Super Bowl 1984

Following an owner’s meeting that was held in Detroit on June 3, 1981, Super Bowl XVIII was awarded to Tampa. This was the first time Tampa had played host to the game and the first time a city other than Miami had hosted the Super Bowl in Florida.

Super Bowl XVIII was played between the AFC’s Los Angeles Raiders and NFC’s Washington Redskins on January 22, 1984, at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida, to decide which team would be crowned champions of the 1983 football season.

The Redskins defended their title in magnificent style, securing their victory with a score of 38-9.

Notable for:

• Apple’s now-famous “1984” advertisement, which introduced the Apple Macintosh, was aired during the broadcast. This single advertisement subsequently changed the shape of the Super Bowl as a commercial platform.

Immediately from the outset of the game, the Los Angeles Raiders dominated the Redskins, and the game has subsequently gone down in history as the most one-sided Super Bowl in the history of the game.

The Raiders secured an early 7-0 lead at just under five minutes into the game when Derrick Jenson blocked and recovered a punt from Jeff Hayes to score a touchdown. Toward the end of the first half, the Raider’s quarterback, Jim Plunkett, completed a three-play, 65-yard drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Cliff Branch.

Washington fought back with a Mark Moseley field goal, but with just seven seconds of the first half remaining, Raider’s Jack Squirek intercepted a Joe Theismann pass on the Redskins’ 5-yard line and progressed to score a touchdown, taking the Raider’s lead to 21-3 at the halftime.

Marcus Allen put the final nails in Washington’s coffin by increasing the Raiders’ lead to 35-9 with two touchdowns. Allen’s performance in the game, which included carrying the ball over a record total of 191 yards and scoring two touchdowns, earned him MVP.