All the losses mentioned were bad but we never lost a superbowl. Imagine how Buffalo and Minnesota fans must feel.
mrjet80, not to be picky either, but Leahy didn't miss two extra points a year later in that game against the Bills at Shea. He was hurt during '79, so it was either one of his two replacements who missed both extra points - and for some reason I can name both; it was either Rich Szaro or Toni Linhart that missed the two xp's. Back to the Leahy missed FG against the Pats - It was not '79, it was '78 in a rare non-blacked out televised Jets home game. In disgust, I remember switching to the Giants game when the Jets game ended only to see the famous Joe Pisarcik fumble. That happened minutes after Leahy's miss - and it cheered me up ; ) Anyone else do the same thing and feel the same way?
The loss on Sunday is still a fresh wound. There's no way that's this franchise's worst loss. It's up on the list because it was a Conference Championship Game, but our worst losses are.... 1) '98 AFCCG in Denver. C'mon, you have a two score lead in the 2nd half and you don't finish it off. 2) '87 AFC Divisional Round at Cleveland. I'd put this as the worst because we were up 2 score with less than 4 minutes left in the game, but the Denver game was a Championship Game. 3) '10 AFCCG in Indy. Lead at halftime. Nuff said. 4) '04 AFC Divisional Round in Pittsburgh. Herm Edwards coach's like a faggot. Nuff said. Predominant themes here....we had the lead in the 1st three games and we should have had the lead at the end of the 4th example. We also need to start playing good enough in the reg. season to make some of these games HOME games and maybe this type of shit wouldn't happen. This loss on Sunday was terrible. I was actually stunned we lost, and couldn't sleep that night even buzzed, but we never had the lead, and we never really even had the ball down by only one score, so I can't put this loss up there against these 4. The wound is still fresh, and that's why a lot of people are going to put this number one right now.
My dad told me, if they had won that game, they would have easily beaten the Raider in the AFL Championship game to move on to Super Bowl IV. That was the first year the AFL added wild card teams to the playoffs.
This might not seem like it should make the list, but the 2004 game against the Ravens killed me for days. Jets dominated the first half, then instead of just being smart, they let Lamont Jordan throw that pass that I believe Ed Reed intercepted. And it was all downhill from there.
You must have some sad pathetic life if you consider THAT game painful. Well, the first part is obvious.
The lists will be different for each generation of fans obviously. Those of us under 30 (just made it) will consider the loss to the Broncos in '98, the Doug Brien game, and the two AFC Championship games as the most painful since the stakes were much higher. Regular season games shouldn't count unless they prevented us from making the playoffs. '97 against the Lions, 2000 against the Ravens, and 2009 against the Seahawks were pretty painful, too. Oh, and who could forget the 1999 game against New England when Vinny went down and destroyed our Super Bowl dreams that season?
I remember that game Champ, I thought we lost on a late goal line stand? Would have beaten the Vikings in the Super Bowl easily...
I brought up this game a few pages ago, of course. It depends what you mean by lost on a late goal line stand. The Jets were stopped in the 4th quarter on a goal line stand after having 1st-and-goal from the 1 (thanks to a PI call in the end zone), but then kicked a FG to tie the game at 6-6. The Chiefs got the ball back on their own 20. Two plays later (Dawson to Otis Taylor for 61, Dawson to Gloster Richardson for a 19-yard TD) it was 13-6. The game wasn't over yet, but the Jets didn't do anything (I think Namath might have been intercepted again; I know he was intercepted 3 times in the 4th quarter). Trivia 1: Since the goalposts were on the goal line back than, Jim Turner's tying FG was credited as being a 7-yard FG. Trivia 2: The great Jan Stenerud missed 3 FGs that day. Trivia 3: Peter, Paul and Mary's recording of the John Denver song "Leavin' on a Jet Plane" reached #1 on the Billboard charts that day. Maybe a bad omen? fftopic:
some recents: last year when tedd ginn ran back 2 tds, and taylor stripping shonn greene was pretty fucked up. last year loss to falcons when we all thought it was over.
It occurs to me those two games, meaning the Champ Game loss to Denver and the Opening Day loss when Vinny went down were DEFINITELY the two worst consecutive games in franchise history. I dont know about the over and under 30 thing, but I would argue the loss in the 98 Champ Game was one of two that were worst of all. It was a great thing to be ahead in Denver, a field that had that fearsome reputation for home field advantage, and then we started thinking the Jets were going to overcome that. And of course this was when Jet fans were all thinking Parcells had killed the whole Same Old Jets thing. Uh, no he hadn't. Just an awful, awful loss. Tied for first would be the Mud Bowl loss to Miami, as much as anything because it was to those chearing f'ing Fish, that Don Shula who was teflon for being on the Competition Committee, something the NFL should never have let happen. AJ Duhe. Ugh. That it was a loss to a division opponent added to the ugliness. I don't know about whether worst loss ranking qualifies here, but it was a loss and simultaneously the worst football game ever was the 6-3 loss to the Colts, which was I think in 82 or so. Did anyone mention that one? I understand those talking about the loss 23-20 to Cleveland, but that had been preceded by that five game losing streak backing into the playoffs, so it was hard to expect too much. The previous playoff loss to Pitt was also pretty awful. Jets should have won that game.
I posted this on the introduction thread. The ups and downs of my life as a Jet Fan. 1978: First football game... Opening game @ Shea with my dad. We upset Miami and I am hooked... If I only knew!!! 1980: Memories of losing to the 1-15 'Aint's. My youthful exuberance telling me "It can't get any worse?"... How wrong I am. 1981: My first case of real disappointment... Klecko & Gastineau... Wild Card against the Bills... Falling behind 24-0... Furious comeback... Coming up empty at the 2 yard line... sound familiar??? 1982: Mud Bowl... 'nuff said. 1983: Coming home from school and listening to 1010 WINS to see who they drafted... Ken Who???? 1984: We move to Jersey... Jets move to Meadowlands... seems almost karmic 1986: My favorite year as a sports fan... Mets win the series... OT Miami game... Heartbreak against the Browns... Gastineau with 2 boneheaded penalties... Mosely in OT. 1988: Knocking the Giants out of the playoffs... My first jersey #88 1989-1996: The Dark Ages... "Joe Must Go" Walton... Coslet... Browning Nagle... Byrd tragedy... Carroll... and finally the Kotite era. Man those were some tough years... hits rock bottom with the Houston Oiler game and 60,000 no shows at the Meadowlands. 1997: Parcells... return to respectability 1998: CuMar... Great season... even greater disappointment in the AFC Championship Game... What is up with these Jets showing up for only one half??? 1999: Vinny's achilles!!!! 2000-2001: Chadwick drafted... Monday Night Miracle... Things looking up???... Not really... 2 years of late season collapse... lest we forget-the Belidick debacle 2002: "You play to win the game!!!"... Another collapse in the second half to Raiders in the playoffs. 2004: Doug Brien... 'Nuff said again. 2006-2008: The Penguin Years... I hate Brett Farve!!!! 2009-Present: Rex "Swag" Ryan... Finally a head coach I do not hate since Walt Michaels... 2 straight AFC Championship Games... A real franchise QB... For me the last two years almost make up for the previous 30+ years... almost. 2011-2012: AFC Division champs... League MVP-Mark Sanchez... Defensive MVP- Darrelle Revis... Super Bowl XLVI champs- NY "f'n" Jets
I have to agree with you. I think I even agree with the order you put the games in. I would add the Mud Bowl as No 5. That loss was a real kick in the nuts, and the after effects lasted for a long time.