No because we had Richard "Turnover" Todd at QB. Would have been fun to watch the "Sack exchange" VS "The Hogs" I don't think we could have beaten the Raiders in the playoffs that year either. Fun times though. I liked the 80's JETS. McNeil was a badass RB. Too bad he had many many injuries. He was a good one.
I'm confused. We did beat the Raiders in the playoffs that year (17-14 in the divisional round, to set up the Mud Bowl)
Maybe I am too then. I wasn't thinking 82 Skins, that beat the Phins, who beat us in the "MudBowl". I was thinking 83 SuperBowl losing Redskins. We had Todd but drafted O'Brien that year.
Yeah, the thread title should probably read "82 Jets," not "83 Jets." But obviously the thread is about the 82-83 Jets who would have played the Redskins in the Super Bowl had they survived the Mud in Miami.
We might've had the best personnel in the NFL in the '82 season. McNeil was running very well. Todd had a good season. The OL (which had problems in subsequent years) was at the top of its game. The Sack Exchange was not as good as '81 (Klecko was out all season, but he might've been active for a Super Bowl, IIRC), but we beat the Raiders, who were the best team in the AFC. Raiders beat the Redskins in '83 SB, so if you go by that logic then yes, we could've won. But we were (still are) the Jets. Todd threw 5 interceptions in the AFC Championship game. Michaels supposedly acted oddly in the week before the Dolphins game, and had a melt down after that game. If those things hadn't happened in the AFC championship, something likely would've happened in the Super Bowl
Interesting, can you elaborate on this? I know that he quit (was dismissed?) right afterwards and I think I remember reading that he was grieving over the loss of his mother that postseason. My dad always says he's the coach who got away and that the early 80s Jets are the team that got away.
A lot of people didn't like Michaels until they got Joe Walton, LOL Michaels was a real blue collar guy. If you ever look at pictures of him on the sidelines, he always looked disheveled and unkempt. He was slowly coming unhinged at the end of the end of the '82 season. His mother died at the end of the regular season. After the Raiders game, he was making accusations about Al Davis bugging the Jets locker room, and that he had received a phony call from Leon Hess at half-time telling him to tell Mark Gastineau to stop doing his sack dance (which was a very controversial subject at the time). I don't think he call, phony or otherwise, was ever really made After the Dolphins loss, he got into a war of words with Shula about field conditions, where he sounded like a real sore loser, although Shula acted like pretty much of a dick too, and the two apparently had history going back to their playing days. I think Michael's didn't show up on Monday after the AFC championship game loss, or he showed up with red-eyes and slurred speech (ie the outward appearance of being drunk). Hess made him "resign" on that Tuesday and alcohol rehab was a part of that (IIRC). Also, Michaels apparently was talking all week (between Raiders and Dolphins games) that he was going to be fired. I think he perceived that the Jets did not want to lose Walton and felt pressure. Walton was Jets' OC and a very sought after assistant coach.
Michaels was a solid coach in the discipline,job assignment, and allowing assistants to do their jobs, Walton was doing things with Richard Todd that no one thought was possible, Bud Carson was a defensive guru at the time wh believed in strong tough linebackers Kyle Clifton, Lance Mehl. Walton was being given a lot of attention by Atlanta’s for their head coaching job, Michaels was getting a lot of heat for how he was acting paranoid at the Raider game followed by his rightful criticism of Shula for no tarp on field before the AFC Championship game. Freeman McNeil was at his best that year, Todd always had 7-8 men in the box when he threw, Walker was fantastic, Lam Jones not so much but Todd had it going. They could have beaten Washington, Riggins would have been a headache but the Jets had a great linebacking group.
Todd had started to cut down on his INT's at that time. It would've been a close game and a very interesting match up. Hogs vs. The Sack Exchange After Walker we really didn't have a receiver that the other team would fear or even respect. Lam Jones was atrocious and couldn't catch a cold
