This Raiders trivia quiz has 80 free questions with answers and covers the whole franchise story: the 1960 AFL start in Oakland (and the nine days as the Señors), Al Davis taking over at 33 and painting the team silver and black, the Madden and Stabler years, the Immaculate Reception, Sea of Hands and Holy Roller, three Super Bowl wins under John Madden and Tom Flores, the Los Angeles era with Marcus Allen, Bo Jackson and Howie Long, the return to Oakland, the Tuck Rule Game and Gruden Bowl, and the move to Las Vegas, Allegiant Stadium and everything since. Roughly a third of the questions are for casual fans who know the big moments, a third for people who lived through the Raider Nation years, and the rest for the record-book crowd: Super Bowl MVPs, the referee in the snow at Foxboro, who wore 00, and which Western actor sat for the logo. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and primary sources rather than other trivia lists, so the scores, years and names should survive a bar argument.
30 of 80 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What name did the Oakland franchise use for nine days in 1960, after a Tribune contest, before switching to Raiders?
Señors
The name was mocked so quickly, and the contest so widely suspected of being fixed by owner Chet Soda, that the third-place entry took over within a week and a half.
Q 02The Raiders played their first regular-season AFL game in which year?
1960
Oakland was the AFL's eighth and final original franchise, awarded on January 30 of that year after Minneapolis backed out to join the NFL.
Q 03Before going silver and black in 1963, the Raiders wore hand-me-down uniforms from which college?
Pacific
The team's original 1960 owners could not even secure a Bay Area stadium, so second-hand college kit fit the shoestring operation.
Q 04The Raiders' trademarked slogan "Commitment to Excellence" is drawn from a quotation by which coach?
Vince Lombardi
The line about a person's life being in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence came from the coach whose Packers beat Oakland in Super Bowl II.
Q 05How old was Al Davis when hired as Raiders head coach and general manager after the 1962 season?
33
He was the youngest general manager pro football had ever seen, and he was named AFL Coach of the Year in his first season after turning a 1–13 team into a 10–4 one.
Q 06In 1966 Al Davis briefly left the Raiders for which job, abolished within months by the AFL-NFL merger?
AFL commissioner
He was hired as a fighter to win the war with the NFL and promptly began signing away NFL quarterbacks, which helped push the two leagues to a merger that eliminated his own post.
Q 07In the 1968 "Heidi Game", NBC cut away from the Raiders' final-minute comeback against which opponent?
New York Jets
The network's switchboards were so jammed by callers asking about the schedule that the order to stay with the game never reached master control.
Q 08The 1968 Heidi broadcast that pre-empted the end of the Raiders-Jets game was sold entirely to which sponsor?
Timex
A watch company sponsoring the film that cut a football game short for reasons of time is an irony sportswriters have enjoyed ever since.
Q 09The Raiders' first Super Bowl appearance ended in a 33–14 loss at the Orange Bowl to which team?
Green Bay Packers
Oakland had gone 13–1 and crushed Houston 40–7 for the 1967 AFL title, but Bart Starr became the first back-to-back Super Bowl MVP against them.
Q 10Which position group did Al Davis hire John Madden to coach in 1967 before making him head coach?
Linebackers
Madden was 32 when he took over in 1969, and he never had a losing season in ten years in charge.
Q 11Among NFL head coaches with at least 100 games, John Madden holds which distinction?
Highest winning percentage
His overall mark including playoffs ranks second in league history behind only 1920s coach Guy Chamberlin.
Q 12On the 1972 Immaculate Reception, Bradshaw's pass may have deflected off which Raiders safety?
Jack Tatum
Under the rules of the day, if the ball had touched only Steelers receiver John Fuqua the play would have been an incomplete pass and Oakland would have won 7–6.
Q 13Which running back caught the game-winning "Sea of Hands" touchdown against Miami in the 1974 playoffs?
Clarence Davis
Q 21Ray Guy, the Raiders' 1973 first-rounder, was the first player at what position taken that early?
Punter
Guy also once kicked a 61-yard field goal in a snowstorm at Southern Miss and threw a no-hitter for the baseball team.
Q 22Which former Raiders quarterback replaced John Madden in 1979 as the NFL's first Hispanic head coach?
Tom Flores
He had been the franchise's original starting quarterback in 1960 and won two Super Bowls as head coach, entering the Hall of Fame in 2021.
Q 23Which team took Jim Plunkett first overall in the 1971 draft?
New England Patriots
He was the first Latino Heisman winner and remains, with Eli Manning, one of only two eligible quarterbacks with two Super Bowl wins as a starter who is not in the Hall of Fame.
The catch ended the Dolphins' run of three straight Super Bowl appearances, but Oakland then lost the AFC title game to Pittsburgh a week later.
Q 14Ken Stabler earned his nickname "Snake" from his high school coach after what?
A long, winding touchdown run
The left-hander was also good enough on the mound to draw minor-league offers from the Astros and Yankees before choosing Alabama.
Q 15Ken Stabler played college football under Bear Bryant at which university?
Alabama
He was a first-team All-American in 1967 and later became the 1974 NFL MVP after leading the league in passing yards.
Q 16Which tight end fell on the ball in the end zone to complete the 1978 "Holy Roller" against San Diego?
Dave Casper
The NFL rewrote its rules that offseason so that only the fumbling player can advance a fumble in the final two minutes.
Q 17Chargers fans have their own name for the Holy Roller play. What do they call it?
The Immaculate Deception
Stabler later admitted he fumbled on purpose, and running back Pete Banaszak did not exactly try to recover it before pitching it toward the goal line.
Q 18Who was named MVP of Super Bowl XI despite gaining only 79 yards on four catches?
Fred Biletnikoff
He was the only receiver to win the award without a 100-yard game until Cooper Kupp did it in Super Bowl LVI.
Q 19Which Raiders cornerback returned an interception 75 yards for a touchdown in Super Bowl XI?
Willie Brown
He had been picked up from Denver in a 1967 trade and shares the club record for career interceptions with Lester Hayes at 39.
Q 20The Raiders' first NFL title, a 32-14 win over Minnesota in January 1977, was played where?
Rose Bowl
The game was played just eight days after the college Rose Bowl on the same Pasadena field, and the Vikings became the first team to lose four Super Bowls.
Q 24By winning Super Bowl XV, the Raiders became the first champion to have entered the playoffs how?
As a wild card
They had to win three road playoff games to get there, a feat no other champion matched until Denver in 1997.
Q 25Which Raiders linebacker set a record with three Super Bowl XV interceptions of Ron Jaworski?
Rod Martin
The pregame focus was whether Pete Rozelle would hand the trophy to Al Davis, who was suing the league over its refusal to let the team move to Los Angeles.
Q 26Which halfback turned a Jim Plunkett pass into an 80-yard touchdown in Super Bowl XV?
Kenny King
The game came five days after the Iran hostages were freed, and every player wore a yellow stripe on the back of his helmet.
Q 27The Raiders played their home games in Los Angeles from the 1982 season through which final season?
1994
The team returned to Oakland after Al Davis signed a letter of intent on June 23, 1995, having never gotten the modern stadium he wanted in Southern California.
Q 28How many rushing yards did Marcus Allen gain in his record Super Bowl XVIII performance?
191
His 74-yard reverse-field run in the third quarter was also a Super Bowl record, and he became the third Heisman winner named Super Bowl MVP.
Q 29Which Ridley Scott-directed commercial aired during the Raiders' Super Bowl XVIII win?
Apple's "1984" Macintosh ad
The Raiders also became the first team to score two non-offensive touchdowns in a Super Bowl, on a blocked punt and a Jack Squirek interception return.
Q 30After his public feud with Al Davis, Marcus Allen finished his career with five seasons for which team?
Kansas City Chiefs
He is the only player to have won the Heisman, a national title, a Super Bowl, Super Bowl MVP and NFL MVP.