The fog of time was as thick as a Phil Villapiano forearm and hand pad. As goopy as the omnipresent Stickum on Fred Biletnikoff's uniform. As deep as Art Shell's voice. As intense as Monte Johnson's thousand-yard stare.

Until it lifted.

Slowly at first. Then, story by unfiltered story, 50 years melted completely away, and the scene was as clear in the Raiders Tavern & Grill at the M Resort Spa Casino last week as it was for the Silver and Black in 1976.

"You guys all look terrible," Biletnikoff howled at his teammates. "You got old."

And with that, the two-hour long roundtable with Biletnikoff, Villapiano, Shell, Johnson, Dave Casper and Dave Rowe to recall, relive and commemorate the Raiders' Super Bowl XI championship, the first NFL title in franchise history, commenced.

The Raiders, after losing Super Bowl II to the Packers, appeared in six AFL/AFC title games in an eight-year stretch, between the 1968 and 1975 seasons.

They lost all six games.

Making the defeats especially painful was this - the Jets, Chiefs, Colts, Dolphins, Steelers and Steelers again all went on to win those respective Super Bowls.

"So many years," Shell lamented to the group, "we were knocking on the door.

"It wasn't going to be a good season unless we went to the Super Bowl."

So they all figured something big was on the horizon. And it showed itself in the season opener at home against those same Steelers.

Trailing 21-7 in the fourth quarter, the Raiders woke up in time for the tone-setting 31-28 victory. But perhaps nothing set the tone on the day more than Raiders safety George Atkinson's away-from-the-play clothesline hit from behind on Steelers receiver Lynn Swann.

"He was sending a message," Shell said of Atkinson.

Message received.

The Raiders hit the road for five straight away games - Kansas City, Houston, New England, San Diego, Denver - and Villapiano said he'd like to take "credit" for what happened at the Patriots in Week 4.

"An ass-kicking," Villapiano said with a laugh of the 48-17 loss, the Raiders' worst defeat since 1963, before saying coach John Madden had specifically warned him about second-year tight end Russ Francis.

"Who?" Villapiano remembered saying out loud. And while Francis only had one catch for 1 yard that day, "They killed us in New England. We needed to kill them right back."

They'd get their chance. But not before injuries to the likes of defensive linemen Art Thoms, Horace Jones and Kelvin Korver forced Raiders coach John Madden to switch from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4 scheme they called the "orange defense."

For five decades, Villapiano thought it was named after the Broncos' "Orange Crush" scheme. At the roundtable, Johnson and Rowe corrected him: it was named after the Dolphins defense.

"Because they played in the Orange Bowl in Miami," Johnson and Rowe said in unison.

A sheepish Villapiano laughed, adding that linebackers coach Don Shinnick was "thrilled" with the switch and that fellow inside linebacker Willie Hall benefited greatly and took advantage of the additional opportunity.

Another theme of '76?

Stabler always imploring Villapiano, "Just keep it close, Foo," referencing the linebacker's nickname while acknowledging his own penchant for fourth-quarter comebacks.

And speedy wideout Cliff Branch continually insisting he was always open for the deep ball.

"'Art, I can beat this guy on an up,'" Shell recalled Branch telling him during a game. "'Snake's not listening to me.' So, I tell Snake.'

"He thinks he's open," Stabler told Shell, "but he doesn't see that damn safety."

After the humbling in New England, the Raiders went on a tear, winning eight straight to set up a key Monday Night Football game in Oakland against the Bengals in the penultimate game of the season. It came with a unique, let's say, opportunity.

"John wanted home-field advantage," Johnson said of Madden.

And this: beat the Bengals, and the Raiders knock the Bengals out of the playoffs but open the door for old nemesis Pittsburgh. Lose to the Bengals, and the Bengals would be in but the Steelers, who had knocked the Raiders out of the postseason three times since 1972, would be eliminated.

Villapiano said a team meeting was held to discuss the, ahem, situation.

The consensus of the skull session? "We're going to kick their ass," Villapiano said. Indeed: Raiders 35, Bengals 20.

A 24-0 thumping of the Chargers ensued before the 13-1 Raiders played host to the wild-card Patriots, who obviously already held bragging rights.

Johnson said Madden told him New England would be the best team the Raiders would face all season and after falling behind, 21-10, in the third quarter, Madden was a prophet. Then, Stabler went to work.

"In the huddle, Snake would say, 'OK, boys, let's go win this game and go have a cold beer,'" Shell said.

After a Mark van Eeghen 1-yard TD plunge, a roughing-the-passer penalty on Ray Hamilton on 3rd-and-18 gave the Raiders life. And with the Raiders at the 1-yard line, Stabler improvised.

"Ah, hell, I'll run it in myself," Shell said of Stabler's mindset. So, he did and the Raiders pulled out the 24-21 victory.

The next week, the Steelers came to town for the AFC championship game, sans running backs Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier, both out with injuries.

The Raiders made short work of Pittsburgh, pulling away, 24-7. Shell and left guard Gene Upshaw celebrated by throwing Madden in the showers.

And it was on to Pasadena and the Rose Bowl for Super Bowl XI.

The night before the Super Bowl, the phone in Casper's hotel room rang. It was Al Davis.

The Raiders owner reminded the tight end how the Vikings linebackers would play him.

"So you have to run an in-and-out," Casper recalled Davis telling him.

Sure enough, Casper said, the first play to him was indeed on an out pattern.

Nearly 50 years later, confidence brimmed from the roundtable, everyone saying how sure they were that day of beating the Vikings.

Everyone but Casper.

"You can say that," Casper said nervously, "but … I was scared all the time."

The table erupted in laughter with calls of "GHOST!"

"I don't remember before the game," Casper added. "I don't remember after the game. I was in another world."

You could say the Raiders were on Pluto, sleepwalking through the early stages of the game. Errol Mann missed a 29-yard field-goal attempt to culminate the Raiders' first drive of the game.

"He doinked it off the upright," Johnson said.

"That's Errol," Villapiano laughed, adding that the straight-forward kicking Mann could be, well, off target at times. Like the time Mann kicked a ball and "hit the center in the ass." Mann would also miss two extra-point attempts on the day, but he did convert two field goals.

More special teams hijinks ensued, with Ray Guy suffering the first blocked punt of his career and the Vikings setting up shop at the Raiders' 3-yard line.

"We've got them where we want them," Villapiano recounted saying in the huddle. And two snaps later, "I went right by [Vikings right tackle Ron] Yary. He was never there."

Villapiano's helmet popped the ball loose from running back Brent McClanahan's grasp and, seeing the fumble, Villapiano gripped tight to McClanahan's legs.

"I wasn't letting him go," Villapiano said, so McClanahan would have no chance to recover his own fumble. Instead, Hall fell on it for the Raiders.

"That burst their bubble," Johnson said of the Vikings' missed opportunity.​

Paging Clarence Davis, who, on 3rd-and-6 from the Raiders 6-yard line, would add to the cause by authoring a scintillating 35-yard run up the left sideline.

"Perfect blocking," said Villapiano.

"He got after Alan Page all game," Shell said of Upshaw.

"That was 17 Bob Trey O," offered someone else, and if that play sounds familiar, ask Marcus Allen about it when you're talking about Super Bowl XVIII. But I digress...

"They looked like flies stuck on the window," Rowe said of the Vikings defensive line against the likes of Shell, Upshaw and Co.

Meanwhile, three times in the game Biletnikoff got the Raiders inside the Minnesota 3-yard line with catches.

"You slid on the goal line," Villapiano told Biletnikoff with a laugh.

"Did you leave it on the 1-yard line for me?" Casper asked Biletnikoff with a smile.

"Yeah, three times," Biletnikoff exclaimed.

"Thanks," Casper replied.

Sure enough, Casper's 1-yard TD catch on a timing pattern that saw a wide open "Ghost" have to stretch high to haul in Stabler's pass gave the Raiders a 10-0 lead in the second quarter.

"It kinda scared me a little bit," Casper said. "But I caught it."

Shell said Casper, a converted offensive tackle, was faster than he looked on the field, a byproduct of his choice in footwear. As Shell told it, Casper was the only Raiders player to wear black cleats with everyone else in white shoes.

"I don't want them to think I'm fast," Shell recalled Casper telling him.

Casper shook his head and said his background as an offensive lineman gave him one set of skills and working with Biletnikoff to run routes gave him another. As for the team and its reputation?

"We were a good power football team that could throw the football," Casper said. "Everybody thought we were just crazy guys. We looked like we were crazy guys, but we could play."

The Vikings found out throughout the sun-splashed day.

Like on Pete Banaszak's two short-yard touchdown plunges, from 1 and 2 yards out.

"The Polish Prince of Darkness," Villapiano chirped of Banaszak.

But especially on Jack Tatum's vicious hit of Minnesota receiver Sammy White, which knocked White's helmet off his head.

"The most ferocious player I ever saw in my life," Rowe said of The Assassin.

Tatum's Soul Patrol secondary mate "Old Man" Willie Brown had his moment late in the game, and told Johnson what he was going to do. Before he did it. That he was going to jump the route and pick off Fran Tarkenton.

"He called it in the huddle," Johnson said. "[Tarkenton] didn't even look. He turns and throws the ball and there goes Willie. He called it in the huddle. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen."

Biletnikoff, who said his personal cheat code for his Hall of Fame career was working the boxing speed bag - "The best hand-eye coordination drill." - was named the game's MVP with four catches for 79 yards but said so many others could have also been feted.

Guys, he mentioned, like Clarence Davis, who rushed for 137 yards on 16 carries. Or Casper, who had four catches for 70 yards and a TD. Or the entire offensive line. Or Hall, who added three tackles and an interception to his fumble recovery.

"I would have given it to Kenny," Biletnikoff said softly of his quarterback, who completed 12-of-19 passes for 180 yards and a TD.

As the final seconds ticked off the Rose Bowl clock, celebrations began breaking out on the Raiders sideline.

Johnson said he loved that every player "had a chance to play" in the Super Bowl and pointed out that just 22 of the 43 players on that roster were still alive, and one of eight coaches - Tom Flores.

John Matuszak and Ted Hendricks put the hefty Madden on their shoulders to carry him off the field, until Hendricks tripped over a cameraman and they dropped their coach in a moment of levity.

"John told me, 'I knew we were going to win. I just didn't know how much we were going to win by,'" Rowe said.

Rowe, though, said he was the first one in the locker room because, as he put it, he knew the cameras were waiting, and that could mean some TV time for him.

Villapiano? "I didn't want to leave the field. … We finally did it."

"We finally got it done," Shell added. "In a dominant way.

"Everybody hated the Raiders. But they all wanted to be a Raider."

Especially after Super Bowl XI.

For more on the season-long celebration of Super Bowl XI, visit raiders.com/super-bowl-xi.