Cold Reception / Raiders-Steelers rivalry is still Immaculate after all these years

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IT BEGAN with a deflected pass that became one of the most memorable plays in NFL history. It wound up in a courtroom. For six years in the '70s, the Raiders and Steelers waged one of the league's epic rivalries, most of it centered in Pittsburgh.

For five straight years, an NFL record, the teams met in the playoffs. In five of the six years, they also played during the regular season.

Their games featured accusations ranging from dirty play to dirty words supposedly written on the football. One game was played on an ice rink after a tarp mysteriously blew off the field in the night. Another game followed a pep rally which turned into a near riot, in which Bob Moore, a Raiders tight end, was assaulted.

From that rich history, one play endures. It was called the Immaculate Reception and, to this day, former Raiders coach John Madden believes his team got jobbed, and he can't forgive the Steelers.

"I still don't like 'em," Madden said. "Some of these rivalries, you hear, 'These guys don't like each other,' and all that stuff. I think they make that stuff up. With free agency and guys going around from team to team, there's more fraternization in the league than there's ever been. In those days, we really didn't like each other -- really -- and I don't know that that has changed."

The dislike broke out into open warfare when Chuck Noll, the Steelers' coach, accused Raiders safety George Atkinson of being part of "a criminal element" in the NFL and said he should be thrown out of the league after a severe hit by Atkinson knocked Pittsburgh receiver Lynn Swann from a 1976 game with a concussion.

Atkinson filed a $2 million suit against Noll for slander, but a federal court jury ruled Atkinson was not entitled to damages. Atkinson and Noll have patched up their differences. But Atkinson recalls the week before a Raiders- Steelers game as being "intense . . . because we knew we would definitely be confronted by a team that was prepared and . . . hated us as much as we hated them."

The Steelers' Franco Harris (32) avoided Oakland's Jimmy Warren after making the "Immaculate Reception." Associated Press photo by Harry Cabluck, 1972 The Steelers' Franco Harris (32) avoided Oakland's Jimmy Warren after making the "Immaculate Reception." Associated Press photo by Harry Cabluck, 1972 Photo: AP Photo: AP Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Cold Reception / Raiders-Steelers rivalry is still Immaculate after all these years 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

On Sunday, the Raiders will play the Steelers at Three Rivers Stadium for the last time. The stadium, opened in 1970, is being torn down after the season and replaced by a new stadium, currently under construction.

"I'll have mixed emotions," said Dan Rooney, the Steelers' owner. "I think going to the new stadium is going to be great. I hope we can match the memories of Three Rivers."

It was in Three Rivers that the Steelers shocked the Raiders with the Immaculate Reception for their first-ever playoff victory following the 1972 season and it was in Three Rivers that the Raiders put the exclamation point on the rivalry by winning a regular-season game in 1977.

During that six-year period, the Raiders and Steelers met in three AFC Championship Games, and one of the two teams was in the title game the other three years. The Steelers won three Super Bowls, the Raiders won one. During this stretch, the Raiders had the best winning percentage in the NFL (.798) and the Steelers were third (.744), just behind Miami (.750). The Oakland- Pittsburgh games in those years, split 5-5 between the teams, featured 14 Hall of Fame players (seven on each team), a Hall of Fame coach and two Hall of Fame owners.

"I knew at the time that those were great games," Madden recalled. "Then, you start thinking, 'Well, maybe it's just because you're involved in them and you overrate them.' We always think what we do is bigger than anything else. But history shows as you look back that it's validated."

THE IMMACULATE RECEPTION

Nothing endures from that era more than this wild play, which is immortalized with a display in the lobby of the NFL's office in New York. It took place in a divisional playoff game on Dec. 23, 1972, at Pittsburgh, and it's important to remember the circumstances.

The Raiders already were established as a power. They had played in the second Super Bowl, following the 1967 season, and, since that year, their six- year regular-season winning percentage of .786 was the best in the league. The Steelers, meanwhile, were celebrating a winning season after eight straight sub-.500 years.

Oakland led 7-6 when the Steelers lined up for their final play, on 4th-and- 10 at their own 40-yard line. In the huddle, Atkinson recalls, fellow safety Jack Tatum, playing in the middle of the field, was reminded to make sure to knock down any pass that came his way. Those words would prove prescient.

Terry Bradshaw, the Steelers' quarterback, was under pressure. He threw the ball down the middle, toward running back Frenchy Fuqua. The ball, Fuqua and Tatum all arrived about the same time. The ball bounced -- off whom remains a controversial issue to this day -- back toward the line of scrimmage. Steelers fullback Franco Harris scooped it up before it hit the ground, and ran 60 yards down the left sideline, scoring with just five seconds remaining.

"I followed the ball right into the area of Jack Tatum," said Atkinson, who was on the other side of the field from where Harris would run. "I just knew that the game was over. He had a play on the ball, and when I saw him make a play on Fuqua, I thought he knocked the ball down, and I was headed to the locker room. The game's over. And the next thing I know, Franco Harris is running down the sideline.

"Tatum . . . had a shot at knocking it down, but instead of knocking it down, he went for the big hit."

In those days, there was a rule that a pass could not be caught by the offense if it bounced off another offensive player without also touching a defensive player. There also was no instant replay in the rules.

Referee Fred Swearingen conferred with his crew. If they determined that Fuqua hit the ball and not Tatum, the Raiders win. If they determined that Tatum touched the ball, the Steelers win. As simple as that.

Madden says no official gave the touchdown signal. His recollection differs from Art McNally, the NFL's supervisor of officials, who was at the game and says back judge Adrian Burk ruled the play a touchdown.

At any rate, the officials huddled for some time, and finally, Swearingen went into the Pirates' baseball dugout and called upstairs to McNally, who was in the press box. Madden says he believed Swearingen was asking for help, but McNally insists otherwise.

"He said, 'Two of my men ruled it was touched by (Tatum),' " McNally said. "He never asked, 'What did I think?' I thought they were mixed up on the rule. I asked, 'So what's the problem?' "

Swearingen put down the phone, went out onto the field, and gave the touchdown signal.

McNally said Swearingen never asked for his opinion, and he never offered it. If he had been asked, McNally says today, he would have said he believed it was a legal play for a touchdown. Ultimately, the rule was changed in 1978, and now it is legal for an offensive player to catch a pass that has been deflected only by a teammate.

A few years after retiring as a coach, Madden was back in Pittsburgh in his broadcasting job. He pointed to the phone in the Pirates' dugout and told producer Bob Stenner the story of Swearingen's call. Stenner walked into the dugout, ripped the phone from the wall and put it in his briefcase.

"So I made a trophy out of it," Madden said. "I still have it."

THE TRIAL

The Raiders beat the Steelers 31-28 in the 1976 opener at Oakland. During the game, Atkinson knocked out Swann, whose career ultimately was cut short by concussions. The next day, in response to a question, Noll said, "You have a criminal element in every society and apparently we have it in the NFL, too. George Atkinson's hit on Lynn Swann was with intent to maim and not with football in mind. I'd like to see those guys thrown out of the league. They put a guy's whole career in jeopardy."

Atkinson said all he wanted was a "retraction" from Noll, but it was not forthcoming.

So he sued Noll for slander. The case went to trial in San Francisco the following summer. Noll testified. So did Madden, Rooney, Raiders boss Al Davis and Pete Rozelle, the NFL commissioner. Rozelle fined Atkinson $1,500 for the play, but testified that he did not believe Atkinson's reputation was damaged by it. "He's an outstanding defensive back," Rozelle said.

One of Atkinson's attorneys was a young state assemblyman named Willie Brown, who later went on to bigger things in politics.

Brown, in his summation, said Atkinson's hit was no different from hits made by many other players "in the heat of battle."

The jury ultimately ruled for Noll.

Atkinson, who has been with Noll at golf tournaments in recent years, said, "We've talked and laughed about it. It's something that's behind both of us, and life goes on."

VINDICATION

In the first round of the 1976 playoffs, the Steelers crushed Baltimore 40- 14 but lost both of their running backs, Harris and Rocky Bleier, with injuries. Forced to play without them the following week, they were no match for the Raiders in the AFC Championship Game, and Oakland won 24-7.

The Raiders went on to win the Super Bowl for the first time. The Steelers, who had won the two previous Super Bowls, thought they could have won three straight if they stayed healthy. Many people believed that 1976 team was the best of all the Steelers' teams, in fact.

Thus did the second game of the 1977 regular season, at Pittsburgh, turn into a crusade for the Raiders. The fans spent much of the day booing Atkinson.

And the Raiders' defense spent the day stopping both Harris and Bleier. Oakland won 16-7. The Raiders' defense produced five turnovers and five sacks.

"They kicked our rears," Pittsburgh's Joe Greene said. "They just outplayed us."

There were no excuses for the Steelers this time. They had all their players, and they were at home.

"To me, that was the game that put the period on it," Madden said. "That was the game that finished that '76 season. They tried to tarnish our Super Bowl, that we couldn't beat Pittsburgh if they had their regular guys, so we went and proved that we could not only beat them with their guys, but we could beat them in their place. . . . That was the end of it, like we got the knockout and walked out of the ring."

As it turned out, however, the Raiders suffered several injuries in that game which hurt them as the season went on. Just as the Steelers' best team, in '76, did not win a championship, Madden belives that '77 Raiders team which went to Pittsburgh was the Raiders' best team ever, and it did not win the title, either.

THE RIVALRY: BOTTOM LINE

"Those are games you never forget," Madden said. "I remember going on the airplane (for the 1977 game), and the wives were all there, and Al Davis and I were talking, it was a real somber, sober moment. I don't remember if Al said it was like going to war or I said it was like going to war, but we both agreed that this isn't like a group of people going to play a football game.

"It was like a group of people going off to a war, and it really was. That's not bull--. That was the feeling. There's not as much of that anymore."

CHART(1) A Bitter '70s Rivalry Year Site Winner Score 1972 Pittsburgh Steelers 34-28 1972(x) Pittsburgh Steelers 13-7 1973 Oakland Steelers 17-9 1973(x) Oakland Raiders 33-14 1974 Pittsburgh Raiders 17-0 1974(y) Oakland Steelers 24-13 1975(y) Pittsburgh Steelers 16-10 1976 Oakland Raiders 31-28 1976(y) Oakland Raiders 24-7 1977 Pittsburgh Raiders 16-7 (x) AFC Divisional playoff (y) AFC Championship Game . CHART(2): Hall of Famers Raiders Steelers Fred Biletnikoff, WR Terry Bradshaw, QB Jim Otto, C Franco Harris, RB George Blanda, QB/K Mike Webster, C Willie Brown, CB Mel Blount, CB Gene Upshaw, G Joe Greene, DE Art Shell, T Jack Ham, LB Ted Hendricks, LB Jack Lambert, LB Al Davis, owner Chuck Noll, coach Art Rooney, owner