Wow I didn't think of that when I posted earlier, I was freakin raging mad when that happened. My top two most pissed off moments had to be that one and also when Santonio went down in the Niners game and just flipped the ball to a defender. I know that's a really painful injury but this is football not soccer, don't flop down like a dying seal when you get hurt, just go down but be fuckin tough and hold on to the ball till the plays over.
Here is why: The 82 Jets were built on speed and quickness. McNeil led the NFL in rushing his style depended on his ability to cut and elude tacklers. The leading receiver was Walker, who was fast as hell. This was also the era of the Sack Exchange. The Jets were a finesse offense. The Dolphins offense was pedestrian. They had David Woodley at QB who was awful. Their offense was based on a power running game led by Andra Franklin. They had a weak passing game. They were a very good defensive team. A sloppy field gave the slower Dolphins a huge advantage. McNeil was useless on that field. So was Walker. The Jets advantages were taken away. McNeil averaged about two yards a carry and I don't think Walker caught a pass. The game was a disgrace because of the ridiculous conditions. Plus, Shula intentionally failed to cover the field the day before the game in violation of NFL rules, which required fields to be covered by a tarp. The game was played anyway. I have never forgiven Shula for this classless move and believe OT tarnishes his legacy. In essence, he cheated his way to a title and the NFL let him get away with it. The Game should have been moved to another stadium or delayed a day.
I agree but I was comparing losses of this game and the Broncos game in 98. The Jets could`ve adjusted their game plan in Miami but as the Jets are the Jets, they never adjust to anything when they should. I still think the Broncos loss was much more painful.
Asking the Jets to adjust to a game on the road where weather affected the outcome and they had 0 chance to adjust is unfair. While I maintain the '98 team was the best Jets team I ever saw, Shula and the Fish, per NFL rules, illegally gave their team advantages which negated the Jets strengths in the '82 title game. Why should the Jets need to adjust when the opposing team illegally took away any advantage they may have had? That being said....the weather worked against the Jets, adding fuel to the Namath sold his soul for 1 Jets title fire.
Here's the difference. The Jets were expected to win the 82 game or, at worst, it was considered a toss up by the experts. I was extremely confident going into that game that the Jets were going to win. Even though they had lost the Dolphins twice before that game, one was the home opener during a strike season and was 4 months before the title game. The other was lost because Leahy missed an XP. The Jets were hot going into that game, beating Cincinnati and the Raiders (who many thought were the best team in the AFC) in the playoff tournament prior to meeting Miami. The Broncos were 10+ point favorites in the 98 game. They were recognized as the best team in football and were the defending SB champs. The Jets were not expected to win that game. While I expected the Jets to win the 82 game, I was merely hoping for a win over the Broncos. In all my years as a Jets fan, I was most confident going into the 82 title game over any other AFL or AFC title game the Jets played in, including 68. The only thing that kept the Jets from winning that game was the field, which made it incredibly hard to take. While the Jets had a 10-0 lead against the Broncos at halftime in 98, I was waiting for the shoe to drop. The Jets were not playing well and only had the lead because of a blocked punt that gave the Jets the ball on the Bronco 1 yard line. The Broncos scored two TDs early in the 3rd quarter and the game got away. The Jets lost the 98 game to a better team. The 82 game was stolen from the Jets.
That game was at the Meadowlands but yes...after quickly falling behind 14-0, the Jets absolutely steamrolled TB. They put up 41 points before halftime and continued throwing deep well into the second half. Yes that was payback for the year before - the players and even Joe Walton mentioned the '84 game. It was rare to play an NFC team in back to back seasons but it did happen every now and then back in those days. That will never happen again unless they change the current schedule formula.
I say toss up....I can see both opinions here. I personally thought the Broncos game was just a tad more disappointing but the years in between may have washed some of the emotion away from the mud bowl. While I agree had that game been played on a dry field the results would have been better I cannot say with certainty the Jets would have prevailed. They were blown out on opening day at Shea and yes the rematch should have been a Jets win (if not for a missed XP, another missed short FG, and a dropped INT by Bobby Jackson with :50 left) ......by the time Jan 23 rolled around the Jets were playing their sixth- yes 6th consecutive road game dating back to the regular season starting with the regular season game in Miami. Flights to Minnesota, KC, Cincinnati, out to the WC, back to the EC, down to Miami, and then what would have been another flight out to the WC for the SB - the very next week - also played into things IMO. Had the Jets won the AFC title game they may not have had a lot left to go against the Skins who were a much more dangerous team than the 98 Falcons.... Now had they beaten the Broncos - another win through the fingertips - I think they would have blown Atlanta out....
The 2010 home opener against the Ravens is one that sticks out to me. So much hype around the team. Revis just signed, fresh off the summer of Hard Knocks, AFC title game season before, Cro's 1st game, 1st game at Metlife. The defense played unbelievable. Pounded Flacco/Rice all night. But as usual the offense didnt do anything. If I remember correctly Sanchez had like 80 passing yards and we lost 10-9. I think I was more pissed at that loss then I was after the Title game loss in Indy the season before. The Ted Ginn game is a close 2nd for me.
A lot of excellent choices in this discussion......I will throw out some games off the top of my head... 1983 Blowing a 21-0 lead to the Falcons at Shea in the rain..... 1993 Blowing a 21-0 lead to the Eagles at the Meadowlands. The Jets even knock Cunningham out of the game and Bubby Brister comes in and leads the Eagles to a 35-30 comeback victory. This was the game when the Jets are up 30-28 with time running down and the Jets are driving for the clinching TD and Eric Allen intercepts Boomer and runs it back all the way for the lead......then the very next week the Jets blow another huge lead in L.A. against the Raiders and lose with 7 seconds left....in part to a mistake by the game clock operator!
The problem with this thread is there are literally too many to count. I can't really single one out. Although it's generally that 'loss to a bad team towards the end of the season that costs us a playoff spot' that galls me even more than the actual playoff defeats, with a few exceptions (including the fake spike game).
when we have bad teams and lose it doesn't bother me as much, at least it isn't as memorable. how many blown big leads did we have in the 90s? a million but the '07 & '12 losses were bad teams. 2011 we were playoff caliber but we recovered from that game and had a chance until we blew it late. The losses that bother me are the ones where we were actually really good and had a chance to do something. we were 1-0 against them at one point, have gone 0-8 since. 2 things- special teams was a major reason we went from 1-15 in 1996 w/o BP to 9-7 w/ him. The Cunningham punt was around 1989, long after Leon Bright. I am pretty sure it was Meggett and he misplayed it. That's not on BP.
Except for the AFC Championship Game in '98, Dave Meggett killed us, never fielded that 50 yard onside kick and let every punt hit the grass and roll an extra 15 yards
Meggett did kill us but the winds that day were incredible. Hall also missed a chip shot FG that the wind took, it looked like the wind affected us more than Denver and that was a big reason for the loss.
Miami beat us THREE times that year, on a muddy field, on perfect fields, it didn't matter. They were the better team. In Freeman's next playoff game on turd in non wet conditions he averaged less YPC than that day in Miami. I think the tarp thing is just an excuse, both teams played on the same field. the rain didn't make Todd make a horrendous decision on that failed swing pass. The part that was the worst for me was on Miami's only offensive TD drive Miami fumbled, Gastineau recovered but they gave the ball back to Miami. That play was HUGE, more than the conditions.
the way that ball was moving that would have been difficult. Remember he basically had to sprint to get to that ball and it was tailing away from him.
As I remember every punt landed 10 yards in front of him, should have moved up and caught the ball on the fly, he played in windy Stadiums his whole career
This and the preceding post are excellent, and I would only add two elements that provide some nuance. The first is as I mentioned before Don Shula at the time of the Mud Bowl was on the NFL's competition committee. He was the only coach on it, and the committee had a huge influence on the league's operations. Leaving the field uncovered was both a clear violation of NFL rules and provided his team with a substantial advantage. Yet Shula was in effect allowed to cheat, and his powerful role on the committee in my view was clearly a factor in why they let him get away with it. The second factor concerns the 98 game. As you mentione the Broncos were favored, and the Jets really did not play all that well. But there was another factor that made it not quite so painful for me, and that is I knew Denver almost always played well down the stretch at home, due to their mile high homefield advantage. It kicks in as the game enters the last twenty minutes, and the opponent tires out in the thin air. That's generally what happened, and while I would not say I totally expected the actual result, I was not surprised by it. I WAS surprised the NFL let Shula get away with it, and that made me more pissed off about that game.
