# 1988 Los Angeles Raiders season

The 1988 Los Angeles Raiders season was the franchise's 29th season overall, and the franchise's 19th season in the National Football League. Mike Shanahan was hired as head coach, and the club finished with a 7–9 record. The Raiders drafted Heisman Trophy winner Tim Brown, making Brown the third person on the Raiders roster to have won the Heisman Trophy, the others being Marcus Allen and Bo Jackson. Most of the team's success throughout the season came through their division, as the Raiders finished 6–2 against a weakening AFC West division, with their only 2 losses against the champions of the division, the Seattle Seahawks. However, the Raiders were only 1–7 against the rest of the NFL. Their only other win coming against the eventual champions, the 49ers in San Francisco in a game in which only field goals were kicked.

## Offseason
### NFL Draft

1988 Los Angeles Raiders draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 1 | 6 | Tim Brown * $^†$ | WR | Notre Dame |
| 1 | 9 | Terry McDaniel * | CB | Tennessee |
| 1 | 25 | Scott Davis | DE | Illinois |
| 4 | 90 | Tim Rother | DT | Nebraska |
| 5 | 131 | Dennis Price | DB | UCLA |
| 6 | 143 | Erwin Grabisna | LB | Case Western Reserve |
| 7 | 171 | Derrick Crudup | DB | Oklahoma |
| 8 | 199 | Mike Alexander | WR | Penn State |
| 9 | 227 | Reggie Ware | RB | Auburn |
| 9 | 229 | Scott Tabor | P | California |
| 10 | 255 | Newt Harrell | OG | West Texas A&M |
| 11 | 283 | David Weber | QB | Carroll (WI) |
| 12 | 311 | Greg Kunkel | OG | Kentucky |
| Made roster † Pro Football Hall of Fame * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career ||||||

## Regular season
### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance | Recap |
| 1 | September 4 | San Diego Chargers | W 24–13 | 1–0 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 39,029 | Recap |
| 2 | September 11 | at Houston Oilers | L 35–38 | 1–1 | Houston Astrodome | 46,050 | Recap |
| 3 | September 18 | Los Angeles Rams | L 17–22 | 1–2 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 84,870 | Recap |
| 4 | September 26 | at Denver Broncos | W 30–27 | 2–2 | Mile High Stadium | 75,964 | Recap |
| 5 | October 2 | Cincinnati Bengals | L 21–45 | 2–3 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 42,594 | Recap |
| 6 | October 9 | Miami Dolphins | L 14–24 | 2–4 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 50,751 | Recap |
| 7 | October 16 | at Kansas City Chiefs | W 27–17 | 3–4 | Arrowhead Stadium | 77,078 | Recap |
| 8 | October 23 | at New Orleans Saints | L 6–20 | 3–5 | Louisiana Superdome | 66,249 | Recap |
| 9 | October 30 | Kansas City Chiefs | W 17–10 | 4–5 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 36,103 | Recap |
| 10 | November 6 | at San Diego Chargers | W 13–3 | 5–5 | Jack Murphy Stadium | 55,134 | Recap |
| 11 | November 13 | at San Francisco 49ers | W 9–3 | 6–5 | Candlestick Park | 54,448 | Recap |
| 12 | November 20 | Atlanta Falcons | L 6–12 | 6–6 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 40,967 | Recap |
| 13 | November 28 | at Seattle Seahawks | L 27–35 | 6–7 | Kingdome | 62,641 | Recap |
| 14 | December 4 | Denver Broncos | W 21–20 | 7–7 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 65,561 | Recap |
| 15 | December 11 | at Buffalo Bills | L 21–37 | 7–8 | Rich Stadium | 77,348 | Recap |
| 16 | December 18 | Seattle Seahawks | L 37–43 | 7–9 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 61,127 | Recap |
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. ||||||||

### Season summary
#### Week 1

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Chargers | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 13 |
| • Raiders | 0 | 14 | 0 | 10 | 24 |

#### Week 3

Steve Beuerlein threw for 375 yards in a game against the Los Angeles Rams.

#### Week 4

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | Total |
| • Raiders | 0 | 0 | 14 | 13 | 3 | 30 |
| Broncos | 7 | 17 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 27 |

#### Week 7

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| • Raiders | 7 | 7 | 0 | 13 | 27 |
| Chiefs | 0 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 17 |
* Bo Jackson 70 Yds (season debut; reported to Raiders Wednesday)
* The Raiders played without DE Howie Long, S Stacey Toran and TE Todd Christensen due to injuries while Marcus Allen was limited due to a wrist injury of his own.

### Standings

AFC West :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Seattle Seahawks$^{(3)}$ | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 6–2 | 8–4 | 339 | 329 | W2 |
| Denver Broncos | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 3–5 | 5–7 | 327 | 352 | W1 |
| Los Angeles Raiders | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 6–2 | 6–6 | 325 | 369 | L2 |
| San Diego Chargers | 6 | 10 | 0 | .375 | 3–5 | 4–8 | 231 | 332 | W2 |
| Kansas City Chiefs | 4 | 11 | 1 | .281 | 2–6 | 4–9–1 | 254 | 320 | L2 |

## Awards and records

* Tim Brown, Pro Bowl selection
* Tim Brown, led all AFC rookies in receiving yardage
* Tim Brown, led NFL with 26.8 yard average on kickoff return
* Tim Brown had more total yards rushing, receiving and returning kicks (2,317) than any other rookie in NFL history.