Sports Realm

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.

Early years 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.

Super Bowl dreams

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 in the playoffs. After defeating the Oakland Raiders in the AFC title game, the Jets became the American Football League’s representative in the third matchup between the AFL and NFL Champions – known to the 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 easily defeat the upstart New York team. Fans of 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 during an award ceremony only a few days prior to the big 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

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.

Freddie Brister is a huge fan of all sports and recommends checking out his New York Jets Bedding and New York Yankees blanket at his shop.