Old Jets feel Super about Giants

Old Jets feel Super about Giants
BY RICH CIMINI
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Thursday, January 31st 2008, 4:00 AM


The Daily News front page on January 13, 1969.

AP

Joe Namath and the Jets pulled off one of the biggest upsets in NFL history in Super Bowl III.


The '68 Jets are a forever team, one that will be remembered for as long as there are upsets and potential upsets in sports. Their 16-7 victory over the Colts in Super Bowl III still is considered by many as the greatest upset in pro football history, a milestone that has come to life again this week as the Giants attempt to topple the undefeated and heavily favored Patriots in Super Bowl XXLII.

Joe Namath knows exactly what Eli Manning is thinking with game day approaching.

Don Maynard understands the adrenaline churning inside Plaxico Burress.

John Schmitt feels the overwhelming "We'll-show-them" mentality that is rumbling among the Giants' offensive linemen.

Then, like now, the feeling is the same among underdogs: You believe. And if you win, you never forget the feeling. It always feels like yesterday.

"I'm telling you, I wear my Super Bowl ring every day and when I look at it, I can recall every play in the game," Schmitt says. "To win when you're the greatest underdog in the history of football ... to prove to the world what you can accomplish with tremendous heart ... it's the best."

The old center pauses a moment, the words catching in his throat.

"It would be the same for the Giants," Schmitt continues. "To go against a dynasty, to beat them in the Super Bowl, it would be something they'd never forget. Something no one would forget."
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Based on the point spread - the Giants are a 12-point underdog - it would be one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history. Because the Patriots are undefeated, the magnitude of a Giants win could transcend the point spread. Some might argue it could be bigger than Jets over Colts. The old Jets aren't willing to go that far, but they acknowledge it would be something special.

"It would absolutely be up there," says Dave Herman, one of Namath's trusted bodyguards. "It would be on the same level."

It would be hard to rate one against the other because the landscape has changed so much. Back in the day, the Jets had to fight the AFL stigma. They represented the other league in pro football, and there was no way a team from the wacky, pass-happy, hippie haven known as the AFL was going to defeat a real team from the blue-blooded NFL.

As a result, the Jets went off as an 18-point underdog in Vegas. Basically, their chances of winning were about the same as seeing Gisele Bundchen in a cheerleading outfit on the Patriots' sideline.

"We had been ridiculed by the other league for 10 years," says Maynard, the Hall of Fame wide receiver. "Now we get to live with (the victory) for the rest of our lives."

Former Jets coach Walt Michaels, an assistant to Hall of Famer Weeb Ewbank in '68, says, "I don't think it could be the same ever. We hit something at a unique time in history, with two leagues. Right now, you have 32teams and a balanced draft - parity. In our day, they didn't even consider us a real league."

Setting aside the New York rivalry, the '68 Jets players and coaches like the Giants' chances against the Patriots. They love the defense, especially the front four.

"Reminds me a little of us," says legendary defensive guru Buddy Ryan, an assistant on Ewbank's staff. "We had the best defense in the American Football League, but nobody remembers that because our quarterback wore white shoes."
Schmitt says of the Giants' defense, "When they hit you, they hurt you."

They like the Giants' maturity, the way they've come together as the stakes have become bigger.

They like Manning. Namath, a former Southeastern Conference quarterback who reached the Super Bowl in his fourth season (ditto, Manning), believes in Peyton's little brother. Namath said last week that he's rooting for the Giants and feels that Manning will lead an upset.

They like the Giants' confidence, best exemplified by Burress, who predicted a 23-17 victory. The '68 Jets know all about guarantees; they lived the original guarantee, famously delivered by Namath, who told a gathering a few days before Super Bowl III that the Jets would shock the Colts.

"That put all the pressure on us," Schmitt says. "We were like, 'Holy - - -!' I remember when Weeb approached Joe. Joe was sitting with a beautiful blonde, and Weeb went up to him with the newspapers and said, 'Joseph, did you really say this?' Joe was like, 'Yeah, yeah, I said it.'"

Ewbank asked why he'd say such a thing, providing the Colts with bulletin-board fodder.

Namath, in a matter-of-fact tone, said it's because he believed it.

"Coach, don't you think we're going to win?" said Namath, whose name would become synonymous with the word "guarantee."

Truth is, the Jets absolutely believed they were going to shock the mighty Colts. In fact, a few days before the game, Ewbank cut short a film session because he didn't want the Jets to get too confident. The more they watched the Colts on film, the more they realized their superiority.

The Jets like the Giants' resourcefulness on offense, how they adapted without the retired Tiki Barber and the injured Jeremy Shockey.

"I thought Tiki Barber was nuts for saying what he did about Eli Manning," says Michaels, referring to Barber's early season jabs about Manning's leadership.

Emerson Boozer, who teamed with Matt Snell in the backfield, says, "I think the loss of Shockey helped them. It took a weapon away from their young quarterback, but it forced him to look elsewhere and spread the ball around. It also helped the offensive coordinator. Instead of focusing on one guy, he's able to get the others involved."

They also like the Giants' toughness. The '68 Jets know toughness. How about Herman, only 255pounds, dominating the 320-pound Bubba Smith in the trenches?

"I think we were an 18-point underdog because of me," says Herman, who was drafted by the Giants but signed with the Jets because they offered $300 more. "Thank God we played before talk radio. If I had to listen to Mike and the Mad Dog for two weeks before the game, I would've been convinced there's no way that I could've blocked Bubba Smith."

How about Schmitt, playing Super Bowl III with pneumonia? By the fourth quarter, he was on the verge of exhaustion, but kept playing, anchoring the offensive line. He was so ill that, during the postgame prayer in the locker room, he vomited in the middle of the "Our Father." Namath, kneeling beside Schmitt, scooted away in a hurry.

They laugh about it now, almost four decades later. They laugh about it every summer at Larry Grantham's charity golf tournament in New Jersey, where 20 to 22 players show up for what they like to call their family reunion. To this day, many of them still wear their Super Bowl rings, which are inscribed with two words:

Poise.

Execution.

The '68 Jets lived by those words. Now they live forever because of their improbable championship.

For the Giants, forever awaits.