Jets and the Era of Namath

The New York Jets rarely do anything of note these days - though their hiring of

Brett Favre a couple of years ago did create a minor sensation, at least until that season fizzled out with a late-season rut that caused the team to once again miss the postseason. In fact, playoffs have seldom been kind to the Jets, and division titles have been even less so. When it comes to New York football success, fans in the city are advised to look to the Giants for inspiration. For a few years back in the late Sixties, however, the Jets were anything but an afterthought. That, or course, was the era of Joe Namath and the magnificence that was the third Super Bowl.

The five year plan

The first five years of the Jets' existence in the American Football League were filled with mediocrity. Though the AFL had not achieved the status of the NFL at that point in time, even by their standards the Jets were anything but a quality team or a potential threat for a title. That changed with the arrival of a quarterback from the University of Alabama in 1965. The young Joe Namath quickly earned a name for himself in the AFL with flashy performances through the air that set new standards for quarterback excellence. Among his many aerial feats was his establishment of the first 4,000 yard season by a quarterback - something that was truly breathtaking in that day and age of powerful runners and explosive offensive lines. Coincidentally, that feat occurred during the 1967 season, the same one in which Namath led the Jets to an 8 and 5 record which was their best ever.

Super Bowl dreams

1968 might have been a tumultuous year for the nation as a whole, but it was a banner year for the Jets. With Namath at the helm, the team won 13 of their 16 games. In the AFC Championship matchup with the Raiders, the Jets won an incredibly close contest and secured an appearance in the AFL-NFL title game that would later be known as Super Bowl III. The AFL's reputation was so far below that of the NFL that few people gave the Jets even the remotest chance of winning the game. After listening to the critics continually disregard his team's chances, Namath finally decided that he had enough while at a Player of the Year ceremony. In response to a Colts fan's belittling of his chances, Namath boastfully guaranteed that his Jets would prevail in the game that was to be played only a few days in the future. Though he later swore that he had no intentions of making such a declaration, it has become part of NFL lore.

Prophetic boast

Days later, with more than 75,000 fans watching Super Bowl III, the Jets took the field against Johnny Unitas and his Baltimore Colts. What happened next was a stunner for every fan of the game, as the Jets thoroughly dominated the favored Colts for the entirety of the game, allowing them to score with only minutes remaining in the fourth. The final score was 16 to 7, in a game in which Broadway Joe Namath never connected on a touchdown pass, and threw no passes in the fourth quarter.

Jets and the Era of Namath

By: Lloyd Mann

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