The New York Jets-A Look Back 68-69-70 #TheShift #Sportstalk #Jets

1968: After coming of a successful 8-5-1 season the Jets hoped they could finally win their division, and play for the AFL Championship. The Jets would get off to a flying start winning their first game over the Kansas City Chiefs thanks in part to ball control in which the Jets held the ball the final 5:56 of the game. Two weeks later in their home opener the Jets would pull off another last minute win as Emerson Boozer scored a TD to give the Jets a 23-20 win over the San Diego Chargers in front of an AFL record crowd of 63, 786 at Shea Stadium. With the Jets cruising towards the AFL Championship game their November 17th game in Oakland against the Raiders set itself up as a possible AFL Championship preview. The game was a back and forth affair as the Jets scored a Touchdown with 1:05 left in the game to pull in front 32-29. However, the high scoring game was taking a while to play, and NBC executive began to sweat it out as the game was heading close to the 7pm start of the Children's movie Heidi. NBC programmers decided that the game was over, and decided to pull the end of the game off the air to show Heidi on time and in its entirety. With in seconds thousands of irate football fans began calling NBC, and their affiliates. Meanwhile the Raiders stormed back and scored two Touchdowns in 42 seconds to win the game 43-32. Millions of fans on the East Coast were left in the dark, and assumed the Jets had won; the outrage forced NBC to apologize, and sent a massage to Television Programmers that Pro-Football was a force on Television. The game would forever be known as "The Heidi Game". After finishing 11-3 the Jets easily won the Eastern Division and found themselves in a Heidi Game rematch with Raiders for the AFL Championship at Shea Stadium in front of 62, 627 fans. . The Jets took a 20-13 lead into the 4th quarter thanks to jumping out to a quick 10-0 lead in the 1st quarter. The Raiders would not go down easily and would take a 23-20 lead midway through the fourth. However, Joe Namath and the Jets would not be deterred as he drove the Jets down the field and threw a six yard pass to original Titan Don Maynard for his third Touchdown pass of the game which a gave the Jets a 27-23 lead the would not relinquish. The win would earn the Jets a trip to the AFL-NFL Championship game, which for the first time was officially being called the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl III: Going into Super Bowl III the Jets were 18-point underdogs to the powerhouse Baltimore Colts. In fact the Super Bowl was considered a mere exhibition since the NFL's Green Bay Packers won the previous two encounters easily. The game had an ironic twist for Coach Weeb Ewbank in that he was facing his former team, and he was staring at Don Shula the man who replaced him five years earlier as head coach. However, the match-up of Ewbank, and Shula became a mere after thought after Joe Namath guaranteed the Jets would win. The guarantee was thought of as a joke, the Jets did not have a chance, and now they were looking arrogant. Many old school traditional football fans still had not accepted the presence of the AFL, and were pulling for the Colts to shut the brash young Quarter Back's mouth. Meanwhile AFL fans and players were pulling for the Jets, as their shot at finally being accepted as a legitimate football league against this back drop Super Bowl II, finally brought mass attention to the Championship Game. When game time arrived finally al the talking was done, and the Jets and Colts began to play what would become the most important game in Pro-Football history. After one quarter of play the Jets had held the powerful Colts to a stale mate as they harassed starting Quarterback Earl Morrall all through out the opening period. In the 2nd Quarter the Jets finally got on the board taken a 7-0 lead with Matt Snell scoring from four yards out. The Jets would continue to hold the Colts off the board late in the 2nd Quarter when Morrall drove the Colts deep into Jets territory. However, in one of the biggest blunders in Super Bowl history Morrall throws an interception into double coverage while WR Johnny Orr was waving his hands all alone near the endzone. The game would go to halftime 7-0. The Jets would extend their lead to 10-0 after a long drive that opened the second half. Meanwhile the Jets would continue to frustrate Morrall into mistakes, and would go into the 4th Quarter leading 13-0 after another Jim Turner Field Goal. In the 4th Quarter Turner would extend the lead to 16-0, and fans began to realize the Jets might actually have a chance to win this one. However, the Colts would not go down without a fight. With Morrall being ineffective Don Shula decided to replace him with Johnny Untias, the all-time great Quarterback who had been hampered all season with injuries, but had the experience to get the Colts back into the game. Unitas would take the Colts down the field, and put them on the board 16-7, and when the Colts recovered the on-side-kick all of a sudden they were in business. However, Unitas did not have enough magic in his right arm and was picked off late in the 4th Quarter. The Jets had done they had won the Super Bowl, the AFL finally had legitimacy, and as the game ended Super Bowl MVP Joe Namath ran off the field and into the locker room holding up his finger saying "Were Number 1".

1969: The Jets flight to a second straight Super Bowl hit turbulence even before the start of training camp when Quarterback Joe Namath suddenly retired, rather then sell his interest in the nightclub Bachelor's III. NFL commissioner Pete Rosell who now had jurisdiction over the AFL teams and players demanded Namath sell the bar because of unsavory characters that were partners in the ownership group. Eventually Namath would come to his senses and sell the nightclub, and would rejoin the Jets just in time the preseason. With Namath back in the saddle the Jets would finish 10-4 and would cruise to their second consecutive Eastern Division Title. That year the Jets needed to win an extra game to get to the AFL Championship, since an extra round of playoffs were added. In the interdivisional round the Jets faced the Kansas City Chiefs at Shea Stadium. The Chiefs defense was able to shut down Broadway Joe all game forcing him into thrown three interceptions. The Jets managed to stay close keeping the game tied 6-6 into the 4th Quarter, but the Chiefs were too much and would pull out a 13-6 win to advance o the AFL Championship Game, and eventually on to Super Bowl IV, which they won easily.

1970: The merger, which was instigated by the Jets signing of Joe Namath, and expedited by their victory in Super Bowl III, is finally completed. Pro-football is now completely housed under one league with the AFL fully joining its once rival league, and three NFL teams joining the AFC to give both conferences an equal number of teams and divisions. Along with the merger, 1970 saw a few other firsts that have become a regular part of the NFL, and the Jets were right in the middle of these changes. First came on opening day September 21st when the Jets faced the Brows, (who recently moved to the AFC from the NFL) in Cleveland for the first Monday Night Football game in NFL history. The Jets would end up losing the Monday Night inaugural 31-21. The merger also brought to the AFC the Jets Super Bowl III opponents the Baltimore Colts. Not only did they join the AFC, but joined the AFC east meaning they were guaranteed two match-ups against the Jets every year. In the first match up against the Colts on October 18th the Jets season took a sudden down turn, as Joe Namath fractures his wrist in the 29-22 loss. The Jets would go on to finish with a disappointing 4-10 record while Namath sat out the sidelines unable to play. However, the season would see another first as regular season inter-conference play is introduced. The highlight of the season comes when the Jets face the Giants at Shea Stadium on November 1st in front of a sold out crowd. The Jets would grab an early lead, but without Namath could not hold as the Giants took the first regular season math-up 22-10.

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