The 1981 season was the Oakland Raiders' 22nd, its 12th in the National Football League and third under head coach Tom Flores. The team failed to improve on its 1980 record of 11–5, finishing 7–9, becoming the fourth team in NFL history to enter a season as the defending Super Bowl champions and miss the playoffs. The 1981 Raiders set an NFL record by losing three consecutive shutout games. The passing game deteriorated badly, finishing 26th in the league with 28 interceptions. After the defense led the NFL in interceptions and takeaways in 1980, it was last in the league 1981 with a minus 16 turnover differential. The 1981 season was the team's last in Oakland until 1995, and the Raiders' losing record snapped a streak of 16 consecutive winning seasons. This was the only season from 1965 to 1986 in which the Raiders finished with a losing record.
Offseason
NFL draft
1981 Oakland Raiders Draft Round Selection Player Position College 1 21 Ted WattsCBTexas Tech 1 23 Curt MarshOTWashington 2 48 Howie LongDEVillanova 4 111 Johnny RobinsonDTLouisiana Tech 5 118 James DavisCBSouthern 9 248 Curt MohlOTUCLA 10 276 Frank HawkinsHBNevada 11 304 Chester WillisHBAuburn12 332 Phil NelsonTEDelaware
Personnel Staff / Coaches
https://www.profootballarchives.com/1981nfloak.htmlhttps://pro-football-history.com/franchise/17/las-vegas-raiders-coaches
Roster
Regular season
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance 1 September 6 at Denver Broncos L 7–9 0–1 Mile High Stadium 74,796 2 at Minnesota Vikings W 36–10 1–1 Metropolitan Stadium 47,186 3 September 20 Seattle Seahawks W 20–10 2–1 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 45,725 4 September 27 at Detroit Lions L 0–16 2–2 Pontiac Silverdome 77,819 5 October 4 Denver Broncos L 0–17 2–3 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 51,035 6 October 11 at Kansas City Chiefs L 0–27 2–4 Arrowhead Stadium 76,543 7 October 18 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 18–16 3–4 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 42,288 8 October 25 Kansas City Chiefs L 17–28 3–5 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 42,914 9 November 1 New England Patriots W 27–17 4–5 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 44,246 10 November 8 at Houston Oilers L 16–17 4–6 Houston Astrodome 45,519 11 November 15 at Miami Dolphins W 33–17 5–6 Miami Orange Bowl 61,777 12 November 22 San Diego Chargers L 21–55 5–7 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 50,199 13 November 29 at Seattle Seahawks W 32–31 6–7 Kingdome 57,147 14 Pittsburgh Steelers W 30–27 7–7 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 51,769 15 December 13 Chicago Bears L 6–23 7–8 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum 40,384 16 at San Diego Chargers L 10–23 7–9 San Diego Stadium 52,279 Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries
Week 1
Pro-Football-Reference.com
Week 2
Pro-Football-Reference.com
Week 3
Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved 2014-Feb-10.
Standings
References
External links 1981 Oakland Raiders at Pro-Football-Reference.com 1981 Oakland Raiders at JT-SW.com