6. George Blanda, 1967-1975
W-L Record: 1-0
Playoff W-L Record: 0-0
Passing Stats: 1,835 yards, 50.6% completion rate, 23 TD’s, 18 INT’s
George Blanda was a kicker for the Raiders, mostly. Having already spent nearly two decades in professional football as a kicker, linebacker and quarterback, Blanda joined the AFL’s Oakland Raiders at the age of 39, turning 40 two weeks into the 1967 season – three days after he threw his first pass as a Raider. His first action as Raider quarterback was stepping in during a rout of the Denver Broncos, going 3-7 for 111 yards and a touchdown pass.
In 1970, a 43 year old George Blanda had what some call a miracle season. In week six, Blanda stepped into a tied game against Pittsburgh in the second quarter and proceeded to throw three touchdowns in only 12 attempts, leading the Raiders to a 31-14 victory. Two weeks later, he stepped in for a struggling Daryle Lamonica (who was 7-20 passing at that point) against the Browns and threw a fourth-quarter touchdown to tie the game, then kicked the winning field goal. A week later, Blanda stepped in during the fourth quarter and led a game-winning touchdown drive that culminated in a 20-yard scoring strike to Fred Biletnikoff to win the game. He would throw another touchdown pass later in the year during a 14-13 win over the Jets, though not the game winner.
Blanda didn’t do a lot of quarterbacking for the Raiders, and often times stepped into games late when the issue was no longer in doubt and padded his stats with what we now call garbage time touchdowns as the Raiders easily decimated foes. His lone start for the Raiders came midway through the 1968 season when the team was already 6-2. But Blanda was a home run hitter, a pinch-hitter if you will. He threw a touchdown, on average, once for every ten attempts for the Raiders. He would never quite repeat the magic of 1970, throwing 4 TD’s in scattered relief work in 1971 and then two more for the remainder of his career. He remained with the Raiders until retiring after the 1975 season at the age of 48. He would die in Alameda in 2010.