Former Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders strong safety Mike Davis of Berkeley, California passed away on Sunday at the age of 65 according to the Associated Press. Davis spent eight straight seasons with the Raiders organization (1978 to 1981 with Oakland and 1982 to 1985 with Los Angeles), before one final National Football League season with the San Diego Chargers in 1987.
We do not know at this time the cause of Davis’s death. Davis, who played his entire NFL career in his home state of California, played his collegiate football at the University of Colorado before being drafted by the Raiders in the second round, 35th overall, in the 1977 NFL Draft.
Davis won two Super Bowls with the Raiders. He was part of the Oakland Raiders team that won Super Bowl XV by a score of 27-10 over the Philadelphia Eagles on January 25, 1981, and the Raiders team that won Super Bowl XVIII by a score of 38-9 over Washington on January 22, 1984. The 1984 Raiders team that won the Super Bowl would be the last AFC Team to win the Super Bowl until 1998, as the NFC would win 13 straight Super Bowls from 1985 to 1997. Davis’s head coach in Oakland for his two Super Bowl titles, Tom Flores, is being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2021.
In 115 NFL regular season games, Davis had 12 fumble recoveries for 49 yards, and 11 interceptions for 180 yards and one touchdown. Davis’s touchdown came in a 41-34 Raiders win over the Chargers on January 2, 1983, as Davis picked off a Dan Fouts pass and ran 56 yards into the end zone.
Davis will also be remembered for a key playoff interception in the 1981 AFC Divisional Playoff. In a play that was termed “Red Right 88,” Davis picked off a pass attempt by Cleveland Browns quarterback Brian Sipe in the end zone, that was intended for Hall of Fame tight end Ozzie Newsome. The interception preserved a 14-12 Raiders win with less than a minute left in the fourth quarter. Sipe had tried to force the football to Newsome even though he was instructed to throw the football out of bounds if he did not have a receiver open.
