Raiders All-Decade Team: Offense of the 70’s

Wide Receiver

In the 1970’s the Raider boasted in imposing group of wide receivers, with Hall of Fame talent and a few of Al Davis’ famous speed demons. It was a tough choice to narrow down this group, but here’s the list:

1. Cliff Branch
2. Fred Biletnikoff
3. Morris Bradshaw and Mike Siani

It can be argued that Cliff Branch and Fred Biletnikoff are interchangeable at the top, but either way, both players were instrumental in stretching opposing defenses to their breaking point in Al Davis’ vertical offense.

Branch’s career year came in 1974 when he caught 67 passes for 1,090 yards and 13 touchdowns. He followed that season up with 51 catches for 893 yards and 9 touchdowns, and then 46 receptions for 1,111 yards and 12 touchdowns the year after that.

Even though Branch’s numbers dipped in the following year, he still earned Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors, giving him four straight selections of each from 1974 through 1977. He led the league in receiving yards in 1974 and touchdowns in both ’74 and 1976. Branch not being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is one of several notable Raiders snubs.

Biletnikoff, on the other hand, is in the Hall of Fame. And for good reason. He caught 589 passes in his career, good for 8,974 yards and 76 touchdowns. Nine of those seasons came in the 1970’s, so a chunk of that production came in this decade.

Bradshaw and Siani were lesser contributors statistically, but both were still vital pieces of the Raiders offenses of the 1970. Al Davis’ use of speedy players in the vertical offense was an evolutionary part of the game, and each of these two were important parts of that.