“We just had to keep winning”
January 22, 1984, was a huge day for Mike Haynes and Lester Hayes.
Hayes, the 1980 Defensive Player of the Year, had won a Super Bowl three years prior, going into that game as underdogs against Pro Football Hall of Fame Coach Dick Vermeil and the Philadelphia Eagles. As for Haynes, it was his first season with the Los Angeles Raiders after spending seven seasons with the New England Patriots.
The newly formed duo was going into battle against the defending Super Bowl Champion Washington Redskins.
Hayes, who was a Second-Team All-Pro and Pro Bowler that season, was locked in. Super Bowl XVIII was just another Sunday for him. Up to that point, he’d seen everyone his team had played as faceless opponents.
No fear, no regrets, no time to smell the roses. In Bill Goldberg fashion, it was always, “Who’s next?”
“We just had to keep winning,” Hayes said passionately. “There was no highlight, we just had to keep winning. I don’t focus on just one, you got to stack them up. That’s what we were taught. Focus on the next Sunday, and the next Sunday – but you’ve got to keep winning.”
Hayes remembers the attention to detail that was put into the gameplan against Washington. A huge emphasis was placed on making “no false steps” and being physical with their trademark “bump and run” coverage against receivers.
Haynes recalls the cornerback room having a lot of confidence going into that game based off what they saw on film. The Raiders were heavy underdogs despite narrowly losing to Washington by two points in a Week 5 matchup earlier that season.
Nevertheless, the Hall of Fame cornerback understood his opposition hadn’t had success against a team as physical as the Silver and Black leading up to the championship.
“To me, it was easy, because Washington had never played anybody who played man-to-man coverage,” Haynes reflected. “They played against zone. The NFC was all zone. When the Raiders had played them earlier that year, they played man to man –…
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