I'm not sure how to post the game long for that season on this site, but here is the link. http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/N/NamaJo00/gamelog/1968/ It's crazy to go over. A six game stretch with no TD passes. 2 5int games in 3 weeks. Multiple games with below 40% completion . . . Joe's statline in the playoff game against the raiders doesn't seem possible. Wish I could watch this game today. In the end, if any QB can win the Jets a Superbowl I'm alive for, thumbs up from me.
That stupid Bill Walsh. Who in his right mind would incorporate risk management in passing attack? I can never understand the logic behind it.
Roger Staubach's career high in pass attempts was 461. He threw 27 TDs and 11 INTs his next highest attempts was 413, he threw 25 TDs and 16 INTs. the 2 times Namath attempted over 400 passes he threw 19 TDs and 27 INTs and 26 TDs and 28 INTs. to recap: Staubach 2 seasons over 400 attempts he threw a total of 27 INTs. Namath's 2 seasons over 400 pass attempts he AVERAGED OVER 27 INTs
still lower than Joe's and in 333 LESS pass attempts Griese threw 19 MORE TDs and was +20 in TD to INT ratio(Joe was -47)
Hahahaaa lets just look at stats and not context. Namath's two 400 attempt years were his 2nd and 3rd years in professional football (1966 and 1967) and he had YPC of 14.6 and 15.5 in those years. Throwing downfield. Staubauch's two 400 attempt years were in his LAST 2 years--his 10th and 11th years in professional football (more than ten years later). And his YPC were 13.8 and 13.4 in those years. Good comparison, though. I know folks don't want to believe articles posted in this very thread that go into the minutiae of stats to help average fans understand the nuances involved, but they really should. Rather than just looking at stats in a vacuum. Generally, the farther downfield you are throwing, or rather completing, passes, the more likelihood is you are going to throw INTs. Look at the top 5 YPC guys in history--all from the 1940s and 1950s and 1960s. Eddie brown 102 TDs and 135 INTs Sid Luckman 137 TDs and 132 INTs (barely .500) but in his highest attempt year he was 24 TDs and 31 INTs Otto Graham 174-135 (good, not outlandish) but in his highest attempt year he was 20 TDs and 24 INTs Cotton Davis 73 TDs and 108 INTs Norm Van Brocklin 173 TDs and 178 INTs Hell, Hall of Famer Bobby Freaking Layne is 9th all time YPC and he had virtually the same number of attempts and completions and yardage as Namath and he threw 196 TDs and 243 INTs. It's not that complicated. Sure there are guys who threw it as far as Namath and had fewer INTs relative to TDs, but it's not a dispositive criteria. _
Randell Cunningham teams where exciting also when he was on the field. Don't mean he should be in HOF.
I've seen a lot of talk about how Namath's stats don't add up. I saw him play. He was great, but he was unique. He was stubborn and arrogant on the field. He did not care about interceptions. There is no QB since who can be compared to him. Even Marino, who was his closest approximation, played under a much tighter rein from Shula. Ewbank had no real control over Namath on the field. He did what he wanted and didn't care if you beat him, because he figured he would eventually beat you. When he played, there was no question who was considered the best QB. in the game. If you have any doubt, listen to tapes of actual live broadcasts from the era, especially the original broadcast of the first Monday night game. It was clearly understood that he was the best QB in the game AT THE TIME. Could Namath get himself under control to be a stat compiler, like some of the other QBs of his day? The 1968 season shows that he certainly could. He chose not to. So where does it all leave Joe. Is he a Hall of Famer? When judged solely by today's stat driven standards, maybe not. But Joe Namath is truly one of a kind.
I agree with much of what you're saying. When Joe was playing everyone thought he was a great Qb. He had the Wow factor. But my personal memories of him and it was a long time ago. I'm not sure if he didn't follow a game plan and just started throwing the ball whenever he wanted to. But it sure looked like it. And while Marino was a gunslinger too, even under Shula and he had huge stats: 420 Tds vs 252 picks, his teams won a lot more games than Namath's did. And I blame a lot of that on Joe because of the picks. If you asked me to give you a one word analysis of Joe Willy as a Qb it would have to be : overrated. He was great but not as good as his rep.
I saw virtually every game Namath played, sometimes from the sofa, sometimes from a hard wooden bench in Shea's end zones. I also saw most Giants games in the same period and an out of town game on some Sundays. Beginning in 1970, I also watched a MNF game every week. I maintain, believe and am of the opinion that Namath has rightfully been enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Somebody who may have seen a couple of condensed videos of a few Jets games and can't get their head out of an encyclopedia or their own ass is now going to tell me, aver and declare that Namath was wrongly voted in by the objective consideration of professional sportswriters of his time. What's wrong with this picture?
