New York Jets


In recent years the New York Jets have done little to capture the imagination of the football globe outside of bringing in Brett Favre for one quite peculiar season. Other than that, there have been a handful of playoff appearances – most often as a wild card group – and even a couple of division titles in 1998 and 2002, but nothing close towards sort of glory experienced by the other New York group, the Giants. In fact, to revel in Jets glory, one has to travel all the way back towards hallowed NFL and AFL days on the late 1960s. It was in the course of that time that the Jets won what would prove to be their only Super Bowl appearance and win within the franchise’s fifty year history.

Building a group inside AFL

The very first five years in the Jets’ existence inside American Football League were filled with mediocrity. Though the AFL had not achieved the status with the NFL at that point in time, even by their standards the Jets were anything but a high quality team or a potential threat for a title. That changed with the arrival of a quarterback from the University of Alabama in 1965. The young Joe Namath rapidly earned a name for himself inside the AFL with flashy performances via the air that set new standards for quarterback excellence. Among his a lot of aerial feats was his establishment with the very first 4,000 yard season by a quarterback – something that was truly breathtaking in that day and age of powerful runners and explosive offensive lines. Coincidentally, that feat occurred throughout the 1967 season, the same 1 in which Namath led the Jets to an 8 and 5 record which was their greatest ever.

1968 and also the march for the Super Bowl

The 1968 season was the highpoint of the team’s history at that point, as Namath engineered 13 wins and only 3 losses, earning the team a berth inside the playoffs. After defeating the Oakland Raiders within the AFC title game, the Jets became the American Football League’s representative from the third matchup between the AFL and NFL Champions – known towards entire world as Super Bowl III. At the time, the AFL had the respect of few expert analysts, and most predicted that the Baltimore Colts would effortlessly defeat the upstart New York team. Fans in the Colts even went so far as to heckle Jets players – including Namath – whenever they saw them. Broadway Joe, as Namath was called, finally had enough when he was heckled throughout an award ceremony only a couple of days prior for the large game. His response would become the stuff of legend as he proudly declared that the Jets would not only win the game, but that he personally guaranteed it.

Prophetic boast

Days later, with more than 75,000 fans watching Super Bowl III, the Jets took the field against Johnny Unitas and his Baltimore Colts. What happened next was a stunner for every fan in the game, as the Jets thoroughly dominated the favored Colts for the entirety from the game, allowing them to score with only minutes remaining inside fourth. The final score was 16 to 7, in a game in which Broadway Joe Namath never connected on a touchdown pass, and threw no passes in the fourth quarter.

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