Joe Namath "The New York Sack Exchange" Curtis Martin Don Maynard Winston Hill Larry Grantham Weeb Eubank Wayne Chrebet Mo Lewis Chad Pennington
Art Monk? How about we start with guys that played the bulk and prime of their career with the team. Better yet, let's take a long hard look at all those overlooked Super Bowl Champions who have been eclipsed by Joe Willie's shadow all these years. Namath Maynard Hill Grant Snell Boozer Sauer Grantham Philbin Then let's remember the guys that made those barren 70's somewhat livable: Rich Castor Jerome Barkum Then you can talk about the 80's players and beyond...and Gastineau goes in without shame or hesitation. There is no Klecko without Gastineau, despite what the PC crowd and history revisionists would have you believe.
For you older guys... I've heard so many great things about Sauer but is it out of the realm that if he doesn't walk away this team may have won at least 1 more SB?
That is extremely doubtful. He played from 1965-70. The Jets never had a winning record in the 1970s. Let's suppose Sauer played another five years. The best Jets team from 1971-75 was the 1972 squad. I suppose the 1972 team could have gone 8-6 or 9-5 if Sauer was still playing. Maybe he would have been worth one or two more wins. That still wouldn't have been good enough to make the playoffs for the Browns were the Wild Card team with a record of 10-4.
I don't see that happening. Sauer retired after the 1970 season, and Namath only had one decent year after that (in 1972). The Jets were second in the NFL in scoring that year, so the offense was fine; it was the defense that wasn't any good (they gave up at least 136 yards rushing in 10 of the 14 games), and the reason they finished 7-7. The Jets should have made the playoffs in 1967 (Namath had a couple of really bad games at the end of the season that cost them the division), but they would have lost to Oakland in the playoffs. They were as good as anyone in 1968 (of course) and 1969, but the window shut pretty quickly after that. None of that changes that Sauer had great hands and was the best route runner the Jets ever had, of course.
So basically Sauer walking away doesn't have that devastating of an effect as some would lead you to believe. I know he had great stats for a short career but was he HOF good?
oh god another one. Chrebet was a good player, but not an all time great. The Ring of Fame is usually reserved for all time greats who spent a good deal of time on a team, like Michael Irvin.
The Jets records in the seven years after he retired- 1971: 6-8 1972: 7-7 1973: 4-10 1974: 7-7 1975: 3-11 1976: 3-11 1977: 3-11 The Jets lost a tight game to Houston and gave the Dolphins two tough games in 1972. One of the Dolphins games was 28-24. If the Jets still had Sauer, maybe the field goal drive would have been a touchdown drive and maybe the Dolphins would have finished 13-0-1 instead of 14-0. Maynard was at the end of the line, smurf Eddie Bell was a deep threat, and Caster was a big play tight end with suspect hands. Would a 29-year old (Sauer's age in late 1972) great technician at the wide receiver position have helped the Jets in 1972? Yes. Would he have been worth one or two more victories? It's very tough to say. By basically all accounts I've seen (Sauer played before I was born, but I read plenty of NFL related books, magazines, and newspapers from Sauer's time), Sauer was every bit as elite as Maynard. Sauer received slightly more postseason accolades than Maynard when they were both playing. That would seem to indicate Sauer was perhaps the better player. In the end, to go back to what I wrote yesterday, Maynard had a much longer career and was able to compile great numbers.
He was better than Victor Green, though. (Not that you supported Green in this thread, of course. It was a few other people.) Green was never an All-Pro or even a Pro Bowler. He also sinned by playing with the Patriots. In my humble opinion, a non-decorated player who played with a rival after leaving the Jets should not be honored in the ring of fame. Klecko left the Jets and played with the Colts, but he was a great player with the Jets. It's a little different than Green who was just merely above average. I liked Green for sure, but he simply was not a tremendous player.
Those Jets teams played three postseason games. Maynard was clearly the better player in one (the AFL championship game), and Sauer was clearly the better player in two (as most people know, Maynard was hurt for the Super Bowl, and didn't make a single catch). That still strikes me as way too small a sample to make a comparison. Comparing Maynard and Sauer is of course difficult, since they played different roles in the offense. Sauer was elite for only 3 or 4 years; Maynard was one of the top receivers in the AFL for the entire 1960s. The idea that Maynard was just a compiler, however, is not correct. He had five 1000-yard seasons when the season was only 14 games, and he would have had a sixth if he hadn't missed three games in 1969 (he averaged more than 85 yards receiving per game that year). He was a tremendous home run threat - he averaged at least 17.5 yards per reception in 11 of the 13 seasons he played for the Jets, and during the 1960s averaged one TD for every 6.5 receptions. If Sauer had played 10 years at the level he did in the late 1960s he would probably have been the best Jets receiver ever, but based on the trajectory of his career it's very doubtful that he would have continued to play at that level even if he hadn't quit the NFL. Al Toon, on the other hand, was playing as well in 1990-1991 as he was in 1986-1987, so to me, he's the guy that really missed out. That's why I would say that in terms of actual career performance with the team, the best Jets receivers were in order Maynard, Toon, Walker, Chrebet, and Sauer, but in terms of peak ability, it was probably Toon, Sauer, Maynard, Walker, and Chrebet.
Darn, didn't mean to give that impression. The sentence below in italics sort of does, though. Awkward writing on my part. In the end, to go back to what I wrote yesterday, Maynard had a much longer career and was able to compile great numbers. Maynard was not a compiler in the way that Don Sutton was a compiler in baseball. Maynard was a compiler in the way that Chipper Jones is a compiler. In other words, Maynard was great most years and played long enough to also compile impressive career numbers. Maynard retired as the all-time leader in receiving yards and most games with 100 yards receiving. What I was trying to get across was that I have Sauer and Maynard ranked pretty much even and that writers and historians and the like have it the same. It's just that Maynard had a longer career and thus more impressive career stats. This is why one is in the PFHOF and the other is not. If Sauer played a dozen seasons, he would probably be in the PFHOF, too.
@ NDmick "oh god another one." Chrebet was a good player, but not an all time great. The Ring of Fame is usually reserved for all time greats who spent a good deal of time on a team, like Michael Irvin. " __________________ Dude, Like you I've been watchin the JETS for alotta years. They aren't many ALLTIME greats! Push past the championship year and chrebet stacks up in terms of contributions to the team with any player. Without him you don't have the best season you've witnessed since that superbowl. That's a fact.
Kevin Mawae and Mark Gastineau both should go ahead of Mo Lewis. Wesley Walker should be up there as well.
I have a hard time putting a guy who's played for 3 different teams and left on bad terms (Mawae) in the Ring of Fame over a life long NYJ who was a force his entire career like Mo Lewis.
