That's good. I also like this Don Shula quote before the Superbowl "Namath is a great passer. He has played with the same set of receivers over a period of four years. Namath is the best pure passer in the game. He is intense on the field and prepares himself well, as is evidenced by the way he executes. He has a lot of (Johnny) Unitas in him. He is convinced of his own ability, and will stay in the pocket until the last possible second. He has been criticized for his lifestyle but as far as I'm concerned his personal life is his own as long as he meets the rules." The best way to find out about a person is to talk to their peers....
Namath gave the organization swagger, pizazz,additude, superstar character, identity and most of all he knew how to win. Something this organization has been lacking since then.
If you didn't see him and look at his stats he was at best ordinary. If you saw him he was extraordinary. Quick deep back peddle and set up beautiful smooth overhand motion and could hold the ball and release it in a millisecond to any spot on a football field with power or touch. Think of a combination of George Clooney as Danny Ocean off the field and on the field think Dan Marino in a Jets uniform with enough balls to actually carry a team to a SB victory instead of just getting to one.
From The Sporting News' "NFL's Greatest Moments" special collector's edition magazine from 2005: Great Passes Several passes are included in our greatest moments, including the Joe Montana-to-John Taylor slant in Super Bowl 23, The Catch and the third-and-18 completion to keep alive The Drive. Five other memorable passes: 1. Terry Bradshaw to Lynn Swann, Super Bowl 10 Bradshaw dodges three blitzers, lets it fly and is knocked unconscious as the pass sails 60 yards. Swann outmaneuvers Cowboys cornerback Mark Washington at the 5 and waltzes into the end zone for a 64-yard touchdown that seals the game. 2. Steve Young to Terrell Owens, 1998 NFC playoffs With three seconds left, the 49ers trail by four points. Young drills a 25-yard bullet between two Packers defenders and into Owens' hands at the goal line. 3. Joe Namath to Don Maynard, 1968 AFL championship Facing an ornery Raiders defense, nursing multiple injuries and throwing into a stiff wind in New York, Namath cements his Hall of Fame reputation with a line-drive, sidearm pass across the field to Maynard for a 52-yard completion. 4. Norm Van Brocklin to Tom Fears, 1951 NFL championship Van Brocklin's pass splits two Browns and hits Fears in perfect stride over the middle for a 73-yard touchdown. 5. Clint Longley to Drew Pearson, 1974 Thanksgiving Day Filling in for Roger Staubach, Longley hits Pearson deep down the middle with a perfect pass for a last-second comeback victory over the Redskins.
hey this is the most responses ive gotten to any of my few threads so im all pumped up hahah...but seriously you guys have provided exactly what i was looking for...because as winston put it,just looking at the stats there not abundantly great...i guess when i hear people(mostly non jet fans of course)saying that namath was overrated i assume they are only looking at the black and white......style of play wise...what qb today(if any) would you guys compare to joe???
He was also the first QB to throw for 4,000 yards in a season. That would be like Peyton throwing for 6,000 today.
It's tough to truly judge Namath on results for several reasons including injuries and the poor team around him. The only time he had a decent team, the year or two prior to and after Super Bowl III, he was successful. I first saw him on TV in 1971 and in person starting in 1972. Most often he was injured, but if you watched him play you saw flashes of his greatness. Too often Eddie Bell or Richard Caster dropped touchdown passes on the fly. Both were experts at dropping perfectly thrown long balls. Namath could throw the long ball better than any player I've ever seen...he put the right amount of air under them to allow his receiver to catch (or drop) the ball in stride. Even with bad knees he could get the ball downfield even in the poor weather and wind at Shea. The other things about Namath were his release and his knowledge of the game. The only QB I've ever seen with an equally quick release was Marino. They could hold the ball so damn long, and then "flick" it on a rope if they needed to, at the break or the last second. Namath was also a great field general and leader. The Super Bowl was his masterpiece...using Snell and the "threat" of his arm to keep the Colt defense off balance. Finally, there was the Joe intangible..."Broadway Joe," the guarantee, etc. He was football's first Super Star. Note: prior to his major knee injury in college at Alabama, Namath was a great athlete, who could have played major league baseball.
The Best - In His Time I saw my first Jet game at Shea in 1964 - the Raiders - pre-Joe. We sat at the 40 toward the close end on the Jets side of the stadium. Joe had: - the best, fastest release, other than Dan Marino - I saw him throw for 350 - 400 yards in the pouring rain, in the driving wind (remember, back then Centerfield was opn and the wind just swirled. Opposing QB's would come in and just fall flat) - I also saw Joe throw five ints and still win games - the ball sailed alot back then - for everyone - Don Maynard, and I am biased, was perhaps one of the 5 best receivers ever to go over the middle - Rice being number 1 - so, he had Sauer, Lammons and Maynard as primaries and they were as a group fantastic - He was gutsy and took a lot of hits - he could not move - so he was a pocket guy and that is all So - I rate him in the top ten all time - and a guy who elevated when it counted most don't frofet the AFL Championship game against the Raiders on the way to the Super Bowl I was there one of the great games of all time!
He was a natural QB if there is such a thing. Fantastic feet, great touch and the ability to make the play and find the open receiver. He did also have some quality players around him , and it would be unfair on them to say he did it all on his own.
I echo baamf here. :up: I've pointed that out before in old 'Is Namath Overrated?' Threads of the past as well. Joe was a scrambler before being knee-capped. Fancy that. Bear Bryant: "The greatest athlete I've ever coached." As to the "overrated" allegations (hehehe) that crop up now and then, I repeat myself yet again for the sake of lost repetitions: overrated in comparison to what? Today?! Worse still, Namath is often singled out as a man unto himself, and last I knew he wasn't the only QB in the league at the time. The high INT rate? If Namath didn't play in that wind tunnel we call Shea, we wouldn't be having this conversation. I'd like to see any other QB of his day fare as well under similar conditions. No way. As to vilmatic saying it was all Boozer and Snell, credit where credit is due, of course; but Namath was the lynchpin, and his leadership was second to none. It was a volatile time, on the cusp of the Civil Rights Movement, and Joe did his best to make the lockerroom an arena where hateful things were not tolerated. There were a lot of such things mouthed off on the field and black players were subjected to ugly things in league lockerrooms as well as other indignities. Hats off to bad ass Johnny Sample (R.I.P), the pro-football world's first angry black man with a chip on his shoulder with everything to prove. Now there's a man who wouldn't shut up, and good for him. A slap in the face to those who truly suffer when it's misused. One thing I love about old time football, it was a different type of tough. No coddled crappy ass babies. A bunch of bleeders. They always had bloody knuckles, bloody forearms, bloody faces. And, N is for Namath not Nancy, and that's a fact. And yes, I'll pre-empt everyone over whether Namath belongs in the HOF. Holysmokessonofab*tch, of course he does.
