Namath I saw Namath play in all kinds of dreadful weather. He called his own plays. There were no rules protecting the quarterback and the receivers could be bumped all the way down the field. He was great fun to watch. I think that most people who comment never saw him play. By the way, Jim Brown was the best player ever.
It's up there with the reasoning for Deion Sanders being on the list. Smith only led the league in rushing four times and scored at least 18 touchdowns three times, but he never had a transcendent season. As for the Sanders comment, that is why many people feel Chad Ochocinco is in a battle with Jerry Rice for greatest wide receiver ever.
U R 1,000 % correct that the majority of the members in this forum were probably not even born when JWN played :lol:
Why is this fact funny? Its not funny. Its not fun. [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JLiO6667PY[/YOUTUBE]
actually, marion motley was........ eliminate all the robo qbs ( they don't call the plays) and peyton manning , unitas, namath , and guys from the 60's and earlier are the only qbs left.
Motley was great for sure, but I find it difficult to call him the best ever, especially over Jim Brown.
Take your best guess. If you still can not get it ask for help from any of the posters who posted in this thread & were not even born when JWN played :lol:
I never saw Namath play, but I love Namath. It's not his fault that the Jets have never replaced him as the face of the franchise. He was a major reason we have our only SB Championship. And he loves the Jets.
It is just like how none of us were alive when Abraham Lincoln was presidentin'. It's just damn hilarious. On another similar note, I fell off my chair laughing this morning when thinking about how none of us were alive during the Cretaceous Period.
Its funny though. You talk to a coach who coached against Namath, and you can fully understand why he was known as a great player and why he's in the HOF. You get fans arguing back and forth and analysts who didn't watch him play live and you get this overrated deal. I go with those who coached against him. They know him better than anyone on this board, the analysts, etc.
It was a different era....QB's called their own plays for the most part, OC's were rare or had minimal impact, passing was a rarity. Namath's 4,009 yards in 1967 was the equivalent today of about 6,000 yards !! Tape and reviews of game plans and defensive systems was in its infancy....in-game adjustments were minimal.....a 55% completion percentage was considered good, 60% was unheard of. There were very few if any "2-minute combacks" until 1978 when the defensive secondary contact rules were changed. Until then, if you had a 2-possession lead with 5 minutes left, you almost NEVER lost.
Yes, b/c players and coaches never protect each other. We can read what players and coaches had to say but the #s don't lie. To be great you have to puit #s or win big and he did neither. Players and coaches of the same era will always protect each other, that's the way it is.
Is one SB not good enough for you, champ? Favre and Manning are much, much better QBs than Namath ever was. The only argument one could make against that statement is that the state of football was different during Joe's time, which it was, but the guy threw 50+ more INTs than he did TDs, and a poultry 50% comp rate. Those are outstandingly bad numbers. And let me reiterate that I love everything about Broadway Joe, but the guy is overrated.
qb & receiver stats across era is one of the worst comparisons that can be made. The closer you get to today's NFL, the more rules are created to protect qb & the more rules are created to help WR get free. Didn't watch Namath play myself but the literature from his era states his passing yardage per season was amazing during that era. Unless we've witnessed that era ourselves, we'll never know. == Manning & Brady are HOF qb but they're going to spend their entire careers taking less big hits than some of these HOF old school qb had to endure in just one season.
You really need to look at the era in which Namath played. You can't compare his stats to passers of today. Here are the completion percentage numbers for the leagues in which Namath played- 1965 AFL- 45.3 1966 AFL- 46.3 1967 AFL- 47.6 1968 AFL- 47.5 1969 AFL- 49.8 1970 NFL- 51.1 1971 NFL- 50.9 1972 NFL- 51.7 1973 NFL- 52.0 1974 NFL- 52.5 1975 NFL- 52.5 1976 NFL- 52.2 1977 NFL- 51.3 In six of the nine seasons in which Namath started more than half of the Jets games, his completion percentage was above the league average. He was better than the league average in 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, and 1974. He was below the league average in 1972, 1975, and 1976. Note: 1972 was not a bad year at all for him, anyway. He was the 1st team All-Pro quarterback. _____ Knocking Namath for a low completion percentage is not fair.
