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“DIARY OF A WINNER”
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THE PATRIOTS' FIRST TITLE September 22, 1963 ... The Patriots’ sputtering offense got going long enough to bang out a 20 point lead, and the relied on their defense to take the Oakland Raiders 20-14. The first Pats score was a trap on Oakland’s middle linebacker, Archie Matsos. He stopped running back, Larry Garron and gave Babe Parilli enough time to find Billy Lott running down the side line to the Oakland 36, and ran it in. With Gino Cappeletti's extra point, the Pats were up 7-0. The heavy blitzing by the Patriots kept the Raiders buried while Cappelletti booted a 43 yarder to put the Pats up 10 zip. The Patriots got the ball on the Oakland 40 yard line. Larry Garron beat Matsos on a trap play, the Parilli hit Jim Crawford down near the goal line. Garron took it across the put the Patriots up 17 to 0 at the half. The Patriots defense kept Oakland tied up until the third quarter, allowing Cappeletti to kick one from 47 yards, for a 20-0 lead. But Oakland’s explosive offense scored on two long bombs in the fourth quarter, making it uncomfortable for the Pats. The first score was a 37 yard pass from Tom Flores to Art Powell and that came on the second time Oakland had penetrated the Pats territory. Next it was a 52 yard play from Flores to Bo Robertson, who then grabbed a 12 yard pass for the score.
Then with less than two minutes left and the Raiders now down by only a touchdown, Harry Crump’s third rush for half a yard failed to get a first down for the Patriots. Following a Tom Yewcic punt, Nick Buoniconti, who had been tremendous all day, intercepted a Flores’ pass on the Boston 45 and ran around, killing 10 more seconds. Babe Parilli then ran the clock down and the game was done. The story from the Patriots’ prospective was a tough offensive line that opened up huge holes for the running backs, and a defense that submerged the Raiders’ attack by blitzing at all angles, driving first string quarterback, Cotton Davidson, out of the game. The defense only allowed 24 yards on the ground, but Tom Flores and Cotton Davidson threw for 233 yards, compared to Parilli’s 98 yards. But Larry Garron had 95 yards on the ground and Jim Crawford, Ronnie Lott and Harry Crump accounted for another 70. |
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