Ben Davidson impacted Raiders’ defense, NFL rulebook

Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series acquainting fans with the Raiders’ illustrious 60-year history as the team moves to Las Vegas for the 2020 season.

The Oakland Raiders of the late 1960s and early 1970s were notorious for being one of the meanest, nastiest, gnarliest teams around.

Ben Davidson was a major reason they developed such a reputation.

The massive, intimidating defensive end hit everyone in sight right up until the whistle — and often beyond.

“Ben would hit a quarterback while he was getting into the car with his girlfriend after the game,” a teammate famously said. “That wasn’t a late-hit to Ben.”

It’s no surprise Davidson finally found a home in professional football on Al Davis’ AFL team after three disappointing seasons in the NFL. He was traded to Green Bay in training camp after the Giants selected him in the 1961 draft, becoming part of Vince Lombardi’s first championship team that season as mostly a special teams contributor.

The 6-foot-8, 275-pounder was traded to Washington after his rookie year and played two forgettable seasons with the Redskins before he was waived.

Davis loved Davidson’s size and athleticism and brought him in to turn him loose on the rest of the league.

He eventually made three consecutive AFL All-Star teams from 1966 through 1968 and became a mainstay on the AFL championship team of 1967 known for its “11 Angry Men” defense.

“We took pride in our defense,” Davidson said shortly before he died of prostate cancer in 2012. “We ran to the ball. Even in practice we’d all run to the ball and we always enjoyed being in a close-up picture of a tackle. Not to brag, but we had 67 sacks in 14 games.”

Davidson wasn’t the only hard-hitter playing for the Raiders in that era.

“When you are playing on a team with Jack Tatum, you want to get that ball carrier turned around between you and Jack so that Jack doesn’t hit you in the back instead of the ball carrier,” he said of his eventual teammate. “We tried to let the other team know that they were in for a hard game when they came to play us.

“Nothing was more fun than rookie quarterbacks, too. You want to get them off on the right track and have them circle those Raider games on the calendar, and remember that they were going to have to play us twice. You wanted them to have respect for your team so that they wouldn’t throw any touchdown passes.”

Veteran passers weren’t exactly immune from his wrath. A hit Davidson leveled on Kansas City’s Len Dawson in 1970 that led to a significant rule change, though it first helped the Raiders salvage a tie.

Dawson thought he had cemented a 17-14 win for the Chiefs with a third-down quarterback keeper that picked up a first down in the closing minutes. Davidson came flying downfield and put his helmet into the downed quarterback’s back, triggering a brawl. The offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties forced the Chiefs to attempt third down again, this time stuffed by the Raiders. Oakland eventually kicked a game-tying field goal in the closing seconds and went on to win the division over Kansas City by a game.

Soon after, the league changed the enforcement on offsetting penalties. Then in 1976, they greatly improved the safety of the game by adopting what came to be known as the “Ben Davidson Rule.”

It became illegal to hit runners who have gone to the ground untouched and made no attempt to advance, before or after the ball is dead, a Davidson specialty.

Davidson embraced that villain role and it paid off after his career as the Los Angeles native went into show business.

A star of several Miller Lite ads alongside John Madden and Rodney Dangerfield, he appeared in an episode of “Happy Days” as a lumberjack and had appearances in films like “M*A*S*H” and Conan the Barbarian. Davidson played a convict football player in “Necessary Roughness” and took a memorable turn as a bouncer in ‘Behind the Green Door.”

He is far less known for the one season he played for the Portland Storm in the World Football League more than two years after he was done with the Raiders.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.