Jets and the Era of Namath

When football fans outside of New York think about success stories in the League, the New York Jets rarely get attention. In fact, about the only thing that they have done worthy of serious mention in the last several years was trading for Brett Favre - though even that proved to be a train wreck. Postseason appearances have been a rarity, and there have been but two occasions in which they won their division in the modern era of the game. Most of the professional success for New York football has taken place with the Giants. There is Jets history worthy of pride, though, if you are willing to look back into the early days of the franchise's history. That was the period in which the New York Jets won their only Super Bowl trophy.

Building a team in the AFL

From 1960 until 1964 - the first few in the team's history - the Jets had no real success. In an AFL that had never achieved the recognition of the National Football League, the Jets were among the lowest of the low. When Joe Namath arrived in 1965, fresh from his college career with Alabama, the team's fortunes began to change. With a dazzling personality and aerial acrobatics on the field, the young Namath quickly gained Notoriety as Broadway Joe. His first real flash of brilliance came in the season of 1967, with four thousand passing yards that set a new mark for quarterbacks in the league. Given that football was a sport dominated by the running game in that day and age, three thousand yards was the gold standard of the time. That was also the year that his Jets team broke their own record for team success, winning eight games for the first time since their founding in 1960.

1968 and the march to the Super Bowl

1968 might have been a tumultuous year for the nation as a whole, but it was a banner year for the Jets. With Namath at the helm, the team won 13 of their 16 games. In the AFC Championship matchup with the Raiders, the Jets won an incredibly close contest and secured an appearance in the AFL-NFL title game that would later be known as Super Bowl III. The AFL's reputation was so far below that of the NFL that few people gave the Jets even the remotest chance of winning the game. After listening to the critics continually disregard his team's chances, Namath finally decided that he had enough while at a Player of the Year ceremony. In response to a Colts fan's belittling of his chances, Namath boastfully guaranteed that his Jets would prevail in the game that was to be played only a few days in the future. Though he later swore that he had no intentions of making such a declaration, it has become part of NFL lore.

The Boast made real

Super Bowl III was watched by more than seventy thousand fans. In the game, the great Johnny Unitas matched off against the brash Joe Namath in a contest that would prove to be anything but what the experts had anticipated. For all of three-plus quarters, the New York Jets kept the Colts off the scoreboard. In fact, by the time Baltimore managed to score, there were only a few minutes left in the game. Though Joe had not thrown a single touchdown in the game, and passed the ball not at all in the last period, his boast had been fulfilled.