I can see why football players in that era would want to retire. The money wasn’t great, and players were expected to play with injuries. Injuries that worsened with time, and made retirement a physical hell.
@@smitskee Today, players don't have to work in the offseason and they can devote themselves to being prepared for the season. That's why, despite all the nostalgia for the "good old days", players are much better today and the quality of play is generally much better.
Excellent video. You really captured so much of what was happening at that time. These videos are consistently fantastic. I wake up looking forward to each one. Thanks for this channel. It's awesome!
I call it "Spot the Gabbert" in honor of Blaine Gabbert. However, Joe Namath seemed to be an equally amazing combination of injuries, 400 yard passing games, and better if he spiked the ball on every down.
Reporter: Why are you retiring? Al Atkinson: Because Joe Namath's passer rating in his last playoff game was worse than if you did nothing but spike the ball into the ground on every single play. Story idea: _The 1974 Strike and the unfortunate end of Kent Bowman's career_
It was just as windy for Lenny Dawson of the Chiefs yet he completed two long passes to score and win the game. The Jets secondary was horrible. The Jets had first and goal on the one and couldn't score. There offense was pathetic. I was a kid listening to that game on the radio. It was the only time I ever cried over a game. I got used to it fast with theJets.
@@billorland7747, you just lost the point when you said DAWSON..threw against a.. "..JETS secondary(that) was horrible." You're right. NAMATH threw against a KC secondary that had TWO HALL OF FAMERS- THOMAS & J.ROBINSON, an AFL ALL STAR IN JIM KEARNEY, and super rookie JIM MARSALIS. And, the JETS BACK FOUR: after over the hill JOHNNY SAMPLE had left, were RANDY BEVERLEY who made two big plays in his whole career, and they came in the SUPER BOWL, and jouneymen JIM HUDSON who had one SBOWL pickoff and nothing else= a college qback at U.TEX., AND later TV GUY= JOHN DOCKERY; CORNELL GORDON, and BILL BAIRD; not an ALL AFL'ER AMONG THE BUNCH. Think that didn't help LENNY D? Think again.
Great historical content on your channel! A possible idea for a video could be how Jim Brown flirted with coming out of retirement in 1983 at age 47 to play for the Raiders, sparked by his feud with Franco Harris?
Was it really a feud with Franco Harris? He just didn't think much of Franco's style of running out of bounds at the end of runs instead of taking the big hit. It may not have been macho but it probably extended Franco's career to the point where he was up there in in career rushing totals when he retired. It also helped the Steelers win four superbowls. I think he flirted with coming back because many people thought he was still faster than Marcus Allen, running back of the Raiders. I remember people talking of staging a 100 yard dash between them that never materialized.
Namath held out in 1970 because he needed in his words "a really big loan" from the the Jets owner Leon Hess to cover business failures. About $250,000 is what Namath requested(which is about $1,759,039.95 today) and hess either didn't want to pay that much or pay anything at all. Not sure what happened regarding the loan. As a player in the 70s Namath was a shadow of himself. Frequently injured with mediocre and bad jet teams, however none this effected his wallet because despite his obvious decline as player, his celebrity rose, he was a highly sought-after product spokesman, with tv commercials, print ads , guest appearances on popular TV shows. And from 1972-75 he was the highest paid player in the NFL. All that without making the playoffs since 1969.
@@ReverendBrown. totally agree and you can throw the rams old blue and white in their they were the Detroit Redwings and the Montreal Canadians of pro football somethings are timeless.
I'm an Alabama fan but have never been a Namath fan. He was god awful for 2/3 of his career and is in the Hall of fame for winning that one super bowl.
I love Joe, but have to concede your point. He had 3 great years and that was it. But he was so instrumental in the rise of the AFL and helped win SBIII. Matt Snell should have been MVP of that game. First runner to rush for over 100 yards in a Super Bowl and when he scored, first time ever an AFL team held a lead.
@@frogger1952 Even the super bowl year of 1968 Joe completed less than 50% of his passes. He threw for a lot of yardage in those early years but was never efficient.
It's hard to describe just what a celebrity Namath was by 1970. He was on a par with the most famous names in the world. It's a small miracle that other Jet players didn't have a near breakdown in trying to deal with his fame, perks, and wealth. Atkinson was right, though. Namath bought into the craziness at the expense of the team. Yes, he was badly injured, but it didn't seem like he was too concerned about team unity. Crazy days and nights was what it was more about.
Joe is a lovable, likable guy today. I have met him several times and each time it has been memorable. In his younger days (like most of us), he was a bit annoying to some.
He's still annoying to me now with the Medicare ads he does, especially since he keeps saying Date X is your last chance to get this special offer and then Date X comes and goes and Namath is still hawking the same offer.
@@DolFan316 So you blame Namath for taking a spokesman job? Spokesmen and women are paid to read a script, why the hate? Do you think he stole the job from Bob Griese or from some other former Miami Dolphins player of similar age? He's 78 years old now and his employment opportunities are probably few and far between so I'm gonna give you some advice on how to not be so annoyed by his Medicare ad, CHANGE THE CHANNEL!
@@davidcobb2693 Take your own advice and stop reading my comments. You're the one who seems more full of hate than anybody else who comments on OBJ9's videos. Go try to ruin someone else's life, I'm not interested in your BS any more.
I always hear that Joe Namath is so nice to meet , I hope I have the Honor of meeting Joe one day . I have been a big fan of Joe's since the early 1960s , Joe is a legend . 😎🏈💚
In defense of Joe, that divisional playoff game vs Chiefs (can I still refer to them as the Chiefs without being a racist) was played on 12/20 in another brutally cold, windy day at Shea Stadium. While Joe was 14-40, Dawson was only 12-27 for 201 yards, nothing great either. The problem with the 1969 Jets team is that they only beat the teams they should have beaten. They didn't win one game the entire season against a team with a plus .500 record. The following year they went 7-7 and were a miserably run team for the rest of the decade.
@@smitskee Wow, I completely forgot they went 4-10 in 1970. I do remember games being blacked out. Quite a comedown from the late 60's when a crowbar and 3/1 oil were needed to squeeze one additional person into Shea while the Jets were playing. IMHO, they have NEVER been able to re-capture that excitement. Jets are an LI team and move to Jersey guaranteed that Giants Stadium / MetLife would never be 100% filled with Jets fans. LI based fans have no desire to spend 6 hours driving on a Sunday to watch a 3 hour game. It's probably 60% to 70% Jets fans max. I don't think I've seen a Jets game in person for over 30 years.
@@smitskee The following year, the Colts went an unspectacular 8-5-1 with Unitas starting 12 of 14 games. Ewbank outcoached Shula in SB III and ended up providing everyone else in the league the game plan on how to beat the Colts. So they certainly weren't as dominant in 69. In 1970, instead of a professional QB like Babe Parilli as a back up, Jets were saddled with lead footed Al Woodall. The story is that Jets wanted to trade for a better QB, but Namath (because of his knees) was worried about losing his starting job and didn't need anyone breathing down his neck. So he insisted, in fact demanded, that Jets management stick with Woodall. As great as Joe was, with his Bachelors III crap, disappearing from training camp, the fragile knees...he was a massive headache to deal with.
@@smitskee Say what you will about Weeb, he delivered the Jets their only championship and was the only coach to win championships in both the NFL and AFL. Unfortunately, once he became GM/coach and with Sonny Werblin gone after the 67 season, the Jets cheaped-out personnel wise at every opportunity. They lost borderline HOF'er Verlon Biggs because of this. As an aside, when the AFL was formed, they had an agreement among all the teams as to what players they would pick up when they were cut from their NFL teams. To avoid a UFA bidding war situation, each AFL team was assigned a team from whom they would get "first dibs" when a player was cut. The Jets' assigned team was the Colts. So given this and Weeb's history with Baltimore, they had tremendous insight into the Colts' personnel and game strategies heading into SB III.
Atkinson was a great one. Namath telling the time Johnny Carson was drunk and slapped one of the Jets LB. (Atkinson). Namath said Johnny was lucky Atkinson blew it off and Johnny was a mean drunk.
nfl football is a brutal sport and damages you physically and mentally. i never blame a player for retiring early or trying to get as much money as possible. id have to say atkinsons comments before that mnf opener in 1970 made things right between him and namath. they were both great jets.
I never begrudge a player anything they can get... but I do question their tactics sometimes. Like when Lev Bell totally screwed himself by not coming back for the last 6 games of his final year in Pittsburgh. I had no issue with him not signing the franchise tender before then... but by not coming back in midseason he lost his prorated salary and a year of service time. I don't think he would have made a difference, but if he came back and they won a championship... it would have been a nice bump in his next deal too.
One of the big problems with The NY Jets following SB III was injuries and the cheapness of the organization towards its players other than its star qb. George Sauer Jr. also retired at a young age not really enamored with the game.
Hey Bill, I do recall a photo of Saure with two other former SB Jets in the dank lockerroom in Randalls Island Stadium while playing for The NY Stars. They realized how far they had fallen. George was a very smart guy, I think he was a math major at Texas but he seems he could never channel himself into a post football life. He was sort of the Peter Tork of football. By 1973 accept for Joe's loyal OL the stars had grown old the owners did not want to create or pay another Broadway Joe.
Very sad about George Sauer Jr, who was one of my favorites on that Jet team. I read that after SBIII, Sauer's heart was never into playing football. Rodger Byrd, DB for the Bills, said he played against him in a game in 69 and he was a shell of his previous self. He said the Jet coaches were screaming at him from the sidelines to get his head into the game to a point where he felt sorry for him. I don't know what happened to him after football, but in his 50s he was stocking shelves at a supermarket. He contracted Alzheimer's and was living in his sister's home when he finally passed. Never married and had no kids.
@@smitskee I think Don was 31 in 1969, so that would make him somewhere in his mid 80's now. Could be just father time taking his toll. George's dad was a tough taskmaster. When George was a kid, he would throw passes and lead him into trees as a way of learning to take a hit and hold onto the ball. My internal armchair psychologist tells me that he probably missed out on a childhood as his dad focused him so much on playing football. When he was with the Jets, he would hang out with hippie girls a lot younger than him...as if he was trying to live the teenage years he never had. I get the sense he was kind of a lost soul and his spectacular performance in SB III was the high point of his professional life. After that, he was never the same player. Joe said George worked so hard, he virtually embarrassed both Don and him to stay late after practice to get timing right on pass patterns. All that dedication dissipated after SB III.
@@smitskee Don and George were very different receivers for sure. Both had terrific hands, but like you said, George was more the possession guy and Don was the go to guy when you wanted the bomb. I'll never forget how Don ate up and spit out George Atkinson during the Heidi Bowl. I think he had over 200 yards receiving; 98 of them on back to back plays after Philbin recovered a Raider fumble on our own 2 yard line.
@@thereilneid2868 That's kind of a different story to me. Dilfer was bad statistically every year he was the primary starter except 97 when he was average. Rypien was good his first few years, average his third and then he was flat-out great in 91. He went back to average for a year... after that he was truly awful. Both guys played on teams that were generally good other than the QB position but Trent was barely won over 50% of his games compared to Rypien's 60%. If early-career Rypien was on the Dilfer era Bucs teams they probably would have won a championship before Dungy got canned.
@@thereilneid2868 Dude, Rypien in ‘91looked like Warner in his Greatest Show on Turf years. For that one season, he was the very best QB in the league.
Don't be hatin' on namath haters. Some players were just jealous of joe willie. namath brought pizazz to the upstart afl and got the league notoriety. that's what jets wanted by drafting him away from cards and established nfl. And jets upset of colts got the afl the respect it deserved. It was a good league that could match-up with the old boy guard nfl. then vikes got hammered the following year by chiefs in s b iv to complete the afl story before merger. And lombardi completely dissed the afl before s b's I and II writing afl off as an inferior league. So much so that shula completely overlooked jets and took it for granted colts would just roll them in sb III. Shula had them unprepared and never even changed the colts game plan. And after that s b all the long time afl players congrtaulated jets and namath for winning that s b for the afl. It was a win for all the afl'ers who played all or most of those 10 years who were laffed at by the nfl. And i am glad that smug lombardi got to see the nfl get humiliated in those last two afl/nfl sb's. And ask fred dryer about namath. a teammate of joe part of one year in la who said back in the earlier '70's namath was so respected that when dudes had a chance to just smash namath on bad knees and all to the ground they would hold up knowing he was a cherished player for not only bringing respect to the afl but helping nfl get big tv ratings which led to tv $$$'s as well. He said 'you would have had to be a #kn idiot' to do that to joe. And namath with that release and today's pass happy rules and pass friendly offenses would tear up the nfl today. Too bad docs didn't take better care of his knees back at bama. And al atkinson just a jealous hater.
You are correct on at least one point. The entire AFL was thrilled with the Jets upset win over the Colts in Supe III. The Colts were 19 point betting favorites in that game, against what most football people thought was an inferior league. When the Jets opened the '69 in Buffalo against the Bills, the Bills cheerleaders ran across the field during the pregame with a banner that read CHAMPS in the Jets green letters !
@@thereilneid2868Then that makes stabler a mediocre qb at best as well. Minus the 1 s b title. Bradshaw is mediocre as well outside of all the great talent steelers had. Stabler's stats mirror namath's. The difference is after the s b jets declined and only chance they had to win was for namath to throw the ball. And namath hit 4000 yds passing when 3000 was the standard for qb's working out of two wr sets. Mediocre?...i think not.
@JBSptfn Yep. You are correct. As i said in my post if you put namath in today's nfl with rules favoring the passing game he puts up 5000 + yds. He'd be like marino today. Plus namath took a beating back there, unlike pretty tom who defenders can't touch back there.
@JBSptfn Namath was the first pro QB to pass for 4,000 yds. in a season. It would not happen again for another 12 seasons, till Dan Fouts did it in 1979. Then, Brian Sipe accomplished it in 1980. But Fouts & Sipe did it in the expanded 16 game regular season. Namath did it in a 14 game season !
I found it amazing that ABC Monday Night Football hired both OJ Simpson and Joe Namath to work in the booth after they had retired. Both were so pathetic and couldn't complete a complete sentence, neither one of them. So the network let both of them go when they realized both had attended college and obviously neither attended a single class while being there.
Gator, how in the hell do you find this stuff, how you dig it up ? I always thought I was one of the biggest Bill Nelsen/Cleveland Brown fans on the planet, and I never had heard of the stink he had with his wife over retiring. Likewise, I never heard a peep about this feud between Namath & Atkinson. It never made any news outside of New York, unlike the Pete Rozelle/Bachelors III saga the year after the Jets Super Bowl win which made Pearl Harbor/World War III headlines nationwide.
If you were in the NY metro area you heard all about it. I read about it in the Daily News. It also made the tv sports coverage. Big news - Al Atkinson and Joe Namath share a ride and reconcile their differences.
Gerry Philbin # 81 Def. End , said that the reason they made Joe the Captain was to try to get him to take some kind of responsibility as a team leader. Joe himself agreed it worked. He wasn't going for the big yards to boost his numbers , he threw shorter passes and used his backs more in the passing scheme . It worked ! Especially against my beloved Colts in the Super bowl from Hell. Along with the huge paycheck , Namath's ego was getting bigger . It is hard to see cleaarly when everyone is telling you what you want to hear " You are Great " . Unitas also suffered from this , ask Mike Curtis , that's why he was switched to linebacker from running back . Your are young , rich and Joe Namath . Derrek Sanderson # 16 for my beloved Bruins also fell into this trap. By the way Sanderson , Namath & Mantle owned a club together , " Bachelor's 3 " . Derrick was a piece of work and a great hockey player. Live & learn !
the short passing game was used to beat a great colt d. And blitzing namath did no good for colts with joe's quick release, something that shula openly admitted to later. colts were doomed once they got behind and unitas useless with a bad shoulder.
@@stevenbauer4799 Namath was hoping they'd blitz , his star receiver # 13 Don Maynard had no receptions but scared the hell out of the Colts early when he almost beat Bobby Boyd # 40 , Sauer had a field day with Lenny Lyles # 43 due to Lenny having the flu. Rick Volk # 21 suffered a concussion after being run over by Matt Snell # 41 , Volk fell over in the locker room after the game , Snell sent flowers the next day . I'm 68 and I can still remember it like a bad dream . But I learned to respect Willie Joe . I still have my # 41 Tom Matte jersey which I replaced the next year with a Vikings # 11 Joe Kapp Jersey .I just couldn't win ! I did buy a # 12 Joe Namath Jersey which I also have .
@@stevenbauer4799 Oh he did eat us alive and skinned us in the process . he was like a surgeon . Curtis blitzed , short pass to Mathison , Shinnick blitzed , short pass to Snell. The real hero was # 67 Dave Herman ! He was a guard who was switched to tackle . He had to handle " Kill BUBBA kill " Bubba Smith . Gave away over 40 lbs. to the big DE . Smith got to Namath once . I switched teams after that game and went with the plucky Joe Kapp Viking's , another lesson in futility . Should have stayed with the Colts , they beat Dallas in SB V . But I learned a lesson in life . Do not underestimate your opponent ! We learned that with the Japanese in WW2 , the Vietnamese during the 60's . Who thought Tom Brady would do what he did last year ? I played ice hockey years ago ( 70's ) , I was a 130 lb soaking wet defenseman , made captain on a team I was the smallest guy on. But I could play and HIT ! I had to earn my team mates respect at training camp and I did . Respect must be earned and the 68 Jets got mine !
@@dantean that was 20 years earlier and besides I thought I was being humorous and tying it in with this story I think you are a bit uptight my friend loosen up.
Most people know Joe Namath for his super bowl III guarantee. But, he was not the only one to predict that, as an astrologer used astrology to show that the jets would win.
Nice tribute to the leader of a vaulted Jets defense...Defense wins championships and Atkinson led by example...Regarding his retirement...just a negotiating ploy for more money. Nothing less, nothing more...
I don't think Atkinson was using this as a ploy for more money. I don't believe he was that kind of person. He was very humble. He thought he was easily replaceable and not that good a player. He contemplated a vocation as a priest before choosing pro football.
I don't even care about the jest. Don't like them. Don't hate them. They're just not significant enough to have an opinion about them. And yet they're the gift that keeps on giving. I can't get enough videos of jest incompetence.
Well, not exactly. He intended to retire, but came back to help the team. Namayh was just hanging the team out to dry. One wonders if Namath hadn't retired after winning the SB if they could have won or at least made it back to the next one.
@@gregcrane4953 BUT HE PERFORMED AT HIGHEST LEVEL IN THAT 1 SUBER BOWL WINNING YEAR NOT LIKE TRENT DILFER OR BRAD JOHNSON WHO THE DEFENSE LITERALLY CARRIED THEM TO THE SUPERBOWL AND WON IT WITH THE D MARK RYPIEN WAS ON FIRE FOR THAT 1 SEASON HENCE HE WON THE MVP
I love EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR VIDEOS. But what I have an issue with, is the often blurry and increasingly bad quality of the film footage. Why does that keep happening? What gives?
What gives is that this film footage is 50-plus years old now. If you know anyone else with better footage of the NFL from the '70s and earlier that isn't copyrighted then please let the rest of us know your source.
LOL... no. Pretty sure the 60k Jets fans packed into Shea (who actually knew his name) was a bit higher than ~3,400 people on TH-cam asking "who?" and then forgetting it the next day.
1. You said that Atkinson retired before the 1970 season. Then you show Monday Night Football clips featuring Atkinson. Since ABC started MNF in that 1970 season you kinda gave away the ending. This unofficial Official Jaguar Gator 9 historian remembers in part because you made a video about the start of Monday Night Football. 2. Watch at 6:52, then watch th-cam.com/video/ZeET7Z1ZGlw/w-d-xo.html
You tell great stories, but you gotta stop it with the hyperbole. Every video is “maybe the greatest” whatever...player, game, play, etc. You said this guy was one of the greatest defensive players in franchise history, and then went on to him making All-Pro just once. Love the content, just please cool it on the hyperbole.
So, if the coolest kid/jock in high school doesn't show up for the new school year, the nerdy bookworm kid should drop out of school? Atkinson could have picked up a phone and called Namath to confront him man to man but he wasn't man enough to do that so he talked sh!t to the media about his displeasure with Namath. Passer rating wasn't invented until after Pete Rozelle asked the league's statistical committee to develop a better system in 1971 and it was not implemented until 1973. Joe Namath was under a microscope in New York his entire career and Rozelle had a hard-on for the AFL and everything that made it successful, i. e. AFL Commissioner Al Davis and the face of the rebel league, Joe Namath. Stinky Pete went out of his way to screw over Al Davis and sabotage the Raiders and he wasn't fond of Joe Namath as evidenced by his threat to suspend Namath if he continued a LEGAL business partnership with people Old Stinky didn't like. Perhaps Joe was not in a hurry to get back under the microscope prior to training camp where he would be back to always having to keep his guard up about anything he said or did or face more league scrutiny if he had an after practice beer or rode in a taxi with someone Old Stinky didn't approve of.
To Me this was much ado about nothing. Players retire and un-retire all the time. Ralph Baker, another NY Jets linebacker who played for eleven years (1964-74) retired during training camp in 1975. George Sauer, one of the best wide receivers the Jets ever had, quit after the 1970 season.
@@richardmorris7063 well I understood Broadway Joe's rationale when another poster told me that Ben Davidson and another player was always going upstairs on him.
Broadway Joe Namath. Career passer rating 65.3. Threw 50 more picks then TD's. YES 50. Including AFL/NFL 3-2 playoff record. Tell me 1 game won't get you in the NFL HOF. Oh yeah, big guarantee....he said "we're gonna win that game" what the hell was he going to say when asked
Namath was never about statistics. Anyone who saw him knows he was just incredibly exciting. He was just so graceful and had such style. He was beautiful to watch. As far as the guarantee, it was not something he was asked. It occurred at an awards ceremony where Lou Michaels (brother of Jets defensive backfield coach, Colts field goal kicker and reserve defensive end) was heckling Namath as he received an award that the Colts were going to kick his ass. The Jets were 18 point underdogs. Namath, who had had a few by that point, told Michaels from the podium that he had news for him - the Jets were gonna win the the game and he guarantees it.
@@billorland7747 You are exactly right and glad you set the record straight. Joe has been telling the same story for 50+ years and never deviated. He said he was being heckled and the "I guarantee it" quote wasn't something he thought out, it was like an exclamation point at the end of his reply said in anger. He was sick of the Jets and AFL in general always being disparaged. I never knew until you posted it that Michaels was the heckler. People today don't realize what a monumental upset this game was after the Packers trounced the Chiefs and Raiders in the only other two Super Bowls played to date. In most people's minds, it was almost inconceivable that an AFL team could beat the best NFL team. This game is on par with the 1980 USA vs USSR hockey game and were the two biggest upsets in my lifetime.
Come on Al little bit self-righteous there Al Atkinson completely different day than today. I think you should just mind your business. Talk to the coach. Where is our captain? Where is our leader pressure the coach to get his ass back there but I understand but it all worked out in the end.
This VIDEO is STILL WAY BETTER than SPIKING the BALL into the ground on EVERY single OFFENSIVE play!!!!
that line is quickly becoming his version of 'fetch', as in he really needs to stop trying to make it happen.
@@GetBenched2010 it's long past it's expiration date.
I can see why football players in that era would want to retire. The money wasn’t great, and players were expected to play with injuries. Injuries that worsened with time, and made retirement a physical hell.
It was also the era, where most players had other jobs during the off-season. Some were practical, and set themselves up for when football was over.
@@smitskee Today, players don't have to work in the offseason and they can devote themselves to being prepared for the season. That's why, despite all the nostalgia for the "good old days", players are much better today and the quality of play is generally much better.
@@marcschneider4845The players are more fit and the schemes more interesting to dissect but the rules are ass.
Excellent video. You really captured so much of what was happening at that time. These videos are consistently fantastic. I wake up looking forward to each one. Thanks for this channel. It's awesome!
I'm starting to think you look for a way to squeeze the ball spiking line into every video.
Nah, the videos are made around that moment.
There should be an over/under for the amt of time it takes to be said in each video
I call it "Spot the Gabbert" in honor of Blaine Gabbert.
However, Joe Namath seemed to be an equally amazing combination of injuries, 400 yard passing games, and better if he spiked the ball on every down.
GREAT COMMENT 👍!!! Been wondering that more & more with every new video... for a while now really.
DRINK!!!
0:32 - You forgot to mention T.O. trash talking Donovan McNabb when he was with the Eagles.
Reporter: Why are you retiring?
Al Atkinson: Because Joe Namath's passer rating in his last playoff game was worse than if you did nothing but spike the ball into the ground on every single play.
Story idea: _The 1974 Strike and the unfortunate end of Kent Bowman's career_
Phil, it was windier than bleep that day.
Final score 13-6..KC
It was just as windy for Lenny Dawson of the Chiefs yet he completed two long passes to score and win the game. The Jets secondary was horrible. The Jets had first and goal on the one and couldn't score. There offense was pathetic. I was a kid listening to that game on the radio. It was the only time I ever cried over a game. I got used to it fast with theJets.
@@billorland7747, you just lost the point when you said DAWSON..threw against a..
"..JETS secondary(that) was horrible." You're right.
NAMATH threw against a KC secondary that had TWO HALL OF FAMERS- THOMAS & J.ROBINSON, an AFL ALL STAR IN JIM KEARNEY, and super rookie JIM MARSALIS.
And, the JETS BACK FOUR:
after over the hill JOHNNY SAMPLE had left, were RANDY BEVERLEY who made two big plays in his whole career, and they came in the SUPER BOWL, and jouneymen JIM HUDSON who had one SBOWL pickoff and nothing else= a college qback at U.TEX., AND later TV GUY= JOHN DOCKERY; CORNELL GORDON, and BILL BAIRD; not an ALL AFL'ER AMONG THE BUNCH.
Think that didn't help LENNY D?
Think again.
I love this guys videos…but your post cracks me up.
@@jmad627, cant refute it, huhhhh?
We're at 1:16 and 6:59 on this one -- seems within one standard deviation of the norm. Good job, crew. Looking forward to tomorrow. G'night.
Great historical content on your channel! A possible idea for a video could be how Jim Brown flirted with coming out of retirement in 1983 at age 47 to play for the Raiders, sparked by his feud with Franco Harris?
I think Wilt Chamberlain had similar thoughts about that same time.
Was it really a feud with Franco Harris? He just didn't think much of Franco's style of running out of bounds at the end of runs instead of taking the big hit. It may not have been macho but it probably extended Franco's career to the point where he was up there in in career rushing totals when he retired. It also helped the Steelers win four superbowls. I think he flirted with coming back because many people thought he was still faster than Marcus Allen, running back of the Raiders. I remember people talking of staging a 100 yard dash between them that never materialized.
I always learn new things form you posts. Thx
Namath held out in 1970 because he needed in his words "a really big loan" from the the Jets owner Leon Hess to cover business failures. About $250,000 is what Namath requested(which is about $1,759,039.95 today) and hess either didn't want to pay that much or pay anything at all. Not sure what happened regarding the loan. As a player in the 70s Namath was a shadow of himself. Frequently injured with mediocre and bad jet teams, however none this effected his wallet because despite his obvious decline as player, his celebrity rose, he was a highly sought-after product spokesman, with tv commercials, print ads , guest appearances on popular TV shows. And from 1972-75 he was the highest paid player in the NFL. All that without making the playoffs since 1969.
Thank you for this one.
Thanks!
Just so we all know - the passer rating for spiking a ball every throw is 39. Now we can compare ourselves.
QB ratings need to add a number for dropped passes or blown routes they can call it The Evan Engram number.
39.6
Official JaguarGator9 announces retirement. Then comes out of retirement the next day, continues posting new videos until 2028
In honor of this video, I will now go outside and spike the ball on every single play.
You can kill the jets history but not those sweet Kelly Green and white Namath uniforms.
@Clean Up On Aisle 3 oh hell yea!
Classics. They should never have left them. Much like the powder blue Chargers with the white helmets. Some things should never be touched.
@@ReverendBrown. totally agree and you can throw the rams old blue and white in their they were the Detroit Redwings and the Montreal Canadians of pro football somethings are timeless.
100% agree. I wish they would bring them back.
@@frogger1952 they did bring them back for a few years but then ditched them for the emerald green disco ball look that you see now "yuk".
Thank you for an interesting and honest assessment of this unusual retirement. You are a great source of NFL knowledge.
Imagine if Suzy Colbert had retired after Namath's questionable character incident lol
I'm an Alabama fan but have never been a Namath fan. He was god awful for 2/3 of his career and is in the Hall of fame for winning that one super bowl.
I love Joe, but have to concede your point. He had 3 great years and that was it. But he was so instrumental in the rise of the AFL and helped win SBIII. Matt Snell should have been MVP of that game. First runner to rush for over 100 yards in a Super Bowl and when he scored, first time ever an AFL team held a lead.
@@frogger1952 Even the super bowl year of 1968 Joe completed less than 50% of his passes. He threw for a lot of yardage in those early years but was never efficient.
Atkinson, Larry Grantham and Ralph Baker was an underrated group of linebackers. And I am a NY Giants fan of over 50 years.
Namath definitely marched to his own drummer.
It's hard to describe just what a celebrity Namath was by 1970. He was on a par with the most famous names in the world. It's a small miracle that other Jet players didn't have a near breakdown in trying to deal with his fame, perks, and wealth. Atkinson was right, though. Namath bought into the craziness at the expense of the team. Yes, he was badly injured, but it didn't seem like he was too concerned about team unity. Crazy days and nights was what it was more about.
He also briefly had his own weekly talk show on local TV in 1969, and several interviews from The Joe Namath Show can be found on TH-cam.
Joe is a lovable, likable guy today. I have met him several times and each time it has been memorable. In his younger days (like most of us), he was a bit annoying to some.
He's still annoying to me now with the Medicare ads he does, especially since he keeps saying Date X is your last chance to get this special offer and then Date X comes and goes and Namath is still hawking the same offer.
@@DolFan316 "especially with the uncertainty of the virus and vaccine"... we must watch the same channels
@@DolFan316 So you blame Namath for taking a spokesman job? Spokesmen and women are paid to read a script, why the hate? Do you think he stole the job from Bob Griese or from some other former Miami Dolphins player of similar age? He's 78 years old now and his employment opportunities are probably few and far between so I'm gonna give you some advice on how to not be so annoyed by his Medicare ad, CHANGE THE CHANNEL!
@@davidcobb2693 Take your own advice and stop reading my comments. You're the one who seems more full of hate than anybody else who comments on OBJ9's videos. Go try to ruin someone else's life, I'm not interested in your BS any more.
I always hear that Joe Namath is so nice to meet , I hope I have the Honor of meeting Joe one day . I have been a big fan of Joe's since the early 1960s , Joe is a legend . 😎🏈💚
I think the times there was a lot of distractions for Namath and others,but the Jets delivered in SB3 , helping AFL get more respect.
I was friends with Al back in 1971. He got me into the Jets training camp at Hofstra University and introduced me to the entire Jets team.
the incredible story of Doug Flutie or the superstars of unknown universities like where Jerry Rice studied
Rice: Mississippi Valley State. That should be common knowledge.
9:07 That's a John Riggins sighting. Future Hall of Famer and Super Bowl MVP for Washington. He was a bulldozer of a running back.
Crank up that Diesel! Bwag! Bwag!
In defense of Joe, that divisional playoff game vs Chiefs (can I still refer to them as the Chiefs without being a racist) was played on 12/20 in another brutally cold, windy day at Shea Stadium. While Joe was 14-40, Dawson was only 12-27 for 201 yards, nothing great either. The problem with the 1969 Jets team is that they only beat the teams they should have beaten. They didn't win one game the entire season against a team with a plus .500 record. The following year they went 7-7 and were a miserably run team for the rest of the decade.
@@smitskee Wow, I completely forgot they went 4-10 in 1970. I do remember games being blacked out. Quite a comedown from the late 60's when a crowbar and 3/1 oil were needed to squeeze one additional person into Shea while the Jets were playing. IMHO, they have NEVER been able to re-capture that excitement. Jets are an LI team and move to Jersey guaranteed that Giants Stadium / MetLife would never be 100% filled with Jets fans. LI based fans have no desire to spend 6 hours driving on a Sunday to watch a 3 hour game. It's probably 60% to 70% Jets fans max. I don't think I've seen a Jets game in person for over 30 years.
@@smitskee The following year, the Colts went an unspectacular 8-5-1 with Unitas starting 12 of 14 games. Ewbank outcoached Shula in SB III and ended up providing everyone else in the league the game plan on how to beat the Colts. So they certainly weren't as dominant in 69. In 1970, instead of a professional QB like Babe Parilli as a back up, Jets were saddled with lead footed Al Woodall. The story is that Jets wanted to trade for a better QB, but Namath (because of his knees) was worried about losing his starting job and didn't need anyone breathing down his neck. So he insisted, in fact demanded, that Jets management stick with Woodall. As great as Joe was, with his Bachelors III crap, disappearing from training camp, the fragile knees...he was a massive headache to deal with.
@@smitskee Say what you will about Weeb, he delivered the Jets their only championship and was the only coach to win championships in both the NFL and AFL. Unfortunately, once he became GM/coach and with Sonny Werblin gone after the 67 season, the Jets cheaped-out personnel wise at every opportunity. They lost borderline HOF'er Verlon Biggs because of this. As an aside, when the AFL was formed, they had an agreement among all the teams as to what players they would pick up when they were cut from their NFL teams. To avoid a UFA bidding war situation, each AFL team was assigned a team from whom they would get "first dibs" when a player was cut. The Jets' assigned team was the Colts. So given this and Weeb's history with Baltimore, they had tremendous insight into the Colts' personnel and game strategies heading into SB III.
Atkinson was a great one. Namath telling the time Johnny Carson was drunk and slapped one of the Jets LB. (Atkinson). Namath said Johnny was lucky Atkinson blew it off and Johnny was a mean drunk.
True story but it was linebacker Ralph Baker. You are right it Ralph did not blow it off - it would have been bad news for Johnny
@@robparadise6099 my bad Getting old👴🏻
@@Boomhower89, I know the feeling..
nfl football is a brutal sport and damages you physically and mentally. i never blame a player for retiring early or trying to get as much money as possible. id have to say atkinsons comments before that mnf opener in 1970 made things right between him and namath. they were both great jets.
I never begrudge a player anything they can get... but I do question their tactics sometimes. Like when Lev Bell totally screwed himself by not coming back for the last 6 games of his final year in Pittsburgh. I had no issue with him not signing the franchise tender before then... but by not coming back in midseason he lost his prorated salary and a year of service time. I don't think he would have made a difference, but if he came back and they won a championship... it would have been a nice bump in his next deal too.
@@bubbafug00gle51 thats a chance a player takes. he got his money from the jets but i think he got screwed in a bad way by a couple females lol.
One of the big problems with The NY Jets following SB III was injuries and the cheapness of the organization towards its players other than its star qb. George Sauer Jr. also retired at a young age not really enamored with the game.
Hey Bill, I do recall a photo of Saure with two other former SB Jets in the dank lockerroom in Randalls Island Stadium while playing for The NY Stars. They realized how far they had fallen. George was a very smart guy, I think he was a math major at Texas but he seems he could never channel himself into a post football life. He was sort of the Peter Tork of football. By 1973 accept for Joe's loyal OL the stars had grown old the owners did not want to create or pay another Broadway Joe.
Very sad about George Sauer Jr, who was one of my favorites on that Jet team. I read that after SBIII, Sauer's heart was never into playing football. Rodger Byrd, DB for the Bills, said he played against him in a game in 69 and he was a shell of his previous self. He said the Jet coaches were screaming at him from the sidelines to get his head into the game to a point where he felt sorry for him. I don't know what happened to him after football, but in his 50s he was stocking shelves at a supermarket. He contracted Alzheimer's and was living in his sister's home when he finally passed. Never married and had no kids.
@@smitskee I think Don was 31 in 1969, so that would make him somewhere in his mid 80's now. Could be just father time taking his toll. George's dad was a tough taskmaster. When George was a kid, he would throw passes and lead him into trees as a way of learning to take a hit and hold onto the ball. My internal armchair psychologist tells me that he probably missed out on a childhood as his dad focused him so much on playing football. When he was with the Jets, he would hang out with hippie girls a lot younger than him...as if he was trying to live the teenage years he never had. I get the sense he was kind of a lost soul and his spectacular performance in SB III was the high point of his professional life. After that, he was never the same player. Joe said George worked so hard, he virtually embarrassed both Don and him to stay late after practice to get timing right on pass patterns. All that dedication dissipated after SB III.
@@smitskee Don and George were very different receivers for sure. Both had terrific hands, but like you said, George was more the possession guy and Don was the go to guy when you wanted the bomb. I'll never forget how Don ate up and spit out George Atkinson during the Heidi Bowl. I think he had over 200 yards receiving; 98 of them on back to back plays after Philbin recovered a Raider fumble on our own 2 yard line.
I was a kid when Al played pro ball but I met him in the 90’s when I was in my 20’s. We both sold used cars in Springfield, Pa at Rothrock Chevy.
You can't win without a good QB, huh? Tell that to Trent Dilfer
I think you mean "tell that to anyone but Dilfer"... he probably thinks he was good
Or Mark Rypien. Yes it's true... LMAO
@@thereilneid2868 That's kind of a different story to me. Dilfer was bad statistically every year he was the primary starter except 97 when he was average. Rypien was good his first few years, average his third and then he was flat-out great in 91. He went back to average for a year... after that he was truly awful. Both guys played on teams that were generally good other than the QB position but Trent was barely won over 50% of his games compared to Rypien's 60%. If early-career Rypien was on the Dilfer era Bucs teams they probably would have won a championship before Dungy got canned.
@@thereilneid2868 Dude, Rypien in ‘91looked like Warner in his Greatest Show on Turf years. For that one season, he was the very best QB in the league.
Don't be hatin' on namath haters. Some players were just jealous of joe willie. namath brought pizazz to the upstart afl and got the league notoriety. that's what jets wanted by drafting him away from cards and established nfl. And jets upset of colts got the afl the respect it deserved. It was a good league that could match-up with the old boy guard nfl. then vikes got hammered the following year by chiefs in s b iv to complete the afl story before merger.
And lombardi completely dissed the afl before s b's I and II writing afl off as an inferior league. So much so that shula completely overlooked jets and took it for granted colts would just roll them in sb III. Shula had them unprepared and never even changed the colts game plan. And after that s b all the long time afl players congrtaulated jets and namath for winning that s b for the afl. It was a win for all the afl'ers who played all or most of those 10 years who were laffed at by the nfl. And i am glad that smug lombardi got to see the nfl get humiliated in those last two afl/nfl sb's.
And ask fred dryer about namath. a teammate of joe part of one year in la who said back in the earlier '70's namath was so respected that when dudes had a chance to just smash namath on bad knees and all to the ground they would hold up knowing he was a cherished player for not only bringing respect to the afl but helping nfl get big tv ratings which led to tv $$$'s as well. He said 'you would have had to be a #kn idiot' to do that to joe. And namath with that release and today's pass happy rules and pass friendly offenses would tear up the nfl today. Too bad docs didn't take better care of his knees back at bama. And al atkinson just a jealous hater.
You are correct on at least one point. The entire AFL was thrilled with the Jets upset win over the Colts in Supe III. The Colts were 19 point betting favorites in that game, against what most football people thought was an inferior league. When the Jets opened the '69 in Buffalo against the Bills, the Bills cheerleaders ran across the field during the pregame with a banner that read CHAMPS in the Jets green letters !
Come on Steven. Namath as a pro QB was mediocre at best. Stats don't lie. 1 game doesn't make a career, except Joe.
@@thereilneid2868Then that makes stabler a mediocre qb at best as well. Minus the 1 s b title. Bradshaw is mediocre as well outside of all the great talent steelers had. Stabler's stats mirror namath's. The difference is after the s b jets declined and only chance they had to win was for namath to throw the ball. And namath hit 4000 yds passing when 3000 was the standard for qb's working out of two wr sets. Mediocre?...i think not.
@JBSptfn Yep. You are correct. As i said in my post if you put namath in today's nfl with rules favoring the passing game he puts up 5000 + yds. He'd be like marino today. Plus namath took a beating back there, unlike pretty tom who defenders can't touch back there.
@JBSptfn Namath was the first pro QB to pass for 4,000 yds. in a season. It would not happen again for another 12 seasons, till Dan Fouts did it in 1979. Then, Brian Sipe accomplished it in 1980. But Fouts & Sipe did it in the expanded 16 game regular season. Namath did it in a 14 game season !
@ 1:00, great one-handed catch, with the left hand no less.
That is the hand he uses to catch a baseball...
@ 1:59, what in the Hell is the ref doing?
Spot the Gabbert at 6:59
When the 2 leagues merged they should have added the 2 point conversion which did happen in 1994
Did you know that if you spike the ball on every play you get a passer rating of 36?
39.6 to be exact. I have the shirt to prove it.
Joe Namath is in the Hall of Fame for what he accomplished in one game, nothing else.
2:21 CHEAP SHOT!!!
Yes, looks like Jets DB Jim Hudson (22) spearing Bills WR Richard Trapp (28) with a helmet-to-helmet hit while Trapp was on the ground. Ouch!
@@denisceballos9745 Hudson was a dirty player. Not the first time he had done this.
Certainly a penalty in todays game!
I found it amazing that ABC Monday Night Football hired both OJ Simpson and Joe Namath to work in the booth after they had retired. Both were so pathetic and couldn't complete a complete sentence, neither one of them. So the network let both of them go when they realized both had attended college and obviously neither attended a single class while being there.
Gator, how in the hell do you find this stuff, how you dig it up ? I always thought I was one of the biggest Bill Nelsen/Cleveland Brown fans on the planet, and I never had heard of the stink he had with his wife over retiring. Likewise, I never heard a peep about this feud between Namath & Atkinson. It never made any news outside of New York, unlike the Pete Rozelle/Bachelors III saga the year after the Jets Super Bowl win which made Pearl Harbor/World War III headlines nationwide.
If you were in the NY metro area you heard all about it. I read about it in the Daily News. It also made the tv sports coverage. Big news - Al Atkinson and Joe Namath share a ride and reconcile their differences.
Gerry Philbin # 81 Def. End , said that the reason they made Joe the Captain was to try to get him to take some kind of responsibility as a team leader. Joe himself agreed it worked.
He wasn't going for the big yards to boost his numbers , he threw shorter passes and used his backs more in the passing scheme . It worked ! Especially against my beloved Colts
in the Super bowl from Hell. Along with the huge paycheck , Namath's ego was getting bigger . It is hard to see cleaarly when everyone is telling you what you want to hear " You are Great " .
Unitas also suffered from this , ask Mike Curtis , that's why he was switched to linebacker from running back . Your are young , rich and Joe Namath . Derrek Sanderson # 16 for my beloved Bruins also fell into this trap. By the way Sanderson , Namath & Mantle owned a club together , " Bachelor's 3 " . Derrick was a piece of work and a great hockey player. Live & learn !
the short passing game was used to beat a great colt d. And blitzing namath did no good for colts with joe's quick release, something that shula openly admitted to later. colts were doomed once they got behind and unitas useless with a bad shoulder.
This channel has covered a story about the bar (if you didn't see it):
th-cam.com/video/x1IVLLw2Uac/w-d-xo.html
@@stevenbauer4799 Namath was hoping they'd blitz , his star receiver # 13 Don Maynard had no receptions but scared the hell out of the Colts early when he almost beat Bobby Boyd # 40 , Sauer had a field day with Lenny Lyles # 43 due to Lenny having the flu. Rick Volk # 21 suffered a concussion after being run over by Matt Snell # 41 , Volk fell over in the locker room after the game , Snell sent flowers the next day . I'm 68 and I can still remember it like a bad dream . But I learned to respect Willie Joe . I still have my # 41 Tom Matte jersey which I replaced the next year with a Vikings # 11 Joe Kapp Jersey .I just couldn't win ! I did buy a # 12 Joe Namath Jersey which I also have .
@@lonnietoth5765yep. namath would have eaten colts alive if they constantly blitzed him, so the short passing game mixed with the run was the recipe.
@@stevenbauer4799 Oh he did eat us alive and skinned us in the process . he was like a surgeon . Curtis blitzed , short pass to Mathison , Shinnick blitzed , short pass to Snell.
The real hero was # 67 Dave Herman ! He was a guard who was switched to tackle . He had to handle " Kill BUBBA kill " Bubba Smith . Gave away over 40 lbs. to the big DE .
Smith got to Namath once . I switched teams after that game and went with the plucky Joe Kapp Viking's , another lesson in futility . Should have stayed with the Colts , they beat Dallas in SB V . But I learned a lesson in life . Do not underestimate your opponent ! We learned that with the Japanese in WW2 , the Vietnamese during the 60's .
Who thought Tom Brady would do what he did last year ? I played ice hockey years ago ( 70's ) , I was a 130 lb soaking wet defenseman , made captain on a team I was the smallest guy on. But I could play and HIT ! I had to earn my team mates respect at training camp and I did . Respect must be earned and the 68 Jets got mine !
I couldn't care less about the team struuuuggggggleing...a drunk interview Namath did with sideline reporter Suzy colber around the early 2000s.
30 years later? Why's that supposed to be relevant?! My grandfather fought in WWII and later once got a parking ticket. WHO CARES?!
@@dantean that was 20 years earlier and besides I thought I was being humorous and tying it in with this story I think you are a bit uptight my friend loosen up.
Most people know Joe Namath for his super bowl III guarantee. But, he was not the only one to predict that, as an astrologer used astrology to show that the jets would win.
WTF
Nice tribute to the leader of a vaulted Jets defense...Defense wins championships and Atkinson led by example...Regarding his retirement...just a negotiating ploy for more money. Nothing less, nothing more...
I don't think Atkinson was using this as a ploy for more money. I don't believe he was that kind of person. He was very humble. He thought he was easily replaceable and not that good a player. He contemplated a vocation as a priest before choosing pro football.
51 Years Ago
I don't even care about the jest. Don't like them. Don't hate them. They're just not significant enough to have an opinion about them. And yet they're the gift that keeps on giving. I can't get enough videos of jest incompetence.
Even the superbowl 3 jets had a solid defense led by Buddy Ryan.
Really? I didn't know Buddy Ryan led that defense . Cool
@@juangarza2588 oh yea look it up in fact it was that same 45 defense he used in superbowl 20 or a variation of it.
@@juangarza2588, D-COORDINATOR..
@@karlcooper8460, or was it the 46 defense?
great d coordinator. lousy nfl coach with an ego that was as big as his mouth.
“I’m really mad at Namath for his behavior. Let me do the same thing he’s doing”
A whole lot of people today are doing the exact same thing, and getting praised for it. Just sayin'.
Well, not exactly. He intended to retire, but came back to help the team. Namayh was just hanging the team out to dry. One wonders if Namath hadn't retired after winning the SB if they could have won or at least made it back to the next one.
You obviously didn't watch or comprehend this post.
You have to have a solid defense to just ask Tampa Bay last year.
"You can't win a super bowl without a good quarterback."
Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson, Mark Rypien, and Joe Flacco have entered the chat...
MARK RYPIEN WON THE MVP THAT YEAR
@@derricktaylor4178 And did nothing beyond that year.
@@gregcrane4953 U sho ✅
@@gregcrane4953 BUT HE PERFORMED AT HIGHEST LEVEL IN THAT 1 SUBER BOWL WINNING YEAR NOT LIKE TRENT DILFER OR BRAD JOHNSON WHO THE DEFENSE LITERALLY CARRIED THEM TO THE SUPERBOWL AND WON IT WITH THE D MARK RYPIEN WAS ON FIRE FOR THAT 1 SEASON HENCE HE WON THE MVP
@@derricktaylor4178 please stop yelling. He performed because of his head coach, who was a masterful game plan designer and preparer.
I love EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOUR VIDEOS. But what I have an issue with, is the often blurry and increasingly bad quality of the film footage. Why does that keep happening? What gives?
What gives is that this film footage is 50-plus years old now. If you know anyone else with better footage of the NFL from the '70s and earlier that isn't copyrighted then please let the rest of us know your source.
Yeah, OJG... I am so sick of the crappy old footage! Fix your time machine already.
Dude has NFL FILMS caliber stuff
This video represents the HEIGHT of Al Atkinson's professional fame. Good for him.
LOL... no. Pretty sure the 60k Jets fans packed into Shea (who actually knew his name) was a bit higher than ~3,400 people on TH-cam asking "who?" and then forgetting it the next day.
1. You said that Atkinson retired before the 1970 season. Then you show Monday Night Football clips featuring Atkinson. Since ABC started MNF in that 1970 season you kinda gave away the ending. This unofficial Official Jaguar Gator 9 historian remembers in part because you made a video about the start of Monday Night Football.
2. Watch at 6:52, then watch th-cam.com/video/ZeET7Z1ZGlw/w-d-xo.html
Why are the NY Jets so star-crossed? Guess they didn't spike the ball on every play enough. 🤪
Type of person I see a lot. Don’t want to do something but want to blame others for their actions
he’s my uncle
You mean Al got tired of the 3 picks per game? Sorry Joe.
You tell great stories, but you gotta stop it with the hyperbole. Every video is “maybe the greatest” whatever...player, game, play, etc. You said this guy was one of the greatest defensive players in franchise history, and then went on to him making All-Pro just once. Love the content, just please cool it on the hyperbole.
So, if the coolest kid/jock in high school doesn't show up for the new school year, the nerdy bookworm kid should drop out of school? Atkinson could have picked up a phone and called Namath to confront him man to man but he wasn't man enough to do that so he talked sh!t to the media about his displeasure with Namath. Passer rating wasn't invented until after Pete Rozelle asked the league's statistical committee to develop a better system in 1971 and it was not implemented until 1973. Joe Namath was under a microscope in New York his entire career and Rozelle had a hard-on for the AFL and everything that made it successful, i. e. AFL Commissioner Al Davis and the face of the rebel league, Joe Namath. Stinky Pete went out of his way to screw over Al Davis and sabotage the Raiders and he wasn't fond of Joe Namath as evidenced by his threat to suspend Namath if he continued a LEGAL business partnership with people Old Stinky didn't like. Perhaps Joe was not in a hurry to get back under the microscope prior to training camp where he would be back to always having to keep his guard up about anything he said or did or face more league scrutiny if he had an after practice beer or rode in a taxi with someone Old Stinky didn't approve of.
I think at 1:57 you’ve got a different #62 for the Jets, unless my eyes are really deceiving me and the player in question is not a Black man.
Only 5 numbers have been retired by the Jets since adopting the current name in 1963.
Your eyes are deceiving you, I watched the video on a 55" Smart TV and the #62 in the video is Al Atkinson, Caucasian man.
Yes 👏 he does say that a lot
To Me this was much ado about nothing. Players retire and un-retire all the time. Ralph Baker, another NY Jets linebacker who played for eleven years (1964-74) retired during training camp in 1975. George Sauer, one of the best wide receivers the Jets ever had, quit after the 1970 season.
And Sauer stayed retired.
@@smitskee Thanks, I forgot about his "Sauer" experience in the WFL.
Another bad move by the bills
Namath also wore a dumb looking cage later in his career.
@Douglas Farshtey he must have borrowed it from Jerry Kramer because it is that same style cage that ole Jerry wore.
Probably wore it because Ike Lassiter& Ben Davidson tried to break his face!
@@richardmorris7063 makes sense but I still would have picked a better looking cage than that.
@@karlcooper8460 you can see players like concrete Charlie way back in the day w/ the same mask.
@@richardmorris7063 well I understood Broadway Joe's rationale when another poster told me that Ben Davidson and another player was always going upstairs on him.
I think Atkinson was a bit of a baby and weird 👎
After 69 the Jets were dogshit
ANTICLAMACTIC !!!
Broadway Joe Namath. Career passer rating 65.3. Threw 50 more picks then TD's. YES 50. Including AFL/NFL 3-2 playoff record. Tell me 1 game won't get you in the NFL HOF. Oh yeah, big guarantee....he said "we're gonna win that game" what the hell was he going to say when asked
Namath was never about statistics. Anyone who saw him knows he was just incredibly exciting. He was just so graceful and had such style. He was beautiful to watch. As far as the guarantee, it was not something he was asked. It occurred at an awards ceremony where Lou Michaels (brother of Jets defensive backfield coach, Colts field goal kicker and reserve defensive end) was heckling Namath as he received an award that the Colts were going to kick his ass. The Jets were 18 point underdogs. Namath, who had had a few by that point, told Michaels from the podium that he had news for him - the Jets were gonna win the the game and he guarantees it.
@@billorland7747 You are exactly right and glad you set the record straight. Joe has been telling the same story for 50+ years and never deviated. He said he was being heckled and the "I guarantee it" quote wasn't something he thought out, it was like an exclamation point at the end of his reply said in anger. He was sick of the Jets and AFL in general always being disparaged. I never knew until you posted it that Michaels was the heckler.
People today don't realize what a monumental upset this game was after the Packers trounced the Chiefs and Raiders in the only other two Super Bowls played to date. In most people's minds, it was almost inconceivable that an AFL team could beat the best NFL team. This game is on par with the 1980 USA vs USSR hockey game and were the two biggest upsets in my lifetime.
Come on Al little bit self-righteous there Al Atkinson completely different day than today. I think you should just mind your business. Talk to the coach. Where is our captain? Where is our leader pressure the coach to get his ass back there but I understand but it all worked out in the end.