Long live Geraldine. 10% Beaver. Haha, so under the radar. Some of it is pretty naughty, but anyone who remembers this will truly appreciate it. EDIT & P.S.: Hahahaha. "Joe Namath, Joe Namath, Joe Namath."
Good article on Joe Willie: https://www.ganggreennation.com/201...ng-back-on-joe-namaths-remarkable-1967-season It is Records Week here at SB Nation. Each team site has been asked to discussed one record significant to their team. Today we are going to examine how incredible Joe Namath’s 4,007 passing yards in 1967 were. Back during the 1919 baseball season, Babe Ruth hit 29 homeruns. That sounds solid but unremarkable by today’s standards. In proper context, however, it was spectacular. The production came at the end of baseball’s dead ball era, when homers were much more difficult to come by than they are today. Nobody else in the American League had more than 10 homers that year. In many ways, Joe Namath’s career has come to suffer from the failure of many to understand the context of statistics. People look at Namath’s production and compare it to the output of quarterbacks in 2018. By that measure, Namath doesn’t look very good. You have to remember, however, that back in Namath’s day offensive systems weren’t the sophisticated machines you see today. Quarterbacks didn’t have 21st century refined play design creating a ton of easy completions. Defensive backs were allowed to get much more physical to impede receivers than they are today. These are just a few of the things that must be considered to understand the context of Namath’s era. The 4,007 yards Namath gained through the air in 1967 look good but unspectacular by today’s standards. Eight quarterbacks threw for more yards in 2017. In Namath’s day, however, it was remarkable. That was the first time a professional quarterback ever eclipsed 4,000 passing yards in a single season. It wouldn’t happen again for another twelve years. When Dan Fouts achieved it in 1979, he played in 16 games. Namath played in 14 in 1967. Now consider the context of where Namath rated relative to his peers. The average AFL team had 2,562 passing yards in 1967. Namath threw for 56.4% more yards than the average team in his league. Tom Brady led the NFL with 4,577 passing yards in 2017. That was 27.8% more yards than the average team. 56.4% more than the league average would put a quarterback over 5,600 yards. This isn’t to say that Namath automatically throws for a record-smashing 5,600 yards if you drop him into today’s NFL, but it should offer some perspective of the extent to which he towered over his peers when he played the game.
Exactly the kind of thing that people who never saw him play cannot and will not ever understand. The analogy with Ruth's 29 home run season is very apt. Of course, Ruth then proceeded to break the record three more times, ultimately more than doubling it, but that's why he was Babe Ruth. Namath was not the greatest QB ever, but his impact on the game, even ignoring Super Bowl III, was far larger than people realize today.
I never saw Namath play, but he did play in a league where QB's weren't as protected as they are today and DB's do far more than they can in today's game.
Maybe Junc will find a way back for one day to refute everything in the piece. He always a stat that worked for him.
Context is key. What the article failed to mention was that Joe accomplished all this greatness while partaking in as much booze & pussy as humanly possible. King of NYC!
And he played in an era where they didn’t dunk and dunk, INTs weren’t a big deal if you were tossing 5 TDs a game and guys were constantly throwing bombs. Namath would have been a 70% completion guy in today’s 3 step drop west coast offense dump off to the RB safety valve no hitting QB no mugging WR game. He was a supremely talented QB that transcended “stats”.
If they had surgery back then that they have today? He would have been a totally different player. He would have been Aaron Rogers before anyone knew who Aaron Rogers was.
Plus no PEDs for him..today they all have had at some point till they are caught Too bad Joe was such a hard drinker..showed up at gametown with a bit of a hangover and that must have affected his accuracy ahahaha
Always remember an interview with Namath back in the day, discussing a 65 yard pick. He said at least we had a chance on the bomb and a 65 yard pick was better than a 40 yard punt. That QBs in his day didnt give a shit about INTs like today
Exactly, only reversed. Judge wouldnt get out of the minors until he cut his strikeouts down drastically
The Jets were so much fun during the Namath years. For better or worse, I was hooked for life because of him.
Those of us who sat in Shea Stadium may disagree with the "so much fun," but it was character building for sure.
