Thought you guys should know, particularly since Joe gets kicked around all the time by stats morons: Full story below. https://sports.yahoo.com/the-real-nfl-passing-yardage-leaderboards-173905994.html
Great article, thanks for posting it. Yes, when Namath passed for 4,000 yards back in 1967 it was unreal. Even more than Dan Marino's 1984 season because what you could do to WR's and other offensive players back then was unreal. 3,000 yards then was more like 4,000 or even 5,000 yards today. I also believe that Namath was given carte-blanche to call his own plays and throw it. His coaches (Weeb) never worried about interceptions. If he had an OC calling the plays, I think his passing stats would be much better.
Nice, yes he was incredible. I wish I was alive to have seen him play. I think it’s about time the Jets become respectable again, for more than 1 or 2 seasons only.
Nice! This is a great example on why you can’t just look at total yards or passing TDs...the game was way different and today’s rules make it impossible to compare. In the old days, there was no real Roughing the Passer...those guys got hit...nowadays you just brush Brady’s helmet and it’s 15 yards in the old days, DBs could mob receivers all the way down the field until the ball was actually in the air....there was no 5 yard zone, and safeties could crack receivers like crazy that’s why the top QBs in those days only had 50% completion rates totally different game not saying it’s better or worse, just different but I do hate these comparisons on just totals...Montana, Fouts, Namath, Bradshaw, Marino, Elway, those guys would be CRUSHING it now
Thanks for this. It's about time that this was acknowledged. 4000 yards then was even more than the inflation adjusted amount of 5962 because of the factors mentioned by Jets79 above. Having watched him play, I can say without hesitation that he was as transformative to the sport as Babe Ruth and Wilt Chamberlain were to baseball and basketball. But what I still remember most when I recall watching him throw was his cobra-like release. I haven't studied every QB since then so maybe there have been others who had that quick a release, but he's the all time best IMO. And it wasn't just throwing it as hard as he could every time, he could adjust the speed as needed, but when he needed to thread a ball and hit a sliver of a window, he could always do it. The complete opposite of Darnold who needs to "wind up" to throw, but Joe Willie would hold the ball back by his ear looking for the target, and then ZIP!, with a flick of his wrist the ball was there. There will never be another Namath.
All of the comments here are of course correct. The only QB remotely close to Namath in terms of passing productiveness before the late 1970s/early 1980s (Dan Fouts) was Sonny Jurgensen (Gabriel's 1973 was a complete anomaly for him, and had a lot to do with a really bad defense [coached by Walt Michaels, by the way]). The only QB I've ever seen with a release comparable to Namath's was Marino.
In these types of discussions, the Mel Blount rule is always discussed, but this is one of the very few that also points out the pass-blocking rule change from the same year, 1978. From a Washinton Post article that year,featuring comments from Washington RT George Starke (Bolding was by me): The National Football League has done something this year that many save Starke and many other offensive linesmen further public humiliation, not to mention making it easier to protect their quarterbacks. The league has changed the rules on pass blocking to allow an offensive lineman to extend his arms and use an open hand in warding off those grabby, pushy, smack-em-in-the head defensive linemen. Previously, Starke and his colleagues were required to have their arms in a flexed position and could not extend them forward to create a push. Hands also had to be cupped or closed into a fist. "Being able to push may not seem like much," Starke said, "but it really is a significant change. Now it makes it very difficult for them to hold you and grab you. "A lot of times I was called for holding last year I wasn't actually holding on to somebody. It got into that extension of the arms and I was being called for illegal use of the hands." It's easy enough to find QBs from that era discussing how they got smashed after every pass attempt, even after the whistle-- it was standard practice, if you dropped back for a pass, you were going down sooner or later. Plenty of folks call Tom Brady the GOAT, but if he had played in place of Johnny Unitas, his career wouldn't have lasted one season--just my opinion, of course.
Yes true...also remember that the head slap was also allowed for D linemen...literally smacking the OL upside the head talk about concussion inducing hits... pit is a VASTLY different game today
This is why I laugh whenever I hear someone say Namath is overrated because his numbers aren't eye popping.
He was great when he played, but he's been nothing but an embarrassment for a while now. Don't need that kind of publicity.
Gimme a break. The guy had less than a handful of...indiscretions...in the past fifty years. To the best of my knowledge, he's never been arrested and never been involved in politics. We all should do so well.
They could also closeline RBs and WRs or QBs if they dared to run with the ball. It's a miracle that no one ever died.
