Quarterback
No. 14
Alabama
"'Just plain Richard.' Which is Todd's way of saying he isn't Joe Namath. Broadway Richard? No way. Todd doesn't even live in New York year-round, like Joe Willie. One thing they have in common, though, is the arm. The right arm. Namath had the power touch, and Todd has that same touch, although only time will prove whether it's comparable to Namath's.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, he was another in the long line of Alabama quarterbacks who've paraded past the Bear.
Todd doesn't have a defense- the Jets were 26th in the NFL- that will get him the ball in good field position. But he does have great receivers, and so always is a threat."
-Dave Newhouse, The Complete Handbook of Pro Football (1978 Edition)
"Richard has great potential. He has a strong arm and adds another dimension to the Jets' offense with his ability to scramble. He can run out of trouble on the third and long situations and is doing a good job of learning the coverages. Richard has good poise and a great desire to succeed in pro football with added experience.
His biggest thrill was playing under Bear Bryant at Alabama."
-1978 Topps No. 267
RICHARD TODD: TRYING TO SHAKE HIS JOE NAMATH IMAGE
Both On And Off The Field, The Two Ex-Alabama QBs Have More Differences Than Similarities
"In many ways, Richard Todd is a lot like Joe Namath. In even more ways, Todd is not like Namath. The Jets are thankful for both.
Namath may never be replaced in the minds of many Jets fans, but Todd has made the transition in quarterbacks easier for the fans and the team's management.
On the field, Todd has provided enough glimpses of potential greatness to satisfy Jet fans who hunger for a winning season to build their dreams around.
Off the field, Todd is already in the gossip columns. Whenever he appears in public with a model or actress, the Namath image is revived. For many Jet fans it's an image they won't let die.
'I guess I will always be compared with Joe,' Todd says with a tone of resignation. 'I don't mind being compared with someone I respect so much like Joe. He is probably the purest passer ever to play the game.
'Joe caused the merger of the leagues and without that, a lot of us wouldn't be playing pro football today.
'Joe was my idol growing up, and I still respect him. But I don't have Joe's arm, and he didn't have my legs. I want to earn an identity for myself, and I think I've begun to do that.'
Unfortunately for Todd, after leading the Jets to a 2-1 start, he suffered a separated shoulder and was due to miss much of the season.
Todd was New York's first-round draft choice in 1976, and the newest quarterback from Alabama was told he was being groomed to replace the older quarterback from Alabama. Todd, at first, accepted his role.
But that was the year of chaos under Lou Holtz, who was proving that good college coaches don't necessarily make good pro coaches. Todd found himself running college-type veer offenses and wondering if he would be taught how to play quarterback in the National Football League.
'The year under Holtz was difficult,' says Todd. 'I don't think I ever lost my confidence, but I did get depressed a little. Everything was so disorganized. It knocked down my ideas of how a professional football team was supposed to operate.'
What made Todd's rookie season even more painful was watching the erosion of Namath on the field. Todd wanted to be the Jets' starting quarterback, but he wanted to earn it on his own merits, not on a collapse of Broadway Joe's abilities. He was granted his wish less than a year later.
Walt Michaels was named the coach- a move many observers though should have happed a lot earlier- and he promptly said Todd would be his quarterback.
Namath then moved on to Los Angeles, where after a year on the Rams' bench he decided it was time to go into movies and television on a full-time basis. Todd's reign as Jets quarterback had begun.
'What Walt did really helped me a lot,' says Todd. 'He said I was the quarterback, and he stuck with me. I started with bad games against Houston and Baltimore, but he stuck with me and the next week we buried New England. I got to play and I got to learn.
The learning process had its ups and downs, but when Todd threw for 396 yards in a near upset over Oakland in the first game in which he had all his receivers healthy, Jets fans had visions of another Namath.
By mid-season, Todd had moved up to fourth place statistically among American Football Conference quarterbacks. Then misfortune struck.
He sprained his right knee against Miami and sat out the next two games. Then he tried to come back. 'I think the injury was on his mind when he came back,' says Michaels. 'He tried to fight through it, but he was rusty.'
Statistics bore out Michaels. Todd completed only 33 of 84 passes after the injury. After completing 100 of 181 passes for 1,449 yards and eight touchdowns in the first half of the season, he had to settle for 414 yards and three touchdowns (plus nine interceptions) in the second half.
Now that the knee has healed again, Todd puts it behind him. 'I don't think about the knee injury anymore except when I'm asked about it,' he says. 'All I'm thinking about it is playing this season.'
Todd showed enough in the preseason to further convince Michaels and his teammates that when he's healthy, he's capable of leading them back to respectability, which began with a 33-20 rout of Miami, including three Todd touchdown strikes.
'Richard is much more relaxed,' says Michaels. 'All you have to do is hear him call plays in the huddle to know the difference. He's the boss out there now.'
Todd has become a rallying force for the young Jets. The offense talks about him, the defense talks about him, and both agree that Todd is going make them a better team than the last three Jet squads, all of which had 3-11 records.
The experience of starting has helped Richard,' says Wesley Walker, Todd's long-ball target. 'He's picking up defenses better, and he's more loose and relaxed. The offensive line is giving him more time to throw. We'll all get better when he gets better.'
Todd's three-touchdown performance against the Giants in this season's annual exhibition game impressed guard Randy Rasmussen, the Jets' elder statesman.
'He had a couple of beautiful checkoffs on the line,' says Rasmussen. 'One was for a touchdown and another for a first down. He calmly checked off and burned them. That's a big plus for a quarterback.
Jim Kensil, the Jets' president, is satisfied with Todd's progress, but he doesn't want the rest of the team to become too dependent on the quarterback, a trait that Jet teams showed when Namath starred.
'The key to Richard was that when he was healthy last season he did the job,' says Kensil. 'In some cases, a team plays well and it makes the quarterback play well. But with all his skills, a quarterback can't do it if the others on the team don't play well.'
'I feel that the team makes the quarterback, the quarterback doesn't make the team,' says Todd. 'Everybody, not just me, has to do his job to make us a winner. This is a team game.'
Todd's NFL education never ceases. He spends considerable time with offensive coordinator John Idzik. (They even play cards together on airplane flights).
'Everybody always asks me if I call my own plays,' says Todd. 'Sure I do. But when I get to the sidelines I go over different things with Idzik and other coaches. If a quarterback can't listen to advice, then he better get out of the game.'
Todd's development as quarterback is progressing the way he wants, but he is realistic enough to know that there's a long way to go.
'I have the same system and the same offensive coordinator for the second straight season, and that's a big help,' he says. 'I have much more confidence because I know what I'm doing now.
'You have to remember that I came from Alabama, where we had a running game, to a pro team that depended on a passing game. It was tough. A lot of people said I couldn't make it, but I wanted to prove I could. I've never been a quitter.
'I've learned to read defenses and keys a lot better. I never read keys at Alabama. Last year I had guys telling me my arm was stronger because my passes weren't wobbling like my first year. Heck, my arm wasn't any different. I just wasn't throwing off balance like I had been.'
Todd attracted some Namath-like attention last year after his knee injury. Dr. James Nicholas, the team physician, infuriated Michaels by putting Todd in a hospital overnight without telling the coach. Later, Todd was seen dancing in a Manhattan discotheque when Michaels thought he should have been resting.
'The whole incident was blown out of proportion by the papers,' says Todd. 'How serious could it have been? The team doctor was fined $10.'
But Michaels asserted his authority, something nobody ever did when Namath was with the Jets. He told Todd he wanted him away from the Manhattan scene and this year the quarterback lives on Long Island.
'But I think I'll get to the city a couple of times, you can bet on that,' Todd says."
-John Rowe, The Bergen County Record (Football Digest, December 1978)
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