Throughout the 2026 season, Raiders.com is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the team's Super Bowl XI Championship by highlighting unsung heroes from the 1976 team along with thrilling moments and untold stories of a campaign that will go down in history as among the greatest in the annals of professional football.

To hear the late Morris Bradshaw tell it, he was simply "along for the ride" when it came to the Raiders' run to Super Bowl XI and the 32-14 victory over the Vikings.

Thing is, the receiver and special teams ace, who was in his third NFL season in 1976, was more than that. Much more.

"He brought solidity, he was always there," Raiders Hall of Fame coach Tom Flores, who was then Bradshaw's position coach, told me.

"He played all the [special] teams. Top cover guy, Returned kicks. He could do it all. Those kinds of guys are indispensable."

And isn't that exactly the kind of under-the-radar, unsung hero that helped propel the Raiders to their first Lombardi Trophy some 50 years ago?

And then some.

"A classy guy," Flores continued. "He never complained, but he sure as hell had a right to."

The way Flores saw it, Bradshaw, a fourth-round draft pick out of Ohio State by the Raiders in 1974, had "starter material." Except, he was in a receivers room with future Hall of Famers Fred Biletnikoff and Cliff Branch, as well as Mike Siani.

In fact, Bradshaw, who played in all 14 of the Raiders' games that Super Bowl season, recorded but one catch.

In the regular season finale.

A 25-yard reception off the arm of backup quarterback Mike Rae.

For a touchdown.

It was only the eighth catch of his three-year career, but five of those receptions were TDs. Yes, Bradshaw made the most of his opportunities.

Even if the Raiders had been banging their silver helmets against a black wall the previous eight seasons. Remember, from 1968 through 1975, the Raiders had played in six of eight AFL-AFC championship games…and lost all six.

Plus, the six teams they lost to in those matchups - the Jets, Chiefs, Colts, Dolphins, Steelers and Steelers again - had all gone on to win the Super Bowl.

Ouch.

"I didn't really understand the history, the frustration," Bradshaw, who also had one rushing attempt for four yards in 1976, said years later. "I was learning about it as I went through it. And then to accomplish that goal [of winning Super Bowl XI], it was like living the dream.

"I was riding the coattail."

When he wasn't being a "shadow" on punt coverage units, as Curt Gowdy referred to him on NBC's Super Sunday broadcast.

"One of the best in the National Football League," Gowdy said that sun-splashed day at the Rose Bowl.

Consider how the Raiders' 1977 media guide described his special teams contributions of the season before: "Outstanding special teams member…Coverage on special teams has been superb…Denver's fine punt returner Rick Upchurch was held to 25 yards on seven returns against Raiders last season, Bradshaw made five of the tackles, one for a three-yard loss and another for no gain…Also recovered a fumble against the Broncos…"

When the clock expired on Super Bowl XI, Bradshaw said his emotions were mixed after the Raiders had rampaged through a 13-1 regular season and three postseason victories.

"You don't want the season to end," he said. "You do believe, at that point in time, you're the best ever and there's nobody that can beat you. ... I was thinking, 'Well, maybe the league can put together an All-Star team and we can play the All-Star team.'

"Later, I realized the fear is that you can't continue to build on that … now, it's anticlimactic. What ends up being the highlight is the journey to get there. All of a sudden, you have to dismantle that and start all over again, go back to training camp and start all over again…you don't want it to end; you want to keep on playing."

Meanwhile, Flores said it was Bradshaw's "discipline" that made him stand out.

Biletnikoff agreed, telling me that Bradshaw's "effort" and "positive" attitude made him a favorite in the Raiders locker room.

"That was the great thing about Mo, he was always involved," Biletnikoff said. "He got along with everybody. You never saw him with a long face. He was somebody that spewed positivity. He was a constant. He did everything well."

Yes, even beyond special teams.

"Outstanding receiver," Biletnikoff added. "He had everything. He could run, he could catch the ball. … All around, he was a great football player."

One who would play eight seasons with the Raiders and win a second ring with the team for its Super Bowl XV victory over the Eagles.

And one respected enough to work in an executive role for the team for another 29 years and be chosen to light the Al Davis Memorial Torch on Aug. 30, 2015.

"Looking back and thinking back on it, there's probably a case where we got better each week as a team," Bradshaw said of those 1976 Raiders. "Each week, you just get better and better playing as a team, as a unit together and you don't want to lose that."

Self-deprecating by nature, Bradshaw joked about his pseudo-role in the Holy Roller in the second game of the 1978 season. It was his 44-yard touchdown catch from Ken Stabler down the left sideline with 8:26 to play that pulled the Raiders to within six points.

But he was glad, he said, to have been on the other side of the field when Stabler fumbled the ball forward to Pete Banaszak, who knocked it ahead to Dave Casper for the score.

"We should all be glad that I didn't recover that," Bradshaw told me in 2014. "Because I probably would have fallen on it and thought I did something good to save the day."

Bradshaw, a political science major at Ohio State who passed away at the age of 72 on Jan. 3, 2025, had been asked how he wanted to be remembered.

"As far as a legacy," Bradshaw said, "I would just hope they say, 'Mo was a good Raider.'"

Indeed, and one who was not simply along for the ride.

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