Super Bowl XV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1980 season….as the Raiders defeated the Eagles by the score of 27–10 and becoming the first wild card playoff team to win a Super Bowl…..for to this lil ole chiweenie Sportsphile….this partticuar Super Bowl is of even greater significance….as my Bone Daddy had a historic “road trip” from the moment he and The Prince of Pleasure….his traveling partner….left Austin, Texas at 1am on the Friday before the Super Bowl….with their destination being New Orleans, Louisiana….and the French Quarter, Felix’s Oyster Bar, Lucky Pierre’s and eventually the Louisana Superdome for Super Bowl XV….as these two “merrymakers” had no hotel reservation….plus no tickets to the game…..but there was no doubt in their mind that they were going to the game….they just didn’t know how when they left Austin.
The game was played at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, on January 25, 1981….which was five days after the Iran hostage crisis ended….so, the game was thus held under patriotic fervor….with the pregame ceremonies honoring the end of the crisis.
The Raiders were making their third Super Bowl appearance after posting an 11–5 regular season record….but after losing a tiebreaker to the AFC West division winner San Diego Chargers…..the Raiders then advanced to the Super Bowl with playoff victories over the Houston Oilers, Cleveland Browns, and San Diego.
The Eagles were making their first Super Bowl appearance after posting a 12–4 regular season record….with having postseason victories over the Minnesota Vikings and the Dallas Cowboys.
Aided by two touchdown passes from quarterback Jim Plunkett….the Raiders jumped out to a 14–0 lead in the first quarter of Super Bowl XV…..which the Eagles never recovered from….in a game in which Oakland linebacker Rod Martin intercepted Philadelphia quarterback Ron Jaworski three times for a Super Bowl record. Plunkett was named the Super Bowl MVP after completing 13 of 21 passes for 261 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for 9 yards….as Plunkett was also the second Heisman Trophy winner to be named Super Bowl MVP….after Roger Staubach in Super Bowl VI.
From the time that Bone Daddy and the Prince of Pleasure arrived in New Orleans…..their trip exploded into a series of events and adventures that are almost hard to believe actually happened….for this was truly a “magic carpet ride” into the land of Cajun cooking and Creole women….with special cameo appearances from Raiders all time great in the defensive backfield….The Hammer and The Sickle….but these are stories for another time when I begin to introduce all the stories of how Bone Daddy actually collected his 15,000+ pieces of sports memorabilia…which will all be told in my upcoming section call L E’s Stories.…which will be debuted in 2017.
As with every NFL Films production….the highlights of Super Bowls past have been some of their best work….for they truly are the gold standard for video footage of NFL games and storytellers unlike any others before or after….which makes these videos well worth the watch.
