okay so full disclosure, I am a total pigskin nerd, so I spend a lot of time just researching random things over on profootball reference, mainly stuff related to past seasons, etc. Anyway, I was reviewing the Jets season-by-season history going back to Namath, and I was stunned that, as an organization, the Jets have NEVER had a sustained run of success (as defined by: a window of at least 4-5 consecutive seasons of winning records and playoff appearances). Don't get me wrong, I realize that the Jets have had a lot of bad teams, bad luck and only one Super Bowl, but I honestly thought that they would have had at least one or two different "runs of success" where they were able to string together 4-5 winning seasons and playoff appearances. Even going back to the "Glory Years" of Namath and Weeb Ewbank, the best the Jets were able to do was 3 consecutive winning seasons and 2 playoff apperances. That's it! I was stunned, since I thought that the Jets were a consistent winner with Namath and Ewbank. And those were the glory years! Ever since then, it has been mostly losing and mediocre records. I was just surprised, I guess, that even going back to to the 60's, the Jets have never really enjoyed sustained success at any point in their history as an organization. Here is the link for anyone who wants to check out the Jets season-by-season records, dating back to their AFL days as the "Titans." https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/nyj/
Okay so full disclosure, I am not a total pigskin nerd and I knew without looking the Jets never had a sustained run of success. Not giving you a hard time, some of us have just been around a whole lot longer and this stuff is imprinted on our brains.
You could look at it the other way, and say the Jets have had a very long run of sustained failure. That is the sad truth. The successes are few and far between all of the failure and disappointment. Having said that, the future can be bright and sustained success can be a part of the franchise. It starts now.
theDarkKnight, that is definitely true. Good point. Like I said, I realize the Jets have strugged during my lifetime, but I was surprised that they weren't better in the late 60's/early 70's either. Just surprising is all, considering the fact that they did win the Super Bowl in 1969.
The Detroit Lions have been members of the NFL since 1930 (first four years playing in Portsmouth, OH as the Spartans), and have never in their history had a run of four straight playoff seasons, and haven't had a run of four straight winning seasons since 1954 (their longest such run). They won their fourth and final NFL championship in 1957. So, yay Jets! You might not be the most pathetic NFL franchise of the last 60 years! Woo hoo!
I respect your historical pigskin knowledge, staffjeff22. A few of the guys on the board told me that you are a real old-timer, and I can now see that is true. To your excellent point, the Lions would DEFINITELY rank as the most pathetic franchise, considering : A-how long they have been around and B-the fact that they have yet to EVEN SO MUCH AS PLAY in a Super Bowl, which is mind-boggling. Hard to believe they have been so consistently hopeless for so long.
It's always good to see someone who does their research, but don't let research and "book knowledge" substitute for experience. And please, PLEASE refrain form beating us over the head with a millions "facts" and stats! You might've come across another poster here - Defense Wins Championships - who also did copious amounts of research and then dumped it on us...he more often than not pushed people in the opposite direction that he wanted them to go. There's an old women's perfume commercial - Chanel? - that said "If you want someone to listen...whisper. Good advice IMO. As to this fact, those of use who have followed this team for decades knew this, which is why some of us get pretty frustrated with the SOJ way of doing things. I'm hopeful that Douglas is changing this approach finally. I commend your positive attitude, even if I don't share it given the decades of failure, but I'm still here so I guess I still have hope.
I'm sorry ColoradoContrails. I won't do any more research, I promise. I like you, you're a good guy and a well-respected poster on here. I just like to relive past seasons, especially the ones before my time, to imagine what it would have been like to have been a Jets fan back in the olden days before cable TV and walkmans, microwaves, etc. That's all. I came across that fact, and it honestly surprised me, so I figured I would share it.
Why do you think people say they're cursed? Something seemingly always goes wrong even when it looks like all the stars are perfectly aligned. They hired the brains behind the highest scoring offense in NFL history in coach Gase after they drafted possibly the highest rated QB prospect in the golden QB draft class of 2018 look how things went. They had Parcells AND Belichick on the same staff still couldn't make it to the Super Bowl. They knocked off the second best Patriots team to not win a Super Bowl of the Belichick-Brady era then inexplicably came out 'flat' for a AFC Championship game. Or they draft a HOF talent in Adams then trade him away. Always something it seems.
I am definitely an old-timer in every sense of the word! From the Jets point of view, I was watching games in the mid-60s on NBC (away games only, of course - had to listen to Merle Harmon calling the home games on radio), I got my Don Maynard autograph at training camp in Hofstra the summer before THE season, and will always cherish watching SB III as it happened.
No apologies necessary, and I didn't mean to say that you shouldn't do research...just don't "dump" it all and beat us over the head with it. And in any case that's just my opinion.
i signed on after watching namath in college. i was already an AFL fan, as opposed to boring NFL games. so, if you saw super bowl 3 live, after hearing you would lose by 3 tds and the AFL was a mickey mouse league. you were hooked. then , the next year, the chiefs kicked the snot out of the viqueens. the ultimate revenge was the modern NFL changing the rules to make the league look exactly like the AFL of the 60s.
Here's what will never show up in the record books - the strength of the commitment of ownership to win. The only thing approaching that we've heard in the last fifty years was in 1995 when Leon Hess emerged from his burrow and muttered about wanting results because he was eighty years old. He then fired Pete Carroll and hired Rich Kotite.
I mean from the Parcells to the Rex Ryan era they had on and off success for the most part. We didn’t have 5 years in a row but we were good half the time. That period of time definitely was the most successful they have been short of winning a Super Bowl.
Quinnen, I agree 100%. In fact, I was going to actually mention that in my initial thread, so I am glad that you did. In reviewing the Jets history, their longest run of "not so terrible" was probably from Parcells through Groh Edwards and Ryan.
Everyone knows Namath sold the soul of the Jets to the devil for that Super Bowl win. Once Joe passes order will be established in Jet land.
I do the same thing sometimes - research past seasons, watch weekly game highlights on utube from the 70s, etc. In regards to the ‘glory years‘ some of the down years were directly related to Namath’s injuries. For instance 1970-71 were ruined because Namath missed something like 18 or 19 of those 28 games. The defense on those teams were pretty good. I also assume you noticed the Jets had two tie games in 1966?
The 1997-2011 Jets had a very nice run considering their history. Every season they were in the playoff chase and their only losing seasons were due to losing their QB to injury whether it was Vinny or Chad .....
This is exactly why I have chosen to walk away if they don’t show progress. But after reading your research I may walk away regardless... this franchise is synonymous with mediocrity.
