Compared to the following era of Coslet, Caroll, Kotite that followed Walton was a ray of sunshine. Don't forget the best part of having Walton as head coach meant having Bud Carson as a defensive coordinator. Carson could run circles around Rex Ryan.
That D he took over in Philly was one of the most fun D's I ever watched. Buddy built it...But under Bud it was all out. Loved Carson...A Great D that you don't hear too much about....Cunningham got hurt and they were signing people off the street to play QB...that killed them
Walton was not a good coach. He was Captain Queeg on a football field. He was demotivating. His offense was ridiculously complicated. His teams consistently underachieved and consistently ran out of gas at the end of seasons. He was conservative to a fault and his play calling in the OT vs Cleveland was a joke. He inherited a SB caliber team from a coach he helped to remove (Michaels, whose firing was one of the biggest blunders in Jets history) and won one playoff game in 7 seasons. He was a poor NFL HC.
I was there and what made 86 even mire magical is the Mets winning the WS the way they did. I even in my grade school mind was thinking both the Jets and Mets would be champions.
ah, nothing like youthful imagination! Years of reality sets in and as adults we realize that hell would have to freeze over in order for the Jets and Mets to ever both become champions
in that same game against the browns, besides gastineau roughing penalty, didnt he(gastineau) repeatedly try to pick up a fumble but kept kicking it lol?? not sure if it was the same game or not but eventually the ball either went out of bounds or clev recovered. then they converted like a 3rd and super long. any help?
No, that was the Buffalo WC game in 1981. I kept on saying just fall on the football and then Buffalo recovered the ball. We were down 24-0 at half time in the game and I think we lost 31-27. Bill Simpson picked the ball off in the end zone. If Todd just lofted the ball a little higher Derek Gaffney would had caught it for the easy score. I was at the game a week before when we beat Green Bay 28-3 to go 10-5-1 for the '81 season and make the playoffs for the first time since 1969.
ok thanks! yeah that was crazy. was lynn dickey gb QB? that was the year i became a jets fan. was a steelers fan prior. all my friends were dallas fans so i chose pitt. sack exchange pulled me in. was walton our oc for that season.?
Man i cant wait til "I've been following the Jets since 96" makes me a credible die hard life long jets fan. lol
I remember it all since the start and Weeb Eubank was the best coach the Jets ever had, period, end of discussion!
The ONLY good part of having Walton as HC was when he brought in Bud Carson. That was only 85-88. In 89 the team resumed its nosediving and went 4-12. Before Bud Carson Walton took the team from the AFC Championship game to two straight 7-9 seasons. We also have Joe Walton to thank for getting Leon Hess acquainted with Rich Kotite. Walton also overworked the team in practice which led to the injuries and the annual December swoons.
How could I forget? 10-1, headed to Miami for a Monday night game, got slaughtered 45-3 and then got blown out in just about every game after that. Backed into the playoffs, crushed KC on the wildcard and then the infamous 'roughing the passer' game against Cleveland. N.Y. was all googly eyed over a subway Super Bowl because the Giants were 9-2. Of course, they win every game, we lose every game, and they won the Super Bowl.
That was my first year of serious fandom as well. That wildcard game against Buffalo is one of the most painful for me. I had just turned 13, and to make such a comeback only to have it die with seconds left......it set the tone for the entire time I've watched this team...Lol
How do you have a six page-long Joe Walton thread without someone mentioning that every third down and long for a decade was either (a) a screen pass in the flat, or (b) a draw? I mean, it was comical how an 8-year old could predict our offense from his living room couch with 50% accuracy. The top tier talent on those teams was something else though ... Klecko, Gastineau, Al Toon, Wesley Walker, Freeman McNeil, Mickey Shuler, Marty Lyons, Lance Mehl
