Super Bowl XVIII was played on January 22, 1984 in Tampa, Florida. The Raiders, who were playing out of Los Angeles at that time, beat the Washington Redskins 38 to 9.

Raiders' running back Marcus Allen was the Super Bowl MVP, carrying the ball 20 times, for a then-record total of 191 yards and two touchdowns, including a spectacular 75-yard run in the third quarter.

CBS televised the game in the United States, with commentators Pat Summerall and John Madden.

Apple's famous "1984" television commercial, introducing the Apple Macintosh computer and directed by Ridley Scott, ran during the two-minute warning time out in the fourth quarter. The advertisment changed how the Super Bowl would be used as a media platform after that.

The fact that the Redskins had come into the game as such a heavily-favored team and left with such a humiliating defeat led Super Bowl XVIII to be known as "Black Sunday," in reference to the colors of the then-World Champion Oakland Raiders.

The Game

During the first half, the Raiders scored on offense, defense and special teams.

With almost five minutes gone in the game, Derrick Jensen blocked a Redskins punt deep in Washington's territory and recovered the ball in the end zone to give the Raiders a 7-0 lead.

Then early in the second quarter, Raiders quarterback Jim Plunkett threw a 50-yard pass to receiver Cliff Branch to the Redskins' 15-yard line. Two plays later, Plunkett's 12-yard touchdown pass to Branch increased the lead 14-0.

On the Redskins next drive, they moved the ball 73 yards in 12 plays, but could only get a field goal. Then Washington got the ball back at their own 12-yard line with 12 seconds left in the first half. On the first play, Raiders linebacker Jack Squirek intercepted Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann's screen pass and returned it into the end zone to give the Raiders a 21-3 halftime lead.

The Redskins then took the opening drive of the third quarter into the end zone with running back John Riggins' 1-yard touchdown run. But the extra point was blocked, leaving the score 21-9. And on the Raiders' next possession, running back Marcus Allen ran for a 5-yard touchdown to make the score 28-9.

The Redskins were shutout for the rest of the game. With 12 seconds left in the third quarter, Allen made a spectacular 75-yard touchdown run. And another Raiders field goal in the fourth period sealed the third Super Bowl victory for the "Silver and Black", 38-9.

Scoring Summary

• RAI- Jensen recovered blocked punt in end zone (Bahr kick)
• RAI- Branch 12 pass from Plunkett (Bahr kick)
• WAS- FG Moseley 24
• RAI- Squirek 5 interception return (Bahr kick)
• WAS- Riggins 1 run (kick blocked)
• RAI- Allen 5 run (Bahr kick)
• RAI- Allen 74 run (Bahr kick)
• RAI- FG Bahr 21

Playoffs

See NFL playoffs, 1983-84