For 80's Jets fans Which playoff loss was the most heart breaking? Browns Double Overtime...i became a fan the year of the mud bowl but i was too young to really get it. The Browns game haunts me. Before the 83 draft did you want a QB? Too young. Were you satisfied with drafting Ken O'Brien? If we could ever protect him he would have had a better career, but he put up some very nice numbers. No saying Marino would have had as much success in NY getting hit the way Kenny O was Were the Jets ever viewed by the rest of the league as a legit Super Bowl favorite during any moment in the 80's? they were 10-1 and running away with the AFC -- ended up 10-6 but for a time they were the team to beat.
I was there seated in the seat that my GG name is dedicated to. It was exciting as hell, considering the playoff drought we had been in. On the walk into the stadium I paid $1 for this button. As some may recall, there was trash talk by the Bills the week leading up to the game. I think the biggest offender was none other than Jim Haslett - who later became a head coach. It would have gone down as the greatest playoff comeback in NFL history, but no… Reminds me of Endy Chavez's spectacular catch against the Cardinals in the playoffs. Had the Mets won the game it would be considered the best all-time. Better than Mays. But… Unfortunately there are parallels between this particular game, and the entire '86 season. Bad start, impressive run to reestablish belief, and then POOF it's all gone. My buddy and I almost drove to Cleveland without tickets. Good thing we decided not to. Let's talk about the wins that felt the best back then. The win in Cincinnati were Freeman went crazy, and the upset the next week in Oakland was the best two-week period in my Jets life. The Cincinnati game was shocking. They were damn good back then, and we crushed them. I'd love to re-watch a copy of that game.
I also have very fond childhood Jets' memories of that 1982 run . . . esp. going crazy when McNeil threw a TD pass on a trick play vs Bengals and Lance Mehl's INTs against Raiders in 1982. I didn't see any way that the Dolphins would be able to stop them that year FYI -- looks like broadcast of entire second half of Raiders game is currently on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy6bZLPRTSI
I think that used to be on youtube. I love the old games as you know. I stopped acquiring old games once my wife and I started having kids and I had no time to watch them but I have a bunch of great 80s games somewhere in the archives.
Todd threw another INT right before the game-sealer, but it was negated by a Bills penalty ... And then he threw the final pick anyway a couple of plays later. Goddamn Todd!! I also remember somebody (Lam Jones?) dropping a wide open bomb that would have gotten us back in the game when we were down early. That was my first time experiencing the playoffs as a Jet fan, and definitely one of the most heartbreaking games in Jets history.
It was Wesley Walker. He dropped a 1st quarter pass in the EZ all by himself. Leahy wound up missing a FG. He also dropped a bomb later in the game if I recall.......would have been a nice gain but not a TD. That game was my first football heartbreak at 10 years old...it's funny what you remember from so long ago. After watching the beginning of the game at my house and with the score was 24-0, we drove to my aunt's for a post Christmas dinner. My cousins were older than me - in their twenties. I remember them telling me to cheer up it was halftime and that the Jets scored 10 points right before. I remember watching the Jets drive down to the 5 yard line and having to settle for a FG. Then the Cribbs TD and the personal foul afterwards with the fans throwing beer at him. At that point my father said " welp....that's all she wrote....". Then the defense made some plays and Shuler went crazy and made several big catches leading to quick TDs and my father saying..."This kid Shuler is going to be good...boy". I remember the crowd going wild, I remember Gastineau's torn up muddy uniform. Then when the Jets got the ball back with 2:00 left and needing a TD for some reason I got up and decided I was too nervous and couldn't watch in the big room with everybody so I went into my cousin's room who had like a 5 inch B&W TV. He was lying on his bed commenting during the drive about the clock running and they need a TD dammit a FG won't do. Then when Todd threw the game ending INT all he said was ..'shit'. I could hear the crowd groining. He got up and left the room and I turned the tv off and just stared out the window by myself for like twenty minutes. Then my dad says from the door " Don't worry they'll be back next year" blah blah blah. I was so mad I wouldn't turn to look at him.........I was scarred for life LOL
