1968 New York Jets

1968 New York Jets season
Head Coach	Weeb Ewbank
General Manager	Weeb Ewbank
Home Field	Shea Stadium
Results
Record	11–3
Place	1st AFL East
Playoff Finish	Won AFL Championship 27–23 vs. Raiders Won Super Bowl III 16–7 vs. Colts
Pro Bowlers	MLB Al Atkinson RDE Verlon Biggs HB Emerson Boozer RDT John Elliott RG Dave Herman LT Winston Hill FL Don Maynard QB Joe Namath LDE Gerry Philbin SE George Sauer K Jim Turner
Timeline
Previous Season	Next Season
1967	1969

The 1968 New York Jets season was the ninth season for the team in the American Football League (AFL). The team had the most successful season in franchise history. Trying to improve upon their 8–5–1 record in 1967, they won the AFL Eastern Division with an 11–3 record. They defeated the Oakland Raiders in the AFL Championship game, and earned the right to play in Super Bowl III against the NFL champion Baltimore Colts. In a stunning upset, marked by quarterback Joe Namath's famous "guarantee" of victory, the Jets defeated the heavily favored Colts 16–7. The Jets have yet to return to the Super Bowl and makes them along with the New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the only teams to have been to just one Super Bowl and win it.

On April 2, 2007, NFL Network aired America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions, the 1968 New York Jets, with team commentary from Joe Namath, Gerry Philbin, and Don Maynard, and narrated by Alec Baldwin.

Offseason

On May 21, Sonny Werblin sold his shares in the Jets to his partners Don Lillis, Leon Hess, Townsend Martin and Phil Isselin. Lillis became the President on May 21 but died on July 23. Isselin was appointed President on August 6.

AFL Draft

Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	17	Lee White	RB	Weber State
2	44	Steve Thompson	DE	Washington
3	72	Sam Walton	OT	East Texas State
4
5
7
8
8
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9
10
11
12
13
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15
16
17

Pre Season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Game site	Att.
1	August 12	at Houston	L 14–28	0–1	Astrodome	40,534
2	August 17	vs. Boston	W 25–6	1–1	City Stadium	14,000
3	August 23	vs. Atlanta	W 27–12	2–1	Legion Field	27,406
4	August 30	vs. Cincinnati	L 9–13	2–2	Liberty Bowl	24,358
5	September 7	vs. Detroit	W 9–6	3–2	Cleveland Stadium	84,918

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Game site	Attendance
1	Bye week
2	September 15	at Kansas City	W 20–19	1–0	Municipal Stadium	48,871
3	September 22	vs. Boston	W 47–31	2–0	Legion Field	29,192
4	September 29	at Buffalo	L 35–37	2–1	War Memorial Stadium	38,044
5	October 5	San Diego	W 23–20	3–1	Shea Stadium	63,786
6	October 13	Denver	L 13–21	3–2	Shea Stadium	63,052
7	October 20	at Houston	W 20–14	4–2	Astrodome	51,710
8	October 27	Boston	W 48–14	5–2	Shea Stadium	62,351
9	November 3	Buffalo	W 25–21	6–2	Shea Stadium	61,452
10	November 10	Houston	W 26–7	7–2	Shea Stadium	60,242
11	November 17	at Oakland	L 32–43	7–3	Oakland Coliseum	53,318
12	November 24	at San Diego	W 37–15	8–3	San Diego Stadium	51,175
13	December 1	Miami	W 35–17	9–3	Shea Stadium	61,766
14	December 8	Cincinnati	W 27–14	10–3	Shea Stadium	61,111
15	December 15	at Miami	W 31–7	11–3	Miami Orange Bowl	32,843

Standings

Eastern Division
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
*New York Jets	11	3	0	.786	419	280
Houston Oilers	7	7	0	.500	303	248
Miami Dolphins	5	8	1	.385	276	355
Boston Patriots	4	10	0	.286	229	406
Buffalo Bills	1	12	1	.077	199	367

Stats

Quarter-by-quarter

	1	2	3	4	T
Jets	103	113	64	139	429
Opponents	44	69	41	126	280

Personnel

Staff/Coaches

1968 New York Jets staff
	Front Office Majority Owner/CEO & Chairman - Leon Hess Vice President/Board Member/Minority Owner - Donald C. Lillis General Manager - Weeb Ewbank Coachcing Staff Head Coach - Weeb Ewbank			Offensive Coaches Offensive Coordinator - Clive Rush Offensive Line Coach - Joe Spencer Defensive Coaches Defensive Coordinator - Buddy Ryan

Roster

1968 New York Jets roster
Quarterbacks 12 Joe Namath 15 Babe Parilli Running Backs 32 Emerson Boozer 31 Bill Mathis 41 Matt Snell 30 Mark Smolinski 35 Billy Joe 34 Lee White Wide Receivers 13 Don Maynard 83 George Sauer, Jr. 29 Bake Turner 23 Bill Rademacher Tight Ends 87 Pete Lammons		Offensive Linemen 67 Dave Herman 75 Winston Hill 52 John Schmitt 61 Bob Talamini 66 Randy Rasmussen 71 Sam Walton 74 Jeff Richardson Defensive Linemen 88 Verlon Biggs 80 John Elliot 81 Gerry Philbin 72 Paul Rochester 73 Ray Hayes 70 Karl Henke 50 Carl McAdams 87 Steve Thompson		Linebackers 62 Al Atkinson 51 Ralph Baker 63 John Neidert 56 Paul Crane 60 Larry Grantham 68 Michael Stromberg Defensive Backs 46 Bill Baird 45 Earl Christy 48 Cornell Gordon 22 Jim Hudson 24 Johnny Sample 42 Randy Beverly 47 Mike D'Amato 43 John Dockery 26 Jim Richards Special Teams 33 Curley Johnson P/RB 11 Jim Turner K
*Rookies in italics

Heidi Game

• Main article: Heidi Game

The 1968 season also saw the Jets involved in one of the most notorious incidents in television history, an incident that would change the way television networks carried sporting events for decades to come. On November 17, 1968, just before 7:00pm Eastern time, the Jets scored late to take a 32–29 lead over the Oakland Raiders with 1:05 left. NBC cut to a commercial, and then everywhere but the West Coast showed the movie Heidi, a show which NBC had promoted extensively for the sweeps period. Outraged fans bombarded NBC headquarters in New York with phone calls demanding the game be restored; so many phone calls were made that they eventually knocked out the NBC switchboard. Even though a decision was made to carry the game to conclusion, this decision could not be communicated, thus resulting in the movie starting on schedule.

Fans' ire was further fueled when they discovered that NBC's cutting away from the game denied them from seeing live a dramatic finish. On the Raiders' second play from scrimmage on the next drive, Daryle Lamonica threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Smith, giving the Raiders a 36–32 lead. On the ensuing kickoff, Earl Christy of the Jets fumbled at the 10 yard line, which the Raiders' Preston Ridlehuber converted into another touchdown, ultimately giving the Raiders a 43–32 victory. Much of the country learned of this final outcome only via a bottom-of-screen crawl line shown during the movie. This incident, dubbed the Heidi Game, resulted in most television networks and sports leagues amending their television policies to ensure that games in progress would be broadcast to their conclusion, no matter what, even if it meant delaying or canceling the rest of the network's lineup, and even if the game's outcome seemed assured.

Postseason

• On December 29, Weeb Ewbank became the first coach to win titles in the National Football League and in the American Football League. Ironically, his former team, the Baltimore Colts won the 1968 NFL Championship on December 29 as well. The Colts defeated the Cleveland Browns by a score of 34–0.

Round	Date	Opponent	Result	Game site	Attendance
AFL Championship	December 29	Oakland	W 27–23	Shea Stadium	62,627
Super Bowl III	January 12	Baltimore	W 16–7	Miami Orange Bowl	75,402

Postseason game summaries

Super Bowl III: vs. Baltimore Colts

The Guarantee

In 1969, the Jets would reach the pinnacle of their existence and provide the moment that would indicate the AFL's coming of age. Under Namath's guidance, the Jets rose to the top of the AFL, defeating the Oakland Raiders in a thrilling AFL championship game, 27–23. The win qualified them to represent their league in a game that was being referred to for the first time as the Super Bowl (and referred to retroactively as Super Bowl III). They were pitted against the champions of the NFL, the Baltimore Colts. At the time, the AFL was considered to be inferior to the NFL, and most people considered the Jets to be considerable underdogs and treated the Jets as such. That would change three nights before the game while Namath was being honored by the Miami Touchdown Club as its Player Of The Year. Namath took exception to a heckling Colts fan and used that moment to lament the lack of respect his team had gotten to that point. He then said "The Jets will win Sunday. I guarantee you." His audacious remark proved correct, as the Jets created one of the greatest upsets in football history by defeating the Colts 16–7. This victory showed that the AFL was capable of competing with the NFL.

	1	2	3	4	Total
Jets	0	7	6	3	16
Colts	0	0	0	7	7

Scoring summary

Quarter	Time	Team	Drive			Scoring Information	Score
			Length	Plays	Time		NYJ	BAL
2	9:03	NYJ	80	12	5:06	TD: Matt Snell 4 yard run (Jim Turner kick)	7	0
3	10:08	NYJ	8	8	4:17	FG: Jim Turner 32 yards	10	0
3	3:58	NYJ	45	10	4:06	FG: Jim Turner 30 yards	13	0
4	13:26	NYJ	61	7	3:58	FG: Jim Turner 9 yards	16	0
4	3:19	BAL	80	14	3:15	TD: Jerry Hill 1 yard run (Lou Michaels kick)	16	7

Awards and honors

• Joe Namath, AFL MVP
• Joe Namath, UPI AFL-AFC Player of the Year
• Joe Namath, Super Bowl Most Vaulable Player

External links

• 1968 team stats
• 1968 New York Jets season article at Wikipedia