Yes that and turnovers. A turnover today is the sin of all sins. Back in the day they were given a slight nod as to scoring opportunities wasted but the change in momentum was hardly noted. A real sin today.....
YEP once again an excellent point. It is amazing when you look back to see the TD/INT ratio and the total number of INTs even the BEST QBs from the 80's had, compared to the TD/INT ratio and total number of INTS thrown by the best QBs today.
u are right......but fans get fucked. but when your previous owner was tied to big oil and your current owner is tied to GOP/trump...... no way the jets were getting anything in NY post shea. it was ALL political during the koch/hess years and remains that way from the early 2000's with johnson and silver.
Funny, I just had a flashback to my friend and I joking that Pat Leahy NEVER made a FG from 33 yards. He must have missed from that distance once or twice that killed us. A Pats game at Shea comes to mind...
That's why Norwood gets too much grief for that kick. 47 yards from the hashmark, on a wet Florida field that just had a game played on it. That is a very hard field goal for 1991 standards
That roughing the passer penalty changed the game. And, scrub CB Carl Howard roughed Kosar on the same play. They could have called it on either/both.
It's amazing a lot of fans forgot that Leahy (and Bobby Jackson) cost the Jets the 20-19 regular season game at the Orange Bowl 5 weeks earlier. The final regular season records would have been flip flopped. No telling what would of happened with different match ups in that year's "Super Bowl Tournament" but there would have been no possibility of the Jets playing in Miami at any point.
His claim to fame was the head swipe he gave Kosar a split second after Gastineau on that play....I seem to remember the ref with the flag in his hand debating whether to throw it and then no doubt after Howard finished him off....
The 1978 game at Shea - Leahy missed a 33 yarder into the closed end and the Jets lost 19-17. Had they won I think they would have gotten a wild card slot. Then in 1982 he missed an XP and a short FG in a 20-19 loss at Miami. That game would of given the Jets a higher seed and an easier path to the Super Bowl. There would have been no mud bowl ( unless the AFC Championship was played at Shea it rained in NY also but being a baseball stadium there would have been a tarp at least ). Then in 1985 Leahy missed 3 relatively easy FGs again in Miami and the Jets lost 21-17 - a win there and the Jets win the AFC east and host an average Brown team in the AFC Divisional playoff...…then there was the Bears MNF fiasco...... Leahy had problems in the clutch. He didn't miss all of them but was not known for his dependability.
The last game you mention is the one I was thinking of, mr jet. In 1991 on MMF Leahy missed a real short field goal in the first half. Then, in overtime (sudden death back then), he had an equally short field goal that he missed which would have won the game. Neither one was blocked. The jets lost. That was his last year with the jets.
The 1986 NY Jets were the first NFL team to lose five consecutive games to close the season and still make the playoffs. Hard to believe that any other team has matched this dubious feat ever since. They did not only back into the playoffs that season, they had just one gear: reverse. Ken O'brien was sacked over 100 times in 1985 and 1986 (not counting a number of other times he was clocked for often holding the ball too long). By the latter part of '86, all this punishment obviously took it's toll on Kenny. The old Giants Stadium turf was similar to concrete on a cold winter day. Football could be somewhat tough on your body when 300 pound guys keep slamming you on a surface which is as hard a concrete. From a players' standpoint, few sports inventions have been as evil as astroturf. Beyond the injuries, the Jets were a weak team mentally, with a very fragile ego to boot. When things started to go wrong, they just snowballed out of control and kept getting worse. The team never learned how to win, nor were they able to develop a killer instinct. During the first 11 games of the season, the Jets faced little adversity, so their lack of mental toughness had been overshadowed by their success. But once they hit the skids, there was no stopping them. Arguably, they went from being the best team in the league in the first 11 games, to being the worst team in the last 5 games. They did manage to keep it together for over 90% of the Browns playoff game, but once again reverted to buckling under once the first sign of adversity struck (Gastineau rough the passer penalty). If Gastineau does not spear Kosar with his helmet, maybe he gets away with his moronic bonehead play. Also on that play, why was a secondary player like Howard blitzing on 2nd down and 24 with the Brownies deep in their territory late in the game? It's not like the Jets were unable to get pressure on Kosar with their front seven, as they had been doing the entire game. For the next 35 years, the Jets would continue to display a lack of mental toughness, which has remained their trademark up until today.
^^Excellent recap of the Jets struggles that season, JoeWalton. Obviously, you remember that season well.
The only consolation would be that that Jets team would never had beaten the Broncos in Denver and therefore would not be embarrassed by the Giants. It was their year....
I also recall Howard getting his own stupid penalty at some point in that drive - I believe he was called for defensive holding and Bob Trumpy remarking how he would of been better off tackling the receiver For the amount of yards he cost the Jets.....
Yessir. And Parcells on the sidelines looking like a combination of destroyed and really, really pissed. And ya, LT was almost a non-factor. Giants D had no answers that day.
