When Ken first took over, he had the tools to be a success, and IIRC in '85 & 86 he threw for almost 4000 yards each year. I don't believe a Jet QB has come close since then. His '85 season is not too far behind Vinny's '98 season, stat-wise. Overall, I think you are correct that Pennington was better. Sanchez was not better. You earlier stated that it's revisionist history to blame the line for the sacks; that O'Brien held the ball too long. You can say that about every Jet QB except one, and he led us to the Super Bowl. In reality, the Jets line declined steadily during the O'Brien tenure. By '86, it was clearly not what it was in '81...the book-ends were gone, and I believe they were starting two guards (Jimmy Sweeney & Dan Alexander) at the tackles. My memory as an AVID fan during that period is that while he definitely held the ball too long, was not well-protected. You can argue the play-off wins and yeah, he doesn't have one, but that doesn't mean he can't compare to the other three QBs. In retrospect, the main culprit for the failures of that talented mid-80s team was Walton. He pales significantly in comparison to the later coaches we've had. If O'Brien was the QB on the '98, '02, '09 or '10 team, do you think we would not have gone as far? Don't get me wrong, I'm no Kenny O'Brien fan. But O'Brien's stats can be compared to the QBs of his era and later Jet QBs. I think he was a fall guy in the 80s and his talents were defintely under-appreciated. He never could live down the fact that the Jets picked him over Marino.
Agreed. Please post more often. Also be aware you are probably about to get into a recursive argument with another poster about how play-off wins are the most important stat ever, ever, ever.
what does ting crushed by maybe the best team ever have to do w/ NE being good or not? Clearly making a SB meant they were good and they made the playoffs a bunch of times.
1985 and about half of 1986 he was really good but it was all downhill from there. statwise not too far behind but stats only tell part of the story. The #s are pretty similar, the talent was pretty similar. Both had good WRs but Ken had the much better receiving TE and the better RB. Freeman in 1985 averaged a yard more per carry than Curtis 1998(Curtis was not fully healthy that year). Freeman averaged 4.5, Curtis 3.5. Vinny '98 12-1 as a starter, led Jets to first ever AFC East title and first div title since 1969 in what may have been strongest year ever in the division where 4 teams made the playoffs. In 421 attempts had 29 TDs, 7 INTs, led O to 26 PPG Ken '85 led us to 11-5 as a starter which is good but not 12-1 and didn't lead us to div title. In 488 attempts had 25 TDs, 8 INTs, led O to 25 PPG In postseason Vinny was outstanding, Ken led us to a home wildcard loss outdueled by the legendary Tony Eason. 1986 wasn't the big sack year, that was 1985. In 1985 he was sacked 62 times w/ a line made up of McElroy, Sweeney, Fields, Alexander and Powell. 1986 the line was nowhere near as good yet he was sacked 22 less times in almost the identical # of pass attempts. In 1985 he had 8 INTs, in 1986 he had 20. 1985 held onto it took sacks, 1986 tried to get rid of the ball. The 1985 team was probably the most talented we had in relation to the strength of the AFC. The AFC stunk and he had as much offensive talent as any season in Jets history and couldn't even win a home WC game yet I am supposed to believe we would have gone just as far in '98, '02, '09 or '10? I guess it was a coincidence that we won a playoff game the next year w/ Ryan and were on our way to a win at Cleveland before Ryan got hurt and Ken came in and did nothing. fall guy? the man had Al Toon, Wesley Walker, Mickey Shuler, Freeman McNeil, Johnny Hector. I am not sure there has ever been a better group that those guys in our history. I loved Ken as a kid but as I grew up and began to understand the game better I realized he was holding us back. The QB position is not about stats, it's about making big plays to win games and win big games which is something he never really did. Instead of whining about better posters than you why don't you pay attention and learn something? don't discourage others from participating just b/c you can't keep up.
Really appreciate you posting that article ... took me back to my childhood! Those were the players that made me fall in love with the Jets.
So, you are saying that in 1985 any other Jet QB would have fared better than O'Brien. However, O'brien was only in his 3rd season as an NFL quarterback. Pennington was still Testaverde's backup to begin his 3rd season and Vinny was his putrid self in Tampa at that point in his career. O'Brien was better at that point in his career than either of those two. The best case may be Sanchez
Ken was really good in 1985, one of the best seasons for a Jet QB but I do not believe his 1985 season compares w/ Vinny '98 or Chad '02. So O'Brien was only in his 3rd season and Chad was in his 3rd season- I don't get the point? Ken had experience and Chad got his first start w/ the team at 1-3 being outscored in the 3 losses 102-13. he regrouped the team and led us to a div title in a division where the last place team was at .500 and led us to a win at NE where NE wouldn't lose again for 3 more seasons. The best single seasons I have seen. 1. Vinny '98- no one is even close 2. Chad '02 3. Ken '85 after that I don't think we have had any other great seasons from our QBs.
Really a fun read. I was 18 when he was drafted and I was going to all the games at Shea and Kenny could throw the bomb. Thanks again for the memories
he could throw it deep. he and Vinny are the most gifted passers we have had in my lifetime(I am sure Joe would be right up there for all time Jets).
I too was a fan and could never understand the Jet fans that hated him. As the article says, other than Namath (and Favre) he was the best QB the Jets ever had.
The OL wasn't great that's for sure.... Criswell, Cadigan and Haight sucked. Fields and Alexander were the only quality OL players there. Even though Faaola only played 2 or 3 years with the Jets he was one of my favorite players. Used to love the old announcer at the stadium when he would say his name too. Had no idea that Dan Alexander was a converted DL to OL, and Kenny was right.... guy had an awesome stache
I always remember Ken holding the ball WAY too long. Over time, he started getting hit more and more which resulted in him developing "happy feet".
The Pats were pretty good under Raymond Berry but they were inconsistent. They did have some good players, I'll gladly take O'Brien over Eason but he did have some good WR's like Stanley Morgan who is probably the best WR they've ever had. He also had a young Irving Fryar. Craig James was a decent but not great RB but I know he went over 120o yards the SB year. They were not terrible by any stretch like someone earlier said.
Criswell and Cadigan developed into pretty good OL later in their careers. That 1991 OL was pretty good w/ those guys.
No doubt about it, as his career went on, Kenny became too gunshy of the pass rush. But unlike Chad, he was much tougher, and stayed on the field despite all those sacks, hits and hurries. Taking out Chad's first two seasons, from 2002 to 2008 he played in 66 games, which means he did not play in 46 games. Wow, that's nearly 3 seasons worth of games out of seven. Kenny on the other hand not only played 10 games in his rookie season, but from that rookie season through his last year on the Jets (1992), he played in 124 games. From 1985 through his last year, 1992, Kenny only missed 14 games. In short, there is no comparison. What good is a quarterback who can't play? So yes it's a fair criticism of O'Brien to say he developed happy feet, but the implication that he was not tough is belied by the facts.
