Dec. 20, 1964 - It was just as well that the Oakland Raiders closed their schedule today. They have no more worlds to conquer within the compass of the AFL after having beaten this year’s championship game opponents in successive outings. (Pictured below, San Diego quarterback John Hadl throws a 15-yard pass.)
On an overcast day, the Oaklanders squeezed out a 21-20 victory over the San Diego Chargers by hanging on in the fourth quarter that had the 20,124 Youell Field crowd jumping up to salute the defense.
It wasn’t all defense, though. Quarterback Tom Flores started and finished in lieu of Cotton Davidson and pitched 39 times for 21 connections. Flores’ production of 242 yards included three touchdowns to Art Powell, Gene Mingo, and Billy Cannon in that order.
Another hero was halfback Clem Daniels who, after being held to three yards in the first half, shook loose in the fourth period for 129 yards.
Two weeks ago, the Raiders caught the Buffalo Bills in the last four seconds, 16-13, at Youell. Thus, coach Al Davis’s fellows have conquered both the East and West divisional champions at the tail end of an otherwise mediocre season.
Next Saturday, when San Diego goes to Buffalo for the title game, Oaklanders can afford to snort: “This is a championship? Our guys beat ‘em both. Too bad we didn’t start earlier.” Still, coach Davis was not overly pleased with his team’s performance: “I don’t think we played well. San Diego was without two or three key men. We almost blew it with missed field goals and a lot of penalties.”
As it is, the Raiders wound up 5-7-2, by dint of taking four of their last five games, the other a 20-20 standoff at Denver.
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