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Inspired by Westbrook 49's "Peyton Manning as a Jet" thread, I felt I should post a WI of my own. Hope you enjoy.

A more intense Raider-Steeler rivalry.
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December 23, 1972:
It was two days before Christmas. In Pittsburgh, two football teams were about to face each other on an unusual day in the Steel City. The Oakland Raiders were looking to avenge their 34-28 loss during the first week of the season in Pittsburgh, as the Steelers were looking to get 2 wins for the year against their silver & black adversaries. The Raiders knew that to win, they would have to stop the bulldozing Steeler running game of Franco Harris and John “Frenchy” Fuqua and force a young Terry Bradshaw to beat them passing the ball. For Pittsburgh, it was the opposite. The Raiders running game was O.K. at best but that was because they used it as a mere compliment for the primary focus of their offense: The deep vertical passing game. The Steelers had a great defense that was becoming better every year but Oakland had a team able to put points on the board quickly regardless of who they played.


The game started out as a defensive slugfest with no real advantage attained by either team. The Raiders’ defense was doing a good job containing Harris and Fuqua and limiting Bradshaw’s options forcing many punts. At the same time, the Steelers were effectively shutting down the vertical game favored by Oakland and forcing them to grind it out on the ground. At Halftime neither team had scored any points but that would change in the 2nd half. Worn down from the ground game beatings of the Steelers, Harris and Fuqua finally started making headway into Oakland territory in the 3rd quarter and put their first points on the scoreboard taking a 3-0 lead.



Frustrated with Lamonica’s lackluster performance along with the Mad Bomber being sick with the flu, Coach John Madden finally pulled their starter and added Kenny “Snake” Stabler in the 4th quarter. This proved to have more success as Stabler was more effective in getting his team yardage. With the Steelers leading 6-0 with under 2 minutes in the game, the Raiders finally got some points when Stabler ran 30 yards for an Oakland touchdown tying the game at 6 and a subsequent extra point to take a 7-6 lead.



With 1:13 to go, the Steelers had to drive at least 60 yards to get into field goal range. Oakland’s secondary had other plans however as Tatum and Atkinson held their own against Pittsburgh’s passing attack. Finally with 26 seconds left in the game, the Steelers faced a critical 4th and 10 at their own 40 yard line. Bradshaw went back and threw a blind pass to Fuqua who was immediately hit by Tatum as the ball came into their vicinities thus knocking it in the air and into the outstretched fingertips of Franco Harris who would take the ball all the way for a Steeler touchdown. The Pittsburgh crowd roared in excitement in the prospect of taking the lead while the referees went to confer with one another making sure it was a legal play.



Finally after a lengthy conference, the head umpire announced the call:
“After reviewing the play, the ball hit the offensive player and was caught by another offensive player subsequently running into the end-zone for a touchdown. Because the ball cannot touch an offensive player and then be caught by a different player on the same team, it is an illegal play and therefore the touchdown will not count. As a result, Pittsburgh will turn the ball over on downs. First down Oakland.”


With that call, the jubilation of the Pittsburgh fans turned into anger as the crowd started rioting. The refs, along with the Raiders knew they had to escape into the tunnels as quickly as possible to avoid becoming victims of an angry crowd of Steeler fans now mobbing the gridiron. The Pittsburgh Police Force was forced to use teargas at one point to subdue the incoming mob. From that point, Steeler fans would refer to that game as the “Immaculate Deception”.

Many years after the game, the referee making the call, Fred Swearingen responding to a question in an interview had this to say:
“December 23, 1972. If I could do it all over again, I think I would’ve ruled it a touchdown. I knew I had to make what I thought was the right call and even though it seemed to be at that moment, it was also the wrong call. I feel badly knowing I had responsibility for that infamous Three River Riot in which many innocent people were injured, even killed, from being trampled or beaten.”


Also years later, Raider coach John Madden commented that “I wasn’t really sure who touched the ball, but since we won, it was the right call.”



For the Raiders, their 7-6 victory in Pittsburgh would take them back to Oakland for the AFC Championship against the undefeated Miami Dolphins.
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