Heidi Game The Heidi " Game or Heidi " Bowl was an American football game played on November 17 , 1968 . The home team , the Oakland Raiders , defeated the New York Jets , 43 – 32 . The game is remembered for its exciting finish , as Oakland scored two touchdowns in the final minute to overcome a 32 – 29 New York lead . The " Heidi " Game obtained its name because the National Broadcasting Company ( NBC ) controversially broke away from the game with the Jets still winning to air the television film " Heidi " at 7 p . m . in the Eastern Time Zone . In the late 1960s , few professional football games took longer than two and a half hours to play , and the Jets – Raiders three - hour time slot was thought to be adequate . A high - scoring contest , together with a number of injuries and penalties for the two bitter American Football League rivals , caused the game to run long . NBC executives had ordered that " Heidi " must begin on time , but given the exciting game , they decided to postpone the start of the film and continue football coverage . As 7 p . m . approached , many members of the public called NBC to inquire about the schedule , to complain or opine , jamming NBC ' s switchboards , and the change could not be communicated . " Heidi " began as scheduled , preempting the final moments of the game and the two Oakland touchdowns in the eastern half of the country , to the outrage of viewers . The " Heidi " Game led to a change in the way professional football is shown on network television ; games are shown to their conclusion before evening programming begins . To ensure that network personnel could communicate under similar circumstances , special telephones ( dubbed " " Heidi " phones " ) were installed , with a connection to a different telephone exchange from other network phones . In 1997 , the " Heidi " Game was voted the most memorable regular season game in pro football history . Background . Jets – Raiders rivalry . The Jets and Raiders were founding members of the American Football League ; both teams began to play in 1960 , the Jets under the name Titans of New York . Both teams had little success in their early years , playing so poorly that both the Titans and Raiders were allowed to draft players from other AFL teams following the 1962 season . In 1967 , the Jets , under the guidance of coach Weeb Ewbank and quarterback Joe Namath , posted their first winning record at 7 – 5 – 2 . Oakland , on the other hand , won the Western Division in 1967 with a 13 – 1 mark under coach John Rauch and then the AFL Championship Game over the Houston Oilers , 40 – 7 , before falling to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II . Both teams were seen as likely contenders for the 1968 AFL Championship . The two teams did not play in the same division . However , each AFL team played all other teams in the league each year , allowing the Raiders and Jets to forge a bitter rivalry . In 1963 , Oakland general manager ( later owner ) Al Davis traded guard Dan Ficca to New York during training camp , without mentioning to Ewbank ( who was also the Jets ' general manager ) that Ficca would not be released from his military service for another six weeks . In 1966 , with less than a minute to go and the Raiders leading at the new Oakland Coliseum , 28 – 20 , Jets left tackle Winston Hill predicted to Namath in the huddle that the man he was blocking , Ben Davidson , would rush on the next play , leaving the Raiders exposed to a draw play . Namath called the draw , and handed the ball off to running back Emerson Boozer for 47 yards and a touchdown . After a Jets two - point conversion , the game ended in a 28 – 28 tie , and an embittered Davidson stated , " I ' ll get even . They still have to play us next year . " They did , twice . In Week 4 , the Jets defeated the Raiders at Shea Stadium , 27 – 14 ; this was the Raiders ' only regular season loss . In Week 14 , each team ' s 13th game , the teams met again , in Oakland . Sportswriter Paul Zimmerman said of the second 1967 Jets - Raiders game : The 1967 game was one of the most vicious in Jet history . Namath was slugged to the turf ; he was hit late , punched in the groin . They aimed for his knees , tried to step on his hands . . . And Davidson got Namath . He got him on a rollout , with a right that started somewhere between [ California cities ] Hayward and Alameda . It knocked Namath ' s helmet flying , and broke his jaw , but Namath didn ' t miss a play , and he threw for 370 yards and three TD ' s in that 38 – 27 loss . The Jets ' loss to the Raiders in 1967 knocked New York out of a tie for first place in their division — the AFL East was won by the Houston Oilers . In the 1968 season , the Jets , San Diego Chargers , Raiders , and Kansas City Chiefs established themselves as the leading teams . Going into Week 11 of the AFL season , each team had lost only two games ; the Chiefs , who had not yet had a bye week , had eight wins , the others seven . In an era with no wild card teams , the Raiders needed a victory over the Jets in Week 11 to avoid falling a game and a half behind the Chiefs in the AFL West — finishing second , however good their record , would end their season . The Jets , on the other hand , would clinch at least a tie for the AFL East title with a victory over the Raiders in their only regular season meeting . Depending on the results of other games , the Jets could win the division if they beat the Raiders , gaining a berth in the AFL Championship Game , the winner of which would play the NFL champion in the Super Bowl . The ill - feeling of previous years was resurrected by an immense blown - up photograph of Davidson smashing Namath in the head posted in Raider headquarters . The photographed play was said to have broken the quarterback ' s jaw ( though Namath stated he had broken it on a tough piece of steak , and some claim it was Raiders defensive end Ike Lassiter who injured Namath ) . Although the poster , which had been placed by Davis , was removed before the game , word of this " intimidation through photography " reached the Jets in New York . In 2000 , " The New York Times " sportswriter Dave Anderson wrote of the Jets ' preparations for the Oakland game : When the Jets went to Oakland in 1968 , that photo on the Raiders ' wall symbolized the rivalry as well as Coach Weeb Ewbank ' s distrust of Davis . Whenever a helicopter flew anywhere near a Jets practice the week before a game against the Raiders , Ewbank would look up and shake his fist . He just knew Davis had somebody spying on the Jets . The Raiders declined to allow New York reporters to watch practices , a courtesy Ewbank extended to Oakland pressmen . Raiders assistant coach ( later head coach ) John Madden was responsible for the exchange of game films with upcoming opponents ; he sent the films to the Jets through Chicago so they would arrive a day or two late , reasoning that Davis , not him , would be blamed for the delay . Ewbank blamed Davis for heavily watering the Coliseum field to slow the Jets ' speedy receivers , a tactic the Oakland co - owner credited to Madden . Television . NBC ' s preparations for the Sunday , November 17 game at Oakland were routine . This was a nationwide telecast , to be shown to the entire country at 4 p . m . EST . NBC hoped that viewers who tuned their television channel selectors to the game would not walk over to the television and change the channel or turn off the power switch , but would watch the evening ' s programming . They anticipated a good game , which would cause the audience to remain in their seats and watch the game in full , " a perfect lead in for the network ' s special presentation of " Heidi " , the Johanna Spyri children ' s classic , which was scheduled to air after the game at 7 p . m . ( EST ) " . The television film was preempting " Walt Disney ' s Wonderful World of Color " , the normal program shown by NBC Sundays at 7 . As the game started at 1 p . m . Pacific Standard Time , the western half of the country would have to wait after the game for 7 p . m . local time before seeing " Heidi " . Under television rules at the time , the Jets – Raiders game was blacked out within 90 miles of Oakland , even though the game was a sellout . " Heidi " was heavily promoted by NBC in television commercials and newspaper advertisements . The network hoped to gain a large audience , especially among families , whom the network anticipated would watch the entire two - hour film . Commercials for the film were not sold by NBC ; instead , the entire block of two hours was sold to the Timex watch company which would air the film and have its own commercials run . " The New York Times " touted " Heidi " as the best TV program of the day . Under the terms of the contract between Timex and NBC , " Heidi " had to go to air promptly at 7 p . m . Eastern ( 6 p . m . Central ) , and could not be delayed or joined in progress for any reason . Steven Travers , in his history of the Raiders , noted : That Sunday evening at 7 : 00 pm the family classic " Heidi " was scheduled . This is the well - known story of a little Swiss girl who lives with her grandfather in the [ Alps ] , a staple of wholesome entertainment . In the days before cable , pay - per - view , VHS , DVD , TiVo , record , rewind , and 700 channels — what the choices came down to what NBC , ABC , CBS , and maybe a handful of local stations wanted to show the public , TV viewers scheduled their days around events like " Heidi " . It was on once a year . If one missed it , they missed it until the next year . The nerve center for NBC was known as Broadcast Operations Control ( BOC ) . Dick Cline , the network BOC supervisor for sports telecasts , prepared the series of network orders which would result in the game running as scheduled , followed by " Heidi " . Cline had no reason to believe that the game would run over three hours ; no professional football game presented by NBC ever had . However , other NBC executives stressed that " Heidi " must start as scheduled . NBC President Julian Goodman told his executives before the weekend that the well - sponsored , well - promoted film must start on time . NBC Sports Executive Producer Don " Scotty " Connal took care to tell the game producer , Don Ellis , that " Heidi " must start at 7 in the East , over Ellis ' objection that he had been trained never to leave a game in progress . Connal told Ellis that NBC had sold the time , and was obligated to switch to the film . NBC ran three BOCs , in Burbank , California , Chicago , and New York , with the last the largest . Cline was stationed at the New York BOC for the game . In the era before satellite transmission , programming was transmitted by coaxial cable line , with the cooperation of the telephone company . For this game , the Burbank BOC was to receive the feed from Oakland , insert commercials and network announcements , and send the modified feed via telephone wire to a switching station west of Chicago near the Mississippi River . An engineer was stationed there to activate the Oakland feed into the full network when the game began , to cut it on instruction and then to return to his base . He had been told to expect at 6 : 58 : 20 EST a network announcement for " Heidi " , after which he was to cut the feed from Burbank , and the " Heidi " feed from New York would begin . This placed Burbank in effective control of whether the engineer would cut the feed , since he would act upon hearing the announcement . Connal , Cline ' s boss , was available in case of trouble , watching from his home in Connecticut . His superior , NBC Sports Vice President Chet Simmons , who alternated weekends with Connal as on - call in the event of difficulties , was also watching from his Manhattan home . NBC President Goodman and NBC Sports head Carl Lindemann also turned on the game , which was expected to be exciting , in their New York area homes . The Buffalo Bills versus San Diego Chargers game , shown as the first of a doubleheader , was running long in its 2½ hour time slot , and NBC unhesitatingly cut its ending to go to the Jets and Raiders . Game events . Football action . On the opening kickoff , the Jets were penalized for a personal foul against the Raiders . The Jets took an early 6 – 0 lead on 44 - yard and 18 - yard field goals made by kicker Jim Turner . The Raiders , led by quarterback Daryle Lamonica , who had been battling recent back and knee injuries , scored the game ' s first touchdown , taking a 7 – 6 lead on a 22 - yard pass to receiver Warren Wells towards the end of the first quarter . The Raiders added to their lead when Lamonica threw a 48 - yard pass to tight end Billy Cannon at the beginning of the second quarter . However , the Jets cut into Oakland ' s lead when Namath drove the offense 73 yards down field and ran the ball in for a 1 - yard touchdown with five seconds remaining in the first half . The Jets lined up as if to kick the extra point , but holder and backup quarterback Babe Parilli tried to complete a two - point conversion pass , which fell incomplete . The Raiders led the Jets 14 – 12 at halftime . Approximately five minutes into the third quarter , Namath forged another Jets drive , following an interception by safety Jim Hudson , that ended with halfback Bill Mathis scoring a 4 - yard touchdown behind blocking guard Dave Herman to give New York a 19 – 14 lead . The Raiders responded with an 80 - yard drive that saw running back Charlie Smith score his first touchdown of the game on a 3 - yard pass from Lamonica . The Raiders took a 22 – 19 lead on a two - point conversion with Lamonica completing the attempt to receiver Hewritt Dixon . During this drive , Hudson was ejected from the game after being called for a face mask penalty followed by a dispute with an official . As he left the field , he gave the jeering crowd the finger . The penalties caused the ball to be placed at the Jets ' 3 - yard line , and Smith scored for Oakland one play later . The fourth quarter began with Smith fumbling the football with Oakland in scoring position . New York defensive end Gerry Philbin recovered the football at the Jets ' 3 - yard line setting up a 97 - yard drive , consisting entirely of two Namath passes to Don Maynard , who was covered by Raiders ' rookie cornerback George Atkinson . The 50 - yard touchdown pass followed a 47 - yard throw , and gave the Jets a 26 – 22 lead . Turner added another field goal to the Jets ' total , giving them a 29 – 22 lead . The Raiders promptly responded with Lamonica orchestrating an 88 - yard drive that ended with a 22 - yard pass to receiver Fred Biletnikoff with less than four minutes remaining in the game , tying the contest . Turner made a 26 - yard field goal to break the tie and give the Jets a three point lead with a little over a minute remaining in the game . Turner kicked the ball off to the Raiders ' Smith , who took the kick out of the end zone and to Oakland ' s own 22 - yard line . Lamonica completed to Smith for an apparent touchdown , but the play was called back due to a penalty , causing New York cornerback Johnny Sample to say to Lamonica , " Nice try , Lamonica . Better luck next year . " On first down , Smith caught a 20 - yard reception from Lamonica , while a 15 - yard penalty was assessed against the Jets when a player grabbed Smith ' s facemask , moving the ball to the Jets ' 43 - yard line . On the ensuing play , Lamonica threw another pass to Smith who outpaced Jets safety Mike D ' Amato , who replaced the ejected Jim Hudson , for a 43 - yard touchdown . Kicker George Blanda made the extra point attempt which gave the Raiders a 36 – 32 lead . With 42 seconds remaining , the Jets still had a chance to score ; however , on the kickoff , New York return man Earl Christy fumbled the ball at the Jets ' 12 - yard line when he was tackled by Raiders linebacker Bill Budness . Reserve running back Preston Ridlehuber picked up the fumbled ball and ran into the end zone , which with another Blanda extra point gave the Raiders a 43 – 32 lead , deflating any hopes of the Jets coming back to win the contest . Ridlehuber could not remember whether AFL rules permitted advancing a fumbled kickoff return ( they did ) , so tried to make it appear he was entering the end zone with the same motion he gathered in the ball . Oakland kicked off to New York again , but it could do little with the ball in the final seconds , and the game ended . Television and decisions . The two starting quarterbacks combined for 71 pass attempts , with the clock stopping on each incompletion , and the officials called 19 penalties , leading to more clock stoppages . Each team used all six of its allocated timeouts , and the many scores led to additional commercial breaks . At halftime , Connal called Cline , and without urgency discussed the fact that the game seemed to be running longer than expected . As the fourth quarter began , it was 6 : 20 EST , and NBC executives began to realize the game might not end by 7 : 00 . NBC Sports Vice President Chet Simmons recalled : They kept promoting " Heidi " , kept promoting " Heidi " . I kept looking at my watch , and I said to myself , there ' s no way to me that " Heidi " ' s going to make this at seven o ' clock . Julian Goodman , the president of the company , told us going into the weekend that " Heidi " had to start on time . . . I looked at my watch , looked at another table clock , looked at the game , and thought , no way is this going to happen . Connal , watching the game from his home in Old Greenwich , Connecticut , also noticed the fourth quarter was running " terribly slow . " At 6 : 45 , he called Cline again , and both men agreed the game would not end on time . Both supported running the end of the game , but given Goodman ' s instructions , his permission was required . Connal agreed to call NBC Sports President Lindemann , and that he and Lindemann would then speak to Goodman . After promising Cline a return call , Connal reached Lindemann by telephone . Lindemann agreed that the end of the game should be run , and both men began trying to reach Goodman . Lindemann was successful in reaching Goodman , and asked the network president , " What about the instruction to broadcast operations control that " Heidi " had to go on at 7 : 00 ET , no matter what ? " Goodman replied , " That ' s crazy . It ' s a terrible idea . " Lindemann then set up a three - way conversation with himself , Goodman and NBC Television President Don Durgin . After several minutes of discussion , Durgin agreed to delay the start of " Heidi " until after the game was completed . Sportswriter Kyle Garlett , in his history of sports gaffes , noted , " And even though earlier executives had told [ Cline ] to make sure he started " Heidi " on time , those same executives changed their minds late in the game . " Cline , watching the clock nervously , attempted to call Connal back , only to find both lines busy . He waited as long as he could , then made one final , unsuccessful attempt . Unknown to Cline , Connal was talking to Goodman , who had agreed to " slide the network " , that is , start " Heidi " as soon as Curt Gowdy signed off from the game . Connal called the game producer , Ellis , in Oakland , to tell him the news , then called the BOC supervisor in Burbank — who , not knowing Connal , refused his order , and insisted on speaking with Goodman directly . As Goodman had disconnected to allow Connal to call Oakland , this could not be done . Beginning about 6 : 45 , many members of the public began calling NBC network and affiliate switchboards . Some demanded the conclusion of the game , others wanted to know if " Heidi " would start on time . These calls jammed the switchboards , and even blew repeated fuses in them , preventing the executives from getting through to each other to resolve the situation . NBC protocol required an operations order from Connal , to countermand the midweek written orders , but Cline received no call from the increasingly desperate Connal , who was frustrated by the switchboard issues . Without such an order , and not knowing of Goodman ' s approval , Cline made the decision that " Heidi " would start on time . The television audience saw Smith return Turner ' s kickoff out of the end zone to the Oakland 22 - yard line with 1 : 01 remaining . Burbank BOC played the closing football theme and gave the word cue , to the outraged shock of Ellis and Connal , and the connection was irretrievably broken . Although the western United States continued to view the game , the eastern half of the nation instead saw a little girl on a Swiss mountain and was unaware that Oakland was in the course of scoring two touchdowns to win the game . " Oakland Tribune " reporter Bob Valli reported on the " Heidi " Game : " Television missed one of football ' s most exciting and exhausting minutes of emotion . In that minute , Oakland fans saw despair turn to delirium . " Reaction and aftermath . Television reaction . On realizing that NBC was switching away from the game , Goodman said to Lindemann by phone , " Where the hell has our football game gone ? " During the station break which began with the network announcement , Goodman called a BOC phone to which only he knew the number and which was not part of NBC ' s CIrcle - 7 exchange ( which blew a fuse 26 times in an hour ) . When Cline answered it , Goodman ordered him to go back to the game . Although Cline knew there was no way to reconnect the feed , he promised to do the best he could . By the time the game ended at 7 : 07 , thousands of viewers were calling the network to complain about missing the end of the football game . Others called newspapers , television stations , even the New York City Police Department , both to seek the final score , and simply to vent . In Oakland , Gowdy and his broadcast partner , Al DeRogatis , left the broadcast booth to tell Ellis that the final two minutes were the most exciting they had ever seen . Ellis replied , " It ' s too bad America didn ' t see it . " Realizing that the original call had been lost , Ellis had the two sportscasters recreate their descriptions of the two Raider touchdowns on tape . In an attempt to inform the audience of the outcome of the game , NBC flashed the final score across the screen . It did so just as Heidi ' s paralyzed cousin , Klara , was taking her first , slow steps . According to sportswriter Jack Clary , " The football fans were indignant when they saw what they had missed . The " Heidi " audience was peeved at having an ambulatory football score intrude on one of the story ' s more touching moments . Short of pre - empting " Heidi " for a skin flick , NBC could not have managed to alienate more viewers that evening . " At 8 : 30 , Goodman issued a statement apologizing for the incident , and stating that he had missed the ending of the game " as much as anybody " . He stated that it was " a forgivable error committed by humans who were concerned about children expecting to see " Heidi " " . The following morning , Cline was called into a meeting with his bosses . He was told that if he had done anything other than what he did , NBC would have been at the mercy of Timex and Cline would have been fired . The network turned the fiasco into an advantage by subsequent self - mockery , promoting the following week ' s Jets game telecast with an advertisement showing Namath with Heidi on his shoulders , and running another ad with testimonials about " Heidi " , the last : " I didn ' t get to see it but I hear it was very good " , signed by Namath . Other networks joined in : On Monday night ' s " CBS Evening News " , Harry Reasoner announced the " result " of the game : " Heidi married the goat - herder " . A special " " Heidi " phone " , a hotline connected to a different exchange and unaffected by switchboard meltdowns , was installed in BOC . The network quickly changed its procedures to allow games to finish before other programming begins , which is now standard practice . Three weeks after the " Heidi " Game , NBC aired a special presentation of " Pinocchio " . In the promotional newspaper advertisement for the film , Pinocchio assured football fans that they would view the entire game before the film and that he would sooner cut off his nose than " have them cut off " the action . On December 15 , the nationally televised game between the Raiders and Chargers ran over . NBC started " The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn " at 7 : 08 EST , and announced that all network programming would be eight minutes late . " I can ' t remember when we ' ve done anything like this before , " stated an NBC executive . " It ' s very unusual . " In subsequent television contracts , the merged NFL required language which obligated the networks to show games to completion in the road team ' s television market . In 1975 , NBC planned to run the heavily promoted children ' s film " Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory " at 7 p . m . , right after a game between the Raiders and Washington Redskins . The game went into overtime , but NBC stayed with the game for almost 45 minutes despite angry calls from parents . Cline stated in 1989 , " I wonder if this " Heidi " thing will ever die . . . maybe now that it ' s past 20 years people will stop asking me about it . " The " Heidi " Game , in 1997 , was voted among the ten most memorable games in pro football history , and the most memorable regular season contest . In 2005 , " TV Guide " designated the " Heidi " Game as the sixth ( of one - hundred ) most unexpected TV moments . Interviewed by the magazine , Jennifer Edwards , title star of " Heidi " , commented : " My gravestone is gonna say , ' She was a great moment in sports . ' " Cline summed up the events of the " Heidi " Game : Everything had to be perfect . It was just a series of events that fit together . The game ran late , there was a lot of scoring ; there were some injuries that stopped play . And if the Jets had won , there would not have been the to - do that was made . But the way they lost fanned the fires . Football events . The Jets were enraged by the outcome of the game , for reasons having nothing to do with the television problems , of which they were initially unaware . Feeling that Hudson ' s disqualification was unjustified ( his replacement , D ' Amato , was beaten for the winning touchdown ) , assistant coach Walt Michaels chased after the officials , and he and team doctor James Nicholas banged on the door of their dressing room , complaining bitterly . Ewbank mentioned the officiating in his postgame press conference . When told of Michaels ' actions , the head coach ordered , " Get him out of there , it can only cost him money . " Oakland coach Rauch told reporters , " There were so many turning points which kept putting both teams back in the game , it ' s impossible to discuss them all . " Ewbank learned of the television problems in the locker room when he received a telephone call from his wife congratulating him on a Jets victory — Lucy Ewbank assumed the fact that the end of the game was not shown meant New York had won . Her husband profanely informed her of the game result . She was not the only Jets relative deceived — cornerback Johnny Sample flew back east after the game on personal business , and when his father picked him up at Philadelphia International Airport , he congratulated his son on a Jets triumph . Michaels accused Al Davis of getting the officials to inspect Turner ' s kicking shoes before a field goal attempt to see if they contained illegal metal plates , and called the Oakland co - owner " a man who has never contributed anything to football " , to which Davis responded , " It ' s utterly ridiculous , unbelievable . It seems the Jets always lose to us because of penalties . But I like them and don ' t want any feud in case we visit New York December 29 [ if both teams qualify for the AFL Championship Game ] " . The Jets left their white road uniforms in Oakland to be laundered and sent to them in San Diego , where they were to play their next game . The uniforms were not seen again once the team removed them in the Oakland locker room , and Jets management hastily ordered the green home uniforms , as well as the white uniforms the team had worn in the preseason to be shipped from New York . While in California , Michaels complained by phone to Mel Hein , AFL supervisor of officials , stating that an official had cursed at Hudson , provoking a response which led to Hudson ' s ejection . Jets officials also showed excerpts from the game films to the sportswriters from the New York papers who were assigned to cover the team . Zimmerman , who wrote for the " New York Post " , later stated , " I never saw such ferocity on a football field in my life " and remembered that the films showed Oakland defensive lineman Dan Birdwell punch Namath in the groin , causing him to remain on the ground for several minutes , though he did not have to leave the game . Birdwell ' s action was not penalized by the game officials . In early December , football Commissioner Pete Rozelle fined the Jets $ 2 , 000 , Michaels $ 150 , Hudson $ 200 ( including a mandatory $ 50 fine for being ejected from the game ) , and Jets player John Elliott , also disqualified , $ 50 . Rozelle cited the Jets ' screening of the game excerpts as a factor contributing to the team ' s fine . To avoid adverse fan reaction , the AFL reassigned field judge Frank Kirkland , whom Hudson had accused of using foul language , from the December 1 Jets game against the Miami Dolphins at Shea Stadium , to another game . The Jets defeated San Diego , 37 – 15 , and clinched the AFL East four days later when the second - place Oilers lost to the Chiefs in a Thanksgiving Day game . The Raiders finished tied for the AFL West title with Kansas City ; they then defeated the Chiefs in a tiebreaking playoff game . This set up a December 29 rematch between the Jets and Raiders in the AFL Championship . The Jets hosted the Raiders at Shea Stadium on a windy December afternoon to determine who would play in Super Bowl III against the NFL champions , who proved to be the Baltimore Colts . The Jets defeated the Raiders , 27 – 23 . Two weeks later , the Jets defeated the Colts in the Super Bowl . According to sportswriter Doyle Dietz , in the Jets ' upset victory ( the Colts were favored by as many as 19½ points ) , " the American Football League came of age " . Madden later stated that the Jets ' Super Bowl upset " was great for the history of the game , but a part of me has always felt that should have been [ the Raiders ] who were the first AFL team to do it . . . [ Super Bowl III ] changed pro football . But I will always believe we would have beaten the Colts , too . " In 1988 , Namath and Madden , by then both television analysts , were interviewed for the 20th anniversary of the " Heidi " Game . According to Madden , the Oakland victory in the " Heidi " Game " was kind of the start of the Raiders being a great team . One of the things we were doing was getting these fantastic come - from - behind things . . . We didn ' t even know about the " Heidi " thing until we read about it the next day . " Namath noted , " When I remember that game , it brings to mind the revenge factor we had against them going into the championship game . We paid them back then , " to which Madden chuckled , " He ' s full of crap . "