This in a nutshell. Namath detractors such as yourself who pooh pooh 'stats' yet cite them when it serves their argument should know that Namath's SBIII numbers need to be put into context. He himself audibled roughly 70% of the plays from the LOS - Namath called a great game. As for no TDs, he just "overthrew" Maynard on a bomb; "overthrew" because Maynard (as Maynard himself attested to) stumbled and missed a half a step while running his route. As previously mentioned by JWWS, Maynard leading up to the game was nursing a slight hamstring pull he suffered in the AFL Championship win over the Oakland Raiders. The Colts were very leery of Maynard as a deep ball threat and Namath suckered them into double covering him opening it up for Sauer and Snell….and just missed hitting on a sure TD bomb to boot. Maynard had over 100 yards and 2 TDs against Oakland and from there Jets had to 'quietly' into SBIII with their Hall of Fame receiver and biggest target injured. And it isn't as if Namath merely handed the ball off all day. Sauer had 8 catches and Namath against the #1 defense in football that shut out the Browns 34-0 in the NFL Championaship game threw for over 200 yards as well. Lead a movement to vote him out of Canton since it bothers you so much, Geno. Geno spit the bit versus Syracuse. Namath won an NCAA championship, AND was even more impressive in defeat ('Bama-Texas, Orange Bow) playing on a bum wheel….this being before the era of very invasive, non-arthroscopic surgery.
One of these days I will have to put together a Namath thread to end all these battles that pop up now and again. I will include classic posts from statjeff22, joe, JWWS and others. But for now... This Geno poster says Namath does not belong because he threw more INTs than TDs. Okay, out of the Hall of Fame you go, Tittle, Van Brocklin, Parker, Layne, Waterfield, Baugh, Blanda. Look, there's Terry Bradshaw with an impish grin on his face. Good thing the NFL changed some major rules to open up the passing game in 1978, Terry. Eight quarterbacks in the Hall of Fame had a worse interception percentage than Namath.
just stop it, guys from the same era protect each other. Joe clearly did not have a HOF career on the field. All of your quotes are about his ability not his production. he is an all time great talent but unfortunately for our franchise he didn't have an all time great career and isn't an all time great QB. so if you credit Joe for his brilliant playcalling in that game do you bash him for poor play calling vs. KC the next year or for all the losses through the years? It's hard for Joe worshippers to acknowledge he didn't have a great career, I get it. he was your childhood hero and you will defend him. He was the first superstar and was "cool" and everyone young at the time loved him. That's great but he cost the Jets a playoff spot in 1967 and only led us to 2 playoff apps in a weak division and we won our only SB needing 1 win to get to the SB in a home game w/ homefield that we didn't earn. everything broke perfectly including all the TOs the D created in SB III. That team was really good but they had everything break perfectly in order to win and Joe never got us close any other season before or after. Part of it was eroding talent, part was Joe's durability, part was Joe growing up but the facts are he wasn't great long enough to be a HOFer based on his play on the field no matter how much you idolized him.
Never mind. Looking back, I see a lot of bad logic from a poster. Makes little sense to get into a multi-post discussion.
I'd rather be considered a Joe Namath worshipper than a Mark Sanchez worshipper like you. One of those players is actually good. As for Joe, I wasn't around for his playing days but I'm going to take the word of those that were around -the consensus among them is that he was a great, no questions asked. I'm definitely not going to pay attention to anyone who wasn't around and chooses to bash him on statistics, especially those that have a hard time understanding the QB position in general...like you and this troll Geno fanboy kid
When Namath was out due to injury, it was said that beating the Jets was like boxing a man in a wheelchair. When Namath played full seasons, the Jets were pretty good. He started 9 games in 1965. Okay, that was his rookie year and he was getting his feet wet and the team went 5-8-1. Every other year he played a full year the team was .500 or better- 1966 1967 1968 1969 1972 1974 The Jets were lost in 1970, 1971, and 1973- years which saw Namath play on a limited basis. Then 1975 came. That was the first year that Namath played the full year and the team was non-competitive. He was in his 11th year, his knees were gone and besides a couple good players here or there, it was a hideous roster. 1976 was the same deal. If people want to kill Namath for 1975 and 1976- fine, go ahead. But that is like killing Mickey Mantle for 1967 or Babe Ruth playing with the Braves or Willie Mays with the Mets or Troy Aikman in 2000.
Mark Sanchez has nothing to do w/ this. mark was not as good as Joe but Mark is underrated by jet fans while Joe is overrated. the consensus from who? underoos wearing Jet fans that worship other men? the Jets were 5-6-2 w/ Joe as starter in 1966 the only years they were above .500 w/ him starting were: 1967 8-5-1 where he threw away their playoff chances late in the year 1968 11-3 1969 10-4 1971 2-1 1972 7-6 he played parts of 13 years w/ us and LA and only had a winning record in 5 og them w/ one being at 2-1.
Wrong, again. In the playoff game the following year against the Chiefs (a game you Wikifully and gleefully seem fond of referencing), the end of that game came down to the wire as Namath, having had a bad day, nevertheless led the team down the field, do you remember that? Do you then remember the botched call on the tying Pete Lammons TD in the right corner of the endzone? Or the pass to Sauer that followed? Of course not. You never saw neither the game nor Namath play. And ordering people here to "just stop it" (lol) while presumptuous on your part simply doesn't cut it anymore. And derisively calling people "Joe worshippers" won't cut it either. That yarn's gotten stale. Wanna preach to the choir? www.patsfans.com would welcome your take on Namath with open arms. Talk to you later junc. To the others: interestingly enough (fwiw), the Jets SB season started just like it ended (ball control in both the season opener and the SB in the 4th qtr). The Jets opened the season at KC winning 20-19. That game included a TD bomb from Namath to Maynard that was a pretty a play as you'd ever want to see. As gimpy-kneed as he was, Namath still showed vestiges of his serious athletic skills with a backpedal on that play you'd rarely see from the most mobile, fleet-footed of QBs including today's group. The pass? Well, as Vince Lombardi (who was hardly an AFL fan) put it: "the best PURE passer ever." Flick....45 yards on a semi line drive (no John Elway baseball windup delivery needed) nailing Maynard in stride who galloped to the house. The game mirrored SBIII in that Namath and the offense played keep away in the 4th quarter against a great defense to seal the game. And KC's defense (with its HOF'ers) was coming into its own as evidenced the following year.
Statswise? Joe Namath. 220 interceptions to 173 TDs. Only threw more touchdown than interceptions in two of his thirteen seasons. He had a completion percentage of 50.1 and a quarterback rating of 65.5.
Ohhh it was b/c of a botched call I deal in reality, I appreciate what Joe and the '68 team accomplished but I am not going to pretend Joe was Tom Brady. we can't look at his #s compared to today's standards, we have to compare top his peers and his TD to INT ratio was poor for back then too.
