the following season, the jets took the field in buffalo to a standing ovation from the sold-out buffalo crowd at the old rockpile. i was there. in fact, there would be no buffalo in the league today and no ralph wilson stadium if it wasn't for the jets-raiders-chiefs insisting on an all or nothing merger deal.
Yes I could see that occurring since our SB3 victory brought parity to FB & especially to those who rooted for AFL teams at that time like the Jets, Bills, Pats etc. Then came the following summer after SB3 & the AFL had to play the NFL in a exhibition game which at least in the NYJs/NYGs was not a xhibition game since the starters played the entire game & we whipped there a$$es real good to the point that the NYGs HC Sherman was axed after the game :sad:
Good to hear these stories gentlemen. Loved the Buffalo story. Up until then there were not even AFL/ NFL exhibition games? I didn't realize that though i am old enough to remember that Yale Bowl exhibition being a big game. In fact, after that. other preseason games against the Giants seem to mean something. I remember making my father take me to Yankee Stadium in '76 for one. It was Todd's rookie, and Namath's final Jets season. Joe played a play or two, so I can say I saw him in person. (Todd punted while at Alabama, and in this game he did for the Jets too. It went six yards, and I don't think he punted ever again) Many fans today don't really realize the importance that '68 Jets team had in the future of today's NFL, unless they watch an AFL documentary to see players tearfully recall how they felt watching the Jets win. We're certainly historically significant for that reason.
What was really terrific about that NYJ/NYG game was the crowd was mostly NYGs fans & they thought the SB3 victory was just a blip on the radar screen & they were going to whip us. Then as we thumped them & on every score they are getting more & more POed & I am celebrating which got the ones in my section even more POed but who cared because we were sticking it to them in a game that really meant something. After the PO game between us & Oak which is #1 IMHO in games I attended in person the NYJ/NYG game takes 2nd place to the 68 Oak PO win :sad:
The jets will not win a Super Bowl until Namath dies, it clearly states that in the contract he signed with the devil
Do not blame JWN blame Hess then Woody for hiring all those idiots they have thru the years. Right now our HC is a perfect example full of BS & nothing else whereas OTH JWN backed up his bluster with a victory right? :sad:
The ironic thing is that the Jets and Raiders were both buyout and relocation attempts in the preliminary negotiations with the Giants and 49ers wanting their markets all to themselves. This was probably the first and last time that the Jets and Raiders saw eye-to-eye on an issue. It probably pushed them to an even harder position on the all-or-nothing front. When those talks fell through the teams split on the compensation issue. The Jets were willing to pay indemnities to the Giants in order to stay in the NY market and the Raiders fought bitterly against paying indemnities to the 49ers. Al Davis didn't even know that the second round of merger talks were going on until they were fairly well advanced and he was the AFL Commissioner at the time. He felt betrayed by the Jets and the other AFL teams and this was a significant factor in his later legal maneuvers around the Raiders subsequent relocations. He always felt he'd been stabbed in the back by his partners in the AFL during the later merger process. We all talk about Joe Namath and the Jets establishing the legitimacy of the AFL-NFL merger but the real push on it came from Al Davis when he started the strategy of buying up the NFL's best players when their contracts expired in the NFL and making every elite rookie contract very expensive for the NFL. The NFL wound up being the driving force in the merger talks that succeeded. They felt backed into a corner and they took that position and went all-in on the merger including making the Giants and 49ers agree to share with the Jets and Raiders.
Joe saved the AFL and saved the NFL from it's self. Joe has earned the right to speak his mind..........
if you get a chance to watch the documentary, Full Color Football - history of the AFL, it is well worth it. was a great watch. The Jets winning that Super Bowl gave Davis a lot of leverage. The popularity of the AFL was surging, and the Super Bowl proved it's legitimacy further. Davis felt they had the upper hand....and i think he was right. The AFL won some negotiating battles as you pointed out, but could've merged on their own terms, effectively keeping the AFL alive. Davis was an uncompromising loose canon, which is why they kept him in the dark.....but he was right. i still see some parallels between AFL and NFL concepts today in terms of media coverage and fear of doing things differently. I'll side AFL any day, and the NY Jets with Rex Ryan screams AFL to me.
Were U around for the first year of AFL-NFL games cause it sure sounds like U were not since those games were like a world war especially the ones between the Niners & Raiders & us & the NYGs & have zero & I repeat zero concepts that are played today. Also RR is the furthest & I mean the furthest you could ever get of a AFL coach say lke air Coryell[ or even Weeb for that matter? :sad:
RR is a lousy coach compared to modern day coaches, never mind past coaches. He's a coordinator. Back in the day, they played street football. Today, the NFL has made it pussy football, Some of it is valid but they have gone to far. Joe Namath was abused by the Raiders back in the day, a mugging. Ben Davis would have been suspended for a year by Roger. It's nuts watching the old films, man the AFL in the 70's was the best football ever.
How many times today have you basically made the same comment? Maybe you should think about returning your tickets.
If I was to return my tickets because I don't like the head coach, I would have ended things a long time ago. I will say Don, I don't like you. Should I give up my access to this site? I don't like Woody, the QB, the stadium or most of the fans either. Got that. I do love the Jets and going to the games. I can see you have earned your 2008 award. I bet u and Champ are buddies
Huh the AFL was dead & buried in the early 70s so what the heck R U talking about? Now the mid to end 60s the AFL was a joy to watch. To bad U never experienced it nor SB3. Maybe if you had experienced the thrill of WINNING U & I maybe today be on the same page. :sad:
no, there were afl-nfl preseason games after the merger agreement was signed. post sb1, the chiefs ran up 66 points on the bears. the merger agreement mandated the jets to play 3 preseason games against dallas, in dallas. goes to show you how much namath was in demand, even BEFORE we won sb3. :beer:
after weeb, you would have expected either walt michaels or buddy ryan to get the head coach gig. instead , it went to charlie winner , who lost with the cards. btw, he was weeb's son-in-law! to qoute belicheat ; " no one ever did more talking and less winning than steve gutman", the jets pres under leon hess.:sad:
fact is that over 40 years later, the nfl changed its rules to make itself look exactly like the AFL of the 60s, a passing league. this is after putting out propaganda during the 60s that the AFL was a mickey mouse league. if the packers had not gone to the first 2 sb games, the AFL might have won all 4 of them.:beer:
