Super Bowl XVIII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Los Angeles Raiders to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1983 season. The Raiders defeated the Redskins by the score of 38–9. The Raiders' 38 points and their 29 point margin of victory broke Super Bowl records. The game was played on January 22, 1984, at Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida, the first time the Super Bowl was held in that city.

The Redskins entered the game as the defending Super Bowl XVII champions, and finished the 1983 regular season with a league-best 14-2 record, and led the league in the fewest rushing yards allowed. The Raiders were in their second season in Los Angeles since moving from Oakland in 1982, and posted a 12-4 regular season record in 1983.

As the favored team, the Redskins' 38–9 defeat at the hands of the black-jerseyed Raiders led Super Bowl XVIII to be known as "Black Sunday". The Raiders outgained the Redskins in total yards 385 to 283. Los Angeles built a 21-3 halftime lead, aided by touchdowns on Derrick Jensen's blocked punt recovery, and Jack Squirek's 5-yard interception return on a screen pass with seven seconds left in the first half. Raiders running back Marcus Allen, who became the third Heisman Trophy winner to be named the Super Bowl MVP, carried the ball 20 times for a then-record total of 191 yards and two touchdowns, including a then-record 74–yard run in the third quarter.

The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather than the year in which it is held. For example, Super Bowl I was played on January 15, 1967, following the 1966 regular season, while the most recent game, Super Bowl XLVI, was played on February 5, 2012, to determine the champion of the 2011 season.

The game was created as part of a merger agreement between the NFL and its then-rival league, the American Football League (AFL). It was agreed that the two leagues' champion teams would play in an AFL–NFL World Championship Game until the merger was to officially begin in 1970. After the merger, each league was redesignated as a "conference", and the game was then played between the conference champions. Currently, the NFC leads the series with 25 wins to 21 wins for the AFC.

William Percival "Percy" Harvin, III (born May 28, 1988) is an American football wide receiver, return specialist, and running back for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). The Associated Press recognized him as its Offensive Rookie of the Year for the 2009 NFL season.

Harvin played college football for the University of Florida when the Florida Gators won the BCS National Championship in 2006 and 2008. He attended and played football for Landstown High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where his team won the Virginia high school state championship in 2004.

Percy was born to William Percival Harvin, Jr. and wife Linda in Chesapeake, Virginia, where after his father's departure, he lived with his mother, and his older sister Lintera. His mother Linda ran a daycare out of their home as Percy helped with the children. Percy's mother ran track at Princess Anne High School in Virginia Beach and later coached an AAU track team. His sister, Lintera, also ran track, both at Salem High School in Virginia Beach and at Eastern Michigan University. As a child, Percy was a gifted athlete whose prowess was first noted as a six-year old flag football participant. In 2000, at age 12, he was a member of the National Champion 4x100m relay team in the Midget (11-12) Age Group. At age 13, he played for Coach Bruce Pearl and the Virginia Beach Mustangs Pop Warner football team where he led the team to a Pop Warner National Championship.

Marcus LeMarr Allen (born March 26, 1960) is a former American football running back and football analyst for CBS. As a professional, Allen ran for 12,243 yards and caught 587 passes for 5,412 yards during his career for both the Los Angeles Raiders and the Kansas City Chiefs from 1982 to 1997. He scored 145 touchdowns, including a then league record 123 rushing touchdowns, and was elected to six Pro Bowls over the course of his career. He was also a fairly good passer for a running back, completing 12 of 27 passes for 285 yards and six touchdowns, with only one interception. Allen was the first player ever to gain more than 10,000 rushing yards and 5,000 receiving yards during his career.

Allen is considered as one of the greatest goal line and short-yard runners in National Football League (NFL) history. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003. His younger brother, Damon Allen, played quarterback for 23 seasons in the Canadian Football League and was professional football's all-time leader in passing yards.

Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American football quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He played for the Indianapolis Colts for 14 seasons from 1998–2011. He is the son of former NFL quarterback Archie Manning and an elder brother of New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning.

Manning played college football at the University of Tennessee, leading the Volunteers to the 1997 SEC Championship in his senior season. He was chosen by the Indianapolis Colts with the first overall pick in the 1998 NFL Draft. From 1998 to 2010, he led the Colts to seven AFC South division championships, two AFC championships, and to a Super Bowl championship (Super Bowl XLI). He has won a record four league most valuable player awards, was the most valuable player of Super Bowl XLI, has been named to eleven Pro Bowls, has eleven 4,000-yard passing seasons (including a record six straight), and is the Indianapolis Colts' all-time leader in passing yards (54,828) and touchdown passes (399). In 2009, he was named the best player in the NFL and Fox Sports along with Sports Illustrated named him the NFL player of the decade of the 2000s.