moseley kicked a 47-yard field goal that cut the Washington deficit to 7-3. Later in the quarter, Minnesota drove 66 yards and scored when Tarkenton threw a 27-yard pass to
Sammy White. Safety
Ken Houston deflected the ball, but it bounced to White, who made a diving juggling catch for a touchdown to put the Vikings up 14-3. By the end of the first quarter, the Vikings had gained 143 yards, while holding Washington to 18 yards and no first downs. The situation only got worse for Washington in the second quarter. A promising drive into Vikings territory ended with no points when Moseley missed a 51-yard field goal attempt. Minnesota then drove 66 yards, featuring a 35-yard completion from Tarkenton to
Ahmad Rashad, to score on Foreman's 2-yard touchdown run, putting them up 21-3. The Redskins' next drive ended with an interception by
Nate Wright. On the next play, Houston intercepted the ball from Tarkenton and returned it 8 yards to the Vikings 38. But Washington was unable to move the ball and had to punt. In the final seconds of the half, Washington had a chance for a touchdown with a deep throw from Kilmer to receiver
Frank Grant. Grant had broken open in the end zone, but was unable to make the catch and the pass fell incomplete. Washington had to punt on the first drive of the second half, and
Leonard Willis returned it 10 yards to the Vikings 48, from where Minnesota proceeded to drive to a 28-3 lead on a 30-yard touchdown burst by Foreman. This time the Redskins were able to respond, converting a 20-yard catch by tight end
Jean Fugett, a 20-yard run by
Mike Thomas, and a 10-yard reception by fullback
John Riggins into a 35-yard Moseley field goal, making the score 28-6. But after this, the Vikings drove 77 yards and scored on a 9-yard pass from Tarkenton to White. By the time Kilmer completed two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, the game was already out of reach. This was only the second postseason meeting between the Redskins and Vikings, with Minnesota having won the previous meeting.
AFC: Oakland Raiders 24, New England Patriots 21 The Raiders stormed into the 1976 playoffs in dominant form, with an NFL-best 13–1 record. However, their only loss of the season was to New England, a brutal 48–17 thrashing in week 4. New England finished the year with an 11–3 record, a spectacular turnaround after going 3–11 the previous season, to make their first playoff appearance since
1963. The Raiders overcame an 11-point fourth quarter deficit to win on quarterback
Ken Stabler's 1-yard touchdown run with 14 seconds left in the game. Raiders return man
Neal Colzie gave his team an early scoring opportunity by returning a New England punt 24 yards to the Pats' 46-yard line. Oakland was unable to move the ball, and despite a solid
Ray Guy punt that pinned the Patriots back at their own 14-yard line, their defense could not stop New England from driving 86 yards in 10 plays to take a 7–0 lead on Andy Johnson's 1-yard rushing touchdown. The key plays of the drive were a spectacular one-handed 48-yard catch by tight end
Russ Francis on 3rd down and 7 from the Patriots' 33-yard line, and a 24-yard 3rd-down reception by receiver
Darryl Stingley. On Oakland's next possession, Stabler's completions to
Fred Biletnikoff and
Cliff Branch for gains of 22 and 17 yards set up
Errol Mann's 40-yard field goal, making the score 7–3 with 1:14 left in the first quarter. The score would not change until near the end of the second quarter, after Oakland defensive back
Skip Thomas made a clutch interception in his own red zone of Francis passing on an option play, and returned it 18 yards to the Raiders' 24. Oakland subsequently drove 76 yards in 8 plays to score on Stabler's 31-yard touchdown pass to Biletnikoff with 45 seconds left in the half, giving the Raiders a 10–7 halftime lead. New England regrouped in the second half. After forcing Oakland to punt on their opening drive,
Steve Grogan led the Patriots 80 yards in 9 plays to score on his 26-yard touchdown completion to Francis. The Raiders had to punt again on their next possession, and New England got the ball with good field position on their own 45, where they drove 55 yards in 10 plays (aided by an offsides penalty on linebacker
Ted Hendricks that allowed them to keep possession after a punt play) to go up 21–10 on
Jess Phillips' 3-yard rushing touchdown with 1:13 left in the third period. Oakland responded by driving 70 yards in 8 plays. Stabler was a perfect 5-for-5 passing on the drive, including a 17-yard completion to Biletnikoff on the last play of the third quarter, as the team cut their deficit to 21–17 on running back
Mark Van Eeghen's 1-yard touchdown run. After an exchange of punts, New England got the ball on their own 48 with a huge chance to increase their lead or run out the clock to win the game. After driving to the Raiders' 28, on 3rd and 1 at the Raiders 28-yard line, Grogan changed the snap count to draw the Raiders offsides, but the Raiders were barking out dummy snap counts themselves and Hannah, Leon Gray, and Pete Brock all jumped offsides ("I should have known better", Grogan said afterward). On the next play (3rd and 6) Grogan threw to Russ Francis but Francis could not raise his arms because of holding by the Raiders Phil Villapiano, holding so blatant (but not called despite an official staring directly at them) that according to Francis, "(he left) bruise marks on my arm....when I saw Phil at the Pro Bowl that year, he came right out and told me he had done it.". Now on 4th down, the Patriots decided to gamble on a 50-yard field goal attempt by John Smith, but his kick was no good, giving the ball back to Oakland with good field position and 4:12 left on the clock. Stabler then led the Raiders 68 yards for the game-winning score. Several key completions, including a 12-yard catch by Branch and a 21-yard reception by tight end
Dave Casper, gave the team a first down on the Patriots' 28-yard line. But on the next play, Stabler was sacked for an 8-yard loss by DT
Mel Lunsford. After an incompletion, Oakland faced 3rd and 18 on the 36-yard line. Stabler threw an incomplete pass on the next play, but it was eliminated by a controversial
roughing the passer penalty called by referee
Ben Dreith on nose tackle
Ray "Sugar Bear" Hamilton, giving Oakland a first down on the Pats' 13 with 57 seconds remaining. Following a 5-yard catch by Casper and a 4-yard run by
Clarence Davis, a personal foul penalty on safety
Prentice McCray brought up first and goal at the 1-yard line. Now with time running out, Stabler faked a handoff to running back
Pete Banaszak, who was stuffed at the line of scrimmage, and rolled to the left. Led by guard
Gene Upshaw, Stabler dove into the end zone with 14 seconds left to give the Raiders a 24–21 lead. Linebacker
Monte Johnson then sealed the win with an interception on the last play of the game. Biletnikoff finished the game with 9 receptions for 137 yards and a touchdown. Francis had 4 catches for 96 yards and a score. Stabler completed 19/32 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions, and scored a rushing touchdown as well. Penalties played a huge role in the game. New England had 10 penalties, while the Raiders had 11. "That was one of the worst-called games I have ever seen in my life," said an angry Patriots DE
Julius Adams. "I just hope they were right", Patriots coach
Chuck Fairbanks said about the roughing the passer call against Ray Hamilton on Oakland's game-winning drive. "It looked to me like Ray Hamilton hit the ball first. If he did deflect the ball, it was an incorrect call." Later on, he added "I'm proud of my team and the way we played today. We’re going home knowing we played our hearts out." "That's what you say," said Raiders Coach
John Madden when the Pats' complaints were brought to his attention by a writer. "If you could sit there for 60 minutes and say the officials turned that game around with penalties at the end, you were wasting your time. You were eating a hot dog somewhere instead of watching what was going on. There was some great football out there." This was the first postseason meeting between the Patriots and Raiders. Less than ten minutes after the conclusion of the game, a small charter plane crashed into the upper deck at Memorial Stadium. There were no deaths or serious injuries in the accident. This was the second postseason meeting between the Steelers and Colts. Pittsburgh won the first meeting the previous season. "Where the official marked the ball wasn't where I caught it", DuPree protested after the game. "That play was designed to get 10 yards." The Ram defense held Dallas to only 85 rushing yards; Dallas' defense was equally stingy, allowing 120 rushing yards but the Rams needed 49 attempts to achieve this. Constant Ram pressure caused Staubach to have one of his worst playoff games ever as he was 15 of 37 for 150 yards; he was sacked 4 times and threw 3 interceptions. In addition, Staubach, who had hurt the Rams the year before with his scrambling runs, gained only 8 yards rushing. Ram QB Pat Haden couldn't do much better vs. Dallas' tough defense; he was 10 for 21 for 152 yards and also threw 3 interceptions. This was the third postseason meeting between the Rams and Cowboys, with Dallas winning both previous meetings. ==Conference championships==