The difference was when JWN was drafted Wberlin was top dog & when Marino was drafted Hess was top dog
Very interesting. I've always looked at the O'Brien thing as a straight up O'Brien-Marino comparison. Having only started to follow the Jets in 1984, and taking a couple of seasons to get up to speed with the game, I'm no expert on the team prior to that. The idea that QB just wasn't a need puts a different slant on things. Maybe, considering what you say about the secondary being the area of weakness, the really smart pick would have been Darrell Green, who went to the Skins at No. 28. A speedy Hall of Famer couldn't have hurt that secondary - and the name was perfect of course!
I definitely remember the knock on Marino being the injury... even "injury prone" may have been tossed around. Never heard anything about drugs. But at the time, that was the deal with Marino - the injury cast a shadow. Turned out to be nothing and as Paul Harvey says, "And now you know the rest of the strory."
In typical New York fashion, some people focused only on the last game (Mud Bowl) with the sentiment of "Todd sucks, get somebody else", but the big picture told a different story. The Jets went through years of growing pains with Todd, he put really good years together in 1981 and 82, some clutch wins, a couple playoff wins on the road against Super Bowl caliber teams, by the 1983 draft he was 30 and QB wasn't really a need. Joe Walton got a lot of the credit for Todd's improvement and that was a big part of firing Michaels, because the thought was someone would hire Walton away. As it turned out, they drafted O'Brien, Walton soured on Todd and they traded him after one more season, leaving them O'Brien, who had never played, and Pat Ryan, a career backup--then QB was an issue and people started talking about we could have drafted Marino. The comparisons would come later as he emerged as a star and O'Brien eventually became our starter.
well, had he'd been a Jet we'd all be talking about how we had the greatest QB in NFL history and won 0 super bowls with him.
Well your ahead of the Learning curve. Some hold out hope that Gholston was just going through growing pains that come with being a rookie. Not being able to get in on obvious rushing situations on this team constitutes BUST!
Here go CHAMP! Here are some pictures from the 40th Reunion you can enjoy. Hopefully one day they will bring the trophy back to New York. GO JETS! John Neidert #63
Interesting, isn't it? All those accolades and he doesn't have a ring. He did have the best WR tandem in the NFL at the time though... "The Marks Brothers," Duper and Clayton. That son of a bitch would pass on every down... every stinking one... and carve us up most of the time.
Flacco is a really special kid. I know you can't have it all and hindsight and all that... but at the time I was really hoping we could find a way. He went a lot higher than most thought he would, but what a find. That kid is going to keep the Ravens winning for years.
It would have eased the pain and it would make us look better to immortalize Marino instead of Chrebet. There would be more memorable moments for us to look back on. Marino might not have a ring but he left it on the field every week and played to win not scared to lose.
You never know what would have happened with the Jets. He would have had Walker, Toon and Shuler in the passing game with McNeil and Hector behind him, Gastineau, Klecko and Lyons on the D. Maybe we would have won in 1985 or 86, we came pretty close as it was with O'Brien.
