No. 12
Alabama
"His ailing knees long have made him susceptible to injury, but until Joe Namath fell heavily on his throwing arm five plays from the end of a game against Baltimore last October 18, causing him to miss the last nine games of the schedule, Joe never had missed any action because of injury in six pro years. Ironically, the wrist fracture he sustained came near the conclusion of one of the greatest passing performances in Namath's career, a game in which he set Jet records for attempts (62), completions (34), and rolled up his third highest one-game yardage total, 397. Joe remained in the Baltimore game after suffering his injury because the Jets were trying to pull out a game in which they were trailing, 29-22. Joe hit on three of his final five throws but couldn't pull out the victory.
The irrepressible Broadway Joe had nursed notions of retiring from football before last season, but disclaimed any such notion this season, indicating almost immediately after being sidelined in 1970 that he would be back in 1971."
-Brenda Zanger, Pro Football 1971
"The $400,000 quarterback's stock went down a few points in 1970 because of a broken wrist and a mediocre performance on the field. The Jets lost four of five games with him at the helm.
His record-breaking 34-for-62 passing day against Baltimore (setting Jet marks for attempts and completions) was marred by six interceptions- he broke his wrist that day, too, to worsen matters. In another 1970 game, he threw 40 passes and couldn't get a touchdown on the scoreboard.
Namath completed 50.3 per cent of 179 passes for five touchdowns in 1970. A 64-per cent passer one year in college, he rarely completes more than 50 or 51 per cent in the pros. But his overall leadership has meant a lot to the Jets.
Clutch playing has been his mark throughout his career- star of the 1964 Orange Bowl, MVP of the College All-Star Game, hero of the 1969 Super Bowl and twice MVP of the Jets. His celebrated dinky knees have held up well.
Namath says he's more eager than ever to resume his career in 1971. He says he wants to play eight more years. He resumed passing a football in mid-April after going almost a half-year without touching anything bigger than a tennis ball. Ewbank has proclaimed him fit again."
-John Devaney, The Complete Handbook of Pro Football (1971 Edition)
"After not missing a game for over five years, Joe was forced to sit out the last nine of 1970 with a broken wrist. Before being sidelined he was off to an impressive season with his passing.
Joe opened 1970 with a 298-yard show against Cleveland and two weeks later at Buffalo, he threw for 228 yards and two touchdowns, one of them a 72-yard bomb to Richard Caster. On October 18, the day he was injured, Joe set Jet records with 62 passes attempted and 34 completed and had his third-best day ever in terms of yardage with 397 against the Colts.
Joe had four AFL All-Star game appearances and was named to the all-time All-AFL team."
-1971 Topps No. 250
DO THE JETS REALLY NEED JOE NAMATH?
"Amidst the frustration of a nightmare campaign, Namath and his teammates discovered a fresh respect for each other. Now they're united, looking forward to the coming season- and another Super Bowl try.
It's an old axiom that you don't really miss something until you can't have it anymore. The lesson was finally learned last year by Joe Namath, the flamboyant New York quarterback, who discovered he really liked playing football more than making movies or being a TV celebrity.
'Before the 1970 season, I really didn't want to play football,' Namath recalled not long ago, 'but now I do. The broken wrist I suffered last season made me realize how much the game meant to me.'
This was the same Joe Namath who had said in the summer of '70, 'I"ve got a lot of problems. Football used to be No. 1 with me, but at this stage it's not my main concern. My thoughts of football are dwarfed by my mental state.'
He finally joined the team after the first two exhibition games were over, but didn't help much. He could lead New York to only one victory in its first five games before being sidelined for the season against the Baltimore Colts. As he stood on the sidelines watching the Jets struggle through a 4-10 campaign, he realized how much of his life football really is. The toughest moment of all came when he saw his team lose its first regular-season meeting with the arch-rival New York Giants.
'That's the day I remember,' Joe says. 'Not being able to play just killed me. I wanted to suit up so badly against the Giants and I couldn't. Even before the game I had a sad feeling ... my eyes were watery. But maybe I was getting punished for getting too lackadaisical about football, too nonchalant, taking it for granted.'
While Namath was learning a lesson, however, his teammates were also making a discovery. Because of the inordinate dependence on him, it was always feared that the club would fall apart if his ailing knees gave out. Indeed, when the broken wrist forced him out of action, the Jets lost three straight games to the Bills, Giants and Steelers while they were adjusting to Al Woodall at quarterback.
But then an interesting thing happened. The team pulled itself together and recorded consecutive victories over Los Angeles, Boston and Minnesota. New York even had a shot at a 7-7 season when it held a 13-7 lead over the Oakland Raiders with seconds left to play. That's when Warren Wells made a circus catch of a Daryle Lamonica heave in the end zone to give Oakland an unbelievable 14-13 triumph. The disheartened Jets then were beaten by the Dolphins and Colts in their final two games to finish at 4-10.
But amidst the frustration of a nightmarish season, Namath and his teammates had discovered a new respect for each other. It was typified by the way middle linebacker Al Atkinson and Joe shook hands after the final regular-season game. It was Atkinson who shook the club last August by announcing that he was going to retire because he was fed up with Namath's antics.
'We had a great thing going for a while,' Al said. 'For three years we really stuck together, gave it all we had and finally won the Super Bowl. Now the team spirit isn't there. It all has changed, tremendously changed. I don't know the answer. I think it's the guys who have a lot of money in their pocket and don't feel any responsibility.'
Then he directed his attack at Namath. 'What really bothers me is this quarterback not thinking for a minute about the married guys on this club, the average guys who have families to worry about. Right now they're wondering where their leader is. The extra money in January means something to them, not to him. That quarterback hasn't even told his team what he intends to do. They don't even know where he is.
'It used to kill me to see him sit back on his TV show and think what he does and stands for is justified, so long as he comes right out and says it. He thinks it makes an indiscretion correct to admit it. There are more and more guys like that quarterback. They don't give a damn about anybody else.'
It was obvious that Atkinson wasn't the only member of the team who felt that way. Defensive end Gerry Philbin said, 'We've known a long time that a double standard exists on this club. There's one set of rules for Joe and one for the rest of the guys.
'Directly or indirectly, though, he's doing the team a favor by playing. He doesn't need the money. He doesn't need football as much as it needs him, and he has to know that. The time to have put an end to it was five years ago, when Sonny Werblin let it get out of hand. Now it's too late. It's just something you have to accept. I can accept it. But Al is a very moral guy, a very high-principle guy. He takes moral issues very seriously.'
Namath seemed stunned by Atkinson's remarks. 'Al must feel he's right. And I have to consider that what I do is right. But when someone of Al's character questions my character, I have to question myself. I don't try to hurt anybody in any way. And if I have, I'm terribly sorry.'
Eventually, both Atkinson and Namath returned to the fold. Looking back at the end of the season, the middle linebacker said, 'A lot of the things that were written about my reasons for retiring weren't just my feelings, but the feelings of 10 guys. If they had said anything, they might have been traded. But there have been some changes and I think we've made Joe a more conscientious guy.'
'Sometimes, there's nothing like a little humility to straighten a man out,' another member of the team declared. And Namath admitted, 'I've never had to sit down before I got injured. I didn't like it and I'm eager to get back.'
'There's not a guy on this team who isn't looking forward to 1971, and that includes Joe,' said guard Randy Rasmussen recently. 'I know I can't wait for it to begin and everybody I've talked to feels the same way.'
Linebacker Larry Grantham, who goes back to the days of the original Titans, chimed in, 'If we can keep this club in one piece, I don't see how anybody can stop us. The potential is here. I've never seen so many good young players.'
There will, of course, be extra pressure on Joe to prove he has come all the way back from the wrist injury and also to demonstrate he has the leadership qualities to reunite the Jets and make them winners.
There's no doubt he has the talent. As one opposing coach says, 'He scares you. When you play the Jets, your whole approach to the game involves Namath. You're so conscious of him that it disrupts your planning- more so than against any other quarterback. And no matter what the down or the distance, he's capable of hitting a big play on you.'
Another coach put it more succinctly. 'Joe Namath,' he stated not too long ago, 'has more talent than anybody in life!' "
-All-Pro 1971 Football, edited by Vito Stellino
"After not missing a game for over five years, Namath was forced to sit out the last nine games of 1970 with a broken wrist, the first time he ever missed any games due to injury.
The All-Pro quarterback fell heavily on his right arm five plays from the end of the Baltimore game at Shea on October 18 and fractured the navicular bone in his wrist. He stayed in the game, completing three of his final five attempts. His arm was placed in a cast for nearly four months while the injury healed.
Before being sidelined, Namath had been off to an impressive season with his passing. After reporting to camp late, he turned up in three preseason games, completing two of six for 42 against Minnesota in one quarter of play, seven of nine for 188 and a touchdown against the Saints in one half, and 10 for 21 for 251 against Dallas in three quarters. Joe was re-elected offensive captain before the opener.
Joe opened the season with a 298-yard show against Cleveland. Two weeks later at Buffalo he threw for 228 yards and two touchdowns, one of them a 72-yard bomb to rookie wide receiver Rich Caster. In the Baltimore game, Joe set Jet records for passes attempted (62) and completed (34) and had his third-best day in terms of yardage (397).
He went over the 16,000-yard mark for his career in the Buffalo game. He now has 16,746 yards on 1,116 of 2,222 passes completed for 102 touchdowns.
Joe was drafted No. 1 by both the Jets and the St. Louis Cardinals in 1965. He was AFL Rookie of the Year in 1965, MVP of the '65 All-Star Game and co-MVP of the '67 All-Star Game. Named to the all-time All-AFL team, Namath was a combined All-Pro (AFL-NFL) choice at quarterback after the 1968 and '69 as voted by pro coaches. He had four AFL All-Star Game appearances and was MVP of the Jets after the '68 and '69 seasons those two years as well, the only time any Jet has won the NEA Third Down Award, voted on by the team, more than once.
Namath gained almost every honor possible after the 1968 season when he guided the Jets to a Super Bowl victory. He was named winner of the Hickock Belt, AFL MVP, Super Bowl MVP and the George Halas Award as the Most Courageous Pro Player.
He went through a six-game span that year without throwing a touchdown pass, but the Jets won five of those games as he became an all-around quarterback. He threw for three TDs in the AFL Championship game (two to Don Maynard, one to Pete Lammons). He called almost a perfect game in the Super Bowl and completed 17 of 28 for 206 yards.
In 1968 Namath combined with Maynard for the longest play in Jet history- 87 yards at San Diego, yet turned more conservative in 1969, throwing only 361 passes, the fewest since his rookie year. He holds virtually all the Jet passing records and has gone over the 300-yard mark 17 times in his career. His best touchdown effort in one game was five against Houston in 1966. Joe shares the AFC record for consecutive completions with 15 in back-to-back games against Miami and Boston in 1967. He's the only passer in pro history to surpass 4,000 yards in a year, with 4,007 in '67. He has rushed 37 times for 118 yards and six touchdowns in his career.
Namath has had three knee operations. His right knee was operated on for removal of cartilage and repair of ligaments on January 25, 1965, 23 days after he signed with the Jets. He had cartilage removed and a tendon transfer in a major operation on his right knee on December 28, 1966. His left knee was operated on for repair of a small tendon tear on March 20, 1968. All operations were performed by Dr. James A. Nicholas.
He has made three movies: 'Norwood' with Glenn Campbell, 'C.C. and Company' with Ann-Margret, and 'The Last Rebel.' 'C.C. and Company' had a gala premiere in New York last fall and received a 3 1/2 star rating from New York News.
Namath had his own television show syndicated during the '69 season and has hosted the Tonight Show numerous times. He had a skit in the 'Super Comedy Bowl' last winter and has made guest appearances on many television shows.
Joe resides in New York City and Miami. His hometown is Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania."
-The New York Jets Official 1971 Yearbook, edited by Frank Ramos
HOW A $400,000 MISSION LED TO EVENTUAL PRO MERGER
Signing of Namath By Jets Saved Old AFL From Destruction
"The scene is a darkened briefing room in the war ministry, New York division.
Stark photographs of various contracts are on the walls. At the table are two members of the cabinet and a young acolyte who has been summoned for a dangerous mission. Ordinarily the acolyte is a drill sergeant for the troops. But he possesses special backgrounding which makes him invaluable for the forthcoming mission.
The mission is to rendezvous with a certain Hungarian expert who has the armament to bring a quick and victorious end to the war.
'Make no slip, do not let him out of your sight, make contact in the distant location, accompany him across the continent and deliver him to us. Price is no object. The other side is after him just as desperately.'
Fadeout ...
Chuck Knox talks wistfully about the stranger than fiction caper just described in what perhaps is only a slight over-dramatization. Knox had a vital role in it.
Pro football today is one giant and hugely profitable brotherhood. The expensive signing war is long over.
But it never would have happened ... the American Football League would have been destroyed ... if the Jets had failed to sign the $400,000 quarterback. This signing of Joe Namath was the catalyst leading to pro football's peace treaty and merger, and a radical change in the economy of all sports.
The man commissioned with bringing Namath into the AFL camp was Knox.
He, then, in 1964 was the young line coach of the Jets. Today he is the man credited with revitalizing the Lions' offensive line.
'I was assigned to it because I had known Joe from western Pennsylvania,' Knox recalls.
'I'd coached football in Ellwood City, Pa., against Beaver Falls while Joe was in junior high there. The first time I ever saw Joe was in Beaver Falls. He was playing junior high basketball. He was in the eighth grade then. I saw him play football his senior year. He played on an undefeated team. His coach, Larry Bruno, was an old friend of mine.
'I was coaching at the University of Kentucky then and I tried to recruit him out of high school, but he decided to go to Alabama. I'd known his brother Frank well, too, because he'd gone to Kentucky.'
With this intelligence on file, Sonny Werbling, owner of the Jets, settled on line coach Knox as his liaison man with Namath in December of 1964. Knox was dispatched south to the Alabama campus after briefing from Werblin and Coach Weeb Ewbank.
'Sonny Werblin had been in the talent business for many, many years,' said Knox. 'He'd handled top entertainment. He knew the value of a buy like Namath. He knew what a guy like Namath would mean to the Jets and to the AFL. What Werblin said in effect was we had to have him regardless of price.'
The St. Louis Cardinals, of the more powerful National Football League, had also drafted Namath. If they got him, the AFL likely could have gone under. The AFL had to get a player of Namath's magnitude to escalate the war and hasten the peace.
'It was before Alabama was going to play in the Orange Bowl and Bear Bryant had given Joe 10 days off along with the rest of the team,' said Knox. 'Joe was free to talk then and we were going to play in San Diego on the next Sunday.
'On Friday I flew to Birmingham and on to Tuscaloosa, picked up Joe Namath and Mike Bite, Joe's attorney, and flew back to Birmingham. On Saturday morning we flew from Birmingham to Los Angeles. We checked into the Beverly Wilshire, went to Chasen's. We met out there with Werblin, Ewbank and Bob Schulman, a tax expert from Washington, D.C., who was there to determine the best way to set up the money.
'Then we flew to San Diego and Joe went to the game with us. Then he went back to Alabama.
'The week prior to the Orange Bowl I went down to Miami to keep tabs on Joe. As soon as the Orange Bowl game was over we signed him and had the press conference the next day.'
Namath was signed for $427,000, a figure so shocking because it was four times more than any other draft choice had ever received. It shocked especially the NFL. Suddenly prices for college draft choices zoomed and the war became more intense- and the merger by treaty was the only solution.
'Teams were hiding out players at that time and there were all kinds of shenanigans,' said Knox. 'But Namath had given us assurances he wouldn't sign with the Cardinals until he talked to us and got our figure. He kept his word.'
Knox recalled there was one near snafu during his mission. There was a fear Namath had been spirited by the Cardinals during the night.
'Joe at that particular time liked to sleep in the morning,' said Knox. 'He almost missed the plane out of Birmingham. We had to rush for the plane carrying our own bags.
'I wonder what would have happened if I'd showed in L.A. without Joe.'
Maybe Pete Rozelle can find the answer hidden in the Pentagon Papers."
-Jerry Green, The Detroit News (Football Digest, November 1971)
BROADWAY JOE COMES BACK
BUT HOW FAR BACK?
"He came out to play. He with the $400,000 arm and bum knees. Sunday last he showed them all he was the best there is, but now it was Saturday next, another game in another town. He came out to play, but not for long. The best there is wasn't good enough against Dallas, and when it was all over Joe Willie Namath and his Jets were buried under a 52-10 Cowboy avalanche.
Just a week before, in one of the most memorable games of NFL history, Namath threw fear into the hearts of the San Francisco 49ers with a dazzling last-quarter aerial display. A goal line interception by John Fuller ended Joe's magic act, but not before he had tossed three touchdown passes and had threatened with a fourth in less than 25 minutes of action.
He had come back with a special vengeance, this Babe Ruth of the pro quarterbacks. It took almost 14 months, if you don't include his exhibition game against the Lions. He nursed his wounds, waited for his chance and saw it come when Bob Davis was sacked under a 49er charge. Davis hobbled to the sidelines and Joe trotted in on his white shoes, with 63,000 fans roaring their approval.
'Relax,' he told himself. 'You know you're going to get hit, but you're going to get up. Just try to keep calm.' He threw 27 times against the 49ers for 258 yards on 11 completions. He was calm enough.
Joe's news conference was beautiful. He entered the packed room smiling his schoolboy smile, then fielded a thousand questions. Even his severest critics admitted afterward that he had one helluva day. That was a week ago Sunday.
At midweek he was out for practice, throwing long strikes into the icy winds of deserted Shea Stadium. The intense cold caused him to blow into his hands after each pass. Now he huddled with his receivers, said something quietly to Rich Caster, made the call, dropped back and pumped. The wind chopped at the ball and blew it away from Caster. Joe shrugged and tried it again, moving back and throwing, blowing into his hands and throwing again. He was getting ready for Dallas, and Dallas was getting ready for Joe Willie Namath.
Sunday's hero was now Saturday's child. He was going against the big guns of Tom Landry: Lee Roy Jordan and Bob Lilly on defense, Calvin Hill and Duane Thomas in the same backfield, and Roger Staubach at the switch. Joe Namath was to start his first regular-season game since he was smashed to the ground by Billy Ray Smith of Baltimore, landing on his right arm and breaking his wrist. That was in October 1970. Now he was starting against the Cowboys in Texas, against a team which was poised in its corner like Joe Louis before the second Schmeling fight.
Howfield kicked off. Ike Thomas grabbed the pigskin and never stopped running until he had scored a 101-yard touchdown. The Jets took over. Joe leaned over his center, Joe Schmitt, barking out his first series. Three plunges into the line and punt. Then disaster. The Cowboys scored again and again and again. In Namath's second series, he completed one pass in five, a 20-yarder to Don Maynard, before throwing an interception to Herb Adderley, which led to a Staubach-to-Hill touchdown. When Duane Thomas scored from the three to make it 28-0, Jet coach Weeb Ewbank sent in Davis, so as not to risk Joe and his sore arm any further at the hands of the bruising Dallas front four. It was still the first quarter.
With 12 minutes to go in the game, Davis was ground up by the Cowboys on the 30 while trying to get rid of the ball. He was helped off the field, and the Cowboys geared up again for another touchdown, which came on a Craig Morton pass to Lance Alworth five minutes later. The score was now 52-10.
Namath came out to play. A handoff to John Riggins- four yards. Riggins again for four. Emerson Boozer fumbled, and the carnage continued. Landry was now using Joe Williams as his battering ram against the decimated Jet defenses, but Dallas was stopped just five yards short of another touchdown as the gun sounded.
Funny thing happened, though. Some of the Cowboys ran over to Joe and shook his hand, like he had won the game or something. Just before Joe disappeared under the stands, a Dallas cheerleader squeezed his hand and wished him luck. Joe squeezed back. Then he took his aching legs and his battered pride into the locker room, where he could peel off his jersey and feel the soreness of his elbow and test his shaky knees.
'I just don't throw the way I would like to,' he said. 'I just don't have enough on the ball.' He felt his arm again and looked straight ahead.
Joe Namath, who had grown up in Beaver Falls, Pa., who had played for Bear Bryant at Alabama, who had passed for 4,007 yards in 1967, who had carved up the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, who had more guts than legs in all of his seven years in the pros- was whipped by a ferocious, unstoppable Dallas football team last Saturday.
Now the fans were gone, the season is ending, and Joe's knees are barely able to carry him into the following week against the Patriots.
He'll probably be in the game on Sunday, though, because he and Weeb Ewbank, the coach of the Jets, have one thing in common- they love to win. In Joe's case, by the way, it wasn't shown more than in his comeback game against San Francisco. After an interception, he was out there trying to make a tackle, bum knee and all, while Ewbank and the Jets on the sideline winced. Joe's that way about his manliness.
Some of the guys in this business will be writing that he's all washed up. Don't you believe it, because I want to tell you something, friends.
If you're old enough, maybe you've seen them all. Luckman and Baugh, Layne and Van Brocklin, Unitas and Tittle, Starr and Brodie and all the others. Tomorrow you might be talking about Griese and Bradshaw, Plunkett and Staubach, and the rest. But after playing in only two games of the 1971 season, in which he and his team were beaten twice, the best there is was in there to play quarterback for the New York Jets. And when Joe Willie Namath comes to play, everybody knows he's the best there is. And that's a fact. Hell, you can look it up."
-Herb Gluck, Gridiron, December 13, 1971
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