Ken Stabler, whom the AP named the NFL's MVP in 1974, died Thursday.
Forty-one years ago, he quarterbacked the Oakland Raiders to a nine-game winning streak, going 11-2 overall (missing the next-to-last game) with a win and a loss in the playoffs. All those losses were close except the one December 29 against Pittsburgh.
That year, his fifth season in the NFL, he passed for a league-leading 26 touchdowns, and two years later he beat that mark by one. He had three fourth-quarter comebacks and three game-winning drives, the two sets containing the exact same games (Oct. 13 at San Diego, Oct. 20 vs. Cincinnati, and Dec. 21 vs. Miami). And this was the only season in which he was a consensus First-Team All-Pro.
His Approximate Value on Pro Football Reference is the team's second-highest. The Raiders had the second-highest Offensive SRS figure in the NFL (highest being that of the 7-7 Patriots), as well as the sixth-best Defensive SRS figure (down quite a bit from the year before). They rushed a lot more than they passed (#3 in rushing attempts, #23 in passing attempts), but got the most net yards per pass attempt and the most passing TDs. Stabler had two really good receivers in Cliff Branch and Hall of Famer Fred Biletnikoff, which is a luxury for some QBs and even better for someone having such a good season. Branch led the league in receiving TDs with 13.
It was because of good performances from him and others that two years later the Raiders won the Super Bowl for the first time. He might be on a level of quarterbacks not with Bradshaw and Namath but with Ron Jaworski and Roman Gabriel, but the Raiders were fortunate to get even that kind of quarterback. And to think, like a few other QBs, he could've been a baseball player.
[EDIT 11/30/2023: Introducing the "football" label]
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