Nicknamed "the Mad Bomber" due to his affinity for throwing the long pass in virtually any situation, Lamonica led the Raiders to four consecutive division titles between 1967 and 1970, along with an appearance in Super Bowl II.
[citation needed] Lamonica played college football at the University of Notre Dame, and was the team's starting quarterback for three seasons.
[4] He participated in the 1962 East-West Shrine Game held at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, passing 20-for-28 with 349 yards while being named Most Valuable Player.
In his rookie year, he played sparingly in games with Jack Kemp being the primary quarterback while Lamonica came into duty after injuries or ineffectiveness, which led to him being dubbed "the Fireman".
[6] In the tiebreaker playoff for the division title, he came on for Kemp late in the game, going 9-for-24 for 168 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions, as the Bills lost 26–8 at home to the Boston Patriots.
[10] On March 14, 1967, Lamonica was traded to the Oakland Raiders with Glenn Bass for Art Powell and Tom Flores.
In the divisional playoff game versus overmatched Houston, he threw 13-of-17 for 276 yards with six touchdowns and one interception for a 56–7 victory.
The team snuck through into the NFL playoffs, edging out Kansas City for the newly installed AFC West division title.
In the AFC Championship Game against the Baltimore Colts, Lamonica went 1-of-4 for six yards before a hit by Bubba Smith resulted in him being taken out for Blanda as the Raiders were beaten, 27–17.
In a game that was started by Ken Stabler with additional play from George Blanda, Lamonica stepped in to throw 8-of-10 for 172 yards with two touchdowns, turning a 27 –7 trouncing by the Pittsburgh Steelers into a 34–28 loss.
However, Franco Harris caught a tipped pass from Terry Bradshaw in what is now known as the Immaculate Reception to give Pittsburgh a 13–7 victory.
[18] With Lamonica, the Raiders won four straight Western Division titles (three AFL and one AFC) and one American Football League championship.
Although excellent at man-for-man coverage, he had a hard time reading zone defenses, more prevalent in the 1970s, and his throwing was sometimes inaccurate.
[19] Lamonica was replaced in 1973 by future Pro Football Hall of Famer Ken Stabler, who was better at reading defenses and more accurate, leading the 1976 team to victory in Super Bowl XI.
[20] Lamonica was the 25th player to jump from the NFL to the World Football League (WFL) on April 16, 1974, when he signed a multiyear contract to join the Southern California Sun in 1975.
[21] He went 9-of-19 for ninety yards and one touchdown in limited playing time in his only season in the WFL which folded in late October of that year.
[22] In later years, he hosted a national fishing show on Fox Sports Net called Outdoors with the Pros.