History of the New York Jets-Part 1: Broadway Joe Years

finally a group headed by Sonny Werblin bought the team Werblin had been a major power broker in Hollywood now his entertainment marketing skills began to put his new team on the marquee he changed the teams colors renamed the Titans the Jets and hired weave you back who coached two NFL championship teams in Baltimore good feelings were taking hold and when the Jets moved into a new home at Shea Stadium there was a sudden demand for tickets the Jets moved into Shea Stadium they started attracting 50,000 fans and that was very critical for the success of the whole need it gave the league the New York address and it gave them a tone that they that they did not have before with a look to a new age the jet age the Jets future was cleared for takeoff [Music] [Applause] after four years of futility the Jets began playing Saturday nights at Shea and they were ready for primetime the war of Jets taking off from nearby LaGuardia was drowned out by the roar of sellout crowds the management of the New York Jets welcomes you to the first football game at Shea Stadium more than 50 mm fans throng to see the Jets open the 1964 AFL season against the Denver Broncos tall dick wood at quarterback dicks target is g-meter he's got the ball on the six and he drives Stadium we zoom down on Bill Mathis the veteran 220 pounds he comes crashing across the right side as he spurts between the goalposts and the Jets make their debut in Shea Stadium a 32 6 triumph over the Denver Broncos the Jets made history with the AFL's first 60,000 plus crowd by snatching rookie running back Matt Snell from the crosstown rival Giants they made headlines landing Matt Snell was very significant at the time for the simple reason the Giants wanted Matt Snell terribly and here Matt Snell opted the Jets and that was a great symbolic uplifting for the Jets and in those days they needed all the symbolism they could get stadium during his college vacations Sonny Werblin thought enough for me after they drafted me number one to come out to Ohio to a house state himself to try to convince me that the AFL was sound it was solid it was gonna be here I decided hey go play ball I want to play right away I'm not to do with jet and I believe that this league is in a state everyone considered AFL except players they considered AFL was inferior to the NFL I didn't think that so it worked out five me Snell became the AFL Rookie of the Year and the Jets became a player in the most important arena in American sports indeed the Jets were flying high still the team lacked a bigger-than-life personality to capture the imagination of all New York that would change in 1965 in 1965 owner Sonny Werblin and kochwebb Ewbank found the player that would change the destiny of the New York Jets he was Joe Namath an all-american quarterback from the University of Alabama the Jets made headlines by signing in for $427,000 the richest contract in football history to that point the first time Joe Namath arrived in New York was right after the Orange Bowl Sonny Werblin brought him in and he had a small it kind of an informal press conference at the old touch Shores and the writers just sat there and just talked to him just had conversations with him and finally Lou Ephrata the New York Times at that time said Joe you know you're getting all this money this big contract he said what happens if you don't make it Joe and Joe just looked at him and said I'll make it but convincing the media and convincing his teammates were two different things let me tell you he had to prove himself as the veterans the real veterans really hated them okay because of you know the guys have been playing for 12 years and we're making $18,000 this guy comes in and makes $427,000 didn't roll ball yet I never forget the first day of training camp and we had a drill called Patton go where the quarterback dispatched the ball and receivers run down and he lays the ball up and when we saw him throwing I said this is what we needed he set up very well he was very light on his feet he was ready to throw on rhythm very quickly and he just delivered the ball so well I mean with purpose I mean he almost with an anger boom it was out there I'm gonna completeness the hell was it and it was arrogant and and vicious a great way to play quarterback oh yeah I'd played with 25 professional quarterbacks in my career you know so when he came along I was glad I finally got somebody that listened to listen to what I wanted to do and we had a great relationship communications and I think that's the key in any successful event Namath quickly established himself as one of the game's greatest passers but more than that he was the hottest attraction in all of football he was the one in only Broadway Joe 5,000 fans after a ball game would be out there just to see Joe Namath the wave to him to touch him was sort of like the The Beatles and people climbed on the car they climbed on the hood and hit the glass just via the touch him or have Joe waved at him it was an amazing thing to actually see I think Joe Namath of all the players in that era he transcended sport I have no official statistics on this but I wouldn't be surprised if his career was the cause of a lot of female fans being attracted to the NFL he had a kind of style he was jock but it could be a real gentleman in his way you know what I mean there was something about him that was extremely suave he had a great sense of style even if it were outrageous full-length fur coats at home I would say he was definitely an original Broadway Joe was a swinging bachelor who enjoyed the company of some of the 1960's most glamorous women sometimes they talk about drinking and conniving around with ladies and stuff you know it seems almost unamerican to me for a bachelor not to marry you know go around having a drink with a lady now and then and why all of a sudden that's what becoming evil in me I don't know but some people don't like it well you can't please any everybody I'm just trying to get along you know just just trying to get by look at that shine oh the apartment was phenomenal he's making a statement I guess you could say that he had a big living room area where he had a pool table and a slot machine it's all kinds of machines you know big living room with couches and this you know six inch deep lima rug and I walk in is like you know walking into a museum yeah I remember I met an interior decorator in a nightclub one night to do my part and a couple buddies yeah man let him do it and decorated the department it wasn't my idea it was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it but what am I gonna come up thinking of llama yeah I never heard of a llama in the first place prior to having the rug Namath was living the life of the rich and famous but the price was high he came in to pro football with one bad knee and that one bad knee quickly became too he had four different surgeries on his knees and he was forced to play with cumbersome braces on both legs his knees were the ugliest knees I've ever seen in pro football they just weren't shaped right and different times of year they've kind of shaped differently depending on what was swollen that day I don't know how he did it I don't know how we function on his knee physically and mentally Joe was really really a tough guy probably the toughest guy on the Jets he did a lot of things that other guys on our team wouldn't have done physically Namath understood the code of pro football even if you weren't 100% you still had to give 100% I always knew that you had to play with some pain because the game is gonna get you you're gonna get hurt there's a part in your head that blocks out some things when the action comes I guess if something is more important to you than something else then that something else is gone I had a pain a broken ankle fractured ankle rich whatever and it was time to run the play to play took precedent the pain went took a back seat Namath had a stellar supporting cast in New York including another future hall-of-famer wide receiver Don me number 13 was the deep threat while tight end Pete lamins and number 83 George Sauer worked underneath the full-back was Matt Snell a bruisin 220 founder who also had the speed to turn the corner in 1966 the Jets added Emerson Boozer Boozer was a slippery 210-pound halfback who led the AFL with 13 touchdowns in 1967 [Music] that was the breakthrough years when the Jets finished with an 8 5 in 1 record the first winning season in franchise history in 1968 the jet set a team record by scoring 419 points but it was their improvement on defense that finally made them a championship team number 81 defensive end Gerry Philbin recorded 19 sacks in a 14 game regular season they didn't play it up it wasn't a stat at the time so even though I get four sacks a game and create three fumbles when you when you hit the quarterback we don't still get all the publicity so it didn't matter if Philbin didn't get to the quarterback the other defensive end Berlin bigs usually did a lot Vincent a number 60 Larry Grantham an original title led the linebacker corps the Jets had 28 interceptions in 1968 seven by defensive captain Johnny sample the Jets won 11 games and lost only 3 as they claimed their first ever Division title they finished the regular season by winning the last four games by an average margin of 19 points the Jets were flying high as they entered the playoffs the AFL championship game they drew the toughest possible challenge and their most bitter rival the Oakland Raiders the championship game was physically tougher than a Super Bowl game championship game against Oakland was a much tougher game physically then then the chant then the super bowl game well because we won we hated each other we want to kill each other and we did try to kill each other on the field the Raiders were number one a tough team to to beat because they were good and because they were dirty you wanted to beat Joe it criticized us the one or two days before the game about being dirty about being trying trying to hurt him about being nasty players and a lot of things that was just a read away you know we go out kick some ass don't worry about who named it was Jill was nice to it he'd grunt real good when he hit him hard he left I love the unit sound what about the readers had dumped the Jets their only loss in the second half of the season the Jets led the game in the final minute but when NBC cutaway to show the film Heidi the national TV audience missed one of the most bizarre finishes in football history the Jets literally ended the game to Oakland [Music] Heidi really wasn't a big thing with me I mean I could care less it was Heidi smiting the only thing that bothered me was that we lost the game the Jets had won only two of their previous 10 games with the Raiders when the team's met on a cold windy day at Shea Stadium Namath threw two touchdown passes to give the Jets the lead going into the fourth quarter [Music] the Raiders rallied to reclaim the lead but Namath and Maynard had an answer I kind of told Namath I said Joseph I got along when when you need it Joe through the past the boss coming over my left shoulder here and then I'll sudden the wind gets it and all said and I rotate all the way around my head and my hands and I catch it over here that was to me the greatest catch I ever made and as one writer in New York when he figured out the playoff money and a lot of things he said the catch that's worth two million dollars but the real money catch was the one that followed as Namath found Maynard again [Music] the Raiders came back and drove deep into Jets territory but a mistake by Oakland's Daryle Lamonica ended the threat [Music] and Rob Baker picks it up I mean that was that was the game it was unbelievable pandemonium in the locker room that was our Super Bowl we celebrated like it was a Super Bowl afterwards we were throwing champagne around like it was crazy with foam people in the showers it was just unbelievable [Music] when every year the Jets were the kings of the AFL but how would they compete with the Baltimore Colts champions of the NFL the Colts had rolled to a thirteen and one regular-season record and they were being talked about is one of the best teams of all time but the Jets after studying film of the Baltimore defense saw the Colts is not only mortal but very beatable and after the first film that we saw of Baltimore the players Joe Kochi Bank everybody if that's the way they beat people in disguising defenses and doing a lot of blitzing that's right up our alley a lot of things they did fit played right into the way Joe played quarterback and they blitzed a whole lot all the time and usually if blitzing teams doing it to cover up for weaknesses and you couldn't blissed you he was the best in the world at beating a blitz made for rally bill Mathis big boy Pete lemons are tight ended myself after film session one morning we're riding out to practice and big boy Pete chuckle he said hey y'all we don't stop look at those films we're gonna get overconfident but there was that underlying confidence we all had from our tight end to be Toth the maddest you know we felt confident pretty darn confident that we were gonna win the game Namath put that confidence into words at a Miami banquet prior to the game so it's my turn to get up and I got up to the podium and about the time I'm getting ready to talk a guy in the back of the room painting we're gonna kick your nice a whoa whoa wait a minute you guys been talking for two weeks now meeting the Colts fans and the media so you guys been talking for new two weeks now I said I'm tired of hearing I said I got news for you we're gonna win the game I guarantee you it was not planned it wasn't premeditated it was just anger and frustration and I really believed we were going to win the game when he said that I guarantee stuff we nearly fainted that's the last thing you wanted was to wake them up he liked them complacent and overconfident and now his quarterback is giving him something to be annoyed about coach Ewbank came in the day after that statement came out in the papers coach you back it was true is it Joseph he said did did you see this you know anything Namath guarantee we win okay and Joe looks at it and he goes and you can see you're going oh did you say that Joe yeah coach I said Oh Joe why'd you say that you know what they're gonna do man they're gonna go they're gonna take this they're gonna put it on the walls at a locker and they're gonna come out they're gonna try and kill it man they're gonna want to kill this you know and he's and you can see Joe was thinking he's trying to come back you know and then finally joe said coach schuiteman telling us Phil that's two weeks we're gonna win he said don't you think we're gonna win coach told him what you didn't tell us it's not a big deal you know I thought that what it showed most importantly was to his own teammates that Joe Namath was still Joe Namath he wasn't intimidated by these circumstances he was the same fast-talking a reverent guy that he'd always been and his confidence in his ability and in his teammates I think spoke volumes Joe Namath was a tough tough competitor and a tough guy he didn't back down to nobody and when he guaranteed that he meant it and you know that really meant something to me as a player and to the defense and to the offense you got a quarterback that's this tough he can back up what he says Joe Namath number 12 the one big side light he's come down here and he says the Jets are going to wet in fact he doesn't even predict it he says I guarantee a jet vector when you look at me you see a defense no fear what are you gonna say let's go get it let's do it and we did the Jets were 17 point underdogs but Namath had identified every soft spot in the Baltimore defense and he attacked them he called virtually every play of the line of scrimmage and his cool command kept the Jets one step ahead of the quotes fearsome lips I knew we could beat that defense we had Maynard we had SAR we had lamb and Snell and Boozer and Mathis guys that could read we had a offensive line it can pick up stunts and just let him know before each snap in the ball what they were gonna do we had an intelligent enough 10 guys besides myself that could accept 75 to 80% plays from the line of scrimmage [Music] we did come with a blitz other quarterbacks weren't able to handle it a Namath with his quick release was able to get rid of the ball their receivers made quick adjustments against our defensive backs and they came up with big plays instead of us creating havoc with the Blitz they beat the Blitz and made big plays that helped them win the football game even Jets fans were shocked at how thoroughly the AFL upstarts controlled the game Jim Turner kicked three field goals and Matt Snell rushed for 121 yards as the Jets befuddled of Baltimore defense that was considered football's best we'd wait for them to shift and then just call the play control them crazy Billy Ray Smith and amid the Curtis and he's guy they're yelling at each other you know I had a guy had two guys on me high you know and they we knew we had the game because they were they couldn't believe that we were picking up all their blitzes and all the shifts the way we were doing but we were doing it with a check with me offense the New York defense was also frustrating the Colts knowing that we had probably two of the best innovative coaches in football with buddy Ryan and Walt Michaels they put a game plan that confused the police believe me we weren't gonna be in a 4-3 defense that's for sure the last thing we read we showed them everything but before 3d please [Applause] [Music] he was [Applause] Colts quarterback rural morale was the NFL player of the year in 1968 but morale had a nightmarish game in Super Bowl 3 he threw three interceptions and with the Colts trailing 16 to nothing late in the third quarter Don Shula replaced Morel with Johnny Unitas but the result was the same [Music] Unitas goes back to class he's in the pocket his own [Music] Joe Namath had delivered on his guarantee of victory he was named the game's most valuable player if the Jets counted down the final sales [Music] invented the game was over the first thing that in my mind was the game ball you'll get the football and I got the football and from then on all I remember doing is the vertical leap think mine might have been a world record because all I knew was and it was probably the happiest most fantastic moment of my life when the game ended there was such a feeling of elation joy tickling explosion inside the teammates you know we did it we did it you know it was wonderful and going off that field everybody's cheering funny we didn't we didn't we did it we were number one I didn't think about it it was just yes oh it was great it was called the biggest upset in sports history for the first time the nation had to recognize the existence and the worth of the new league because the Jets would turn to New York is conquering heroes [Music] I tell you it was a party in New York for about a month everywhere you went no matter what it was it was a club if it was a theater people were so happy and so proud of the New York Jets as if they were a part of our team and they were in a sense it had to do with reinventing New York it just became bigger than itself it became the Big Apple everyone knows New York but those were swift times there were all kinds of things happening and this was by pure coincidence a timely event that fit in so perfectly with its time and I think lifted the whole thing into a bigger thing than just a game even a championship one it started big time everything that game still to this day has picked on on on ESPN this year before the Super Bowl the greatest Super Bowl ever played and not only for the game itself before what it did for football because that game made the NFL what it is today the Jets win validated the merger of the NFL and AFL pro football became more popular and profitable than ever but while the game itself flourished the Jets went into decline in 1969 they lost to Kansas City in the AFL playoffs the Chiefs battered Joe Namath and held the Jets with other touchdown the Jets would not return to the postseason for another 12 years from 1970 through 1974 Namath sat out 28 of 56 regular season games due to injury but when he was able to play he proved the old magic was still there the greatest game the comeback game that we lost was against the 49ers at the stadium it was week 11 of the 1971 season Namath was sidelined by an injury but when the other jet quarterbacks went down in the fourth quarter Nate entered the game and he comes in there and we go down the field we score a touchdown and the place is going crazy they can we kick off to them boom our defense holes won't they punt to us it's halfway to the fourth quarter Namath comes back come takes the team down scores a touchdown you know the place is going crazy all right and we kickoff to them and our defense holds is a minute and a half left when we get the ball on the 8 yard line the Namath takes us right down the whole field the stadium is going crazy one play left and he throws have passed one pest Eddie Bell what happened [Music] catches the ball we lost 2117 but the people kept clapping for 15 minutes after the game is over [Applause] it was the greatest game the greatest the greatest comeback I've ever seen you know as far as even losing the game to the people and what that guy could do was unbelievable Joe Namath played 12 seasons with the Jets in his later years Namath was a hobbling shadow of the superstar who led the Jets to glory in Super Bowl 3 but in the collective memory of American sports fans he will always be Broadway Joe the first quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in the season the first quarterback to lead the AFL to victory over the NFL and the first Jets player elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame there will only be one Joe Namath Namath is like one of those great athletes who lives fast and dies young Bill Walton Gale Sayers Sandy Koufax have a few great seasons and leave an indelible mark because of it those guys they're meteors but they light up the sky when they're great

Channel: Grey Beard

Views: 7,491

Keywords: New York Jets, NFL Films, Steve Sabol, Ed Sabol, AFL, American Football League, New York Titans, Super Bowl 3

Id: 5mjEj3mSLvo

Length: 29min 26sec (1766 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 07 2020