Part of the JETS fan mystique, that there. EDIT: Hey, Royal, are you having a BBQ at your digs today? I'm surprised no-one resurrected that 'Gas Grill vs. Charcoal' thread in the BS Forum. EDGE: CHARCOAL What the hell was this thread about again? Vinny is retarded. I mean retired. Right.
What's so hard to figure out? I don't understand the unadultered adulation for a QB that had one good season a career full of mediocrity.
Since 1978 (the year passing rules were liberalized) a passer rating above 85 is good (in my opinion). Anything 100 or better is great. Testaverde had a rating of 85.7 in 1993, 87.8 in 1995, 88.7 in 1996, 101.6 in 1998, and 90.6 in 2003. (In 2003 he did not throw enough passes to qualify.) I felt that Testaverde should have been named 1998 MVP. It went to Terrell Davis. Randall Cunningham may have finished second. 1998 Stats- Terrell Davis 2,008 yards rushing, 23 touchdowns Randall Cunningham 259 of 425 for 3,704 yards with 34 TDs and 10 INTs, 106.0 passer rating Vinny Testaverde 259 of 421 for 3,256 yards with 29 TDs and 7 INTs, 101.6 passer rating The difference there is YPA (8.72 to 7.73). The reason I felt Testaverde was more valuable than Cunningham is that the Jets starting QB at the beginning of the season was bad, but the Vikings Week 1 starter put up good numbers before getting hurt. The Jets really turned around when Testaverde came off the bench, whereas the Vikings were good before Cunningham took over. Brad Johnson 65 of 101 for 747 yards with 7 TDs and 5 INTs, 89.0 passer rating Glenn Foley 58 of 108 for 749 yards with 4 TDs and 6 INTs, 64.9 passer rating
Thanks for making my argument for me. So in 19 years in the NFL, Testaverde had one great year (98), 4 good seasons, and 14 seasons that were less than good. This, again, proves that 1998 was a complete aberration.
In the last 20 years of bleeding green, the highlights of that time; and the moments I have been most proud of; came largely from the play of Vinny. Some very memorable performances, none of us will ever forget. Vinny had one magical season, but he now suffers in comparison to his own performance in that season. He set a standard for himself he couldn't live up to afterwards with consistency. But do not forget, he did set that standard. Some other past and present Jet QBs never got the team as far as Vinny did, so they don't get looked upon with the same scorn as Vinny because we didn't expect anything of them. Vinny's crime was setting the bar too high for himself, by doing more for the team than any QB since Joe Willie. It appears (at least from some of the responses) easier to be down on someone for failing to live up to your expectations than to praise them for their accomplishements.
Initially you wrote that Testaverde had only one good season. I then stated he had one great season and four good ones. Then you agreed. But basically we were in agreement here the whole time. He was a two-time Pro Bowler. I know Pro Bowl recognition can be overrated and often times guys get in on reputation. That doesn't apply to Testaverde because he did not have a good reputation prior to his 1996 season in Baltimore. His second Pro Bowl appearance was 1998, of course. In the end, yes- one great, four good, fourteen mediocre or lousy.
Yah, g-r-e-a-t. And that is yah, not yeah. I'll just gloss over everything else you said and use this out of context to demonstrate the bane of the JETS fan existence in relation to the cosmos. It's best this way.
A tidbit on the 1998 season. The Jets were 7-1 against playoff teams during the regular season. I believe that ties them with the 1997 Packers for most wins versus playoff teams in a given season. (The Packers were also 7-1). The Jets were 7-0 against playoff teams that season with Testaverde as the starting quarterback. The one loss to a playoff participant was to San Francisco with Foley at the helm.
I don't know how he set the bar too high for himself by having a career season in his 12 season when he was 35 years old.
Oh, come on, like anybody cares about his career before he got here. Only when you bring up his stats does that matter. I was hoping I could shame some of you guys into giving Vinny the props he deserves, even though I know its a lost cause. Other than a few memorable performances late in games here and there, '98 was his career as far as I'll remember the guy. And that's still the best memories I'll have of my Jets for another few years, most likely. So he turned human again after that, so what? He still did better for us than anybody since Joe. So when Joe Willie had a few bad seasons past SBIII, does anybody remember that or even care? Hell no! So why not just give Vinny muchas gracious and forget all the bad games? Ya still gotta love the guy for what he did for the team.
Putting us in a bad salary cap situation from 99-2005. Yup love his contribution to the team. Thanks for 1998. Thanks for being consistent for just once in your 80 year football career. Nevermind the 79 inconsistent years.
Hiker I'm with you on this. Vinny, as Cakes pointed out had about 4 or 5 good seasons out of a very long career. There is no doubt that Vinny's 98 performance for the Jets was the single best performance by any Jet player in the last several decades with the possible exception of Freeman McNeil in the 82 strike season and even that is arguable. He carried a good team on his back to the AFC Championship game and he played valiantly in that game. Yes Vinny is not a HOF QB but the Jets are one of the pathetic franchises in pro football and Vinny did have one of the few magical seasons in this sad franchises history. We were a real SB contender because of Vinny and when Vinny got hurt that?s when our dreams of a SB ended.
Vinny started throwing INts late in that game when they had to pass to get back in it. he didn't fumble at midfield like Curtis, he didn't fumble at the 10 like Byars, he didn't fmble deep in den territory like van Dyke. he badly outplayed Elway that day. ------------------ It's true what you say here..............but since when is throwing interceptions in the fourth quarter considered OK? It's not like it was a blowout. If he threw two TDs instead of two picks we couldda won......No?
Top 3 in league in passing yards: 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1974 Top 5 in league in passing TDs: 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1974 Pro Bowl: 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972 Voted all-time best AFL QB Namath's high number of interceptions, which was to a large extent a product of the way the game was played then, invariably makes people who didn't see him play view him as overrated. It's utter nonsense.
I don't recall exactly what happened on the two interceptions. (I watched the game live and that was it. I don't even think I watched the highlights later that night or the next day.) Didn't both INTs bounce off receiver's hands? There is such a thing as interceptions that aren't the quarterbacks' fault.
