I didn't realise this, but 40 years ago, during the season I started following the Jets, we also played the Dolphins on a Friday night. I am currently researching a book and I came across this interesting article in the New York Times. It seems incredible that 40 years ago there was already talk of the franchise being weighed down by history. Another 40 years of blunders have been piled on since then, but I thought some people might enjoy looking back... Memories of Losses May Have Hurt Jets - NY Times, Dec 12, 1983 Do the Pittsburgh Steelers simply have more will to win than the New York Jets? And are the Jets prisoners of their losing past, doomed to repeat their failures in crucial situations? At least some of that was implied today by Coach Joe Walton in trying to explain why his team performed so poorly, and the Steelers so grandly, in a critical game for both teams on Saturday. The Steelers won the contest, the final home game for the Jets at Shea Stadium, by 34-7. That victory guaranteed Pittsburgh a playoff berth and ended any playoff chances for the Jets, who are 7-8. ''Maybe this situation was predictable,'' Walton said. Then, referring to the Steelers, he added: ''They'd lost the last three games. The Pittsburgh papers were on their case about how they hadn't played well. They have a lot of pride. They came in here to play their butts off, and they did. We weren't ready for it. Pittsburgh had a chance to clinch the playoffs.'' Should Have Been Motivated But the Jets, too, had many motivational factors. This has been a topsy- turvy season for a team that had expected to be getting ready for the Super Bowl by now; that needed victories in its last two games to remain in contention for a playoff position; that has been criticized by news organizations and fans, and that was playing its last game in New York as the home team. Certainly, there should have been no lack of motivation. And yet another factor might have gone against the Jets, Walton suggested: the fact that, in six previous meetings dating to 1970, they had never beaten the Steelers. ''Maybe they were in awe of the Pittsburgh Steelers,'' Walton said. ''Pittsburgh has a bunch of street fighters, and they'll fight you tooth and nail. Maybe we need some more of these street fighters.'' 'A Psychological Loss' ''It was a psychological loss,'' said someone long associated with the Jets, who did not want to be identified. ''You just knew that they didn't think we could beat Pittsburgh, just like they think we can't beat Seattle.'' The Jets are also 0-7 against the Seahawks. Nevertheless, Walton said he would start his regulars in their 1983 finale at Miami on Friday night. Those starters may not include Richard Todd, the quarterback who suffered a left-thigh bruise against the Steelers. If Todd cannot play, Walton said he would not start Ken O'Brien, the Jets' top draft pick, in his place. The Jets drafted O'Brien ahead of Dan Marino, who has become the top- rated passer in the American Conference with the Dolphins. But O'Brien has never even trotted onto the field in a game, and Walton said that he would remain behind Pat Ryan, Todd's longtime backup. Will Look at Films Since Friday's game is meaningless for the Jets, Walton was asked why he wouldn't give his top rookie a chance to compete for a significant amount of time. ''It would be a little tough on him,'' Walton explained. ''A Friday night. National television game. Miami.'' After this season, Walton said, he plans to bring in O'Brien and spend time with him looking at films and discussing the quarterback position. Todd is going into his option year next season. Walton said he has not thought about how he would use his quarterbacks next year. The only thing he sounded certain about for 1984 was that members of his coaching staff, many of them new this season, would be retained. Mullen to Get Chance Walton did say, though, that sometime during the Miami game Jerry Holmes would be replaced at right cornerback by Davlin Mullen. Holmes is leaving the Jets next season to play for the new Pittsburgh franchise of the United States Football League. Mullen was an eighth- round draft pick from Western Kentucky. Even though Mullen is the likely candidate to replace Holmes, Walton said he would start Holmes because, ''He's a good football player, and he's given us everything he's got.'' Reggie McElroy, who had been a backup tackle, will see action at left guard against Miami. Other second- stringers who will be used are Johnny Hector at running back, Kirk Springs at safety, and Tom Coombs at tight end.
Even the British Jets fans are starting threads about how bad they are. It’s getting ugly for Woody.
That was the great Terry Bradshaw's last game ever. He said he reached back to throw and was hit as he threw it and felt a pop in his shoulder.* He told the team he was done right then EDIT - it was his elbow, not shoulder
All we have is reminiscence of past failures and a folk story about a championship that won't have any surviving fans soon. Them PSLs are selling like hotcakes folks!
I think there is much to consider that the Jets franchise lost its way - and its will - after Werblin, Ewbank, and Namath left the building. Of course I'm speculating, but having lived through all these years of failure, and looking back, it seems to me that Leon Hess, in his eagerness to get the Jets accepted fully into the NFL, neutered them, hired GMs and coaches that were steeped in the "NFL Way" of doing things, and tried to erase the old "AFL Way" the Jets were born with. As a result, they floundered and never really adopted an image like all long term successful teams do - like the Steelers. I don't know why they've never tried to return to their roots, even as the NFL adopted a more AFL-like way of playing. It should've been blindingly obvious that the "Defense wins championships" philosophy was outdated years ago, but the Jets persisted in trying to follow that course. I thought Douglas would change that, having been an OL in college, but he did cut his teeth in the Ravens organization which up until Lamar was defense-oriented. Perhaps it's really not so much whether a team relies on offense or defense, but more on the intangible quality of toughness and commitment to winning. Whatever that quality is, and however it's measured, the Jets just haven't possessed it since the Namath days. They're "soft", and that's been a well known thing about them forever. You can see even now in how the refs don't even respect them, that their soft reputation precedes them. Can that be changed? I think so, but I don't know how honestly, short of a new owner who is committed to winning, coming in. And that means not just saying you are, but showing it in every move you you make, including taking your own ego out of things and letting the professionals you hire make decisions. I don't believer in curses, or the "Namath sold his soul to the devil" B.S., but I do believe that teams possess characters that define them. After 50+ years the Jets have no real character. Until they do, they're just going to be the SOJ.
