The Sea of Hands
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| Date | December 21, 1974 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Stadium | Oakland Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, California | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Ben Dreith | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 53,023 | ||||||||||||||||||
| TV in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | NBC | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Curt Gowdy, Al DeRogatis and Don Meredith | ||||||||||||||||||
The Sea of Hands refers to a significant play during the 1974–75 NFL playoffs. The Miami Dolphins were facing the Oakland Raiders in an American Football Conference (AFC) Divisional playoff game on December 21, 1974 at Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. The game was ultimately decided in the final seconds by a now-iconic play in which Oakland quarterback Ken Stabler launched an 8-yard touchdown pass to running back Clarence Davis, who seemed tightly covered but somehow wrestled the ball away from multiple Miami defenders to secure victory for the Raiders, thus effectively ending Miami’s historic run of Super Bowl appearances.
The game began when rookie receiver Nat Moore returned the opening kickoff 89 yards for a Miami touchdown. Miami defensive back Dick Anderson then intercepted a pass from Stabler, and it looked like Miami might put things away early. However, fellow safety Jake Scott was hurt on the play and would miss the rest of the game. Oakland's defense made a stand to force a punt, and the Raiders would subsequently tie the game on a Stabler 31-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Smith. Scoring was otherwise limited in the first two quarters, with only a 33-yard field goal by Miami's Garo Yepremian breaking the tie before the half.
The Raiders scored on their opening drive of the third quarter when Stabler hit Fred Biletnikoff for a 13-yard touchdown pass, Biletnikoff managing to haul in the ball with one arm along the right sideline and barely tapping his feet in bounds through tight coverage by cornerback Tim Foley, giving Oakland a 14–10 lead. Aided by a 29-yard pass interference penalty against the Raiders, Miami struck back with Bob Griese's 16-yard touchdown pass to Paul Warfield. Oakland lineman Bubba Smith blocked the extra point attempt, keeping the Miami lead at just 2 points, 16–14.
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