I know Joe Namath did lead us to our only super bowl and guarantee a victory then pulled the upset. Though I wasn't around to watch him play how is he the greatest Jet. The numbers he put up weren't even spectacular numbers. I find him overated, but I also wasn't around to watch him play. Why do all Jets fans find him to be so great besides the fact that he guaranteed a win over the Colts then pulled it off?
I didn't see him play either but the fact that he led us to our only Super Bowl win is probably one of the bigget reasons.
as jimmy johnson put it in today's fox pre-game show " the heck with the stats-i want the guy who gets the job done in championship situations".:wink:
my father always said he took an abundance of chances. He would throw it deep many times in a game, that's where most of his INT's came. He was extremely agressive.
Joe Namath is more os a "myth" than a legend. Was he a top 20 QB of all time?? of course not....He's a myth old time jet fans share with the youth, the whole garunteeing victory, pulling the big upset, ad my favorite, watching him leave the field with his finger pointing to the sky, its all a myth.
To put it succinctly, you don't know what you're talking about. I don't know that he's a top 20 QB either (since injuries cut his career short), but that hardly makes him a myth. I won't go into all of the evidence once again (it's been done many times before on this site), but the fact that Namath was voted the alltime AFL quarterback (over people like Len Dawson, Daryle Lamonica, and John Hadl) might mean something. To the people who were there, he was the best QB in a league that was far more pass-oriented than was the NFL at the time. The game played back then was so different than the one now that comparing statistics is completely meaningless.
Do yourself a favour - get the Super Bowl III DVD off eBay or from somewhere. Watch it (the whole game) and you'll have more of an idea what Namath was like as a player. In 'those days' QBs did not complete 70% of their passes like the top guys do today. Their receivers were mugged at the line, past the line and all the way downfield. They usually only passed in 'passing situations', third-and-long and the such, when defenses knew they were going to pass. And like someone else said, Namath went downfield a lot. He was a great quarterback. He was a top 20 passer all-time, the first to pass for over 4,000 yards in a (14-game) season.
I guess this is all a myth, too: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mu...ry.nfl.10.great.modern.moments/content.8.html And this: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0611/gallery.nfl.qbrivals/content.2.html And this picture is bogus...
Mike and the Mad Dog Jr 2050 Timmy (Dogs son): C'mon Mikey. Namath was just not that good. Look at the numbers. More INTS than TD's. He won one lousy Super Bowl. Thats all. So did Doug Williams, Brad Johnson, Chad Pennington. Jack (Chris' son) -- aura, dog. aura. Timmy: But Mikey, hes not even in the top 20. Jack: He had an aura. Im telling you he had an aura. Aura. STEVIE: I think that the problem with Namath is that his numbers are very average. He played on some bad teams -- and the game was much different. People who saw him play (and I only did when he couldnt walk) say that he was much better than his numbers -- but in 2050 most of the people who saw him will be gone -- and the numbers wont help him.
Actaully, this reaction to Namath, by just looking at the numbers, as compared to today, is a fair one. But that's when you have to consider it was a TOTALLY DIFFERENT ERA. Back when Namath played, it was a totally different game. The hash marks on the field weren't as wide and the rules were different, as far as what was allowed and what wasn't. Defenses got away with almost anything back then, it wasn't like today where everything is pass interference. Offenses werren't as sophiticated as today and most QB's conisently got picked off more then they threw for Td's. Today, 99% of the Qb's throw more Td's then Int's. Back then, wasn't the case. What made Namath an All-Time great was the he threw for a ton of yards, per game, per season. He is the only QB in history to throw for over 4,000 yards in a 14 game season. He also threw for 496 yard and 6 tds vs the Colts in a single regualr season game. Namath's arm strength and release were legandary. He was Dan Marino, before Dan Marino. He was a legend in College for Bear Bryant at Alabama before that. He was the AFL MVP two seasons in a row (second year AP), he was the Rookie of the Year, he was the MVP of two All Star games, he was the Comeback Player of the Year and of course the Super Bowl MVP. And the one in the Super Bowl was the greatest win in the history of the sport. Besides being a collossal upset, it put the AFL on the Map where it wasn't disregarded as being some secondary league. What made Namath's Super Bowl game great was the way he managed it, especially after guaranteeing it. His play in the game was actually good, not great, many thought Snell was the real MVP of the game but at the end of the day, he was the heart and soul of the Jets and led them to the Championship, when most thought it was impossible.
Read the bio on Namath by Mark Kriegel; here's my review (2nd down, frankbif): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/cu...te&n=283155&s=books&customer-reviews.start=31 Bottom Line: It was a different era, the NFL was primarily a running league, Namath's 4,000 yard passing year was the equivalent of 5,500 or more today; he needed an offensive coordinator to tone down his impulses which often led to 'forcing' plays; and he played in TREMENDOUS pain because of his knees (someone with similar problems today would not have 5" needles in his knees). If you like my review and are registered to Amazon, please note it by plugging my review. Thanks !
This argument has been made over and over on this board. To sum it up - those that saw him play, whether it be Jet fans on this board or opponents from that era, all state unequivocally that he was one of the all-time greats and one of the best of his era. The only people who criticize him are those who just look at his career numbers and get no sense of the player he was. As for the comment that in 2050 those that saw him play will be gone and his numbers won't help him - Namath is in the HOF and doesn't need his numbers to help him. Those that claim he is overrated are simply ignorant.
Joe Namath was the American Football League Rookie of the year in 1965 and became the first pro quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in a season (1967), a feat which remains a record for 14-game seasons. He was a four-time American Football League All-Star. In the 1968 AFL title game, Namath threw three touchdown passes to lead New York to a 27-23 win over the defending American Football League Champion Oakland Raiders. This 1968 season earned him the Hickok Belt as top professional athlete of the year. Namath was an AFL All-Star four times, in 1965, 1967, 1968, and 1969; and an AFC-NFC Pro Bowler in 1972. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Jets' all-time team and the American Football League All-Time Team The apex of his career was his stellar performance in the Jets' January 1969 win over the Colts in the World Championship Game, now referred to as Super Bowl III. The Colts were touted as "the greatest football team in history". Former NFL star and coach Norm Van Brocklin ridiculed the AFL before the game, saying "This will be Namath's first professional football game." Writers from NFL cities insisted it would take the AFL several more years to be truly competitive with the NFL. Much of the hype surrounding the game was related to how it would either prove or disprove the proposition that the AFL teams were truly worthy of being allowed to merge with the NFL; the first two such games had resulted in blowout victories for the previous NFL champions, the Green Bay Packers, and the Colts were even more favored by media figures and handicappers than the Packers had been. Three days before the game, Namath responded to a heckler with the now-famous line: "The Jets will win on Sunday, I guarantee it." His words made headlines across the country but were dismissed as mere bravado by most observers. In the game, however, Namath backed up his boast and showed that his success against tough American Football League competition had more than prepared him to take on the NFL. The Colts' vaunted defense was unable to contain the Jets' running or passing game, while their ineffective offense gave up four interceptions to the Jets. Namath was the game's MVP, completing eight passes to George Sauer alone, for 133 yards. Namath acquired legendary status for American Football League fans as the symbol of their league's legitimacy
