I have some questions for the older fans

Cleveland

Yes

Yes, in hindsight not Dan Marino but not Todd Blackledge. I'm not convinced any would have led us to the VLT.

At 10-1 in 1986, yes.

 

w/o question the most heartbreaking was the '86 2 OT loss at Cleveland in the div rd as we had a 10 pt lead late and blew it. I think the one that prevented a SB was blowing a 10 pt 3rd qtr lead at Den in the '98 title game.

I was very young in '83 and we were coming off 2 straight postseasons including a conf title game app the year before so I wasn't into the draft and didn't expect anyone but Richard Todd to be our starter.

Drafting O'Brien was a stunner, he was my favorite player in the mid-late 80s but he wasn't nearly as good as many jet fans like to pretend he was. Put up some good #s though.

1983 the Jets were a legit SB favorite- we ended up going 7-9, sort of like '99 when we were the favorites and ended up at 8-8.

 

I was a teenager so I was always optimistic even all the years we stunk. The expectations were through the roof for 1992 w/ Nagle taking over then the 5-0 preseason. we quickly crashed down to Earth and started losing key guys left and right.

I thought O'Brien should have had a chance to win his job back in 1992. I forget the circumstances surrounding it but he should have been able to compete to hold on to his job.

That offseason we signed a lot of older big names- Boomer(may have been a trade), Leonard Marshall, Ronnie Lott and everyone felt pretty good going into that season. We had a 5 game win streak and were 8-5 where we basically needed 1 win to get into playoffs- of course we went 0-3 and missed. You know how people use the Colts resting starters excuse for our team in 2009? Houston rested starters week 18(they had 2 byes that year) in a win and in game and we lost 24-0.

Nagle w/o a doubt. At least Foley gave us a few good moments off the bench. Nagle was drafted right after Favre and I was crushed when Atlanta took favre as I really wanted him. Nagle was a huge disappointment.

Kotite did lead Philly to their only postseason win in the previous decade but I wasn't feeling too good about it. I was really disappointed we let carrol go, I thought he had a chance to be a very good HC and almost 20 years later it's finally happening for him.

 

All of the above.

 

I'm glad I can be one of the first for the 60s

I was 12 years old in 1969. I grew up with faint memories of the '63 Giants and the '64 Yankees, but for the most part, I was drawn to the newness and excitement of the Mets & Jets, Shea Stadium and, of course, Joe Namath. I was a Jet but I also watched the Giants; for the most part it depended which team was on TV that week(the days of the home game black-outs).

My father and uncle were big Giants' fans and constantly bad mouthing Namath, so of course, I was drawn more to him. In my youth, I did not understand how Giant & NFL fans could take the Jets & the AFL so lightly, or regard them as inferior. The quality of play looked the same to me.:grin:

As a result, I guess I was drawn to the Jets in retaliation to the shots being thrown at them by my relatives. The seeds of my Giant hatred were being sewn! It was hard being a Jet fan, but you can imagine, how hard it was for me to be a Mets' fan( I was a good Bronx Italian boy) but that's another story.

The great thing about my father was that even though he liked to kid me, he let me nurture my Jet fandom. Through his work, he had opportunities to take me to Jet games and get me introduced to the Jets ( I met Matt Snell & Gerry Philbin), so maybe that had something to do with it, too.

Anyway, Jets got off to super fast starts in '66 and '67 (4-0-1 and 4-1-1 IIRC) only to fall back and lose the division championship in both years. '67 was tough. The Jets made some key pick-ups that were heralded in pre-season ( Bob Talamini & Babe Parilli were two I recall) and beat the Detroit Lions in the big Pre-Season DH at Cleveland. The Jets were definitely considered contenders for the '68 East crown, but a lot depended upon Namath. He was great, but could he lead a team to a championship?

The Jets were certainly covered somewhat equally in the media. The HEIDI game proved that, at least as far as TV was concerned. Namath commercials were all over TV. The print press treated the Jets in a sort of condescending fashion; like they were a cute little team but no real threat to the Giants in popularity or talent.


Eyebrows were raised when the beat KC on opening day and held the ball for the last 6 minutes of he game to protect a one-point lead. That game included the famous 71 yard bomb from Namath to Maynard that is always shown in highlight films.

Still, after 5 games, the Jets were only 3-2, including losses to Denver & Buffalo were I think Namath threw 12 interceptions. Then, he changed his style, curbed his gunslinger passing approach and took advantage of a great running game an d the AFL's#1 defense (Believe it or not, although Buddy Ryan was on the staff as a line coach, the defensive coordinator was Walt Michaels!) Their only loss for the rest of the season, and the only game where Namath threw an INT for the rest of the season, was the infamous Heidi Bowl.

Although the Jets finished 11-3, I don't recall that they were the favorites in the AFL Championship game. But Namath had perhaps his greatest game as a passer ( save for the shootout w?the Colts in '72) and the Jets won one of the greatest AFL games ever played.

Then the fun started. The press treated the Jets like they were an undeserving joke. Even the NY press, who were just about as big shills for the Giants then as they are now. The AFL was considered a joke. The 13-1 Colts were the natural progression of the greatness of Lombardi & the Packers. NO ONE thought the Jets would win, especially after the guarantee. I think a lot of the negativity about the Jets' chances stemmed from jealous Giants' fans who could not bear the thought of the Jets winning hte Super Bowl (sound familiar 2007 & 2011 Jets fans?)

I, on the other hand, was certain the Jets were going to win. I mean, I was 12 years old, how could I be wrong. Of course, after they won, everyone was a Jet fan, but by the time of the '69 pre-season, the battle lines were again drawn, this time for the first Jets-Giants game ever. And I was there, with my father of course, watching Mike Battle hurdle the Giants in an 86 yard punt return. But with highs,come lows, and as we sat in the cold wooden end-zone bleachers in late Dec '69, in the play-off game vs KC, watching Joe go 14-40 (or something like that) and the Jets get denied on 4 cracks on first and goal from the 2, little did we know that we'd be waiting 44, now 45 years for another championship. (hence the name "44 and Counting" - awaiting change to "45 and counting" BTW).

 

My first memory of the Jets is watching Super bowl 3 at a card table while I was doing my homework . I was 11 at the time .

 

Great thread, seeing as how i became a fan the same year, and love learning more, and more, our history.

Sent from my VS920 4G using Tapatalk

 

nice post.

 

I was not a Titans fan; I was young, and the Titans were a complete and utterly unprofessional joke. There were a bunch of reasons why I became a Jets fan. I lived in Queens and the Jets were our team. I was a Mets fan, and there was a strong Mets/Jets versus Yankees/Giants association. I have always liked joining a new team when it gets started, which is why I also became an Islanders fan in 1972. Finally, the AFL was vastly cooler than the NFL, and this was the 60s, after all!

The coverage of the Titans was nothing other ridiculing them. When Sonny Werblin took over, renamed them the Jets, and moved the team to Shea things began to change (Werblin was in the entertainment business, and he knew how to get media attention). NBC signed a big national TV contract with the AFL in early 1964, which completely changed everything. Both the Jets and Giants drafted Matt Snell in 1964, and he signed with the Jets, which shocked many people. Both teams played a home game on November 8, 1964, and the Jets sold out, proving they could compete for attention (in 1962 the Titans drew 36,161 people for the entire season). And of course once they signed Namath there was absolutely no comparison in coverage - the Jets were the media focus, and the Giants helped by being thoroughly terrible (10-29-3 from 1964-1966) while the Jets were clearly improving. Of course, some of that media focus was the old-time sportswriters expressing disgust with the "hippie" quarterback, but for the younger fans especially there was no comparison in which team was the hot one.

They were reasonably high. The team had had a good season in 1967 (8-5-1), and only finished one game out of first in the AFL East Division, and it was believed that they would be better the next year. They were the class of the AFL East, and were expected to make the playoffs.

Not only did I think they had a shot, I was very sure they were going to win. Part of that was youthful bravado, of course, but only part of it. Namath was so much better than Morrall it was a joke. I absolutely believed that there were no NFL quarterbacks remotely as good as him, or for that matter as good as Hadl, Lamonica or Dawson either. The only doubt I had was about Sam Walton at right tackle against Bubba Smith, and Weeb Ewbank made the brilliant decision to move Dave Herman from right guard to right tackle, and he was dominant in that game (a little story: I remember that the week before the game Right Guard Deodorant had an ad in Sports Illustrated with drawings of the two right guards playing in the game, and Herman was in the ad - and then he didn't play right guard).

I watched the game at my aunt and uncle's house, and before the game my uncle said to me "The Jets stink - they're going to get killed." I replied "Shut up - I'll bet you $20 that the Jets win." My mother was very pissed at me for talking that way to her brother, but I didn't care, and it was the sweetest $20 I ever won.

 

The Cleveland loss was the most painful in double OT. That Jets team fell apart as they lost the last 5 games of the regular season after starting 10-1.

 

good stuff

 

NO QUESTION........ "Penalty. Defense NUMBER 99. Roughing the passer. 15 yards, automatic 1st down" :sad:

Yes

Yes, but I was still too young to really know the difference ( years old, wasn't really studying the draft) "If the JETS picked him, he'll be good". Didn't take long to figure out that couldn't be further from the truth, but in regards to the question, I liked Kenny O

1986, team was rolling....... then :shit:*

*btw I was @ that 45-3 disaster @ the Orange Bowl

 

GREAT POST!! these threads are why I come here in our "offseason"

In 1986, I was 12 years old, they were 10-1..... I just knew the JETS were going to win it all

 

The hit by Gastineau was slightly late but what many people don't remember was Carl Howard striking Kosar in the head about a half second after Gastineau.....Gastineau had the name and he was the one who was flagged. I still think to this day that if Howard had held off the ref may have held on to the flag........moments later on the game-tying drive....Howard was flagged again for pass interference right around midfield. THAT was the play when it became obvious the Jets would lose the game.....the very next play was the bomb to Brennan to set up the easy FG but not before Russell Carter dropped the game ending INT......augh!!

That 45-3 loss was humiliating but half of the defense was hurt including the entire starting DL. The OL was banged up as well....however in the following weeks it became obvious that it wasn't only the injuries. O'Brien couldn't get out of his own way and the Jets couldn't move the ball at all.......it was mystifying and pretty painful to watch.

 

One of the best posts I've read in a long time, this is what I signed up for!