I would have to say the '05 KC opener was the worst in my viewing lifetime (1981 - present) beating out the 1985 31-0 loss to Oakland. My worst blow-out opening day losses in order 1) KC 27-7 2005 2) Raiders 31-0 1985 3) Miami 52-14 1995 4) Denver 31-6 1996 5) NE 28-3 1988
Yeah, that was the first season I remember the Jets not being totally out of it by Halloween. My first year really watching was 1974, where they had to win the last six to get to 7-7, so they were never contenders. The game WW 85 posted about, I remember being stuck at a pool with no TV. I called SportsPhone (anyone remember that?) to find out how the game went. Expecting bad news, I remember my shock to hear the guy say (at 100 mph) Richard Todd threw 3 TDs and Pat Leahy kicked 4 FGs for the Jets to win. We won at Buffalo in Week 2 to get to 2-0 in the division, but Todd got hurt in Week 5 and that Cleveland game late in the year was the killer. I was at the game in November when Todd came back from his collar bone injury and got re-injured, Matt Robinson came back in. Leahy missed a potnetial game winning FG--about the same exact moment Herm Edwards was beating the Giants in the Miracle at the Meadowlands. Best thing Herm ever did. Both games ended 19-17.
Do you remember Robinson hookin-up with Wesley Walker for a 75 yard TD at Mile High Stadium in Nov to beat the Broncos???.... a high point of the 78 season!!!! Seattle beat us with a fake goal at Shea.........The Seahawks, a new franchise, always kicked our ass in the late 70's and early 80's. Our offense was very good in 78, the defense was hot and cold, especially our secondary and pass rush, except for Klecko. Michaels was smart......he drafted Marty Lyons and Mark Gastineau in rd 1 and rd 2...in 79.....ala the begining of the NYSackE.
Yes, first play of the 4th quarter. I remember it because the announcers were just saying that Denver hadn't given up a TD all year in the 4th (maybe at home, forget the exact stat), and no sooner did they say it the ball was in the air. Walker split two defenders, ran past them like they were standing still, and scored the TD. Bruce Harper also scored a TD in that game, I think. That was pretty late in the year, they got to 8-6 at one point. Walker was my favorite player when I was a kid. I ended up playing some WR later in life. Robinson was good that year in place of Todd. He picked Miami apart in a 24-13 win at the Orange Bowl around that same point in the season.
976-1313 I was at a party once as a kid and my father's friend (who had a gambling problem -- but of course i didnt know it at the time) kep t sending me out to the pay phone (which cost a dime) to call sports phone and bring back the scores.
Wesley Walker became my favorite Jet, and still is, during his rookie season in 1977 during the Oakland Raider game, when he caught an 80 yard Bomb from Todd. I remeber we lost that game 28-27 on a Pat Leahy missed P.A.T. The Raiders were the World Champs and we almost beat them. I was sitting, with my Dad, in the temp seats (Bleachers) in the endzone of the closed end of Shea. Leahy, before the game, was practising Field Goals and kicked one wide left, missing the net, right into my arms....I still have that ball 29 years later....what a thrill for a young kid.
Unless, there were other 28-27 losses to oakland, at home, in the 70's, I was at that one with my dad as well. My father told me at that time -- dont worry theyll find a way to lose. Those teams were hard to watch b/c they would make a killer mistake in every game. For example, here is the first jets game i ever went to: http://www.angelfire.com/ab4/mydamrams/13/74jets.html
That's great. Leave it to Leahy to give you a souvenier. I remember hearing that game on the radio, the home games were blacked out in those days. Marty Glickman doing the play-by-play. If I remember correctly we were ahead 27-14 in the second half and Ken Stabler led one of his patented comebacks. Once Walker learned to hang onto the ball he was awesome. I liked him because I read in his rookie TC about him being legally blind in one eye and it didn't stop him from becoming a pro football player.
<<Robinson was good that year in place of Todd. He picked Miami apart in a 24-13 win at the Orange Bowl around that same point in the season.>> I was at that game in 1978 at the Orange Bowl. I grew up in Miami as a Jets fan and had to hear the endless needling from Dolphins fans in the seventies. On that day my seats were close to the field and I was furiously waving a Jets pennant. Pat Ryan, a rookie that year and wearing #4, saw me and gave me a thumbs up. Late in the fourth quarter when the game was well in hand and most of the fans had exited, I moved down to the very front row behind the Jets bench. I called out to the players Matt Robinson, Klecko, Leahy, Kevin Long, Ryan and Bruce Harper, they all came over talked to me and shook my hand. The only player who ignored me with a memorable scowl was Abdul Salaam. Pat Ryan asked me what a Jets fan was doing at the game? Those were the dark days of the seventies when Jets fans didn't show up for Miami home games like they do now. I went to every Jets' Orange Bowl game in the seventies and I always felt alone. Bruce Harper gave me his chin strap when the gun sounded. All-in-all that day was my favorite Jets memory as a kid.
Awesome story! Things were so much more accessable back then, weren't they? It's amazing when you read this board, how such a bad team for so long can bring people so many great memories.
Nowadays the NFL would never schedule a Jets and Giants game at the same time. In fact 1978 may have been the last season they did that because you are right, both of those games ended at the same time with the heart-breaking results (for the respective teams that is). I remember the last game of the 1982 season was added on- the NFL made up one of the cancelled strike games - and they scheduled the Jets and the Giants both for 1:00 how up in arms everybody got......it hasn't happened since
Sorry that its off topic but look at my avi and you'll see I can't resists... (Talking about the debuting Legion of Doom)..."these guys are tough, they're proven and you know they don't care look at they're haircuts." (Talking about Tugboat)..."Is that his shirt or did he strip that off a barber pole?" and finally... (During the short lived Bobby Heenan show talking about the oinkettes who each must have weighed around 250-300 ibs)..."Hey I bet you people at home are wondering where the blow up valve is on those suites! Hah nahh you'll never find it." Hah Heenan was hilarious. As far as opening days Morton's two kickoff returns against Buffalo had me chanting Super Bowl with 4 of my friends. The bad is 99...ugh just unbelievable the terrible luck this franchise has.
Of all the lopsided disasters everyone's posted, this had to be the worst one ever. How often do you begin the day as the favorite to win the Super Bowl and have the whole season go up in smoke by halftime of Week 1? The fact that we ended up losing a division game at home on a late FG was just literally adding insult to injury. It was over even if we had won the game. You couldn't even put a happy spin on it if you tried. Remember Keyshawn in the post-game? Practically crying while he cursed and pounded the table. This was opening fucking day after the greatest season we had in 30 years!! Unbelievable, still! It was so bad the team was down in the dumps for weeks, we were 1-6 before we know what hit us. You can't get a worse opener than that. Not KC last year, not 81, 82, 85, 95, 96, not any of them.
