Clearly Joe must go. All-world nose picker, but as a coach, not so much. He did look good compared to those who followed (Coslet, Carroll, Kotite), but still - unfavorable.
Walton was a genius as an offensive coordinator and a disaster as a head coach. Hess and Gutman blew it when the fired Michaels after the 83 title game. Sure, Walt like to drink and was a little paranoid, but he was a firm hand that kept the team disciplined. Walton had the "Genius" reputation because of his elaborate playbook, but he did not have the temperment to handle the media and the players. Ultimately, if the Jets had stayed with the Michaels as head man and Walton as OC, they might have broken through the following year. And even if they still jettisoned Todd, O'Brien might've developed into a better leader and QB than he was under Michaels. Walt would've made him get tough or get out.
I agree. Had Walton not stepped into the team that Walt Michaels built, he wouldn't have had any success at all. He rode that horse as far as he could, then left us in need of total rebuilding.
Clearly, the 1982-1983 off-season was one of the most perplexing times in Jets history. They went all the way to the AFC Title game and got a raw deal with the rain and the field being uncovered. Although looking back, this was a clever plan by Don Shula, taking advantage of the weather and his home-field. On the opposite end, it made Joe Walton, in particular, look like a fool. Although, he was an excellent offensive coordinator, he did not change the game plan one bit to reflect the weather conditions and as a result, the Jets were only able to get past midfield one time. Todd panicked, threw a couple of terrible passes, including the final nail in the coffin, the AJ Duhe 35 yard INT return, and the Jets were eliminated. Following the game, the Jets brass decided to blame Michaels, partly because of his drunken behavior on the plane ride home, and partly because with the Jets eliminated, their 'genius' offensive coordinator Joe Walton was now the front-runner for the vacant head coaching jobs in both Atlanta and Kansas City. The Jets saw this as a chance to promote Walton and did exactly that after forcing Michaels to resign. Then after these strange couple of weeks played out, the Jets pulled another strange act in the April draft, when they selected Ken O'Brien over Dan Marino. The true reason according to the Jets was O'Brien was better suited for a cold and windy stadium like Shea, ball-control, playing it close to the vest, and letting the sack exchange and co get the offense solid field position. However, less than six months later, the Jets announced they were moving to the Meadowlands which means they knew damn well in April that they wouldn't be in Shea for very long. (Ironically, O'Brien never took a single snap in Shea) To sum up his coaching, I would give Walton a C-, when he had the talent the team played well but in the locker room he seemed to fear the influence the team's stars had on the rest of the players and he let that fear ruin the team chemistry. The 1987 player's strike further dampened the team's spirit and the scouting dept and drafts completely let him down, not drafting any star players from 1986 on with the exception of moody safety Erik McMillan and by 1989 when the team was old and injury depleted, Walton completely cracked and even let a strike player, Kyle Mackey QB a loss to New Orleans.....
Well put!! If I gave Walton a grade I would give him a D. As a fan since 1970 I saw a lot of misery. Namath's career end with multiple injuries, the coaching of Charlie Winner and Lou Holtz. When the Jets hired Walt Michaels in 1977 I thought that they were finally on the right track to rebuilding. Michaels was an excellent DC and had the roots back to the Jets championship in 1968-9. They drafted strong players like Klecko, Buttle Fields and Walker. And it looked like Todd could be the heir apparent to Namath. Michaels was named coach of the year in 1978. The team went through some growing pains, but continued to find young talent like Lyons, Gastineau, Mehl and others. In 1981 the team finally matured and made the postseason. In 1982 they were better and advanced deep into the playoffs. Then the FO panics in fear of losing OC Joe Walton to a HC job on another team. So they force out the one person who held the team together and lead this resurgence in Michaels. I can't tell you how disappointed I was as a fan. Seven years of Walton was torturous as he destroyed what Michaels had built. mrjet80 obviously read Gerald Eskanazi's book on the Jets history, because all the info is there. The hiring of Walton singlehandedly set this franchise back farther than anything else, because I really thought they were on the verge of a Super Bowl birth.
Yes I read that book, but alot of the inside information of the tension between Walton and the team was revealed in the book 'Nose to Nose' co-authored by Joe Klecko and Joe Fields. What a shame that Hess and Gutman were fooled into connecting the Jets success from 1981 on with Joe Walton....
You're absolutely right! Nose To Nose was great and it definitely gave an insider's comparision to the player's feelings about Michaels (positive) and Walton (negative). It also gave a nice insight to what a terrible teammate and person Mark Gastineau was. Both Eskanazi's book and Klecko/Fields book should be must reading for all Jets fans.
Kotite was his OC for a while there, that's when Leon Hess grew to like him so much. So you can make the argument that Walton wasn't done fucking up the team years after he was gone.
I am another who agrees with you on this. Walton's running back by committee approach is one of the reason why I hated him. Freeman was hurt quite a bit but have some balls Joe, name a starter. I remember a game where Scott Dierking had 90+ yards in the first half and barely touched the ball again. I think he had a rule where no one could rush for 100+ yards in a game or 1,000 in a season.
