Brett Favre played for the Green Bay Packers from 1992 through 2007 which amounts to 16 seasons. (I'm not going to count the one year in Atlanta where he threw four passes all season and didn't complete a single one of them). He then went to the Jets for another season to start all 16 games with them. That's 269 consecutive career starts (and 291 if you include play-offs.) Over Favre's entire career. The Jets have started 16 different quarterbacks - Brett Favre, Kellen Clemens, Chad Pennington, Brooks Bollinger, Vinny Testaverde, Quincy Carter, Ray Lucas, Rick Mirer, Glenn Foley, Neil O'Donnell, Frank Reich, Boomer Eaiason, Bubby Brister, Jack Trudeau, Browning Nagle, and Ken O'Brien. And that's just quarterbacks that we started. It doesn't include QBs that we drafted OR ones that went into the game after that first snap. I'm sure there are some random names that can be thought of like Jeff Blake, Mark Malone, Chuck Clements, Troy Taylor, Ken Hobart, Tory Woodbury, Todd Husak, Tom Tupa, Brett Ratliff, and Erik Ainge. But, these men weren't the answer either. Since Joe Namath, the Jets have only drafted three quarterbacks with their first round pick while many years passing over that stud quarterback. Two things come to mind - passing over Dan Marino in 1983 and recently passed over Jay Cutler. Obviously there is a huge different between Marino and Cutler. And, I'm sure there have been other situations where the QB was there and we passed over it. We've drafted Richard Todd in 1976, Ken O'Brien in 1983, and Chad Pennington in 2000. That's been it. Lately, most teams that win Super Bowls have done it with a Franchise quarterback. Look at Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Peyton Manning, and Eli manning. While teams are winning the Super Bowl, the Jets go through an ever changing cycle of quarterbacks that frustrate the fan more and more each season. The Jets were drafting at #17 with only Clemens, Ratfill, and Ainge on the roster and it was obvious that Rex Ryan and Mike Tannenbaum didn't think they could win with what they had so they took a shot and moved up - a complete steal. We gave up our 1st, a 2nd, Abram Elam, Kenyon Coleman, and Brett Rafliff. The three players I could care less about. So, basically, we gave up a 2nd round pick to move up 12 slots to draft the QB of the Future - Mark Sanchez - who many scouts rate even higher than Matt Stafford. And, according to the value chart, we should have had to give up another #2 to make such a move. So we got our man that the Jets seems to be enamored with. This is the splash we needed to get a face for this franchise. We had a temporary face last year in Favre but we knew that wasn't going to last long. Now, this guy should be that face for the next 10 years (knock on wood) and the answer to this Super Bowl drought that has brought a black cloud of this franchise for my entire life. I'm truly excited for the season to begin and even though they say there will be competition between Clemens and Sanchez for the starting job, they are going to do everything possible to make Sanchez that person. Troy Aikman and Peyton Manning won only one game when thrown to the wolves. I'll take that one win if it means a Super Bowl around the corner. The Mets have their Santana and now the Jets have their Sanchez. I'm ready for kickoff. KHBirdman West Orange, NJ
More than ever teams have been getting it done in the trenches. The Dline won the SB for the Giants and Steelers, although Eli and Ben each had the drive of their careers in the big game. There are HOF QB's who have never won the SB, and avg Joe's who have. It's a team game. I disupte this notion of needing a splash or a face. That has nothing to do with football, only merchandising. You win games, that is how you splash. It can't be created, it needs to be earned. Hopefully Sanchez can put his head down, be a player on this team, and the Jets can start earning their own buzz!
We felt the same way after Browning Nagle's awesome pre-season and opener in 1992 and after Glenn Foley's promising play in 1997. Let's see what happens and hope for the best.
The big difference is neither of those guys were elite QB prospects, Sanchez is. He still has to translate his talent to the next level but just in terms of upside we haven't had a QB with this much potential since Joe Namath.
Ken O'Brien was being compared to John Unitas late in the 1986 season, his fourth year on the team and second as a starter. We all remember the Chad Pennington/Joe Montana "potential" discussions from a few years ago. I'm not trying to be argumentative here, but all this "not since Joe Namath" talk is irritating. We've had a lot of good QBs play for the Jets since then, you have to win as a team.
I think that this is the reason we are all so intrigued by football. There is no clear cut definition, strategy, or tactic to build a sucesful team. Sure they say you need help in the trenches but look at the cardinals their o line was decent and their d line was average to good. If it wasn't for fits they never would have gotten where they ended up. Even the superbowl champion steelers was no better than avg
No doubt you have to win as a team but also no doubt that in most cases that team needs to be led by a great QB. This team has not been blessed with great Qb play over the last 40 years, since the early eighties we have had 3 Qbs that could be considered good and two them were only good for one season. Sanchez clearly needs to prove it on the field but I do think he is our best QB prospect since Namath as irritating as that sounds.
You might be right, I hope you are. All I'm saying is two days after they were drafted, Todd, O'Brien and Pennington were all the best QB prospects we've had since Namath. Ironically the only guy to touch Namath as far as ability and bringing us back to the title was Vinny, who we got off the scrap heap at 35.
I was just becoming a Jets fan during Todds last year so I'll leave him out of it. What I remember most about when O'Brien was drafted was the WTF didn't we draft Marino? I obviously didn't follow the draft as closely then as I do now but I rememebr him being thought of as a reach at the time. He turned out to be a good not great QB. Pennington wasn't the prospect that Sanchez is today. The only reason the Jets drafted him was because they had 4 first round picks that year. I was a big Pennington fan and do believe he would have been a great Qb and the best QB since Namath had he stayed healthy, he was on that track but unfortunately injuries robbed him of becoming that type of Qb. Sanchez is a better prospect then he ever was though, he has a better arm and is much more athletic and mobile but he has the same type of intangibles that Pennington was known for. He very well could be a flop but I really believe that with his combination of physical talent and mental approach at worst he is a good QB for the Jets, as long as the injury bug doesn't get to him.
It really irks me how Ken's name always seems to get omitted when talk of sucessfull Jets QBs are mentioned. O'Brien helped his team open up with a 10-1 record in 1986 and after ten games he was leading the NFL with a 111.1 rating (over 12 points higher over the second ranked quarterback). Do these people realize that his team lost the remaining five games because of his own broken finger and injuries to other key players? He is the only quarterback to pass for 400 or more yards (431) in a game and earn a perfect NFL 158.3 rating. Other than Namath, Ken O'brien was THE BEST Jets QB, hands down. Vinny was a one year wonder.
Pat Ryan was also a starter - in a manner of speaking. What year was that with Ken O'Brien and that Studio 54 mess? '84? I think so. 6 - 2, 6 - 3, something like that, and then Ryan got concussed. What else...1986 PO game vs. Chiefs, got injured vs. the Browns Div. game (I feel a full body rash coming on). I think he started the latter half of the season in '88 and got concussed again against the Miami pukes.
here is the nice thing about Jets QBs in the 1st round - they all make the playoffs. Continue tradition Mark.
I think Sanchez will do well, I'm certainly not running him down, don't get me wrong. In the cases of O'Brien and Pennington, the team was good when we drafted them and QB wasn't a need, both were looked at (and became) good future starters. The Marino/O'Brien thing is largely hindsight because Todd at the time was 30, coming off his two best seasons and we had just been to the AFC Championship game. Nobody really objected when the pick was made, but it's easy to say now. Todd was supposed to be the next Namath, he was even from Alabama and played behind Joe as a rookie, but that set him back a few years if anything, he struggled to live up to the billing on and off the field. He got good only when the team improved and he survived the Matt Robinson battle after he missed most of 1978 with a broken collarbone.
We got great QB play in 98, Vinny T had great talent and in 98 played great. Chad gave us great QB play in 02. I like the move but he isn't in the same ballpark as Namath as a prospect. Namath comming out was considered the best natural passer in the country and that included the pro game at the time. He also had maybe the smothest and quickest release of anyone in the game at any level at the time. Todd, Q'Brien and Pennington were all very good QB prospects, Vinny coming out was a great QB prospect. Is Sanchez a better prospect? Hard to tell let's hope he stays injury free and plays at a high level for 8 to 10 years. You get that and you get a talented injury free team around him a couple of times you have a shot to get and win the big one.
That's about right. Ryan was a career back-up behind Todd until Todd was traded. O'Brien didn't play a down as a rookie and had to go to court for the Studio 54 thing during the camp in 1984 when he was supposed to be fighting for the job, so Ryan started the season and played well. The two complemented each other well, Ryan played a couple games in the 11-5 year in 1985 when O'Brien was hurt and as you mentioned came in a few times after that.
I wasn't around when Namath came out, only caught the last few years of his Jet career, but I can't image anyone could have been more highly regarded than Vinny was when he came out of Miami. He was the Heisman winner and #1 overall pick, but one of many who went to Tampa Bay and didn't succeed until he got out of there. I'm guessing Namath was similar to that, but the two leagues in play maybe made it more interesting. Didn't the Jets sign him on the field right after the Orange Bowl?
They weren't really the problem on those teams, but they weren't exactly the answers. They only came here because the people running the team were completely inept, which in turn made them choose those two in the first place. I remember that year with Browning like it were yesterday. Fackin guy is throwing all over the field, meanwhile every other team in the league is using the PS for what it is....ironing and evaluating. Bruce was the worst. That big dumb head with those glasses and that pissed off look. Gah, I wanted to jump through the TV and punch him in the testicles.
I'm excited as anybody about the Sanchez pick and the potential it brings. Keep in mind, however, that drafting a QB early is a gamble, no matter what. The Sporting News had a great article a couple of weeks ago where they analyzed QBs picked early in the draft, the success rates, and the reasons for failure, over the past 20 years (from 2006 back - any QB drated in the last 2 years was considered too early to tell). Success was considered starting for four or more years. First round QBs had the highest bust or failure rate of any other position. Of the 44 QBs drafted in the first round from 1987-2006, only 19 were considered a success. The other 25 were all considered "franchise" QBs when they were drafted. I'm not saying Sanchez will fail or that I am not in favor of what the Jets did. I love the move, considering how little the Jets gave up and everything I have heard about Sanches the past few days. However, let's not annoint him as anything yet or proclaim him the best QB since Namath or put a bust in Canton. How about we let him play a few years and then evaluate it. We don't know yet if the Jets drafted Peyton Manning or Heath Shuler or someone between the two.
