I have pics of joe throwing out of the end zone to rich caster #88 for a bomb. Looking for them will post them when I find them...
True, but you could say that aboiut all football games then as comparted to now. And, to be honest, the last game at Shea in 1983 was like a Steelers home game
Correct - however back in the early 80s the Steelers and the Cowboys both were really the only two teams that had fans that traveled in bunches like that. The traveling craze by visiting fans didn’t really pick up until about 5-10 years after that. Also the Steelers were still in the playoff hunt. The Jets at 7-7 were on life support and needed help. Most fans realized they weren’t going anywhere at that point. But on the other hand being the final game at Shea should have boosted the interest from Jets fans if not for just trivial purposes…
Yes, but for some reason, I was so upset about seeing so many Steeler fans at Shea Maybe because it was a Saturday game, it was easier to travel and spend a weekend in NYC I felt their banners were everywhere BTW, from reading your posts, I know you have been around as long as me. Was '83 the most disappointing Jet season ever?
I don’t recall that Steeler game being worse than any other Steeler game I’ve been to against the Jets since then. I think it depends on who you happen to be sitting next to. There weren’t too many in Loge Section 2 that day. Not like it’s become at Giants Stadium or MetLife since then. First Jets game I ever attended was a ‘77 game at Shea against the Steelers. It wasn’t mostly Steelers fans then.
Nothing better than watching the Jets and Mets play at Shea. Shea was a mess but it was our mess and watching Namath and Riggins or Boozer and Snell run.
In the 70s at Shea there were visiting fans just about every week, but most were confined to SRO locations because Jets fans went to every game, regardless of the weather, the standings or any other BS excuses that are so easy to come by today. I particularly remember one group from the Baltimore Colts who stood behind us every year - one guy looked exactly like Sam the Sham (look it up, kids) the difference was at that time you could kid back and forth with other fans and nobody felt the need to get into a fight over a football game.
Yes to go along with 1999. I was 12 during the 1983 season but remember every game as if it was just last year. The Jets were a talented team picked by almost everybody to go to the SB. They won the opener in SD which I figured would be the toughest game. (It turned out SD wasn’t that good either) They played lousy in the home opener against Seattle who they could never beat in those days - they also had some bad calls go against them. They seemed to recover from that and were headed to a part in their schedule where they played 4 of 5 games at home. They lost all 4 of those games!!! They blew a 21-0 lead to the Falcons. They lost games to the Colts and Bills (inferior teams talent wise) They did manage to beat Joe Montana on the road in the middle game - go figure. A very very strange year ….. I remember hearing Walton and Todd were no longer in speaking terms by November. The culmination was the Steelers butt kicking and then another butt kicking in Miami on Friday night when Miami scored 20 unanswered points thanks to 2 INT returns by a slow safety named Mike Kowslowski. Horrible depressing year ….
1986 was the worst. I still wake up in cold sweats in the middle of the night because of Gasitneau roughing Bernie Kosar.
I remember watching that game at my sister's house in Croton while I was sick with a high fever. The next day I ended up in the hospital with double pneumonia.
1986 was bad too but injuries were to blame. Even had the Jets held on in Cleveland they would not have won in Denver. The OL was decimated and O’Brien was a shell of himself without the proper protection. The defense too had a lot of injuries. But in 1983 the team as a whole - except for McNeil for about 6 weeks - was healthy and supposedly in their prime. Losing McNeil wasn’t good naturally but the Jets still had Harper, Hector, and Dierking to hold the fort. That team blew 5 games by my count either in the last minute or by one silly mistake or penalty…
I remember how great I felt after the 41-29 victory over San Diego to open the season then the loss to Seattle next week in 90 degree heat then beating the Rams a few weeks later, with a big fight between Gastineau and Jackie Slater, then losing to the Falcons after being up by 3 touchdowns, ugh Losing to the Bills in the final miute with a pass to a wide open Joe Cribbs for a TD after being up by 14 then scrambling back to 7-7 before the two debacles against Pittsburgh and MIami I really dont remember a Jets team being a bigger let down '99 was disappointing but Vinny went down in the first game with the Achillies.
Since this thread is about Jets games at Shea. Here is a good stroll down memory lane except for the ending.
This was great. Watched the whole thing. Even the ending. I was at all those home games behind the end zone in the enclosed end of Shea. It took me back in time. What's cool about being in the stadium is that your memory is from the view you had in your seat rather than the television view. In those days there were not as many highlights and if you were there you never saw the broadcast. Even VCR's were not common. From the opposite end of the stadium in Loge Section 2, I saw Todd's throw, I saw the Jets receiver in the end zone, and right as the joyful adrenaline was about to shoot through my veins, Bill Simpson just popped up out of nowhere from behind the mass of linemen like "peek a boo". I suppose Richard Todd had the same view I did. Don't forget the Jets had pulled off a last minute drive that season at home against Miami. We expected to do the same against Buffalo. Damn it. Still hurts.
Had Todd lofted the pass Gaffney was streaking towards the back of the EZ alone - would have won the game with about :04 left…my first football heartbreak
Yeah... I remember the tier I was sitting in just rocking up & down in the 4th quarter. I was scared it would collapse. The emotions in that game swung wild.
I went to Shea once, in the Seahags 2nd season, I think 1977. Jets lost to Jim Zorn lead team. It was just before thanksgiving, we where in upper level and it was really cold. I was introduced for the first time to Brandy to help keep me warm... fast forward to Meadowlands pre-new garbage can stadium and I had tickets in upper level. I used to bring in a plastic 1/2 pint of Yukon Jack for those cold games. At the end of the miracle at the meadowlands game I was REALLY happy I saved some because as the game dragged on it was getting chilly and I didn't wear a coat. Booze and jets... what a tradition !
