How does everyone feel about this????Do you think he deserves this???I think he does his carrer was cut shor but he also was a former second round draft pick 42 overall, he once recorded 13 sacks in a season. I was to young at this time to understand football, but do the older fans remember him?Looking back at his stats he looked like a stud DE, 7sacks his first year 7 the next year then 13 then he got injured and partially paralized
I don't know if he "deserves" the honor for his play on the field or not, but with everything he's gone through and overcome, it's certainly a feel good story with a "never give up" ending, so I hope he enjoys his day, and it's something he and his family and friends can look back on forever. Some things are bigger than stats.
I don't mind it, Byrd was a good underrated player and his story of how he has been able to continue living his life after this accident should be used as an inspiration to future players and while I don't see him as an all time great he and his story mean a lot to many Jet fans who grew up during that era.
I was watching the game when Byrd and Lyons collided. Both were outside rushers with a bead on the QB (?) when said QB stepped up and Byrd/Lyons collided BIG time. Probably saved the QB's life. YES. Mr Byrd was an inspiration to the team then as a player as he is now. He was a 100,000% motor guy every snap, every play. He wasn't the most talented player to walk the Earth, and his accomplishment were driving by shear will. I'm all in.
I remember that game too. I think it was mesarau that collided with byrd. Such a strange play. Didn't mike utley get hurt that year or the year before also? Its amazing that he was able to walk again. Such a freak accident
Coulda been mesarau...but i remeber it as lyons just by the devastated look on his face when the carted byrd off.
Yup...Mesarau...from wiki: Injury and recovery Byrd suffered a neck injury during an NFL game against the Kansas City Chiefs on November 29, 1992. During the play, he rushed in an attempt to sack Chiefs quarterback Dave Krieg, but Krieg stepped up to avoid the tackle, and Byrd collided with Jets teammate Scott Mersereau. He ducked his head at the last moment before he collided with Mersereau's chest.[1] The head-first collision resulted in a broken C-5 vertebra that left him unable to walk for the time being. Eventually, after extensive physical therapy, he would walk again but he couldn't go back to playing football. Byrd returned to the Meadowlands for the Jets' home opener on September 5, 1993, walking to midfield as an honorary captain for the coin toss. During a halftime ceremony, Jets president Steve Gutman presented him with a trophy for the Most Inspirational Player Award, which would thereafter be called the Dennis Byrd Award.[3] Aftermath The Jets have not reissued Byrd's #90 since 1992. On July 31, 2012, the New York Jets announced that they will formally retire #90 during a half-time ceremony on October 28, 2012 against the Miami Dolphins.[4] During the week leading up to the 2010-2011 AFC Divisional match up between the Jets and the Patriots, Byrd sent Jets' head coach Rex Ryan his tattered, cut up jersey that had been cut from his body on the day of his injury along with an inspirational letter addressed to the Jets. Ryan was so moved by this that he invited him to come out and personally address the team prior to the Patriots game. The inspired Jets carried his jersey to the coin toss prior to the game; the Jets won 28-21.[5] [YOUTUBE]0oz8zjs6j3M[/YOUTUBE]
I thought it was retired already in the last few years to be honest lol. They haven't re-issued it in 20 years anyway, it's been more or less retired even without a ceremony.
For some reason, in his first pre-season, I gravitated to Byrd and bought his Jersey and even paid extra to have his name put on since there were no Byrd jersey's. I still have it, wish I could fit my fat ass in it. I am glad he's getting it. I was there that day, I won't ever forget it. I will never ever forget the Jets winning the game the following week in Buffalo for him. We were horrible that year and the Bills were excellent but we gutted out a win. Man, that was emotional. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/07/s...s-defy-all-the-odds-and-win-one-for-byrd.html PRO FOOTBALL; The Jets Defy All the Odds and Win One for Byrd By TIMOTHY W. SMITH Published: December 07, 1992 Sign In to E-Mail Print Single-Page A powerful feeling swept over Jets cornerback James Hasty before his team stepped onto the frozen field today to play the Bills here at Rich Stadium. He reflected on the anguish and helplessness that the team had felt during the last week with Dennis Byrd lying in a bed at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, his legs paralyzed after he broke his neck in the game against Kansas City last Sunday. Hasty thought about the Jets' recent history against Buffalo -- 10 straight losses dating to 1987 -- and the fact that the Jets had lost four starters and were considerable underdogs this afternoon. And the feeling got stronger. Hasty talked to Jets linebacker Kyle Clifton about his feeling, about faith and about destiny. "I told Kyle that it was in God's plan for us to win today," Hasty said. "No matter what they did, we were going to win this game. It was destiny." Drawing strength from the faith that Byrd had displayed, and lifted by the news Saturday that Byrd had exhibited some voluntary movement in his legs, the Jets pulled out an improbable 24-17 victory over the Bills to cap what had probably been the most anguished week in the team's history.
Totally agree with it being retired for 2 reasons. First because he was a hell of a player while he was healthy and one of the great inspirational NFL stories of the last two decades. Second because any player who knew the history of that jersey number and was given it would probably want to give it right back. The NFL is brutal enough without that kind of karma on your back. Call it superstition, but considering Rex is very superstitious anyway I don't think he'd ever knowingly give that jersey out.
His story is extremely inspirational and I think the Jets are doing something very nice here, because it isn't necessary for someone who only suited up for the organization for four years. However, I agree with the retiring of his number and will be cheering him as he walks onto the field on Sunday afternoon around 2:30.
That was one of the biggest wins I have ever seen. The game meant nothing in the standings but after what happened a week earlier it was a huge game. I had the pleasure as a kid to meet him before and after the accident, the greatest player as a person I ever met. One of the nicest humans I have ever met. He was a good player and his story is an inspirational one, I liked the old Jets policy of retiring #s when players reach the HOF but I also like that they retired Klecko and now will retire #90 even though neither is in.
I remember 2 things about that game: Pete Carroll making the "choke sign" toward the Buffalo sideline after the game, and the whole rigamarole about implying violence and thinking why couldn't the team play to that level every week? I guess that would be asking too much of paid professionals, to play every week like they wanted to win. Oh, well...
Pete made the choke sign 2 weeks later at Miami in a Sunday Night game after pete Stoyanovich missed an extra point.
I had a feeling as soon as I said that :lol: well, I was off a couple of weeks from 20 year old memories. Swear I thought it was Buffalo.
I've always been curious how this goes down, does Woody make the decision to retire it? Does Rex have any influence on it? I'm glad that the organization has reached out to Dennis and decided to honor him in this way. I wouldn't be surprised if Rex approached Woody about this being as the relationship Rex created with Dennis 2 years ago. I guess I should preface by saying Dennis reached out to the team. To my knowledge he is not in the Ring of Honor and might go down as the only Jet to have his number retired and not be in the Ring. I can't see too many other players ever having a number retired for inspirational reasons.
