NFL: The 30 most incredible duos in league history

16. Fred Biletnikoff and Cliff Branch, Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders of the 1970s loved to put the ball in the air, thanks to quarterback Ken Stabler, who loved to take shots downfield. Luckily for “Snake”, the Silver and Black had an incredible tandem at wide receiver in Cliff Branch and Fred Biletnikoff, two wideouts with very different skill sets.

In Branch, Stabler had a guy who could downright fly past the defense, as shown by his “Speed Kills” mentality on the field. The Oakland wideout would go on to be a member of all three of the Raiders’ Super Bowl-winning teams, which obviously includes Super Bowl XI, where Biletnikoff was named Super Bowl MVP.

Biletnikoff, like Branch, played his entire NFL career with the Raiders and finished his career with nearly 9,000 receiving yards. Branch ended his career with the team with over 8,000 yards as well, though he was never as good as he was when he had Biletnikoff standing on the other side of the line as the top wide receivers on the Raiders roster.

The duo played together from 1972 through 1978 and gave the Raiders the kind of exciting offensive brand of football that made Al Davis happy. Both Branch and Biletnikoff have their places in Raiders’ history. While Biletnikoff is in the Hall of Fame, there is no reason Branch should not be in there with him. Maybe he finally earns a gold jacket with the expanded Class of 2020 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the NFL?