The New York Jets have been playing professional football for more than 60 years now since they started in 1960 as the New York Titans. However, despite their long tenure in the league, the team has just had a few seasons that could be labeled as successful. Many people put the NY Jets among the “worst” teams in the history of professional football. Despite that, the Jets still manage to keep a huge, supportive, and active fan base.
The Gang Green has had its fair share of triumphs and losses, with the latter seemingly being more than the former. From the perspective of sports betting, most NFL lines show the Jets mostly being the underdog and although they are not among the best teams around, bettors still believe that they can sometimes be a good choice for an underdog wager.
In the six decades that they have played in the AFL and the NFL, what are the years that the Jets shined the most? What are the best rosters of players that have had so far? To answer those questions, and more, here are the top three New York Jets teams throughout their entire history.
1998 led by Bill Parcells
Duane Charles "Bill" Parcells, also known as “The Big Tuna”, cemented his name in the NFL history by leading the Giants to two Super Bowl wins, taking the Patriots to the Super Bowl and then transforming a 1-15 New York Jets into a playoff contender. Just one year after taking over the worst team in the league, he led the Jets to a memorable playoff run in the year 1998, thanks to the plays of Pro Bowlers Vinny Testaverde, Curtis Martin, and Keyshawn Johnson.
That year, the Jets finished with their best regular season record of 12-4 and for the first time in 30 years, the team bagged the AFC East. Additionally, they did well in their first playoffs game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, where they beat them by a double-digit score. The Jets would eventually end the season by allowing 23 unanswered points and losing to the eventual Super Bowl winner, the Denver Broncos, in the AFC Championship Game.
2010 led by Rex Ryan
Rex Ryan's six-year tenure started off with a bang. The bombastic Ryan took the team to the AFC Championship Game in his first two years with the team. The Jets barely made it to the playoffs in 2009 but ended up beating the Bengals and the Chargers in the playoffs. All their hopes ended, however, when they faded in the second half against another eventual Super Bowl winner, the Indianapolis Colts.
Next year, the Jets finished 11-5 and repeated their postseason performance. The AFC Championship turned out to be another tale of two halves. Rex Ryan's team scored 19 unanswered points but it wasn't enough to overcome a 24-point deficit of the first half. Still, it was considered one of the best years of the team in recent memory.
1968 Super Bowl season
If a year would be picked as the best for the Jets, it would be 1968. This is because this was the only year when they managed to win the Super Bowl.
Under the leadership of Weeb Ewbank, the Jets found themselves in their second winning season, and with a then franchise-record of 11 wins, it was the first time that the team even managed to get to the playoffs. That year, Jets quarterback Joe Namath was named MVP. He was mainly responsible for leading the Jets to the AFL Championship, as he threw three touchdown passes in the Championship Game.
Following their win against the Raiders in the AFC Championship Game, the team faced off against the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. Despite being 18.5-point underdogs, Namath's Jets defeated the Colts, 16-7. Namath was named Super Bowl MVP, finishing the game with 206 passing yards.
This was the only Super Bowl that the team ever won, and they never managed to pull off the same stellar performance that they did back then.