You get no argument from me. I loved Chad. I wanted him starting two years before he did. I think he was capable of starting his rookie season and playing well. It killed me when he kept getting injured. Chad was another player I really, really wanted the Jets to draft. I couldn't believe it when Parcells actually did. Then they had to insult him by having him sit behind the interception machine for two seasons.
All the qbs the OP listed all had 2 or 3 seasons of good play...after that they stunk to high heaven. We need consistently good (NOT GREAT) production from the position for 6-8 years. That's what has been lacking.
If I may, Moss had amazing talent. I still have him filed under "Body by Fisher, Mind by Tinker Toy."
Confession time: Don Maynard is still my personal all time favorite. And yes, while I loved Wayne Chrebet like my own son, my NYJ roots are really deep.
Maynard, the track guy Jim Lee Howell said would never amount to anything. Jets have had a lot of great receivers, Chrebet was tremendous, Wes Walker, LV Coles, Richard Caster, G-Barkum (before he became a TE), Rob Moore was pretty good in the 5 years he played in green & white. My favorite of all time is indeed, Chrebet, Al Toon was spectacular.
Nope, never heard of him. He's only been my avatar on here for like 5 years. I'm all about some Maynard, and he's unquestionably top 30 WRs all time, but I don't know about top 15. I listed 12 above, and I think they were all better than Maynard, overall. Moss and Charlie Joiner probably belong in that top tier. I'd put Don in the next tier along with James Lofton, Andre Reed, Chris Carter, Fred Biletnikoff, Michael Irwin, Steve Smith, Sterling Sharpe, Reggie Wayne, Art Monk, and Chad Johnson, along with some others I'm sure I'm forgetting. I think that's appropriate company. Moore, Walker, and Toon are all in the next tier down for me, along with about 50 other WRs who belong in the Hall of Really Really Great.
LOL I knew he was in your avatar. I couldn't help but tweak you a little. I think Maynard belongs in the top group. Don't forget that the game was a lot different then. DBs could hold and mug receivers, even clothesline them. Teams ran the ball more. Joe Willie threw it a lot, but he also had Sauer, Jr., Pete Lammons and Powell. I don't think a number of those WRs that you mentioned would have been half as effective as Maynard was.
There s no doubt that Maynard was the toughest m'fucker on the field next to Namath. If you missed it then I feel sorry...
This. 1000%. If you look at the teams that have won a SB, with rare exception, they all had a great QB. Of course you need more than JUST a great QB, but you can get there and have at least a "puncher's chance" of winning with a guy who can carry the team on his arm. To put this clearly, take the '69 SB itself. The Colts had a very good - not great, but very good - QB in Earl Morrall, and was surrounded by a great team, but that still wasn't enough to overcome a truly great QB on top of his game. And yes, the Jets were vastly under-rated, and were actually much better than anyone gave them credit for, but Namath was the difference, as it is with all true FQBs. And the Jets haven't had one of them since Joe Willie left town. And you can claim that O'Brien or Penny or Vinny could've taken them there, but the reality they didn't. And therein illustrates how much difference a great QB makes.
The problem with Jets QBs hasn't been that they have universally sucked since Namath - clearly there have been some very capable players under center. The problem has been consistency. Not once have I seen consecutive great seasons from a Jets QB. Not Once. O'Brien was very good in 1985 and started 1986 like a world-beater, but he completely collapsed by the end of that season and was never the same again. Testaverde was incredible in 1998 then got injured in 1999 and wasn't the same player in 2000 (although he was still an exciting QB to watch). We all know about Pennington's alternating years so no need to go into that. Most recently, Fitzpatrick teases us with 2015 before hitting us over the head with 2016. No consistency. Not even a decent three- or four-year run for Christ's sake.
What you say is true, but the problem was that there wasn't enough talent around these guys to overcome their shortcomings. Not that they were bad QBs by any means, but the Jets problem over the years has been that either they have an above average, but not great QB, without enough talent around him, or they have enough talent, but lack a decent QB. For this situation to persist for so long can only be the fault of the ownership and FO, and given we still have the same owner as we've had for 17 years, I don;t have a lot of faith that this trend will end.
Sorry, I have to disagree entirely on that. O'Brien was surrounded by talent on both offense and defense. The problem was injuries gutted the team in 1986 and O'Brien himself tailed off when he developed bicep tendinitis late in the season. Testaverde was surrounded by talent in 1998 and 1999 but snapped his Achilles. Pennington had good talent levels around him but couldn't stay healthy. The injury bug hits everyone, but on the occasions when the Jets have been close to putting everything together, it has struck with smart bomb-like precision. It's like there's a sniper out there just waiting for the Jets to get good.
Well the portion I bolded actually supports my point. Regardless of the reason, he didn't have the talent level necessary given his own ability. Same applies to Pennington, and of course it doesn't matter how good you are, if you get hurt, all bets are off. If you have a legit FQB who stays healthy, he can make up for shortcomings elsewhere - there's some "room for error". Since Namath the Jets have not had that kind of QB, so they're always in a position of needing everything to go just right, and of course that's just not realistic. This is why they needed to be laser-focused on finding that FQB no matter what, and they haven't done that. Most years they tried to get by with whoever they had; and the couple of times they "went for it" they judged incorrectly - O'Brien over Marino; trading up to get Sanchez who probably wasn't worth the cost.
