On a rainy Friday night in the Big Apple, the Raiders staged a ten-point comeback in the fourth quarter to beat the New York Titans, 28-27, before 10,000 spectators at the Polo Grounds. The Raiders entered the game coming off their worst loss ever, a 38-9 beating at the hands of the Bills. At 3-4, they had fallen back to the pack after challenging the Broncos for the Western Division lead just a week ago. They did come into the game mostly healthy, though. Larry Barnes, Tom Flores, and Charley Powell had all been suffering from various forms of mild illness in recent days but would be ready to go at game time. Read more “October 28, 1960”
Tag: Dallas Texans
October 23, 1960
Head coach Eddie Erdelatz called it “far and away our worst performance” and he wasn’t kidding. On a damp, blustery day in Buffalo, the Bills hit on big play after big play and thumped the Raiders 38-9. The lowering, gray skies and steady light rain kept attendance down to a paltry 8,876, but those who did show up saw their team at peak performance.
The Raiders, at 3-3, came into the game as one of the hottest teams in the AFL and a win, coupled with a Boston win over the Broncos, would move them to the top spot in the league’s Western Division. The Bills, at 1-4, entered the game with the league’s top defense, but with an offense that hadn’t found much success. They had made a change at quarterback just a week ago, picking up Johnny Green, a Steelers castoff, and started him in place of Tommy O’Connell, an old Browns hand. In that game the Bills lost a tight one to the Titans, but head coach Buster Ramsey was encouraged by his play and planned to keep him in there against Oakland. Read more “October 23, 1960”
October 12, 1960
The Raiders continued to prepare for the Patriots on Sunday while sick bay continued to be well-attended. Nyle McFarlane, despite suffering a dislocated shoulder against the Texans, was expected to be ready to go, as were Charlie Hardy and Gene Prebola, both victims of muscle pulls. Less certain was the status of Tony Teresa, who was still healing from torn back cartilage, and Riley Morris, recuperating from a bruised back.
Hayward Daily Review
Oakland Tribune
San Mateo Times
October 9, 1960
It started out slowly enough but got wild in the second half. The Texans got on the board first with a long drive in the second period, but Oakland head coach Eddie Erdelatz gave his team an ass-chewing at halftime that spurred them on to a 20-19 nail-biting victory over the Texans in Dallas.
Read more “October 9, 1960”October 7, 1960
Coach Eddie Erdelatz continued to work his players hard in anticipation of Sunday’s game against the Texans. He had the team focus specifically on pass protection, believing that, while the receivers were doing their job to get open, the offensive line wasn’t giving Tom Flores and Babe Parilli enough time to find them. And the numbers bore that out. The Broncos sacked Raider quarterbacks five times last week and the team had given up 16 sacks on the season so far, in just four games. Erdelatz also thought that Dallas was particularly vulnerable against the pass and wanted to make sure his charges were prepared to exploit that weakness.
Oakland Tribune
October 3, 1960
Travel day for the Raiders. Their destination was Grand Prairie, Texas, about 15 miles west of the Cotton Bowl, where they would play the Dallas Texans next Sunday. The team’s training staff reported that most of the players made it through the Denver game without serious mishap, except for receiver Charlie Hardy, who left the game with a “slight” concussion. He was expected to be ready to go again by game day.
Oakland Tribune
October 2, 1960
The Raiders had high hopes. They were coming off their first win of the season and the Broncos were coming off their first loss. And for a quarter, the Raiders were able to keep hoping, but Denver scored three touchdowns in quick succession in the second quarter and coasted from there to a comfortable 31-14 win.
Read more “October 2, 1960”September 23, 1960
Before embarking on a three-game road trip starting in Houston, Eddie Erdelatz was, as usual, optimistic about his team’s chances against the Oilers. “No doubt that was a bad game,” he said, referring to the team’s 37-22 loss to Houston in the opener, “but we improved the next week against Dallas, and I’m confident the team will turn in a fine showing Sunday,”
Following the Oilers game, the team would head north to Dallas for a rematch with the Texans and then end the trip in Denver for their first-ever contest against the Broncos.
Hayward Daily Review
Oakland Tribune
September 22, 1960
The Raiders were heading to Houston tomorrow and Eddie Erdelatz had something to get off his chest before they did. “It’s unfortunate a team in our position was scheduled against the two best teams in four of the first five games,” meaning Dallas and Houston.
“Because of our late start, we are still trying to place our personnel while almost every other team in the league has been set for weeks. Sometimes you have to experiment quite a lot before you find the right man for the right spot, and it is even more difficult with us because we are still trying to help ourselves with cuts from other teams.
“We’ve had quite a turnover in personnel and it isn’t finished yet, so you can see that we have problems in addition to the routine work involved in preparing for a football game each week. Take Dallas and Houston, for instance. They were two of the first teams in the league and they have top personnel. They knew pretty well what their players could do before training opened, and they have gone pretty much with the same units since early in the exhibition season.
“Most of our players were complete strangers, so it was a matter of slowly grading them to find out just who could do what. Now, it is almost like going back into training camp when we pick up new players. We have to first find out if they can play football then teach them to play our way. It puts an added burden on the coaches and the squad because you can’t concentrate on simply preparing for next week’s opponent.”
The roster experimentation continued today with another move. The team signed 5’10”, 185-pound halfback Bob Keyes. Keyes, who played his college ball for Antelope Junior College and the University of San Diego, had previously been in camp with the 49ers, but had been cut by them a little over a week ago. To make room for Keyes, the Raiders released defensive back LC Joyner. On the team since April, Joyner had looked pretty good in the preseason and had started the opener against Houston, but became expendable in the interim.
There was also a report in the Hayward Daily Review that Babe Parilli would start at quarterback in place of Tom Flores, but the piece didn’t identify a team source for the information and no mention of the switch was found in the other area papers.
While last minute preparations for travel were underway, the team was hit hard by the sobering news that offensive line coach Ernie Jorge had suffered a heart attack sometime during the evening. Erdelatz reported that his long-time assistant was expected to make a full recovery but would likely be bedridden for more than a month in the meantime.
Billings Gazette
Farmington Daily Times
Hayward Daily Review
Oakland Tribune
September 21, 1960
After Eddie Erdelatz tinkered with the offensive lineup yesterday, some observers thought there might be further changes to come. Quarterback Babe Parilli and fullback JD Smith had performed well against Dallas and seemed poised to start against Houston, but the Raider head coach said no, Tom Flores and Billy Lott would still be in there to open the game. Explaining his decision, he acknowledged that Smith had looked good running the ball, but that Lott was the better blocker.
There would be a change on the offensive line, though. With the injury to tackle Dalton Truax, recent acquisition Paul Oglesby would take his place on the line against the Oilers, with the newest Raider, Bill Striegel, getting some action on offense as well.
Oakland Tribune