Other newsmen were around Al Davis now and one asked him for a quick comment. ''I've been quiet all along,'' he said, ''Let Tom Flores and the players tell you.'' As the final seconds flashed, somebody yelled, ''It's over, Al, we did it.'' He thrust his right fist in the air again. Quickly, he was on his way to the elevator that would take him to the locker-room level.

''They did it, they're a funny bunch,'' he said. ''They're the most unique group we've ever had. It doesn't matter where they had the ball, they just played. On our 30, on their 40, it didn't matter. They attacked all day.''

''Are you going to accept the trophy?'' he was asked. ''I love professional football,'' he replied, smiling for the first time. ''We're going to accept that trophy, we're going to be proud of it.''

He was in the crush of the locker room when an assistant coach, Sam Boghosian, hugged him and said, ''You knew it in training camp.'' Al Davis grinned and looked around at the swarm of people moving into the locker room. ''It's all right, we'll get there,'' he said, grinning. ''It's like a church procession.'' On the platform where the trophy presentation would take place for the TV cameras in the middle of the locker room, Pete Rozelle was smiling. Sort of a half-forced smile, but a smile. The commissioner had a yellow ribbon on the left lapel of his blue suit and he was holding the gleaming silver trophy with the silver football on it, the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

''Call him an obscenity, Al,'' one of the Raider players said quietly. ''Call him an obscenity.''

But now, for the TV cameras, Pete Rozelle was talking about how the Raiders had won the Super Bowl the hard way, needing to win four games as the first wild-card team ever to sweep the playoffs. Then the commissioner handed the trophy to Al Davis with both hands, thereby avoiding the possible embarrassment of Al Davis's not being willing to shake hands with him.

''This is the finest hour in the history of the Oakland Raiders,'' their 51-year-old owner was saying now, looking around at his players. ''You were magnificent out there today, you really were.''

Quickly, the ceremony was over. As the commissioner stepped down from the platform, Mike Davis, the Raiders' strong safety, could be heard saying, ''That's a class man.'' And as the commissioner moved through the players toward a back door, Mickey Marvin, the Raiders' right guard, shook his hand.