GREG PRATO
THE DEFINITIVE ORAL HISTORY OF THE 1980s NEW YORK JETS
S ACK E X C HANGE THE DEFINITIVE ORAL HISTORY OF THE 1980 S NEW YORK JETS Greg Prato
THE DEFINITIVE ORAL HISTORY OF THE 1980s NEW YORK JETS
GREG PRATO
ECW PRES S
Copyright © Greg Prato, 2011 Published by ECW Press 2120 Queen Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada m4e 1e2 416-694-3348 ⁄
[email protected] All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. library and archives canada cataloguing in publication Prato, Greg Sack exchange : the definitive oral history of the 1980s New York Jets / Greg Prato. isbn 978-1-77041-003-9 also issued as: 978-1-77090-062-2 (pdf); 978-1-77090-061-5 (epub) 1. New York Jets (Football team)—History. 2. New York Jets (Football team)—Interviews. i. Title. gv956.n37p73 2011 796.332´64097471
c2011-902840-9
Editor for the press: Michael Holmes Cover and text design: Cyanotype Cover image: John Iacono/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images Typesetting: Mary Bowness Production: Troy Cunningham Printing: Thomson-Shore 1 2 3 4 5 printed and bound in the united states
CONTEN T S
I N TR O D U C TION
7
C A S T O F C H ARACTERS
9
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t . &&5 5)& +&54 5)& /" ."5)& 3"
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 5)& /". "5) &3"
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t . &&5 5)& +&54
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 8"-5 . *$)"&-4 )&"% $0" $)
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t . &&5 5)& +&54
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t . &&5 5)& +&54
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t . &&5 5)& +&54
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t . &&5 5)& +&54
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t . &&5 5)& +&54
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 1"35
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 5)& 4"$, &9$)"/(&
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 1"35
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 1-":0''4 8 *-%$" 3%
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t . &&5 5)& +&54
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 1"35
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 453*,&
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 1"35
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 1-":0''4 8 *-%$" 3%
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 1-":0''4 %*7*4*0/" -306/%
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 1-":0''4 "'$ $ )" .1*0/4 )*1
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 8"-5 4 %*4. *44"-
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t +0& 8"-50/ )&"% $0" $)
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t . &&5 5)& +&54
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t (00%#:& 4)&"
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t . &&5 5)& +&54
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t ("45*/&"64&9*5 8"-50/4&9*5
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t +&54 '"/4
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 4)&" 3&. &. #&3&%
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t '6/ 8 *5) 5)& +&54
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t +&54 74 %0-1)*/4 '3*& /%4 03' 0& 4
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t )"3. 0/: 03 %*4)"3.0/:
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 45&30*%4
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t +0& ,-&$,0
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t . "3, ("45*/&"6
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t -&0/ )&44
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 506()&45 0110/&/545& " .4
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 506()&45 0110/&/541-": & 34
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t -00,*/( #"$, 0/ 4 +& 54
$ ) " 1 5& 3 t 50%":
INT R O DU C T ION
T
he early ’80s were a pretty sweet time for yours truly. As a grade-schooler living high on the hog in North Merrick, New York, it was around this time that I first started following professional sports. I chose three teams that I would remain true to over the years, and continue to root for to this day. In baseball, it would be the New York Mets; in hockey, the New York Islanders; and in football, the New York Jets. It was a simple selection of teams, really — at the time, all three played their home games locally on Long Island, New York. Two of my three selections quickly proved to pay off. The Islanders were already in the midst of winning four consecutive Stanley Cups (from 1980 through 1983), while the Mets would win the World Series in dramatic fashion just a few years later (1986). However, the Jets proved to be something else entirely. During the 1980s, the NFL saw the emergence of such eventual Hall of Famers as Joe Montana, John Elway, Dan Marino, Marcus Allen, and Lawrence Taylor (among countless others), and as a result, this stretch is often considered one of the all-time great “football decades.” However, those aforementioned ’80s football stars did something that players wearing a Jets uniform from this era haven’t done: they all appeared in at least one Super Bowl. Possessing one of the most feared defenses in all of football, which was known as the New York Sack Exchange (featuring Joe Klecko, Mark Gastineau, Marty Lyons, and Abdul Salaam), as well as Pro Bowlers at running back (Freeman McNeil) and wide receivers (Wesley Walker and Al Toon), among other solid players, the Jets would come oh-so-close to success. But ultimately, they would fall short of greatness time and time again. This could be attributed to a variety of reasons — tops of the list being plain 7
old bad luck. An insurmountable early lead by an opponent (December 27, 1981), a swampy field ( January 23, 1983), too many turnovers (December 28, 1985), and a football helmet to a quarterback’s back ( January 3, 1987) were all reasons that the Jets were derailed from potential post-season success during the 1980s. Add to that the dismissal of a head coach who many players felt had been the force behind the Jets’ success, head-scratching draft choices, having to leave their longtime home stadium for New Jersey, and the unpredictable nature (and mid-season retirement) of a star player. It all added up to preventing great fortune during a decade that could have easily brought it to the Jets. As a result, over the ensuing years, I would often find myself trying to figure out what exactly went wrong and prevented the Jets from accomplishing what my two other favorite sports teams were able to do. I’ve also always sought a book that focused on this Jets era, but one never came my way. So, I decided to take a break from my usual topic of interest as a writer (rock ’n’ roll) to delve deep into what is widely considered one of the Jets’ best eras as far as talent, and why the “Sack Exchange–era Jets” tend to be an overlooked team in history — despite containing some true characters. I was lucky to interview the vast majority of the main Jets players and coaches from this era, as well as those who were major pieces to the puzzle behind the scenes. Also, to get a unique perspective, I spoke with several players of other teams who competed against the Jets during this time (including the infamous-to-Jets-fans A. J. Duhe, who you will read all about in Chapter 25), to get their side of the story. And since I was awarded this rare opportunity to speak to everyone around the same time, I couldn’t resist getting their thoughts on other football-related topics, such as the toughest individual players and teams they faced in the ’80s, steroid use from the era, and their memories of playing in the now no-more Shea Stadium. So without further ado, here is the true story of the 1980s Jets, straight from the mouths of the people who were there on the field, on the sidelines, and behind the scenes. Hut, hut, hike! ( 3 & ( 1 3 "50 P.S. Want to see what I’m currently up to (and check out info about my other books)? Go to Facebook.com/gregprato and Twitter.com/gregpratowriter. Want to let me know what you thought of the book or have questions? Email me at
[email protected]. 8
CAST OF CHARACTERS
% " / " -& 9 " / % &3 t Jets tackle and guard, 1977–1989 5& % # " / , & 3 t Jets guard, 1984–1988 . " 3 * 0 / # " 3 # &3 t Jets running back, 1982–1988 + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. t Jets wide receiver and tight end, 1972–1983 # 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8 &3 t Dolphins defensive lineman, 1977–1986 # " 3 3: # & / / & 55 t Jets defensive lineman, 1982–1988 -& / # & 3 . " / t WNBC TV sports-anchor, 1982–2009 1 & 1 1 & 3 # 6 3 3644 t Jets assistant trainer, 1977–1992 ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& t Jets linebacker, 1976–1984 + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w $"3640 t number one Jets fan 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / t Public Relations Department intern, 1978–1980; assistant publicity relations director, 1981–1991 5* . % "7 & : t former Jets director of operations 4 $ 0 55 % * & 3 , */( t Jets running back, 1977–1983 " + % 6 ) & t Dolphins linebacker, 1977–1984 + 0 & ' & 3 ( 6 4 0 / t Bills quarterback, 1973–1984 9
SACK EXCHANGE
+ 0 & ' * & -% 4 t Jets center, 1975–1987 $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 t Jets running back, 1976–1980 + 0 & ( " 3 % * t Jets tight end/special teams coach, 1976; linebacker/special teams coach, 1977–1980; defensive coordinator, 1981–1982; assistant head coach/defensive coordinator, 1983–1985 ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 t Jets defensive end, 1979–1988 45 & 7 & ( 3 0 ( " / t Patriots quarterback, 1975–1990 # * -- ) " . 1 50 / t former Jets equipment manager # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 & 3 t Jets running back/kick returner, 1977–1984 + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 t Jets cornerback, 1980–1983, 1986–1987 # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0 / t Jets cornerback, 1978–1985 + 0 & , -& $ , 0 t Jets defensive lineman, 1977–1988 1 "5 -& " ) : t Jets placekicker, 1974–1991 ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 t Jets defensive tackle, 1979–1989 - " / $ & . & ) - t Jets linebacker, 1980–1987 8" -5 . * $ ) " & - 4 t Jets head coach, 1977–1982 ,& / 0 # 3 * & / t Jets quarterback, 1983–1992 - "8 3 & / $ & 1 * --&34 t Jets defensive end, 1976–1980 3 * $ ) " 3 % 1 0 6 / % t former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) '3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 t Jets director of public relations, 1963–2002 $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 & : t Jets punter, 1977–1984 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 6 44&/ t Jets guard, 1967–1981 % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": t Jets safety, 1980–1984 ."55 3 0 # * / 4 0/ t Jets quarterback, 1977–1979 10
CAST OF CHARACTERS
1 "5 3:" / t Jets quarterback, 1978–1990 " # % 6 - 4 " -" ". t Jets defensive tackle, 1976–1983 , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : t Jets safety, 1977–1984 . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 - &3 t Jets tight end, 1978–1989 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 %% t Jets quarterback, 1976–1983, 1986 " - 50 0 / t Jets wide receiver, 1985–1992 % 3 ( " 3: 8" %-&3 t chairman of the Prohibited List and Methods Committee of the World Anti-Doping Agency, clinical associate professor of medicine at the NYU School of Medicine, chairman of the Taylor Hooton Foundation 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 t Jets wide receiver, 1977–1989 + 0 & 8" -50 / t Jets offensive coordinator, 1981–1982, and Jets head coach, 1983–1989 $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % t Jets offensive tackle, 1978–1983
11
1
M E E T T H E JETS: THE N AM AT H ERA
B
eginning in the 1920s, the New York Giants reigned as the premier NFL team for “the city that never sleeps.” However, by 1960, the AFL gave football fans another New York team to root for, the Titans. By 1962, the team is re-christened the New York Jets. ' 3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 There were five original owners of the Jets. They bought the team for $1 million. The Titans had been bankrupt. Leon Hess, Sonny Werblin, and Townsend Martin all owned equal shares of the team, and Donald Lillis and Philip Iselin owned lesser percentages of the team. So those five men were there from the beginning. I began the first year of the Jets [1963]. I had been in the service at the United States Military Academy at West Point, in the U.S. Army. I was assigned to the Sports Information Office at the academy, and I worked with Joe Cahill, who was the longtime sports information director there. Joe had started at West Point in ’43 — in the famous years of Doc Blanchard, Glenn Davis, and Red Blaik. Joe was there throughout that whole time. The day I got out of the service was the day of the Cuban Missile Crisis showdown — when Khrushchev backed down — and that was the day I got my discharge. Then I stayed on as a civilian, and worked there with Joe. At one time Joe had worked with Pete Rozelle, who was the PR person for the 1960 Olympic Games, and Joe had worked in Squaw Valley when the U.S. hockey team was coached by the army coach, Jack Riley. Joe had worked there with the hockey team and with Rozelle. When Rozelle became the commissioner, he did talk to Joe about the possibility of joining him in the NFL. But Joe had young kids and was still at West 13
SACK EXCHANGE
Point, so he declined, and I know that Pete hired Jim Kensil — he was also up for that job. But a few years later, Sonny Werblin talked to Joe about going to New York to be an assistant to him, and be in charge of PR. There was no such thing as marketing at the time in pro football, but he would be overall in charge of all those types of things. Joe was thinking, did he really want to leave West Point after twenty years? I said to Joe I thought the AFL definitely had a chance. There was room for two teams in New York, especially. And I thought pro football was really catching on — New York was one area where there weren’t any real pro football teams. Army got as much coverage as any team — more so than Rutgers, Columbia, or any team in the New York area. It’s still not a hotbed for college football. I said, “Since you’ve been here, all your people — like Red Blaik, Davis, and Blanchard — are no longer there.” He says, “You know, if I go to New York, I’m going to take you with me.” I was hoping for that — he did take the job and he did hire me. Joe went down in April to take the job, and I stayed at West Point as the acting sports information director. And then I joined him after I completed all the brochures and everything that Army needed, and joined the Jets in June of ’63. I’m originally from Long Island, but my family moved during my sophomore year of high school to Miami. I finished high school in Miami and went to school at Florida State. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 I was born in Gloucester, New Jersey, and grew up in Deptford, New Jersey. First of all, I played football in grammar school — in a touch football league. All of the kids who were too heavy to make the weight on the Pop Warner teams played in this touch league. I went to Gloucester Catholic High School — to tell you the truth, I wasn’t very good. I started my senior year, and didn’t really think about playing in college football. I did get recruited at a couple of schools — one being PMC [Pennsylvania Military College], which later changed its name to Widener [University]. One of my old coaches took me and a couple of the other guys to PMC, and it was just a little bit out of reach financially, and there was no help. But around July, Bill Manlove — who was head coach at PMC at the time — called and said he could give me a $1,500 loan if that would help. Actually, my mom talked me into it. She said, “You love football, you really like to play. Why don’t you play now that you’ve got the loan?” So I ended up going to Widener. And what happened was back then you had to make the traveling squad as a freshman. I made the traveling squad as a freshman, and then my junior year, we had a guy playing for us, Billy “White Shoes” Johnson, and he was 14
MEET THE JETS: THE NAMATH ERA
my teammate. Some scouts started to come around and see him. At the time, I was like 6' 2'', 220 or 230 pounds, and Carroll Huntress — who was a scout for the New York Jets — pulled me aside one day when he was looking at films of Billy. I was at an awards dinner. And he called me out of it down to the clubhouse at Widener, and said, “Hey Joe, every time I watch films of Billy, I see you! I really think you can play professional football if you would gain some weight.” He goes his way, and I go my way. I start thinking about it, what the heck is twenty pounds? So twenty or thirty pounds later, I came into training camp at Widener at 250. Again, towards the end of the season, Carroll Huntress shows up, and he says, “Your size is good,” and timed me in the forty [yard dash], and did all the nonsense things they do. He says, “I think you can play . . . but I’ve never seen you long-snap.” So I happened to be, again, at another banquet. I went into the field house, and in shoes and a suit and tie, I long-snapped for him. After that, he told my coach, “There are three centers in the country — Jack Baiorunos at Penn State, Dennis Franks at Michigan, and Joe Fields. And I think Joe is the best.” Carroll sat me down and said, “If you don’t get drafted, we’d really like to sign you as a free agent.” So I thought about it, and I got some letters from other teams. I thought to myself, “I gained the weight, I went this far — I’m going to try it for a year or two and see if I don’t get drafted.” Then what happened was on draft day, I got drafted in the fourteenth round by the New York Jets, which was interesting because I had never even been in an airplane — I didn’t even know where the airport was! A friend of mine, Ken O’Brien — who was our quarterback at Widener — took me down to the airport, so I could fly up and get a physical with the Jets. When I was flying up in the airplane, there was a guy they drafted in second round from the University of Miami, Joe Wysocki, and he was, like, 6' 3'' and 290 — he was a guard. And when he walked in the airport, I just said, “If all the guys are like this, there’s no way that I belong.” He had, like, twenty-three-inch arms — the guy was huge. Anyway, Joe didn’t end up playing — he hurt his knee — and I ended up playing fourteen years. So I guess first impressions are a little bit off. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 %% I was born in Birmingham, Alabama. My father was a schoolteacher, and moved all over the place — lived in Arkadelphia, Arkansas; Bristol, Virginia — he got his doctorate degree at the University of Alabama, so I lived in Tuscaloosa. We settled down when I was in the eighth grade in Mobile, Alabama. 15
SACK EXCHANGE
I remember playing Pee Wee football when I was young — the coach got mad at me and I got mad at him, and I threw my helmet down, and it banged against his shins. He was jumping up and down, and I walked back home — about a mile away in Arkansas [laughs]. I guess football started in the ninth grade. I stuttered — and I still stutter quite a bit, but not as bad as I used to. I always wanted to be a wide receiver — I never thought about being a quarterback because I was pretty fast back then, and I liked to run and catch the ball. And then the quarterback — who was going to be the quarterback in the ninth grade — his father got transferred out of town, and the family moved. So they lined everybody up to see who could throw the best, and I could throw the best. So I was the quarterback on the freshman team. We had a couple of really good receivers, and I could throw it deep, so we threw the ball quite a bit. My coach, Richmond Brown, he was always a real positive influence. And I guess that’s when I really started. I played at Davidson High School — we didn’t have really good teams, but we had a lot of fun. Our coach, Glen Yancey, he actually coached three quarterbacks that played in Division I — myself, Scott Hunter, and I can’t remember the other one, but Scott Hunter played professional football, also. I committed to Auburn because that was when they had Pat Sullivan, Terry Beasley, and all these guys — Pat Sullivan won the Heisman Trophy that year [1971]. But I ended up going to Alabama — I went because of Coach Bryant. That was really the only reason. They ran “the wishbone,” and I was just a big old slow fullback. But we had great teams in Alabama — we split the National Championship my sophomore year with Notre Dame. We were the UPI champions; they were the AP. They beat us — that was before the Bowls, they used to come out with the National Championship before the Bowls came out. I think that was the last year they did it — 1973. We were number one and they were number two, and they beat us by one point at Tulane Stadium. That was my sophomore year, and my senior year. I had a pretty good year — I was the Most Valuable Player in the Sugar Bowl [in 1976]. We actually played Penn State, and Greg Buttle was on that team. We became good friends. I was being told all the time when I was at college — and by all these different scouts — that I’d be recruited as an athlete. I guess the last game I played real well — I threw for quite a few yards and ran for quite a few. The Sugar Bowl I threw for over 200 yards, and I played in the Senior Bowl, which was the All Star Game, where all we did was throw. Steve Largent was the receiver and Sammy White — White was a number one pick for Minnesota that year, and Largent set 16
MEET THE JETS: THE NAMATH ERA
all those records for the Seattle Seahawks. I threw for, like, 350 yards. Ray Perkins was a scout that I was talking to quite a bit — he was with New England at that time. Down at the Senior Bowl, he said, “You’ll probably be picked in the third/ fourth/fifth round as an athlete.” Anyway, I had a really good Senior Bowl, and I saw him at the end of the game, and he said, “Forget what I said!” I was taken by the Jets. I remember talking to the Broncos, and I think if the Jets weren’t going to take me, there was this player and that player, and if those players were around they would pass on me and take those guys. One of those guys was Mike Haynes — a defensive back for New England — he was taken earlier. So they took me in the sixth round. The next team that would have taken me was Denver, I believe — it’s probably good that didn’t happen [laughs]. So that’s how I got tied up with the Jets. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 644&/ I’m from Nebraska — I played football in high school and at Kearney State College. I was always into football, big-time. I got drafted, made the team, played for fifteen years, walked away, and didn’t get beat up so bad. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. I’m from Mississippi and went to Jackson State University. Played there and was drafted number one — ninth picked in the draft in ’72. And got a college degree in health and physical education, with a minor in business. I come from — as most ball players — very humble beginnings. I thoroughly enjoyed every level of play that I’ve had from high school all the way up to the National Football League. Back when I was drafted, I got the phone call from Richard Caster — who had said that the Jets may be interested in drafting me. I had gotten letters from the Oakland Raiders and the Dallas Cowboys over and over again, and never received anything from the Jets. Obviously, we didn’t have any cell phones back then — we had a pay phone in the barracks, kind of like army barracks, that had been trailered into our campus for us to live in. There was a kind of common courtesy on draft day that no one could be on the pay phone because we were waiting on “that phone call,” if you will. So the phone rang, and the first time, it was Caster. And then about an hour or so later, it was [Jets head coach Wilbur] “Weeb” Ewbank and Paul Zimmerman, who was a reporter for the Post at the time. Weeb called and said that they had drafted me number one. I kind of thought I had an opportunity to play in the National Football League, but I had no idea that I would be drafted number one. So it was a very pleasant and jubilant surprise. 17
SACK EXCHANGE
( 3 & ( # 6 55-& I’m from Margate City, New Jersey. I played county league football for the Margate City Colts, and we had some pretty fun teams down there. I really got into it because my brothers were part of football, so I played football because they did and my friends did. Other than that, I didn’t get into football because I said, “Oh boy, I want to be a football player.” In that time — that was probably ’67 to ’69 — I was a huge Baltimore Colts fan. Because down by the Atlantic City area — which is where Margate was — the Colts were in Baltimore and the Eagles were in Philly, but Philly wasn’t that big a deal in football to me, where I would go and look in the papers. Of course, back in those days, you didn’t have the Internet and all the media acquisition that you have today. So we end up being undefeated when I was a kid, and because we were undefeated and won the title they took our county league football team to Baltimore, to watch the Baltimore Colts play the Chicago Bears. So there I am, in old Memorial Stadium, watching Johnny Unitas throw to Raymond Berry, and Dick Butkus running around the field, and Mike Curtis playing middle linebacker. It was just spectacular stuff for me — it was really my first professional football game. And then the next year, 1968, we do it again — we win our championship in the county league football. And this year, they’re going to take us up to New York to watch the New York Jets play the Denver Broncos at Shea Stadium. And I’m looking at this guy play — Joe Namath — and he’s got white football shoes on . . . nobody had white football shoes. The next thing you know, the Jets are in the Super Bowl, as are the Baltimore Colts — and of course, I’m a huge Colts fan. I watch the Jets beat the Colts . . . and I cry. I can’t believe that they lose. I play high school football, and I go to mainly Regional High School down in Linwood, New Jersey, and I really turn into an athlete my freshman year. I was always a little clumsy, but I had pretty good hand-eye coordination, and I was getting to be a better athlete — I play football, basketball, and I run track. The next thing I know, I’m going to Penn State. So I go to Penn State, and I get a little better — bigger, stronger, and faster. I leave Penn State as an All-American linebacker. And what do you know . . . they draft me to the Jets. I’m ready to puke! The last team I wanted to go to was the Jets — I wanted to go to the Steelers. No — the Jets draft me. In 1976, I was the sixty-seventh player chosen. I think there were five or six linebackers taken in front of me at that time. Abdul Salaam, Richard Todd, Shafer Suggs, Bobby Martin, Lawrence Pillers — there were a lot of draft choices. We only played fourteen games then, and there were seventeen rounds of drafting in that time. 18
MEET THE JETS: THE NAMATH ERA
$ -" 3 , ( " * / &4 I’m originally from Georgia — Elberton, Georgia. I grew up in a family of eight children — seven boys and a girl. Very poor — kind of a “poverty child,” as they say. Had a talent and a skill — we played sports, especially football. But it was during segregation in the South, when I was growing up in the ’50s, and the schools were segregated. In 1968, there was a group of about twelve of us kids who decided to integrate an all-white public high school. I started playing football at the school as an eighth-grader, and starter on the varsity team as a ninth-grader. That’s kind of how my career started. I decided I didn’t like the big schools, so I decided to go to junior college — Lees-McRae Junior College. I was a junior college All-American — second in the nation in rushing my sophomore year there, and transferred to Wake Forest. Played there for two years — All-Atlantic Coast Conference, and MVP of the team . . . I think I was probably MVP for every team I’ve ever played for before I got to the Jets. It was ironic — I was living off-campus at Wake Forest. I was married, had a daughter — it was my senior year. I remember the Cowboys’ scout being in my living room — I had a trailer on campus — and he said that they wanted to sign me as a free agent, and thought very highly of me. I had the contract in my hands, and the phone rang. It was the Jets. They said, “I hear you’re going to Canada, but we’d like to talk to you before you make the decision” — that was the first I’d heard about me going to Canada! I guess they had the inside track. I said, “Well, as it stands right now, I have Dallas in my living room. I’m getting ready to sign with them.” They said, “Please, can you just wait and listen to what we have to say? We’ll be down there tomorrow morning.” I told the Dallas scout, and he said, “Normally, we don’t wait for anyone. But we think enough of you that we will.” I listened to the Jets — they came down, we had a talk, and I thought, “My better chances would be with the Jets as opposed to Dallas.” Because [the Cowboys] had just come from the Super Bowl and they had a host of running backs, they didn’t really need me. I figured John Riggins had just been traded to Washington, Emerson Boozer had just retired, and they’d traded for Ed Marinaro from the Vikings. I said, “I’ve got better chances and probably a better opportunity to make the club with the Jets than I do with Dallas.” Believe it or not, $800 was my signing bonus — it was $200 less than what Dallas had offered me. 1 "5 -& " ) : I am from St. Louis, Missouri, and I was a college soccer player. I got a tryout here with the old football Cardinals, and what that evolved into was 19
SACK EXCHANGE
a tryout with the Jets — the year that Bobby Howfield was hurt, which was ’74. [The tryout] transpired because the coach of the Jets at the time was Charley Winner who, prior to that, was the head coach here with the Cardinals. And so a couple of people here recommended me to him. So that was my tryout. 5 * . % "7 & : I started out as a ball boy in the summer of ’69. Went to college to become an athletic trainer, and worked in training camp following every year in college. When I finished college, Weeb Ewbank hired me as the first full-time assistant trainer with the Jets. It was around ’77–’78 that I bumped up into the administration of the training room, until I left in ’86–’87. My title in the ’80s was director of operations.
20
2 THE N AM AT H ERA
U
nquestionably, the man who was to make the New York Jets one of football’s top teams was quarterback Joe Willie Namath. Coming to the Jets in 1965 as the top draft pick, it doesn’t take long for “Broadway Joe” to leave his stamp on the Jets . . . and the city’s nightlife. But by the early to mid-’70s, Namath and the Jets fall on hard times. ' 3 " / , 3 " . 04 [The Jets beating the Colts, 16–7, in Super Bowl III] is still the most magical moment in the history of the Jets. When you think about it, Joe Namath may be the most magical name in the history of professional football. He transcended sports. There aren’t too many football players that had their own television show, where they didn’t do sports interviews, but they interviewed celebrities [1969’s The Joe Namath Show]. I think that just tells you what a magical moment it was — and still is. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 You can talk all you want about statistics, completion percentages, and all that crap, but Joe Namath was the only person who had the power and the ability to merge two leagues. Now, just imagine how powerful the AFL owners were and the NFL owners were. Powerful men — very stubborn men. The NFL owners really believed that they were better than the AFL. Namath winning the game and then telling them beforehand they were going to win the game against, my god, the Baltimore Colts, of all teams — a team that has been around forever and is synonymous with the old NFL — that they were able to do it and do it in a way that left no doubt in anybody’s mind, Namath doing that literally 21
ap photo⁄nfl photo
Broadway Joe: Joe Willie Namath
THE NAMATH ERA
forced the merger of those two leagues. They owe the NFL, what it is today, to Joe Namath winning that Super Bowl. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 %% Joe was my idol — in 1969, when they won the Super Bowl, I was in the eighth grade. I remember that like it was yesterday. And he was an Alabama quarterback. He sort of reminded me of — if you compare players — Dan Marino. Back then, we could all throw a twenty yard out — it’s just Joe looked good doing it and Marino looked good doing it. The rest of us, we just looked like we were throwing the ball. They had the grace, and they looked better than the rest of us trying to throw it. Joe was a special player, obviously. I started meeting Joe my sophomore year [of college], and we worked out in Tuscaloosa all the time in the summers. I think he had a lot to do with me being drafted by the Jets because he told these guys, “Y’all take a look at this Todd kid because they don’t throw at Alabama — they run the wishbone.” I think we averaged, like, six times a game throwing my senior year — we’d just run over everybody. We had a great running game and we won football games — you can’t really argue with the system because it worked. But Joe and I, I’d run passes for him — he never ran passes for me, but I’d always run passes for him [laughs]. So we’d throw together, and there would be guys working out. Kind of had a ritual in the summertime we went through. But I just remember the same thing — him in seven-on-seven early in practice, when you’re in just shorts, shoulder pads, and helmets, and just watching him throw. ' 3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 Weeb Ewbank was a very experienced coach when he got there, and [had an] offensive belief in the passing game, which he had started when he was an offensive coach for Paul Brown with the Cleveland Browns, and was in charge of Otto Graham’s pass protection. When he was at Baltimore, they had a great offensive line, and a great passing game with Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry, and passing to Lenny Moore, who was a half back. Ewbank brought the same type of offense to the Jets, with Namath, Maynard, and Sauer, and that type of passing game, and a belief in mixing up the pass and the run. But the pass was a more fundamental part of the offense than the run. He certainly treated the players like men — Weeb had very few rules. # * -- ) " . 1 50 / The year after the Super Bowl, we played Kansas City [in the 1969 AFL Divisional Playoffs], and we had three shots on the one-yard line to 23
SACK EXCHANGE
score a touchdown. But it never happened. We couldn’t score. They tried running and throwing — they just couldn’t get it in. And the weather was terrible, besides — it was a tough game. [The Jets lost, 13–6.] '3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 Namath had a number of injuries after that Super Bowl. In 1970, he broke the navicular bone in his wrist, which is probably the most damaging injury that he ever had. Because the navicular bone, if you don’t get blood flow in there, it’s possible that your career would be over. He survived that, but he only played five games in 1970 — a year after the merger. He also had a shoulder separation, and subsequently, more knee surgeries. In 1972, the Jets also had injuries to Gerry Philbin and John Elliott — two of their defensive stalwarts. Namath was having a great season offensively, but the defense was having a tough time. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 6 44&/ He was still “Joe Namath.” He was Joe Namath at Alabama, he was Joe Namath in his early years, he was Joe Namath in his later years, as he is Joe Namath now — a very football-smart quarterback. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6 . The first two years I was with the Jets, I never saw Joe other than on the airplane, the bus, or on the football field. He was a very famous guy, obviously. Some of the guys would come in and treat Joe like he was a celebrity. [They] wanted his autograph and everything. Joe and I gradually got to know each other. I think he respected me for that. I was very gracious to play with Joe, but I didn’t smother him like a lot of the other guys did. We became friends very subtly — we would go deep-sea fishing together. I remember once, we were traveling out to Montauk Point, and we went in my van. Rich Caster, Joe, and I went fishing. Joe had this connection with some police guy who took us out fishing. We said, “Joe, you’re going to drive — we’re not going to chauffeur you around.” So Joe started driving. He was kind of confused where to go, so he stopped and asked this kid who had a cone of ice cream. And this kid recognized Joe Namath, and dropped his ice cream! He couldn’t believe that this guy was in his neighborhood. You could see him running to tell his friends — I don’t think any of his friends believed him. Playing with Joe was an experience because I was coming out of Jackson State University, and not really clear on how to run pass patterns based on the way it is in the NFL — which is timing. So I would run — and I knew I had pretty good speed — and the ball was thrown already. I’m going, like, “What the hell’s going 24
THE NAMATH ERA
on?!” Caster told me, “You plant your foot, snatch your head around, and there’s the ball.” And surely, there was the ball. Because I’d never really been coached that way before — coming out of a small school. So, Joe was very patient. We all make mistakes, and I see quarterbacks today getting all over receivers and fussing at their players. Joe was such a confident quarterback — so much so that he would always say to you, “Don’t worry about it — we’ll get the next one.” Through that, you develop a lot of respect for him, and obviously, over time, he developed confidence in you. And with that, it made you a better ball player. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& It was funny because here was a guy that I hated as a child, and now I’m playing with him. He was absolutely a gentleman. He took me under his wing — it was almost as if whenever he would go out, he’d say, “Come on Buttle, let’s go.” It would be him, Richard Todd, myself, and Ed Marinaro. We’d go out and have a blast. He wouldn’t let you pay for anything — he paid for everything. If he was going to go to Jones Beach, he’d say, “Come on, we’re going to Jones Beach.” If he was going out to a nightclub after practice, he’d go, “Come on, we’re going out to so-and-so.” Into the city — the whole nine yards. He was really great. It was an experience just meeting him, and finding out he was a human being — just like us — and he worked just as hard as anybody to do anything. He was Joe Namath. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 I’d watched Joe play as a high school kid and a college kid. You watched him on all the commercials, and I can just remember thinking that I could actually play on a team with this guy. I always thought that Namath stood on Times Square, wore a mink coat, could throw a ball up 100 yards, and hit a fly off a plate of ribs! That was my impression of him. And to play with him . . . he was just such a great teammate — always supportive of me. Would help me in any way, and a guy that never, ever forgets his teammates. He can see me at Super Bowls a thousand miles away, and I’ll hear him yelling, “Clark!” Just a wonderful guy. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 ##"w $"3640 I became a Jets fan because Shea Stadium was right here — I live in Astoria. Back in the day, in ’72–’73, I was eight, nine years old. Going into the South Bronx for the Yankees or the Giants wasn’t really an option. The South Bronx was pretty nasty. But getting on the train right here, I was there and back in no time. Going to Corona was never a problem. So that’s it — became a Mets fan and Jets fan. Figure around ’76–’77, I started to go to every 25
SACK EXCHANGE
game. If anything, I missed maybe three or four games in ten years — not even. The first game I saw was 1973, when O.J. broke the 2,000-yard mark. + 0 & ' & 3 ( 6 4 0 / Because it was an inter-conference game, it seemed like every time the Bills played the Jets, it was a big game. I don’t remember just having mediocre games with them. It seemed like there was something always on the line — whether we were good and they were bad, or they were good and we were bad. It didn’t matter. They were a steady rival. I don’t remember the intensity level changing all that much — except for the day O. J. Simpson broke the record against them at Shea Stadium. It was the last game of the year and it was snowing. We got to a point where he broke the rushing record, and it got to a point in the fourth quarter where he got in range of breaking 2,000 yards. Our guys just pulled together and our intensity level was extremely high, and their level was just to go home. So, just stay in bounds and let’s get this thing over with. But it was an exciting time for our team because of what O.J. accomplished. It was a great day for the Bills organization. They took him into the locker room — the press was going in with him, and he wouldn’t even do an interview until the rest of us got in there. He pulled all of the offensive line and myself into a different room where all the press was, and he introduced everyone. He said, “Here are all the guys that got me here.” He was that kind of guy. Don’t get me wrong — O.J. had a bit of an ego about him, but he was never an overly cocky guy. He was a very intelligent player — he knew the blocking schemes, he knew what he had to do. Never seen him mad at anybody, to be perfectly honest with you. Just a classy guy to me . . . but that’s just strictly my opinion. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. I was actually a holdout [during Barkum’s rookie season of 1972]. They had six preseason games back then, and I was holding out because I wanted more signing bonus. An agent that I had at that time thought they were low-balling us. So I held out for three preseason games. The fourth game, I think, was a game against the Giants up at the Yale Bowl. So I went on for a couple of plays — I had a wristband on, trying to use that as a means to know what to do and which way to go. And then the next game we played down in Dallas. At that time, Don Maynard was kind of one leg in and one leg out of the league, and he told me, “Weeb says you’re going in the next series.” So I went in, and the ball was thrown to me. When you’re holding out, when you show up, you want to 26
THE NAMATH ERA
make sure that you perform. Well, the ball was thrown to me, and there was a picture taken of it — my hands were extended, and the ball was in my hands, but I lost the ball in the light because we played at Texas Stadium at night. I’m still looking back as if I’m looking for the ball — but it’s just landed right in my hands. I welled up in tears because I was happy — the first ball that was thrown to me, I caught it and it was a touchdown. 1 "5-& " ) : Joe, at that time, was kind of at the end of his career. But he still had a tremendous amount of charisma, and he was able to occasionally show why he is presently in the Hall of Fame. We had a run there at the end of ’74 of six in a row, and he was tremendous. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 644&/ We won the last six games in a row [in 1974], and we finished 7–7, and missed the playoffs by one game. I thought the next year, we were really set up to go. And that next year was one of those silly strikes. It got us off tempo. Those three-win seasons really take the wind out of your sails. They’re real downers and bummers, and they’re long off-seasons. Stuff happens during a season, and if it happens at the wrong time, you can’t pull it all together. Winning is habit-forming, just as losing is habit-forming. We got stuck in a rut there for a couple of years. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 1975 started with a strike. We went on strike, and they let us back in on a Thursday. But there were only four teams that went out on strike — the Jets, the Patriots, the Redskins, and somebody else. Now, all the other teams kept practicing, and they let us back in on Thursday, and the season started on Sunday. We played Buffalo. We hadn’t practiced in a whole week, and we ended up getting killed by Buffalo, 42–14. It wasn’t a very good strike for us. The coach was Charley Winner. I was very lucky because my rookie year, the starting center, Wayne Mulligan, got hurt — he had some injuries. A lot of times, the game was out of reach — we’d be getting beat 31–7 in the fourth quarter. And my offensive line coach was a guy by the name of Bob Fry, and he would put me in. You learn a lot when you get thrown in those kind of games. That got me ready to start in my second year — I was very fortunate that way. Playing with Joe was awesome. Growing up, you always heard about Joe Namath. That was the year too where he had sat out to sign his contract [in 1975], 27
SACK EXCHANGE
so he came into camp a little late. I was low man on the totem pole at center — out of seven centers, I was number seven. So when Joe came in, the first day, they wanted him to get in snaps after practice. The coach yelled, “Fields! Come over here and give Namath some snaps!” For a kid from Widener College, that was pretty exciting — Joe Namath. I asked him, “Joe, how do you want me to bring the ball up?” And he just patted me on the ass, and said, “Put it up there anyway you want kid, and I’ll get it.” Joe was just that kind of guy. Joe was a real team guy. Back then, we had team parties, like, every two or three weeks — and Joe never missed a party. He was a bona fide team guy. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6 . John Riggins was a very weird guy — very eccentric [laughs]. He used to get fan mail, and people thought he was black — not all the way, but they wanted to know if he had some black in him because he was at that time considered fast. So I nicknamed him “Chocolate Chip.” I had a nickname for a lot of the guys — I kidded around a lot. But he was a great guy. He wasn’t overkill with his behavior, being around you or anything. But he was just an eccentric guy — with a derby hat on, Mohawk haircut, his toenails may be painted, he may have on suspenders and shorts . . . getting on the airplane to go on a trip. And while you’re playing with him, if you’re blocking for him, if you don’t get your guy out of the way, he’s going to run over you and that guy. He was just a very fast, serious, running back. I hated to see him go [when Riggins signed with the Washington Redskins in 1976]. I think it was contractual. He was a very good guy, but he had his own style. '3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 The Jets had several drafts that didn’t work out for them, and they really fell on hard times. Charley Winner was the heir apparent to Weeb Ewbank, as the head coach. Probably with hindsight, it was a mistake — for Charley and the Jets. Charley probably should never have taken the job under his father-in-law [Weeb], and Weeb probably never should have hired him at that time. But that’s 20/20 hindsight. After Winner got fired, they brought in Lou Holtz.
28
M E E T T H E JETS: 19 76
I
n addition to several players you’ve already been introduced to (quarterback Richard Todd, linebacker Greg Buttle, and others), 1976 welcomes some more colorful characters to the New York Jets . . . Lawrence Pillers (defensive end), Abdul Salaam (defensive tackle), Ken Schroy (safety), and Joe Gardi (coach). - "8 3 & / $ & 1 *--&34 I’m from Hazlehurst, Mississippi. I went to college at Alcorn State University, and I got drafted to the New York Jets in 1976 as an outside linebacker. When I made it to the Jets, my first professional coach was Lou Holtz. Walt Michaels was the linebackers coach, and it was Joe Namath’s last year with the Jets and Richard Todd’s first year — we got drafted together. It was a wonderful experience for me — as far as football and getting out into the world. +0 & ( " 3 % * I’m from Harrison, New Jersey. Went to Harrison High School, and then went to the University of Maryland. I turned down Notre Dame, Alabama, and Miami, and went to Maryland who, in 1955, were national champs. Went there in ’56, and as a matter of fact, I went to my fiftieth reunion two weeks ago — the 1959 Maryland football team was honored. Most of us were limping, but it was great. Went from the University of Maryland — where I became a grad assistant coach for a year — and came back to New Jersey in about 1961. I went on to a business career, gave it up after three years, and then went into high school coaching. My first job was at Oratory Prep in Summit, New Jersey. They had a record of not winning a game in five years — the longest in the history of the state. We added to that record my first year, and then had two winning 29
SACK EXCHANGE
seasons, and I became known by a reporter named Gene Picker from the Elizabeth Daily Journal as “The Miracle Worker.” Went on to Roselle Park High School after three years at Oratory — hadn’t had a winning season in ten years, the home of Rick Barry. And wound up going 2–1, 7–2, and undefeated state champs in 1969. Then went to the University of Maryland — my alma mater — as an assistant coach, and stayed there for four years. Then I went to the World Football League, with the Philadelphia Bell. Went to work for Ron Waller, the head coach. The league folded in the first year, and then in the second year it started up again. I ended up as the head coach of the Portland Thunder. The league folded, and I think I may have the best record in the history of pro coaching — I was 3–1, so percentage-wise, I don’t think there’s anyone that comes close! I came back to my wife and kids, and wound up a couple of months later going to the New York Jets as a special teams coach and tight end coach, with Lou Holtz. "# % 6 - 4 " -" " . Football has always been a dream. It was like everybody else that started out playing football — you start off with Pee Wee, and you work your way on up. I’m from Cincinnati, Ohio. That’s where I started playing the game. But it’s always been a labor of love. College ball I played up at Kent State. We had a pretty great team up there — I played with Jack Lambert, Nick Saban, Gerald Tinker, and a lot of other guys that went on to do something else in their career in football. We developed the defensive line in Kent called “The Four Carat Gold.” And I went off from there to the Jets. It was through a connection. Lou Holtz was head coach of the Jets at the time, and he’s from Kent. But Tony Adamle was a great friend and teammate of Walt Michaels, and Tony called Walt, and that’s how I wound up with the Jets — Walt Michaels brought me in. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : I’m originally from Quakertown, Pennsylvania — born and bred there. Started playing football when I was ten years old. Everything was played in Quakertown until I went to high school, and started getting a whole lot of letters and interest — I was a running back and a defensive back. Played both ways, never came off the field. Decided to go to the University of Maryland on a scholarship — I thought that was the best opportunity for me to play, which it was. I was a starter at cornerback for the Terrapins. And then drafted into the NFL my senior year by the Philadelphia Eagles — with a broken ankle, by the way. I broke my ankle the last regular season game of my senior year, and it didn’t 30
MEET THE JETS: 1976
really heal that well. I was the last cut of Philadelphia, in which I was picked by the New York Jets immediately after. It was ’76 — they picked me up, and they put me on . . . there was a special name for it at the time, which they did pay me to rehabilitate and start the following year.
31
4 1 97 6
W
ith a new head coach at the helm — Lou Holtz — the Jets hope to rediscover their winning ways in ’76. Eh, not exactly.
$ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 1976 was the year that Lou Holtz coached the Jets. And as a matter of fact, I remember playing Lou Holtz when I was at Wake Forest [University] my senior year. Lou had said that if Wake Forest beat [his team, North Carolina State], he would pack up his house and leave Raleigh. We beat them — in Raleigh — and I was a captain of the team. I told all the players when we got in the locker room, “Don’t pull your uniforms off. First things first — we have to help Lou Holtz pack because he’s leaving Raleigh tonight!” When I came to New York, he called me in his office, and I thought he probably was going to release me. I came in, and he said, “Clark, the darnedest thing — I waited and waited for you to come over and help pack me up . . . so I could leave Raleigh.” '3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 When Lou Holtz was there, he was being pulled from different ways — how he wanted to go about structuring the team for pro football. And it was something so different from college football. For Lou, it was a very difficult adjustment for him. I think there have been very few successful college coaches that have come in and been solid and winning head coaches in the NFL. It’s a big adjustment to make — the players are so different to deal with. And Lou probably had more rules for his football team than any coach that I worked with — in all the years that I was there with the Jets.
32
new york daily news archive⁄getty images
The student consults with the master: Richard Todd and Joe Namath
-"83 & / $ & 1 *--&34 He was a good coach, but he sort of acted like a “college coach” to grown men. Everybody has their own philosophy — I’m not saying that his philosophy was wrong. But to me, he just acted more like a college coach than a professional coach. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % We were horrible. Lou has done quite a bit in the college game — I think he was kind of lost in pro football. It wasn’t what he imagined — he was more of a motivator. I don’t think he liked to see beer in the locker room and smoking in the locker room — but these are grown men, you can’t really tell them how to act. And plus, we didn’t have a really good team. ' 3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 The fact that they had earmarked [Richard] Todd to be the best quarterback for them at that time, it had nothing to do with saying that he was at Alabama and Joe was at Alabama. It really had nothing to do with that. But they thought that Todd was the best quarterback for them — at that particular time, and where we were going in the draft.
33
SACK EXCHANGE
1 "5-& " ) : Richard didn’t really play much in ’76. It takes a quarterback a while — it really took him a couple more years. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 6 44&/ I know Joe [Namath] worked with Richard a lot — to get him ready to play. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 It’s not really a fair comparison because Joe was at the end of his career, and Richard was at the beginning. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6 . Richard and Joe are two different kinds of quarterbacks. Joe was a gunslinger, took a lot of chances. He broke all of the rules with regard to passing. Because he had such a great arm and was so confident, he would throw into coverage, but yet, he could get the ball to you. You had a corner coming up and the safety coming over — if the safety was slow getting over, Joe would hit you right between the seams. We also had hand signals back in those days. So he was kind of a freestyle, freewheeling type guy. Richard, on the other hand, was a guy that was very collected, but at the same time, his style was very different. So it’s not fair to even try to make a comparison between a Hall of Famer and as legendary a quarterback as Namath, and Richard Todd. Richard was good at what he did and when he did it, but Joe was the greatest — to me — to ever throw a football. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 6 44&/ [Namath’s] big thing was he could read defenses, and knew what was going on out there. But he needed “football people” around him, also. A lot of the football — in the real successful years with Namath — was “onthe-fly-football.” Everybody was reading things as the ball was snapped. I think we had to become a little more mechanical with Richard because he was just learning the game. Any time you become mechanical in pro football, it doesn’t take long for the opposing teams to figure out where all the parts are moving. "# % 6 -4 " -" " . Joe has a swagger, Todd is more of a methodical type of person. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 644&/ That was Joe’s last year. He was an iconic figure. . . . He still is an iconic figure. I think everybody in New York hated to see that era come to a close. But it does to everyone.
34
1976
" # % 6 -4 " -" " . When I got to New York our first year, it was a very trying time. We had six weeks of two-a-days. Joe Namath was a great guy — he taught us a lot about the character and personality it takes to actually start a winning team and winning personality. So there was a lot to learn from him. I really appreciate just being on the team with him and learning his character and attitude. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& Abdul Salaam and I were drafted the same year. Abdul came in as Larry Faulk. He became a Muslim, and changed his name to Abdul Salaam, which is “Soldier of Peace.” But Abdul was always the same guy. He never changed. To this day, what you got back then is what you get today. " # % 6 - 4 " -" ". I did a study of religion in college. And my religious conviction helped me to focus my self-interest. The changing of my name was serving of the peace — Soldier of Peace. In any endeavor that you try and accomplish, you want to reach the goal of perfection that will bring a certain amount of peace. In ’76, I went in to see Lou Holtz, and told him that I changed my name. They had a meeting in regards to me changing my name — they concluded that Soldier of Peace was fine. -"83&/$&1*--&34 Abdul was my best friend — he taught me everything. He and I were roommates. During when they cut players, Lou Holtz came and told me, “You’ve made the team,” and then he went and told Larry Faulk that he had made the team. From that time on, Abdul and I began to gel a little bit better. + 0 & ( " 3 % * To be honest with you, I thought we had better players at the University of Maryland than we did with the New York Jets. I mean it — I’m serious. We had a bunch of guys that made the pros — Randy White and Louis Carter. We had some great players. The Jets were in disarray — it was terrible. We were struggling. But Lou Holtz was a great guy to work for, and I learned a lot from him. We just didn’t have talent. I came in as special teams coach, and our punter was Greg Gantt from Alabama. I had four punters better than him in the World Football League! In all due respect, the area that they seemed to lack was personnel and drafting. When I felt I had better players at Maryland than the New York Jets, something was wrong. And then of course, we lost the great fullback to the Redskins, John Riggins — without getting anything in return. Everything seemed to just happen like that to them. It was just one thing after another. 35
SACK EXCHANGE
+ 0 & ' * & -% 4 The most memorable thing for me was I became the starting center in the fifth game. But we had two offenses back then. If it was third and, like, three and under, we brought Richard Todd in and we ran the offense. If it wasn’t, then Namath stayed in. It’s like today, you see these wildcats and different offenses — we did that thirty years ago! It wasn’t even a big deal — they just got fancy names for it all now. That was a real learning year for me because you don’t really learn sitting on the bench — you learn by playing in the game. That year and the next couple of years, you really cut your teeth — being from a small school, and now all the guys are 280–300 pounds you’re playing against. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 It was an incredible season for me that year. I never thought I was going to make the team. Once I got into camp, I always followed the instructions from my old coach from Wade Forest, Chuck Mills. Chuck had always told me, “The quickest way to not make the club is to make mental mistakes. So whatever you do, make them cut you because you’re not talented enough — don’t let them cut you because you have mental lapses.” And I virtually never made a mistake. I had coaches tell me, “Look, we’d like to cut you . . . but we can’t find a reason — you don’t make mistakes!” Eventually, I made the club. I played special teams most of the time and ran scout teams. I can remember the first game I ever played in a regular season game was Monday Night Football against New England. Howard Cosell was calling the game. I remember standing on the sidelines — I was sipping all the Gatorades, deciding which flavor I’d be drinking for the night. And I hear my name called — “Gaines, get in here!” And I said, “Me?” They said, “You’re the only Gaines we have on the team!” All the running backs had gone down, and the coach puts me in the game. I couldn’t believe it — I’m in the game, and Namath is in the huddle right beside me. He asks me, “Can you run a screen play?” And I say, “Yeah.” I’ll never forget it — I get to the line of scrimmage, the crowd is roaring, and I’m thinking, “Is the screen coming to me . . . or is it going to the other side?” So clearly, I didn’t know the play. It was a busted play, he threw it to me, and I went thirty-five yards or something. Howard proclaimed me “The Jets’ Secret Weapon” after that. I had a really good game. My rookie season, I played seven games — I had seven 100-yard games for the Jets, I don’t know if that’s still a record or not. I was “Rookie of the Year” as voted by the players and the MVP of the team. It was a crazy season — I don’t know if a rookie won MVP before. 36
1976
( 3 & ( # 6 55-& That year, I remember the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were an expansion team, and a buddy of mine that I played in the last college all-star football game was drafted by them — Lee Roy Selmon. And it was, “Wow, which team is worse — the Tampa Buccaneers, who were not winning a game [in 1976], or the New York Jets, who just beat Buffalo [two times in 1976]?” And we found out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were worse — we beat them 34–0. 4 5& 7 & ( 3 0 ( " / In the late ’70s, the Patriots had some pretty good success against the Jets. I remember, when I came in as a rookie, being told that the Patriots hadn’t beat the Jets in New York in a whole bunch of years. That changed in the late ’70s — we pretty much had their number, both home and away. There was definitely a rivalry there — I think because of the close proximity, and because of the success the Jets had had earlier with Joe Namath. It was still a thrill for me as a young player to be on the same field as Joe Namath. And then we kind of got on a roll in the late ’70s, and had some pretty good success in the division. +0 & ( " 3 % * If you look at the highlight tape of 1976, you’ll hear that they’re playing “The Tarantella” during a lot of the shots. That’s for Lou Piccone and Lou Giammona, who were two return specialists. Lou Giammona went to the Eagles, who played under his uncle, Dick Vermeil. And then Lou Piccone went to Buffalo and played for a number of years. But all we had that year was special teams. We were just terrible, but I loved coaching special teams, I really did. - "8 3 & / $ & 1 *--&34 When I made it in ’76, Richard Neal and Billy Newsome were the starting defensive ends, and I took Billy Newsome’s spot at defensive end. Greg Buttle was a linebacker. As a defensive player, he and I hung out and learned from each other — on the field and off the field. In the ’70s, us guys played for the love of the game — we weren’t getting that much money. I think the head slap was still in a little bit — there were a lot of things still in. You could try and tear the quarterback’s head off — if you could. And defensive players, the best way we knew you’d win the game is if you get back there and you get the quarterback out of the game. Their first-string quarterback usually has a little more talent than their second-string quarterback. We always just focused on trying to get back there to the quarterback. The defense’s philosophy was set to whatever the best thing that was going on on our opponent’s offense. I have to say, all of the individuals in the ’70s that I played with on the Jets were 37
SACK EXCHANGE
hard-nosed, good football players — and played the sport for the love of the game. "# % 6 -4 " -" " . The struggle. It was hard trying to come together as a team and bring about the success that was needed — it had to be learned, and it had to be learned through hard knocks. I believe it was more a work in progress because what happened with Lou Holtz was a lot of the guys couldn’t take the six weeks of two-a-days, and he definitely had weeded out the ones that didn’t have the heart or the love for the game. That was the start of it. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : Lou Holtz was a little bit different, he didn’t make it through the entire year — he quit after thirteen games. Which was interesting — I never had a coach quit on me before. # * -- ) " . 1 50 / That was a “mystery year,” because Lou Holtz advised the ownership that he was going to quit, and one of the owner representatives, Phil Iselin, came out to the complex to see him, and he said, “No, he is not going to quit — he changed his mind.” Phil Iselin went back to the New York office, and got a call the next day that he was definitely quitting. Lou Holtz was a very nice guy — unfortunately, I guess it was too busy for him, with the professional players compared to the college ranks. As you know, he went on to coach successfully at Notre Dame. It was an unfortunate situation for the Jets at that time. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 But I do remember Lou telling us at the very last meeting, “Gentlemen, I came here with you, and I will be here with you. So you can count on that.” The next day, they call a hasty meeting before the normal session. Mike Holovak walks in the room — no Lou Holtz — and he says, “Gentlemen, I will be your interim coach for the rest of the year” [laughs]. My rookie year was turmoil all the time. + 0 & ( " 3 % * It was tough to rebound from losing Lou Holtz in our first year because I loved Lou — to this day. Either he didn’t have a chance or didn’t feel comfortable in the pros. I think the latter. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % The bottom line is I think he did the right thing — he got out. Unfortunately, it probably put us back for quite a few years. For my first five or 38
1976
six years, I think I had a different offensive coordinator every year — maybe we had one two years in a row, and then it would be all switched up again. That’s one thing I say about the Jets, you look at the successful programs out there, year in, year out — Pittsburgh, New England — these teams have a lot of continuity with the coaching staff. And back in our day, you’d think there would be more because there wasn’t free agency and stuff. Now, players can leave if they have real good years, and when their contract is up they can sell themselves to the highest bidder. Back then, you didn’t really have that option. But it seemed like we didn’t have much continuity. A lot of the players stayed around — but a lot of the coaches were revolving. And in our case, offensive coordinators. -"83 & / $ & 1 *--&34 The scary thing about it is when you’re not winning, you don’t know what tomorrow’s going to bring. But we did what we could. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : Then, Walt Michaels took over the following year.
39
5
WA LT M I CH A E L S, H E A D CO A C H
W
ith Lou Holtz out as Jets coach after a single dreadful season, the team promotes their defensive coach, Walt Michaels, as their new head coach.
8" -5. * $ ) " & - 4 I’m from northeastern Pennsylvania, and from a high school that was very successful. I had about twelve or fifteen scholarships when I got out, and I wound up going to Washington and Lee [University in Lexington, Virginia]. I wanted an education, and they said, “Here, you can get both.” Because at that time, we played Tennessee two years, Virginia Tech every year — so it wasn’t like I was going nowhere. And besides that, I could put it together with a highly ranked academic school. I enjoyed every bit of it there, and still hear from them — guys like Roger Mudd, who you remember from CBS, and Tom Wolfe, who is a writer. Then [in 1951] I got drafted by Cleveland in the seventh round, when there were only twelve teams in the league — I guess that’s equivalent to the third round today. With the team, there were thirty-one coming back out of thirtythree, which was the total roster then — they’d won the championship in ’51. So I ended up going up to Green Bay for a year — I thought my career was over. The next thing you know, I was traded back to Cleveland, and played another ten years in Cleveland, and was fortunate to be with Otto Graham — who was there through 1955. And then in comes Jim Brown. People keep asking me, “Did you play with Jim Brown?” And I say, “Oh no, Jim Brown played with me” [laughs]. But Jim was a great person and teammate — bugged by everybody, so you can’t blame him for some of the things that happened and say, “Oh, he was a 40
WA LT M I C H A E L S , H E A D C O A C H
grouch.” I never took Jim as that. I never took any player as that because playing and knowing the consequences of playing, when you lose a game or something goes wrong — you fumble a ball, you miss a tackle, all those things — sometimes a real hard-nosed fan can’t understand how bad you feel when some of these mistakes are made. So in the meantime, I had a great time playing — we were world champions. I went to five Pro Bowl games and was selected All-Pro a couple of those times. Went out to Oakland [as a defensive backs coach in 1962]. In comes Al [Davis] for the 1963 season — the interview for me lasted about ten minutes, and I made some phone calls. Some people said, “He would be a hard man to work for.” I said, “But he’s a successful guy,” and they said, “Sometimes, you don’t know which is which.” Any story you might hear regarding Al . . . I’m never totally sure what the circumstances and how it originated. You never know what Al is going to do. I admired him for having the guts to do what he did, and he won. As far as the rest of it, he parlayed his ambition with his method of modus operandi, and he was successful. But he missed, so many times, the big championship. He made it once with John Madden, but the rest of it with Al is dotted with god knows what. I was happy to be back here [Michaels joined the Jets as defensive coordinator in 1963]. I had known Weeb. Weeb was an assistant coach with the Browns when I was there. I was very fortunate to be in New York for ten years — of course, we won a Super Bowl in the ’68–’69 season. # * -- ) " . 1 50 / [Walt Michaels] coached us under the Super Bowl team with Weeb Ewbank. The Jets won the Super Bowl, and he was instrumental in that happening because of the interceptions and everything that the defense made. He did a hell of a job. 5 * . % "7 & : Walt Michaels I knew from when I started there in 1969 — as a coordinator, coming off of the Super Bowl. He was promised a job by Weeb, and Weeb hired his son-in-law, Charley Winner, to take over [as head coach in 1974]. So Walt Michaels left, and went to Philadelphia. 8" -5 . * $ ) " &-4 I was there for three years with Mike McCormack. The Eagles at the time needed a quarterback. They traded for Roman Gabriel, who was a fine quarterback in his day. But when he came to Philadelphia, he was beat up physically. It wasn’t Roman’s fault — Roman was a very bright guy and a good 41
ap photo ⁄ nfl photo
SACK EXCHANGE
The man who got the Jets back on track: Walt Michaels
quarterback. It’s no disgrace — the body ages. And football helps age it — I can tell you, I walk with a cane now. 5 *. % "7 & : When Lou Holtz was hired, I picked Lou Holtz up at the airport, and when he asked me who would I recommend as a defensive coordinator, I told him, “Walt Michaels.” So that’s how Walt Michaels got the job. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& The first mini-camp [in 1976] — I don’t know any of the coaches or the players. And the linebacker coach is Walt Michaels. Without Walt Michaels, I don’t become the player I become. He was a great coach. He knew football inside and out. He was a “Rex Ryan” back in those days — and little did I know, he coached with Buddy Ryan, and they had a lot of the same philosophies about football and defense. But without Walt Michaels, I probably don’t play nine years in the NFL. 5 *. % "7 & : Mike Holovak took over for Lou Holtz as an interim coach, and he applied for the head coaching job. But Walt Michaels got the job in 1977. 42
WA LT M I C H A E L S , H E A D C O A C H
8" -5 . * $ ) " &-4 That was an experience that everyone should live through once in a while. That was a year with Lou Holtz . . . it wasn’t a total year [laughs]. Lou came in, he was going to motivate them like he would do at college, and Lou I give a lot of credit — he understood quickly that he was in a different league. Phil Iselin was the president of the Jets at the time. Phil said this time he was going to make the decision, and he called me, and said, “You’ve got the job as head coach.” ' 3 " / , 3 " . 04 I knew Walt back from the time he came there as an assistant in ’63. So I knew Walt very well, and still talk to Walt to this day. I think he was a nononsense type of coach. He put together a good, solid coaching staff. He knew what he wanted. He had been around — and knew what he expected out of his players. I thought he had very good leadership qualities. Their drafts became very solid under Walt. # * -- ) " . 1 50/ Walt Michaels was a very deserving coach — a very brilliant defensive coach. ' 3 " / , 3 " . 04 Walt was a defensive-oriented coach, and he really leaned more that way — as far as his background. He believed in ball control as a way to help the defense. He wasn’t like a coach that wanted to throw the ball a lot, but I think that he was also up to having a lot of big play–type moments, or plays like Todd throwing deep to Wesley Walker. He did believe in that style of offense. He didn’t have a lot of rules. He was a very smart coach. From the day he got there in ’63, until Walt was no longer coaching there, he always [stressed] “KISS” — Keep It Simple, Stupid. 5* . % "7 & : Walt Michaels was a great guy to work for — he let you do your job, and he trusted you. But again, we knew each other from way back when, so I had no problems with him. I handled basically the running of our training facility at Hofstra [University] and the [Hofstra] Stadium. Security came under me. And the trainers, the equipment people, and the video directors came under me — as a director of operations. So all the mini-camps that were run and training camp all went through myself. Basically, I set up all schedules and physicals. So he didn’t have to worry about all that stuff. But he checked in — he was great to work with. Hated to lose. I mean hated to lose. 43
SACK EXCHANGE
8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 I thought it was bad when we got there in ’63 with Weeb — there were only four assistants. There were two of us for defense, two on offense, and Weeb, who was the general manager and head coach. But when I came in, we were down. One of the best things that happened at the time was some of the draft choices that we made while Lou Holtz was in charge. We drafted guys like Klecko [in 1977]. We had Greg Buttle and Richard Todd. But in the meantime, we had some good choices, and we had some good people. And we started putting it together. + 0 & ( " 3 % * We really settled down, and started to get some consistency when Walt took over. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 What Walt instilled in the team was discipline. He made demands on you — to be the best that you could possibly be. He wouldn’t accept anything less than that. I think that was the start of the Jets really taking all the talent that it had, and shaping it into a playoff-caliber team. And as we say in sports, a team takes on the personality of its head coach. If you’ve got a coach who is kind of loosey-goosey with what he wants and the players can basically tell him what they’d like to do versus what he would want them to do within his system, you’ve got issues. But we took on the personality of Walt — he was tough, you played hard until the whistle blew, you didn’t take a play off. And the team got better. We started adding a player here, a player there — we had a nucleus of players that could play with anyone in the league. 5 *. % "7 & : When Walt took over, we were hurting — we didn’t have any players, to tell you the truth. It was pretty thin. We had no competitors at all — defensively or offensively. And they knew it. We started from ground zero and worked our way up. We got the Joe Kleckos, the Marty Lyonses, and the Richard Todds — that really helped to turn the franchise around. We had a couple of other guys that were in there — Matt Robinson as a backup quarterback, and he found Bruce Harper from his son. He drafted Wesley Walker, Marvin Powell, Cubby [Chris Ward]. Dan Alexander he switched over from a defensive linemen to an offensive guard. He really turned it around. "# % 6 - 4 " -" " . Coach Michaels understood what it meant to build a team. He understood what it took to play on a winning team. He actually molded us 44
WA LT M I C H A E L S , H E A D C O A C H
into that type of character that it takes to succeed. His thing was definitely “You always want to be a part of something great.” It was beyond just “team” — it was more into a character-building thing. That’s his legacy. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 644&/ Walt was a player, and he really knew the defenses — the x’s and o’s. I think Weeb, while he knew the x’s and o’s, was more a manager-type coach. In fact, he was a general manager. He was more an overseer — you bring in Clive Rush to run the offense and Walt to run the defense, and he just kind of managed things — whereas Walt was a little more hands-on on the defense, simply because of his background. When it comes to tempo of practice and things like that, a lot of the things that Walt did were very similar to what Weeb did. I would say they were similar in that respect. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 Lou Holtz had a hard time communicating with the professional player. And then we got Walt, who was “the professional.” He was hard as nails, he didn’t mince words — black is black, white is white . . . and that’s it. There was no in-between with Walt. And I liked that kind of guy. I really liked Walt Michaels. He was hard-nosed. And if you were hard-nosed, he was your kind of guy. He was a man of very few words. But he didn’t mince words — if you screwed up, he told you. You knew exactly where you stood. -"8 3 & / $ & 1*--&34 Walt is a hell of a coach. It affected the team because Walt put a little bit more stability there. Walt gave it a little more backbone. He came with his ideas and whatever his format was, and as being the head coach, he implemented that. We just went from there, and started doing better. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 ,6. I think Walt Michaels coined the phrase, “Winning covers a multitude of sins.” $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4&: I watched Walt play when I was kid. I liked Walt. He might not have been real fond of kickers because Walt is a “man’s man.” But I thought Walt was a good coach, and he surrounded himself with a lot of good coaches. His brother, Lou Michaels, was a kicker, and they didn’t get along towards the end — that was my understanding. Walt was an old-school guy who believed in hard-nosed football.
45
SACK EXCHANGE
,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : Hard-nosed. Really hard-nosed. He was an old-time linebacker, and he just believed in hitting people and out-playing your opponent one-on-one. % " / " -& 9 " / % & 3 Walt Michaels was just a tough old SOB. I respected the hell out of him — he was a tough guy. He played the game. When he spoke, the players would listen. He had the respect of all of us. # * -- ) " . 1 50 / Walt was a tough guy when it came to losing. He used to sit outside the back door where the players left, and he used to kid them, saying, “You should be ashamed to pick up your check” — he’d single out certain guys. They used to get paid on a Monday, and he’d bust their chops. + 0 & ' & 3 ( 6 4 0 / We always thought the Jets were organized — especially when he was there. They didn’t make a lot of mistakes. You judge a team on penalties — how many penalties they make and the discipline level they have. We thought they were well-coached at that time. -&/#&3."/ I guess Walt was a sensitive guy. He actually called me at the TV station — I was reading highlights one weekend, and he perceived something, I had made an error. I think what had happened was the Jets were penalized, and I said on the air, “Why did they take the penalty? They should have taken the play.” And he called to correct me, that it was a dead-ball foul. But it struck me — that a coach would call me. I was just a lowly weekend sportscaster! + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6 . [Walt was] the best coach we had outside of Weeb Ewbank — no offense to the other coaches. Walt had a tremendous amount of respect for you, and he would curse anybody out if they didn’t play right. He was an “equal opportunity coach.” I became his senior ball player. One time when we were playing the Colts . . . I was always a sportsman, but this particular guy, I can’t think of his name — Shivers? [Linebacker Sanders Shiver] — he kept playing rough. Usually, you can talk to a guy because you think he made a mistake. You go up to him, and say, “We’re going to play it fair today.” And usually, the guy would go, “Okay, cool.” But this guy said, “Fuck you!” I’m going, “Okay . . . I got the memo.” So he did that to me one more time, and I just spun around and hit him in the back of the helmet, and his knees buckled. So the referee threw me out of the 46
WA LT M I C H A E L S , H E A D C O A C H
game. Walt came up to me — “You’re the senior member, guys are looking up to you! But damn . . . how come you didn’t knock the son of a bitch out?” 8" -5. * $ ) " &-4 When you have them ready for the season, when you’re concluding — or at the conclusion — you better have something to prepare them for the next six months, or you’re not going to win that next year. That’s what I was taught by Paul Brown and some others who were Hall of Fame material. I would guess Vince Lombardi was doing it the same way himself, and George Halas. I’m going with the real winners and trying to copy — let’s see what the winners are doing. That’s a quote that I always went by — “Tell me what those winners are doing.” ' 3 " / , 3 " . 04 Weeb talked about the Super Bowl team as a team that had a lot of characters, and a lot of character. Walt was building the Jets to have that same type of persona.
47
M E E T TH E J ETS: 1 97 7
N
ineteen seventy-seven brings in more important pieces to the puzzle for the Jets . . . Joe Klecko (defensive lineman), Scott Dierking (running back), Bruce Harper (running back/kick returner), Matt Robinson (quarterback), Dan Alexander (tackle/guard), Wesley Walker (wide receiver), Chuck Ramsey (punter), and Pepper Burruss (trainer). + 0 & , -& $ , 0 I’m originally from Chester, Pennsylvania. I took a very unique route to football — I never played until I was a senior in high school. And then after that, I didn’t get a scholarship to go to college — I waited out and played semi-pro football. And the coach at Temple University, Wayne Hardin, saw me playing, and he wound up giving me a full scholarship to go to school. I played for Temple University — at that time, we were a pretty good football team. But you wouldn’t call us a “football powerhouse” — we didn’t play the Big Ten or nothing like that — but we were a good football team. We were independent at the time — the Big East didn’t exist, and we played a lot of schools in the same range that we were. But football for me in college was a lot of fun — just like most guys. We never went to a Bowl game, but I enjoyed my college career — I had a lot of great teammates, and we did do well. I was drafted in the sixth round by the Jets after my senior year. Really, I was upset because I wanted to be a Philadelphia Eagle — being from the Philadelphia area. I kind of went to camp with a chip on my shoulder. And I always thought I was better than a sixth round draft choice, too. It was a good thing for me — I
48
gentlemanjohn
This here, son, is a football: Joe Klecko and Temple Owls coach Wayne Hardin
went into camp, I wasn’t cocky, I really wanted to show what I had. And for that reason, it probably made me a better football player. 4 $ 0 55% * & 3 , */( I’m from West Chicago — about thirty miles west of Chicago. Nothing special — started out in Pee Wee football in sixth grade, just progressed normally from West Chicago High School. Got a scholarship offer from Purdue University. Went to Purdue, and then was fortunate enough to be drafted by the Jets. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1&3 I grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, so it made it kind of nice to play for the New York Jets. Being a little guy, I didn’t go to a major college — I went to Kutztown State in Pennsylvania. First of all, in high school, I was not a superstar. I kind of evolved and developed — the same thing in Kutztown. I was very fortunate because the newly named head coach, Walt Michaels, his son was at Kutztown when I was there — I was a senior and he was a freshman. And I asked him to call his dad up and see if he could get me a tryout. He did, and I got my opportunity to go and try out. I made the team — in 1977.
49
SACK EXCHANGE
."55 3 0 # * / 4 0/ I was born in Farmington, Michigan. At the age of nine, I moved down to a little town outside of Atlanta called Sandy Springs, and there, I went to a school called Spalding Elementary, and started playing quarterback in the fourth grade. I ended up at North Springs High School in Atlanta, and played quarterback there, and as a freshman, we won a state championship. And then played for another state championship my senior year. I was offered a number of football scholarships, but what was interesting was I wanted to play baseball — that was my first love. My goal in life was to go to Arizona State or [University of] Arizona on a baseball scholarship. I had an offer from the [Cincinnati] Reds coming out of high school, but my goal was to go to college, and Georgia and Tennessee were the two schools that offered me a dual scholarship, to do both — baseball and football. I committed to [the University of] Georgia, and after going into my freshman year at Georgia, they moved me to safety. I wanted to play baseball in the spring, but the coaches came to me and said, “If you want to compete for the quarterback job, you can’t miss spring football.” You know, the normal pressures on an eighteen-year-old kid at that point, which is much more prevalent these days. So I never played another inning of baseball. In spring football, I was number ten on the depth chart at quarterback, and by the third game of my sophomore year, I was starting. Was drafted in the ninth round by the Jets. % " / " -& 9 " / % & 3 I’m originally from Houston, Texas — I started playing football in the second grade. Played all my life. Went through high school in Houston, and went to LSU [Louisiana State University] in Baton Rouge on a football scholarship, and I was drafted by the New York Jets in 1977 in the eighth round. I was a defensive tackle in college, and the Jets switched me to an offensive guard in the pros — I never even got a tryout for defense in the pros. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 I’m originally born and raised in San Bernardino, California. My dad was in the service, so we traveled around a lot — I lived in Europe for a while, and traveled around the U.S. It wasn’t until high school where we settled down in L.A. — in Carson — where I went to one school three years straight. And I had a pretty good career — I never lost a game in high school. Probably had my best time there. I was a good student, and I had good athletic ability. I earned a scholarship, and ended up going to the University of California in
50
MEET THE JETS, 1977
Berkeley. We had some good times and we had some bad times. We had some good athletes, but just not enough to put us over the top. I think my junior year we ended up tying UCLA for the national championship. We didn’t go to the Rose Bowl, but we probably led the league or the NCAA that year in offense, in passing and rushing. Then I ended up getting drafted by the Jets. I was born with a cataract in my left eye. When my dad was playing catch with me when I was real young — I used to love playing baseball — he saw my eye drifting, and he thought maybe I was cross-eyed or a muscle had to be tightened up, so we went to several specialists. I was supposed to get an operation when I was fourteen — that’s when the eye is supposed to be fully developed. And they obviously didn’t have the tests they do now because I’ve been told by a couple of different specialists that with the tests they have now, there probably would have been something they could have done to correct it. When they did look at my situation, they didn’t have the tests. We thought at one time they could maybe do an operation, but there was no guarantee I’d get the sight back, and I may have to wear some bifocal type of glasses. We just left it alone — I was actually scared to get anything done anyway. I can see certain shades of light — depending on the light. Certain times I don’t see anything. People wonder why I can catch the ball, and I always say it’s god-given. I have peripheral vision, where I’m aware of objects on the side — even though I can’t see out of the eye. It’s the weirdest thing — I don’t even know how to even describe it. It’s a gift from god. But I had a cataract on the inside of my eye that couldn’t be corrected. When I got drafted, they didn’t even know anything about it. Nobody really knew about it in college — I kind of kept it hidden. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4&: I am from Knoxville, Tennessee. My dad was a very good high school player — but got married before he went to college. He was always my idol and I looked up to him, and football has always been in my blood. I was able to learn how to kick a football at a very early age — I won the pass-punt-kick contest five years in a row. Kicking and punting always came easy to me. It was something that just felt natural. I played high school ball here in Knoxville, was an All-State quarterback, and I was a quarterback, a punter, and a placekicker. I went and started at quarterback for Wake Forest [University] — and I was the punter and the placekicker there. I went to Wake Forest as a quarterback who could punt and kick, and I left there as a kicker/punter who could quarterback.
51
SACK EXCHANGE
After that, I was the first kicker/punter drafted in ’74. I was drafted by the New England Patriots. But that was the first year of the World Football League — the year that Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Paul Warfield jumped over to the other league. So I played with the Chicago Fire for one year, and then it folded. After that, I — and a whole bunch of us — was blackballed from the NFL. I couldn’t get a tryout anywhere . . . and I had a great year in Chicago kicking the ball and punting it. For two years — ’75 and ’76 — I couldn’t get a tryout or anyone to even return my calls. In ’77, I guess the dust had settled, and I made a call — it was going to be my last call — to Joe Gardi, who was the Jets’ special teams coach. He brought me in for a tryout two games into the season — I had to beat out five other guys on a Tuesday afternoon, on the day off. I got the job, and I was there for eight years. P E P P E R B U R R USS: I got a phone call in August of ’77, when Bob Reese was looking for an assistant. Bob came to the Jets from the Buffalo Bills and had an assistant trainer there, Tim Davey. Tim was elevated into an administrative position with the Jets, just after Bob had the job. And all of a sudden, Bob was looking for a full-time assistant trainer. And kind of a terrible time of the year — training camp was underway — and he turned to calling his alma mater, which was Purdue, which was my alma mater, and I was recommended. I happened to be not totally graduated from physical therapy school, and he called me and essentially asked if I’d like to be the assistant trainer with the New York Jets. I’m a native New Yorker. I’m born and raised in Wappingers Falls, and grew up a Jets fan, with that guy who had the audacity to wear the white shoes. I loved that team, and I was of that vintage — I was a ’70s child and loved the Jets. All that said, they said they would wait for me to finish physical therapy school, which was September 30 of that year, and I joined the Jets on October 1, 1977. I flew into a couple of games — I believe that year there was a preseason game against the Giants, and I think I came in for an early season game against Baltimore. The only game that I missed of the Jets was their opening game against Houston in ’77.
52
7 19 77
D
espite another subpar season in the win-loss column, ’77 turns out to be an important “building block year” for the New York Jets.
3 " / % : 3 " 4 .644&/ We were trying to get our footing. By that, I mean we were actually building — through the late ’70s. Some of those years were kind of trying because we weren’t successful — we had losing seasons, and those were tough to live with — but I think everybody knew that the future looked bright because of the players we were accumulating. +0 & , -& $ , 0 I really didn’t know much about the Jets. They weren’t a good football team by reputation — except for the ’69 team. I didn’t have much of a thought one way or the other. But I realized very soon as our ’77 class that came in, there were a lot of guys on that football team — and guys that were there already — making up the nucleus. We had a very good draft that year, and we started becoming someone to be reckoned with. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& The excitement about a rookie year is that winning really wasn’t a part of what we were doing. In the next years after, my love of playing football became the love to win. It was all about winning — it wasn’t about playing, it was about winning. You had to balance your love for the game and how you played the game. It was very difficult at that time, but as a young team, they turned the roster over. Walt Michaels becomes the head coach, and we start — all of a sudden — getting a little better. You have some pretty good pieces on a football team 53
SACK EXCHANGE
that can play. There were pieces that were put together that panned out, and our football team was very competitive. 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , * /( They got rid of, like, fifteen starters or something like that — from Namath’s last year in ’76. So it created a lot of opportunities for us rookies. That was the draft class with Marvin Powell, Joe Klecko, Dan Alexander, and Wesley Walker. 3* $ ) " 3 % 50 % % Wesley Walker was the fastest human I’ve ever seen. He was like a bumblebee. He could just stop on a dime and change speeds whenever he wanted to. He was amazing. I think it’s remarkable that he was legally blind in one eye. I remember when we drafted him, I went up to talk to him, and he had one eye looking at the ceiling, and the other one kind of looking at you. It was kind of strange. But they talk about people with handicaps and all this, it’s very hard to find an All-Pro receiver with one good eye — I don’t to mean to say that in a funny way. He was definitely one of our leaders, too. + &3 0 . & # " 3 , 6 . Wesley was a cool guy coming out of California. A freespirited guy. We had never seen that kind of speed — I thought he was amazing to play with the handicap that he had. You couldn’t tell because he ran patterns and he caught the football. Wesley helped my career because I was switched from wide receiver to tight end. I’m not going to say it made my job easier, but it made my life in the NFL a little longer because they just opened up that defense, and created an opportunity for me as tight end. I had enough speed so it created mismatches for me and most linebackers. #3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 We had so many sayings about [Wesley Walker] — “If he’s even, he’s leavin’.” Nobody could cover him — he only needed to get a step on you, and he was gone. Nobody could keep up with him. . "55 3 0 # * / 4 0 / One of the great receivers. I’ve never seen a guy — still to this day — with such hip strength, that could make a move at full speed, and then run faster. That was what made Wesley so good — when he got into “the move area,” he had people on their heels because he was a great route runner to add to his speed. He didn’t hesitate going over the middle. But he was able to get into the move area, and make the moves at full speed, which created separation 54
ap photo ⁄ nfl photo
1977
Gimme me some skin . . . or I’ll tear your head off! Greg Buttle
immediately. I just remember Wesley when we used to send him deep — my goal was to get back there and throw it as far as I could. And that truly was the thought process — knowing that when the ball was in the air, believe it or not, Wesley had another gear. And he could go get it. I don’t think I remember overthrowing him one time. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 “Sammy!” Funny. I’ll tell you what — don’t close your eyes, he’s like the Road Runner. He’d be gone. He put up numbers that were phenomenal. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 During that era, Wesley was probably the best receiver in the league — in my opinion. He could run routes, may have been one of the fastest players in the league at that time, also. It’s amazing how Dan Henning redesigned his passing routes, so Wesley could be facing the ball with his good eye. That always amazed me. As a matter of fact, everything I learned about the passing game I learned from Dan Henning. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 Dan Henning is the best coach that I ever had, and when I 55
SACK EXCHANGE
mean what a coach does, he can take you from C and bring you up to A. And he put me over the top. I was a very good athlete — I was very fast, had good hands, and could run. All I thought was, “I can just run by people.” Dan Henning taught me how to run routes, where I could do things that nobody else could do, and he made it very easy for me. I was known as “The Deep Threat” — a lot of times I was just alone. But I learned how to run some routes, where a defensive back could be going right, and I’m over to the left, catching a touchdown. He made me better as a football player. Dan Henning is the only one that’s ever done that — he brought me to another level. $-" 3 , ( " * / & 4 I don’t know why Dan didn’t stay longer. [He left the Jets after 1978.] When you’re a player, you’re a player — when you’re a coach, you’re a coach. There’s a separation. But I can tell you one thing: he could connect to the players like no coach I’ve ever played under. I think he respected the players, and the players realized that, and they respected him. And Dan was the kind of guy that believed respect was something that you earned — you didn’t demand it. If you earned it, he’d give it to you. I was always fascinated with Dan’s intellect of the game. 8 & 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 I remember he wanted more long-term security or more money, and they didn’t want to give it to him. And then, we had this guy, John Idzik, who was our coordinator, and they got rid of him too. And Walt made a mistake, thinking you could just place coaches there, and it doesn’t work that way. If you don’t surround yourself with good people — coaching-wise — it just doesn’t happen. We’d have coaches that had never even played that position before tell somebody what to do. I remember our special teams coach became a receivers coach, and didn’t have any clue about our ability. And again, Walt did that. Maybe they were conscious of money. 1& 1 1 & 3 # 6 3 3644 The thing that I remember about those years was being the same age as the players. I come in as a twenty-three-year-old, and that was a young team. I always say I grew up with the ’77 Jets — I spent fifteen years with Pat Leahy. Until I spent that much time with Brett Favre . . . to have that run with a player, that’s longer than you spend with a high school best friend. %" / " -& 9 " / % &3 One of the first things that I noticed is they didn’t have much 56
1977
of a weight room. They had a little Universal weight-lifting room, and the linemen would go in there after practice kind of on their own — it wasn’t really supervised by anybody. I was just saying, “Man, we’ve got a lot better program at LSU than this.” Within a couple of years though, they had a state-of-the-art weight room. But when I first got there, it was kind of a shock. 1 & 1 1 & 3 # 6 33644 I remember looking at what was then their weight room, which was basically a classroom. And it had one Universal Gym in it, a broken sit-up board, and a broken-down Cybex machine. I was so excited to leave physical therapy school and see I had a Cybex machine to work with! All of that said, I was shocked by the fact that that weight room consisted of a single bench press and a Universal Gym. I just remember that red, glittery material — that Naugahyde material on the sit-up board — that was snapped in two. I said, “Oh boy, this isn’t quite the weight room.” And to watch the years from ’77 on, as the Jets built fantastic weight rooms — to the ones that looked over the practice fields. When I joined the Jets, it was a reasonably state-of-the-art building at Hofstra [University]. I think someone told me when they started that building, it was 17,000 square feet. When I left there, it was some 40,000 square feet. The Jets were kind of a . . . I don’t want to say a “well-kept secret,” because you don’t keep many things secret when you’re covered by the media of New York, but I came out here to little old Green Bay, and their building was almost 80,000 square feet. I said, “Now this is a well-kept secret!” With the advent of [Mike] Holmgren, and [Brett] Favre, and all those guys out here, it wasn’t a secret very long. The thing about the Jets back then — and this is true of all teams — our organizations were so small compared to these times. People talk about, “Are you family?” Well, there’s a sense of family from the standpoint of your bond — that can be argued from organization to organization — but certainly, small group intimacy was much more common there. I know people always used to tell me, “We won the Super Bowl with four coaches, one trainer, one equipment man, and blah blah blah.” But we still had a small organization. You didn’t have twenty coaches, four athletic trainers, a strength staff of three. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 We didn’t do that well the first year. But the first year, you can always get some extra effort and motivation with some players. They were beginning to adjust your schedule according to your losses. The first year you 57
ap photo ⁄ nfl photo
SACK EXCHANGE
Running man: Bruce Harper
can do some things with emotion, and teams coming in not expecting you to be ready to play them, and you’ll win some games. After that is when the real tough shots come — when the media people start picking you to go to the playoffs [laughs]. That’s the time when now it shows whether you’re “the coach” or not. Quite a few coaches say, “Don’t judge me on those first two years I had the head coaching job — just the years following those first two years and drafts.” We were putting it together slowly, and in the process of it, tempers were going to flare. Someone’s going to say, “I told you this,” and the other one’s going to say, “I told you that.” There’s only one guy that didn’t make many mistakes, and they crucified him for that way back two thousand years ago [laughs]. With coaching, you make some mistakes. The ones that succeed are those that make the fewest because they’re gifted, although some of them have been able to inherit some good stuff — and they end up losing with it because they don’t put it on the field the same way. There are so many variables that go with it, and it’s the human element. And then the biggest one that comes in is, “How do you go about keeping them injury-free?” Now, I have my own theory on it, and it doesn’t necessarily coincide with some of our trainers that we have today 58
1977
and some of these physical people. They can convince anybody that they can build their body with weight-lifting and all the other things to the extent that you’ll never get hurt. Well, the only correlation I’ve found between injuries and ability is the man that has the potential to do it and who works out with the way football should be played. That doesn’t mean that I bypass all the physical running and other things — which is a part of football. I never found weight-lifting to be a part of football. I wasn’t going to throw that offensive man trying to block me — I was trying to avoid him. And if necessary, I was going to make contact to make the play. I just think that defensive backs have to be guys that can run and hit. And because they can do certain things, they will avoid injuries. $ -" 3 , ( " * / &4 I think what Walt believed was how you build a team was either your defensive line first, or your offensive line. And you build with the big guys, and once you’ve got the nucleus of the offensive and defensive line, then you draft for speed and specialty positions. And that was kind of the way we built it. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 I had to do a pretty good job because I was only 5' 8" and 175 pounds. So I had to take advantage of my opportunity, and fortunately, things worked out. I capitalized on that opportunity. In the preseason that year, I think I ran back a kick — it might have been called back, but they said, “Welcome to the team.” , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : One of my jobs with Bruce [Harper] on punt returns and kickoff returns was to protect him and not get him killed. He was a little guy coming out of Kutztown State. Bruce was all of 5' 9", but boy, did he have some big size and big legs — he could cut on a dime. And he surely put the fear of god in everybody that was trying to prevent him from returning a punt or kickoff. He was superior. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 %% “Bo Diddley” is what I used to call Bruce Harper. “He’s my favorite honky, Dick Todd” — that’s what he used to sing to me [laughs]. . "55 3 0 # * / 40/ A great relationship [with Richard Todd]. It was very difficult for Richard, and I understood, having come in behind Joe [Namath], and he had a big set of shoes to fill. Especially coming out of Alabama, and both of them number one draft choices. Richard was a good football player, a good 59
SACK EXCHANGE
quarterback, and a good guy. The one thing that I will say about Richard is I think it was tough for him, and I think the crowd response affected him a little bit in a negative fashion. It would have done the same thing to me — this is not a slap on Richard. I think Marty Domres was the guy between us — I was “number three” as a rookie — and Richard got hurt, Marty couldn’t get the job done, and I got a chance to play a few games. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 We were 3–11 my rookie season, and I finished up behind Tony Dorsett for Rookie of the Year. I had some pretty good moments, and I had a high average. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 &: I remember the first couple of years, we struggled. Even during practice, people would drive down Hempstead Turnpike [which passes Hofstra University, where the Jets practiced], and cuss us. They’d yell at us, “Jets suck!” We had to go through practices like that. But then we started gelling and getting our act together.
60
8
M E E T T H E JETS: 19 78
N
ineteen seventy-eight signals the arrival of several key Jets figures . . . Pat Ryan (quarterback), Mickey Shuler (tight end), Bobby Jackson (cornerback), Chris Ward (offensive tackle), and Ron Cohen (public relations). 1 "5 3:" / I’m originally from Hutchinson, Kansas. Moved to Oklahoma City in junior high, and that’s when I started playing football. I went to the University of Tennessee in ’73, and played five years — I was redshirted there. And got drafted out of there to the Jets in ’78. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 I’m originally from Enola, Pennsylvania. I grew up playing all sports — my father was a coach. I wanted to be a professional football player. Because I didn’t think there were many guards my size I had to play center most of the time on my high school football team, and in college I had to be a guard. I decided that I wanted to be a Miami Dolphin — I thought that would be a neat thing. So in my high school yearbook, I said I wanted to be a Miami Dolphin. And then I go to college in Penn State to play football. I played there and left Penn State — I was the main receiver there for two of the three years I played. I was the second-leading receiver my sophomore year, but we didn’t throw the ball very much. So spent most of my time with the linemen. And then the Jets happened to send a scout to the Japan Bowl. I didn’t get invited originally to any of the Bowl games. I went to Coach [Joe] Paterno, and wanted to know why — I felt I should have been All-American that year, and I was second All-American, and then wasn’t invited to a Bowl game. He said, 61
SACK EXCHANGE
“Well, I didn’t think you wanted to be a pro football player — I thought you wanted to be a teacher and a coach like your dad.” I said, “Well, I’d like a shot at the NFL.” He said, “Give me a couple of days” — he gets me in the Japan Bowl. On the way to the Japan Bowl, I am flying to Hawaii, to stay with a friend of my father’s for a week before the Japan Bowl. Well, they had the Hula Bowl there. On the way there, Frank Kush is in the plane seat beside me. And we had played [Arizona State] that year and beat them pretty bad in a Bowl game. He said, “You should be in that game. You’re going to stay with me out here, and you’ll play the Hula Bowl, too.” So I got in the Hula Bowl and the Japan Bowl, and had really good games because the guy that was the big All-American from Notre Dame that year, Ken MacAfee, didn’t really want to play. He ended up being a surgeon, and I ended up being a professional football player. The Jets recruited me. They thought I could block and wasn’t a very good receiver. When I was at Penn State, they thought I was a good receiver but couldn’t block! I thought I was pretty good at both of them. But I got drafted in the third round by the Jets. I think that I was fortunate to have Dan Henning as my coach my rookie year because he taught me a lot about how to be a receiver and how to run patterns — because coming from Penn State, I didn’t know anything about running a pattern. I learned more about running patterns and catching the ball from high school — from a guy named Joe Yukica, who was Boston College’s head coach, and happened to be from my area. I was fortunate enough to have Jerome Barkum and Rich Caster there as kind of mentors. Both knew how to run patterns, both were Pro Bowl players, and I was able to learn from them. And our offense — from what Dan Henning tells me — we started the H-back. I guess I was the first H-back. He knows the date — because he quotes it to me [laughs]. They first started using me as the H-back or a second tight end. We’d run two tight ends, two backs, one wide receiver, and we’d run two wide receivers, one back, and two tight ends. Just moving me around — to the backfield from the fullback position, putting me in motion, having me go in motion and block just like a fullback would block in the interior, except I’d be coming from an angle from the side. And slowly, more and more, we started to do that, to where it became a pretty big part of our offense. # 0 # # : + " $ , 40/ I’m originally from Albany, Georgia. I graduated from Albany High School and I went to Florida State University, where I started as a 62
MEET THE JETS: 1978
freshmen — that was back when freshmen didn’t even play, back in 1974. I played four years there. I only missed one game in four years. We won a championship in 1977, my senior year. That was Coach Bowden’s first championship team — we were 10–2 that year. The first time we beat Florida in ten years — we beat them 37–9 in Gainesville, against one of my [future Jets] teammates, Derrick Gaffney. Derrick and I were roommates actually when we were both drafted by the Jets that year — in summer camp. We were also fraternity brothers — we pledged Alpha Phi Alpha. We knew each other back in college, and we had that connection, being frat brothers. I was drafted by the Jets mainly because Dan Henning, who is supposedly the founder of the wildcat offense with the Dolphins, was my coach at Florida State. And he actually recruited me to play wide receiver first. I played wide receiver and defensive back. But he left my sophomore year to coach the Jets, so when the Jets drafted me, he was the first person I spoke to on the phone. He told me that he told the Jets to draft me — they drafted me in the sixth round. This is back when they had twelve rounds. He said he told them to draft me in the third round because I could start for them right now. But they were afraid of my size, which I could understand — I was 5' 9" and 178 then. But the bottom line is I did exactly what Coach Henning said — I started as a rookie for the Jets in ’78. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I started out in the 1978 season as an intern in the [Jets] Public Relations Department. And then accepted a full-time job as the assistant PR director at the end of the 1980 season. I was there through ’91. The department head was Frank Ramos — I reported to him. The job was basically to deal with the media, working the players, working with the coaches, working with everybody in the organization. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % I was born in Cleveland, Ohio, raised in Dayton, Ohio. I originally got into football because I was the biggest kid in my class every year. When I got to sixth grade, they said, “Football!” Actually, Jim Brown — my ex–fatherin-law — was playing for the Cleveland Browns, and I always wanted to play football. I lived on the west side of Dayton, and they didn’t have the Pee Wee Leagues — the money wasn’t there in the inner city where I was raised. We had a team where sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-graders could play, and I started playing there. I was never really good because I was kind of clumsy. My coordination skills never really caught up with my size until about the ninth 63
SACK EXCHANGE
grade. When I got ready to go to high school, I had a lot of high schools that wanted me to go there — Catholic high schools and what have you. I ended up in Patterson, which was a magnet school program in Dayton — as a matter of fact, they just tore it down last year — and I played with the Patterson Beavers. From there, I was recruited by every school in the United States — I could have gone anywhere I wanted, including Ivy League because I had good grades. I ended up in Ohio State, and had an illustrious career there. Then the Jets drafted me — number four in the first round.
64
9 19 78
A
fter several brutal seasons, the Jets finally put a competitive team back on the field in ’78, and debut a new look to their helmet.
' 3 " / , 3 " . 04 Jim Kensil was the president of the Jets, and Jim looked around the Eastern Division of the AFC [American Football Conference], and saw that at that time, every team in the division had a white helmet. So we made the decision to switch over to the green helmet in ’78 — to make our helmet distinctive from the other teams in the division. The design was a combination of a number of us in the office, but the lead person on it was Jim Pons — who was our video director and was also a member of the Turtles. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1&3 Let me mention that I was the first one to model the new helmet! At Gallagher’s Restaurant. The old classic helmet was great, and just the idea of getting a new helmet was really cool too. Before I even say that, none of that stuff really mattered — I mean, I didn’t not extremely like one or the other. Playing football was the most important thing. It was kind of exciting changing over to a new helmet just because it was a change. But looking back now, I like what they’re wearing now — the old classic. That’s who the Jets are. That interim helmet there, eh, it was cool at the minute, but the real Jets helmet was what it is now. 1 "53:" / I didn’t like them — I liked the old ones. Hell, the ones we had were ugly green, and the old ones had a little style to them. 65
SACK EXCHANGE
$-" 3 , ( " * / & 4 I don’t remember how it was presented, but I think the players embraced the change. It was kind of futuristic — back then. And kind of made you feel like a real jet airplane — sleek, innovative, creative. I thought it was a great move. 8 & 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 I didn’t like it. . . . I actually hated it. I thought it was bizarre. I always liked the helmets when I first got there — the little logo with the white. I thought it was really plain — it was really just a solid green helmet, with “Jets” stuck on the side of it. To me it wasn’t even that professional — it just looked really plastic, fake, and cheap. That’s what I thought. I guess people get used to what they’re used to, but I actually liked the design of the [original] helmet. What teams try to do is they want to change things, and sometimes people try to change things that work. But for it to become a detriment and you’re just changing things just to change it — like people are making a big deal about the wildcat now. If you’re doing it just to do it because it’s a fad, then that’s not right. But if it’s something that’s working, you utilize it, and you try and improve on it. Some people don’t. I just remembered being told that we were going to make the move. I didn’t particularly like them — I thought it was very bland. It had no flair to it. It was like, “This is New York.” You want something to . . . not to be flashy, but unique. And it wasn’t to me — it was just plain. 1& 1 1 & 3 # 6 3 3 644 I credit the Jets with basically inventing the NFL Scouting Combine because of a couple of maladies with Marvin Powell and Wesley Walker when they were drafted — just before I got there. Mr. Hess said, “That won’t happen again.” Wesley was blind in one eye, it was well documented, and Marvin was coming off some procedure with his knee, and they came in for their rookie year, and Mr. Hess wasn’t happy with that. He said, “We’re going to give a lot of these guys physicals,” which was then revolutionary. “That can’t possibly happen — how can you give guys that aren’t even with your team physicals? That’s going to cost you a lot of money. You’re going to be flying people in and out?” And lo and behold, the spring of ’78, we brought 107 guys to New York — 107 potential draftees — and a couple were actually seen by one of our former doctors on the West Coast. I remember joking with the then assistant trainer of the Buffalo Bills — he thought that was such a ridiculous thing, that we brought in 100 players — that the vast majority would not be seen by our team because
66
1978
if you bring in the top guys, you’re only going to be able to draft a handful . . . if you’re lucky enough to pick those. I remember the next year, Bud Tice was giving me a hard time, and our phone call went something like, “Did you bring your 100 guys in this year?” This was as the draft approached in 1979. I said, “No, we didn’t.” He said, “Ah — I told you that was stupid.” I said, “No, Bud . . . we brought 240 in.” I think you could hear his jaw hit the ground. I don’t know if that was the exact number, but it was over double what we brought in the previous year. We continually did that, until other teams — other small Scouting Combines — started doing combined team physicals, where several teams brought people in. And by the early ’80s, there were a couple of combined physicals, where teams did this as a group. I think we went down to Tampa — the first one I remember was going to some pre-draft physical in Tampa — I think it was in ’82. They grew and grew from there, and now some twenty-two years in Indianapolis in the Scouting Combine, I think it really has its genesis of “people coming in en masse to teams” with the Jets. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 Guys would come, guys would go. Back then, we would bring 120 guys into camp, and they would cut twenty . . . and then bring another twenty in. They were always trying people — all season long, there would be guys coming in and given tryouts. It was really a “talent-searching time.” Our seasons weren’t going real well, and everybody was learning — but we were all learning together. That was the big thing — we were learning together. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 I think I was one of the first groups of athletes that started to train year-round — I came in and kept myself in shape year-round, where I can remember when I first came in, we were at a transition where they were changing from six preseason games to four. I remember seeing a guy named Garry Puetz — he came waddling in, saying something about his “grazing weight.” And they used to play themselves into shape, whereas we didn’t — we kept ourselves in shape. I remember Jerome Barkum, when we were doing grass drills, saying, “We don’t hit the ground. We’re just going to jog our feet, and act like we’re going down — but we’re not going down. You stay in back here with me.” A lot of the guys — especially the young guys — were killing themselves, doing these grass drills.
67
ap photo⁄nfl photo
This is bound to hurt: Jerome Barkum
1978
. "55 3 0 # * / 4 0/ We were a very young football team, but we had a pretty good football team. We had some blue-collar running backs — a lot of names that people wouldn’t even recognize these days — but we were on the verge of being very, very good. Again, youth is wasted on the young sometimes, and this is one of those cases, where experience came up to bite us every now and then. Our 8–8 season in ’78, we were very close to being very good that year. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 %% The quarterbacks — me, and Matt, and Pat — hung out quite a bit together. . "55 3 0 # * / 4 0/ Loved that guy [Pat Ryan]. Again, another blue-collar guy. Tall, strong, was in the same situation at University of Tennessee that I was in at Georgia. He was sharing time with Condredge Holloway, I was sharing time with Ray Goff. Was kind of a “thrower guy,” and he was more of the prototype NFL quarterback — at 6' 4'' and 215 pounds, even back then. Pat was smart — he didn’t push the idea of starting, and had a long and illustrious career. Made a good living being a number two guy. Just one of the good guys of the world. He’s another guy that’s still one of my great friends and we stay in touch. Pat and I would agree that we’re not the most talented guys in the world, but hung in there and worked hard. Pat played the “game mentality” — he had more physical size than I did. I weighed 185 pounds, and I kind of prided myself on out-thinking the other team — that was my part of the game. I really got into game plan, and it was proven that John Idzik, the offensive coordinator, let me call my own plays — even as a rookie. If I struggled, he’d chip in, and then let me take it again — a major difference in the game then and the game now. Pat was kind of like that as well. We did what we did more based on smarts, guts, and courage — more than physical talent. ' 3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 When you look back on it, the drafts of those several years were really solid because those players played well into the ’80s. They all made solid contributions. Marvin Powell and Chris Ward provided them with two bookend tackles, back to back. Those were the building blocks that led them to be in the position to have Super Bowl runs. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % Big, tough, hard-nosed men [comprised the Jets’ offensive line]. They were all fighters and they were all gifted. Marvin Powell was gifted, I was 69
SACK EXCHANGE
gifted, [and] Joe Fields was a good field general because he had to call everything. With his experience, he was the anchor of the line — because he had been there. When Marvin and I came along, we were wet behind the ears, but when you’ve got a good center that could call the defenses out and help identify stuff, it was good. I played next to Randy, and he schooled me as well. So between Joe and Randy, there was a lot of “playing years knowledge.” And the development of Dan Alexander on the other side. I think Dan and Marvin played one year before me, and I came the year after. So we had three first or second round draft picks that were on that line that really developed. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 There was an offensive tackle, Marvin Powell. Did you find one better? - "8 3 & / $ & 1 * --&34 In practice, Marvin and I went against each other almost all the time. Sometimes there were little fights in practice. Marvin was dedicated — a hell of an offensive lineman. Marvin helped make me the player that I am. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 “The Professor.” USC — he was a number one pick. When we really needed an offensive tackle, we had Marvin. He just held down that side of the line — for years and years — that you never had to worry about. Marvin gave me my nickname, “The General,” which still sticks with me today. He’s a piece of work. 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , * /( One of the first great offensive linemen from [University of Southern California] that I’d ever seen. He had the type of athleticism that you usually see in a guy six feet tall, 200 pounds — and he was 6' 5'', 280. He could run like a deer and was strong. I don’t remember him ever missing a game or a play — just a real consistent iron man. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % Marvin was obviously a great tackle. He wasn’t any better than I was — I’m going on record as saying that. I played in a position where I had to play the blind side of the quarterback, and we had a young quarterback who was developing his pass-reading skills. He had not developed as someone who could read defenses very well, and they had to take care of him. I led the league in holding penalties for a couple of years, to make sure he didn’t get his head knocked off.
70
1978
" + % 6 ) & I mostly played against Chris [Ward] because I was a defensive end my first three years in the league, so I lined up as a right defensive end — he was a left offensive tackle. Chris was a definite force to be reckoned with. I never can say I ate his lunch or took him to school. He held his own against me, I held my own against him. It would probably be a draw when you look at it. He probably had his great moments against me and beat me enough times, and I had my great moments against him. But I don’t think over the course of our rivalry that I had an edge on him or he had an edge on me. I lined up against Marvin occasionally — especially towards the latter part of my career, when I had the flexibility to move around and line up. I wouldn’t want to go line up on him because I knew he was one of their best players. I always tried to pick a soft spot on the team — I wouldn’t pick Marvin Powell as a soft spot. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ I remember my very first game — we played against the Miami Dolphins. They were heavy favorites at Shea. And it was the first time I’d ever seen Shea Stadium — when we played. I didn’t know the field was half dirt and half grass. Bob Griese was the quarterback, who I watched as a kid, and we beat them [33–20, on September 3, 1978]. I almost had my first interception that game. But the bottom line is we won some games we were supposed to lose, and we lost some games we were supposed to win. What I remember most about those early Jets teams was how fast Wesley Walker was and what a great receiver he was. He definitely taught me how to be a better corner because I figured if I could cover him in practice. . . . And Derrick Gaffney was our “moves guy.” Derrick had some great moves and super hands. I said, “If I can cover Wesley’s speed and cover Derrick’s moves, there are not too many people I’ll fear on Sunday.” So they really prepared me for the season — those two. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 I was really lucky to have Jerome [Barkum] because he took care of me. He taught me what to do. I loved Jerome — he was great. And Wesley. We had a really good group of guys to work with and play together. We competed against each other, but we helped each other to get better. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 ’78 was probably my most memorable season because I was [the Jets’] MVP, led the team in yardage and average per catch — I think it was 24 or something like that. I went to the Pro Bowl, and renegotiated my contract.
71
SACK EXCHANGE
3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I think Walt [Michaels’] philosophy was to build the lines, bring the quarterback along slowly — which is eventually what happened. So that is what I remember about ’78. At the time, we might have been the youngest team in the NFL, but there was definitely a clear vision of where he wanted to go. We had the quarterback controversy back then. Richard [Todd] gets hurt, Matt Robinson comes in, we win a huge game out in Denver [31–28, on November 5, 1978], and the next thing you know, Matt’s the starting quarterback. ."553 0 # * / 4 0/ My second year, Richard got hurt, and I started twelve games. A lot of people felt that . . . there were two thought processes. Number one, Richard had the right to come back when he was healthy and step in because he didn’t lose a job, he got hurt. And the other side of the coin was, “Well, Matt’s playing well, why upset the apple cart?” When Richard came back on the field, I think being hurt all that time, it was difficult for him to get in the groove again. He had a hard time from the crowd, and it affected him a little bit. He and I stayed friends, and felt like, “Dawgonit, we’re in this thing together.” You just got to bite the bullet, do your best, and let the chips fall where they may. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 That was interesting — Matt Robinson was a guy who didn’t like short passes. He wanted to air it out. And he could throw the long ball as well as anyone. He was probably better at the long ball than Richard; Richard was probably better at managing the game than Matt was. ."553 0 # * / 4 0/ I remember Richard Todd, Joe Namath, Jimmy Walsh [Todd and Namath’s agent] — and I think Ed Marinaro — were part-owners in a hotel across from LaGuardia. We used to go to the hotel, have drinks at the bar, and Joe couldn’t get a damn drink to his mouth without somebody saying, “Hey, I remember you when” and “I know you.” What a draw to people he was — and rightfully so. It was difficult to go out with Joe — although it was fun. You really couldn’t cubby up and have fun with the boys — there was always somebody interrupting the situation, wanting to talk with Joe. When it came to going out, Studio 54 was hot as a firecracker at that time. There would be a line outside, we’d go up there, and they’d shuffle us right in. I used to laugh because sometimes there would be more people in line then there was inside. But it was all perception. I think the first time I went there was with Pat Ryan, and I still have a picture with me, Pat, and the Penthouse Pet of the 72
1978
Year for 1978. I met Cybill Shepherd there, and all kinds of stars, and got involved somewhat with the downstairs or “underground crew” — Andy Warhol and all that group — that were down in the secret areas a few times. It was just a real eye-opener for a twenty-two-year-old kid from Georgia. We used to hang out at a place called Tittle Tattle, which was kind of a sports hideaway and stewardess hideaway. It was a little hole in the wall next to Maxwell’s Plum, and [we] had a lot of fun in there, met a lot of celebrities in there. I’ll never forget, we used to go to a place called Hurlihy’s on Seventy-Seventh and First, and I remember I’d stand at the bar with Meat Loaf and drink with him. And I used to sit in the back and play Liar’s Poker with John McEnroe back in the day. Billy Joel used to hang out, and Ron Duguay. Again, it was an eyeopener for a kid my age, and we were all kind of the same age, fighting the same battles, having fun. The one thing that I do remember is that first year that I was there, it was so much fun, and then I went home to Atlanta in the off-season. It was different then — you were allowed to go home and you worked out on your own, and you came back. I came back to New York, and it was hard to stay at home because I felt like I was going to miss something — there was always somebody and something going on. It was a 24/7 city — still is. So after the first season, when I came back and went to those same places, there were the same people, doing the same thing — so I didn’t really miss anything. When I came back, I saw some people the first week I was back, and their comments were, “Golly, you look so well rested. You have no circles under your eyes.” That lifestyle did take its toll — whether we wanted to admit it at that point or not. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 I saw that the 8–8 year was the year we turned the corner — in terms of all the planning and drafting of talent. Those players had been in Walt’s system for a time — they understood it, and everybody embraced it. And we played like it — we probably should have been in the playoffs. We barely missed it. But we believed in ourselves and we believed that we had the talent to play with anyone.
73
10
M E E T TH E J ETS: 1 97 9
I
n comes 1979, and with it come two top defensive players to the Jets . . . Marty Lyons (defensive tackle) and Mark Gastineau (defensive end).
. " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 My dad was a retired cop from D.C. We moved to Pinellas Park, Florida — right outside St. Petersburg — I want to say in 1963. So I played all my high school ball at St. Pete Catholic. Accepted a scholarship to the University of Alabama in 1975, and was the number one draft choice for the New York Jets in 1979. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / & "6 Football came at a later age. I wasn’t really that great of an athlete — a lot of people have a hard time believing that. When I was ten years old, I broke my leg, and the doctors put a cast on it, and the cast was put on too tight. On my right leg, I have a big hole in the side of my leg. The cast was on too tight and rubbed, and it got infected. There was a hole that you could see right through my leg — it was a huge gash. The doctor told my mother, “He’ll never walk again.” They did skin grafts and operations, but my mother one day came in and said, “Mark, don’t believe what the doctor said. The church has been praying for you, and if you believe, it will be all right.” You know what? God didn’t restore my leg, but he restored it in a way that he gave me back more than what I ever expected. I had to completely go to therapy to learn how to walk again. So that basically was something that was a big blow at ten years old — being told you’re not going to walk ever again. And then having a relationship and having faith — that’s when I knew there was a god, and there was somebody more than 74
MEET THE JETS: 1979
me and the doctors. And that he was in control. Through that whole experience — coming from a small school in Oklahoma — God had his hand on me. There is definitely a reason that he did have his hand on me. I never ever thought I’d be drafted. I never had the confidence in myself to think I was going to be drafted in the second round. In high school, I was an average player — nothing great. In college, not up until my junior year was I anything to even talk about. My junior year I started really focusing on running and getting the form down that I needed to. By the end of my senior year, I was running a 4.5/40. I went to Eastern Arizona Junior College out of high school. I made AllAmerican there, and then I transferred and went to Arizona State, and just didn’t really do anything there. That was a wasted year — a learning experience, though. I really didn’t like the school. It was a large school, and I was just from a small town in Arizona, so it just wasn’t my forte. I decided I wasn’t going to play there, and I just wanted to leave. They’d given me a full scholarship. I don’t know if you’ve heard stories about Frank Kush, but he’s not one of the nicest guys around. He went into the pros, but he was known for hitting you on the legs with sticks and stuff — belittling you. I had an hour and a half in his office — when I told him I was going to leave — of him telling me I’d never do anything, and never make it in the NFL, and if I left Arizona State, I’d never ever see the pros. It was funny because he left Arizona State and went to Baltimore, and coached the Colts. One of the plays, where I went back and sacked his quarterback, I went to the sidelines, and he looked at me and said, “Hey — you proved me wrong.” And then I went to OU because my dad had moved back from Arizona to Oklahoma, so I went to Oklahoma to be with my parents. I went to OU and OSU, and they both offered my scholarships — but I would have to redshirt one year. I didn’t want to do that, so on the way home from Oklahoma City, my dad and I went over to East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma . . . it’s funny because Jeremy Shockey lives in Ada. So anyway, went over there — looked at the field house and talked to the coach. The coach did a background check because he couldn’t believe somebody my size was coming in and wanted to play at East Central. I signed with East Central and I was with them for two years. For two years, I never went out — I just focused on nothing but football, running, and trying to get better. The break came, and I know that it was all the work that made it happen. When the break came, my coach said, “I’ve got good news for you.” It’s one of 75
SACK EXCHANGE
those things where you don’t even think about it hardly, y’know? He said, “You’re picked as an alternate in the Senior Bowl.” I walked out of his office and never thought anything of it again. And then all of a sudden, I was in Arizona. Connie Colberg — she used to work for Walt Michaels as his secretary — she calls up and says, “Hey, this is the New York Jets. Would you like to come and play in the Senior Bowl?” That’s when I did my first dance — I was so excited. Coming from East Central, Oklahoma, it’s not something you ever expected. I played [at the Senior Bowl] and made Most Valuable Player on the north squad. Walt Michaels had a chance to see me at the Senior Bowl, and that’s when I guess the Jets decided to take me in the second round.
76
11 19 79
T
he Jets put together another competitive season in ’79, but once again, miss the playoffs. Additional drama occurs off the field (surrounding a quarterback competition that ends under peculiar circumstances) and tragedy in the stands (the infamous “Flying Lawnmower” incident). 1 "5 3:" / We were all relatively young and single. We hit the city a lot those first couple of years. I probably hung out with Matt [Robinson] more than Richard [Todd]. Richard moved into the city in one of those years — I’m not sure which — so we didn’t see a lot of Richard, except for when we would go into town and run into him. Football was different back then — it didn’t take twelve months a year and fifteen hours a day. We’d come in at nine and be done by four. The game wasn’t quite as complicated, and it was a lot more fun. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 %% Matt was very popular — probably much more popular than I was. He was probably more outgoing than I was. In fact, the year that Matt started — when I was well — he definitely beat me out. I’m not going to say he didn’t. He played better than me in the preseason. . "553 0 # * / 4 0/ When Walt [Michaels] named me the starter, Richard patted me on the back with real class, and said, “Go get them, congratulations. I’ll support you like you supported me.”
77
SACK EXCHANGE
$-" 3 , ( " * / & 4 Matt stole the hearts of the fans in New York — they wanted Matt to be on the field. 3* $ ) " 3 % 50 % % Just like any team, when you have two decent quarterbacks, you’re going to have some want this guy, some want the other guy. It’s just a choice. . "553 0 # * / 4 0/ It just so happens that there was a week between when camp ended and the season started — when we were in hotels, waiting on our places in Point Lookout to open up, or wherever we were renting. So we were staying in a hotel, and after that last practice the week before the season, I had gone across the street with six of the coaches and thirty-five of the players to Bill’s Meadowbrook, and we were having drinks and celebrating the end of camp. Nobody was drunk — I wasn’t drunk — and Joe Klecko and I started screwing around and arm wrestling. Well, some people saw that, and related that to how I hurt my thumb. But what happened was Bobby Jones and I — who was the white speedster from Texaco Tech, if you remember him, never went to college but had a great football career with us and Cleveland — were roommates. We went back and were kind of wrestling in the room. I fell over a cooler that was in the room, went to bed, woke up, and my thumb was swollen on my right hand. Don’t remember hurting my thumb, and it wasn’t due to alcohol. I went to Bob Reese, the trainer, and we kind of hid it from Walt — we tried to fix it. I practiced all week with it, kept it taped, and dodged the question when Walt asked, “What’s the tape for?” “Just bumped it a little bit, not a big deal.” Was doing okay throwing the football. But after the fact, Reese almost lost his job over it, and we lost in overtime to Cleveland [25–22, on September 2, 1979]. I think one of the things that stuck out with Walt was we were on own half-yard line — I think it was the third quarter — and ran a play-action on first down, and Wesley’s running down the middle of the field wide open. He was so wide open. I threw it about sixty yards, but he had to stop and catch it, and got caught — otherwise, it would have been a ninety-nine-and-a-half-yard touchdown. [Walt Michaels] kind of pointed that to a key play in the game keeping us from winning, but if you go and look back at the game, we were ahead by three with, I think, thirty-five seconds left, and Sipe was on his twenty-five-yard line with no time-outs, and the defense lets them get into position to kick a field goal and tie the game. And then we go into OT. 78
ap photo
1979
Sayonara suckers: Bobby Jackson returns an interception
Now, I’ve already taken the tape off my thumb, figuring, “This one’s over.” Got to re-tape and reorganize, and wound up throwing a pick with, I guess, two and a half or three minutes left in overtime. They kick a field goal and win it. Then, my thumb issue comes up, and I get benched at that point. So, that’s the story. But I will say this, being a young guy, I did tell a lie — I said, “I was going to open the hotel door, and Pat Ryan was on the outside, he pushed it open, and it jammed my thumb.” That was my story, but never should have gone in that direction — hindsight is always 20/20. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 Matt played well and if not for injury, maybe Richard wouldn’t have gotten back on the field . . . I don’t know. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ After watching Mark Sanchez, it made me think of Matt Robinson. If he would have been our starting QB, I would be wearing a Super Bowl ring. Sanchez reminds me of Matt — a great leader who could throw on the run.
79
SACK EXCHANGE
. "55 3 0 # * / 4 0/ Richard got back, I got benched immediately because I had disappointed Walt — lied and all that. I don’t think I played another down that year. 1"5 -& " ) : [Richard Todd] got hurt in ’78, and for the majority of the year, Matt Robinson played. So Richard didn’t really get to start developing, I think, until ’79. We still weren’t very good, but you could tell something was building. $) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 & : It was uncanny for us. We would win, like, say, in ’77: we went 3–11, but two of those wins were against Miami. And then we’d turn around and lose to someone that we should beat by two or three touchdowns. That carried on a little bit into the ’78 and ’79 seasons. We would drop the ones that were handed to us, but we’d beat somebody that we shouldn’t be on the field with. + 0& , -& $ , 0 I always thought that we could be good. We always seemed to lose a lot of heartbreakers. 8 & 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 I really believe that we just didn’t have enough athletes. I do believe we were good enough to compete with anybody in the NFL, but there comes a part where it’s a long season [and] when guys don’t stay healthy, it hurts you on both sides of the ball. Depending on the caliber of athletes, you lose. And I think that was one of our biggest problems — not keeping guys healthy at certain periods of time, and when you lose key guys that works hand in hand. It’s a team sport. We could have had the best years, and then you lose somebody on defense — believe it or not, that affects your offense in certain ways. 30 / $ 0 ) & / I think the press was pretty patient with Walt. He was the guy that the press really thought should have been the coach, and he had a good relationship early on with the press. Everybody bought into the fact that we were trying to build something that wasn’t going to be just a flash in the pan, but a great team for an extended period of time. So it was kind of like a honeymoon period. 5 * . % "7 & : Sports writers were getting on Walt because we weren’t winning. But we were trying to build a team. (3 & ( # 6 55-& In ’79, we drafted Marty Lyons — Marty was the last piece. Marty Lyons played defensive end at times, and tackle. 80
1979
. " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I always remember coming from Alabama, where we won three SEC [Southeastern Conference] titles, and we won a national title. We only lost six games in the four years that I was there. It almost seemed like if we had more than four preseason games, I always make the joke that we would have lost more games in preseason than we did in four years of college. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 I worked on [running] throughout college. I always liked to have foot races, but it wasn’t until I was at the beginning of my senior year that I started running 4.6s. But I would just run time after time — because I knew that the pro scouts, when they came in, you only had your one shot to do something and be outstanding. I really focused on my running because I knew that if you were big and you could run, that’s one thing that they really, really went on. It was the main thing that they focused on, and I tried to just improve it. Some people think that they can’t get faster, but if you practice on it and you do it enough, you are going to get better. One time, Mel Renfro came down to time me — he was a scout for the United Scouting Combine. When he timed me, he said, “Just one second Mark. I’m going to go out and get another watch — this one is broke.” Anyway, I ran the same time, and he says, “Man. Do that again.” So the news of my forty-yard-dash went around the league, and just about every team in the NFL came in and timed me — just to check it out for themselves. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I was very intimidated by Walt Michaels. After playing with Coach Bryant, and then being drafted up here in the first round, I’ll never forget taking that first picture with him. Mark was on one side and I was on the other, and he said, “The name of the game is ‘Get to the quarterback.’” And I believe that’s the only thing he expressed to me my whole entire rookie season. We are good friends now — years after the fact. I love the man for everything that he stood for. But when you’re twenty-two years old and you come in the league, and you don’t have the confidence in yourself — not so much in him — where you can sit down, express yourself, talk to the head coach . . . it was very intimidating. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 I just remember trying to stay on the team and not get cut [laughs]. That first year was just something that was like, whoa. What a difference. Marvin Powell was running over me every play in practice. I was just trying to barely stay alive. But they knew that when I came in that I wasn’t going to be as well coached as somebody from Alabama or someplace like that. So it did take 81
SACK EXCHANGE
me a while to learn how to get the reads down, and to learn that I wasn’t the one in control — it was the game plan that you had to go by. Because at East Central, I could do just about anything I wanted to do out on the field. So this was structured, and if you didn’t follow the structure, then you were going to be traded to Buffalo. That was always a big joke — “You’re going to be going to Buffalo.” ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I can go back to my rookie season — back then, I was playing end, and [Joe Klecko] was playing tackle. Two things happened as a rookie at that time. They didn’t talk to you much — it’s not like today’s football — but the Jets went from a 3–4 to a 4–3, so automatically, this young kid that got drafted in the first round out of Alabama got a starting position. I was walking through the weight room one day, and Joe looked at me, and said, “Where are you going?” And I said, “I’m leaving.” He said, “Well, you need to get a lot stronger. I don’t have choice in this matter — I’ve got to play alongside of you for as long as you’re here. You need to get stronger. From now, you don’t leave this building and this weight room until I leave. You’re going to start lifting with me.” I said, “All right,” and I started to walk off. He goes, “Where are you going?” I go, “I already lifted today, Joe.” He goes, “What did I just tell you? You don’t leave until I leave.” So I went back in and changed, and Joe was exactly right — I did need to get stronger. But that was the start of a thirty-year friendship that still lasts to this day. He didn’t have to do that, but he knew I had to get stronger to help the team, that was also going to help him — because I’d be playing alongside him. Then the second thing that happened was somewhere in my rookie season, we got into a fight. Fighting was forbidden down in Alabama — you get in a fight, you might as well pack your bags and leave. So Joe was in the middle of this fight, and I went in there, put him in a bear hug, walked him out of the fight, and got back to the huddle. And he looked at me, and he said, “If you ever do that again, I’m going to kick your ass right here in front of everybody. You better understand one thing — you either fight with me or leave me alone.” And I quickly learned that if I wanted to get in the foxhole, I needed Klecko with me. I was like a deer in the headlights, going, “Wow, I’m in the huddle with my teammate, and he’s going, ‘You’re either with me or you’re not.’” 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , * /( When Marty and Mark joined us, Gastineau was just a freak 82
1979
on the outside. I had never seen anybody run a forty-yard dash when he was a rookie — all of us guys that were a year older were standing there watching. He ran the first one, they said, “Run it again.” He ran another — “Run it again.” They couldn’t believe the stopwatches. Two hundred seventy-five pounds — I’ve never seen anybody run that fast. He just brought another weapon to the defense. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 The team didn’t really have their own identity. Again, we went 8–8 that first year. The first road game I ever played my rookie season, we lost 56–3, up in New England [on September 9, 1979]. In college, you go into an offseason program and everybody’s together — we were living in a dorm. In the NFL, as soon as the season was over, everybody packed their cars and left. And you didn’t see them again until the first mini-camp. That started to change, where more people started to live in the New York area, and then we had the off-season program, we had basketball games that would travel around and play charity games. So again, we started to develop a friendship that wasn’t just on the football field — it was off the field. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4&: We played against Seattle six times when I was with the Jets, and we never beat them. The second or third time that we played, I didn’t have a good game [on November 26, 1979, at Seattle’s Kingdome]. And at a key moment in the game, I shanked one eleven yards — dead right. In the locker room, how it went was Walt was calling out different players, and telling them, “We need better play” or “You’re just not doing your job.” And he ended with, “Ramsey . . . I can fart further than you can punt!” Steve Serby and a bunch of the reporters — Gerry Eskenazi, all those guys — came in, and they asked me how I felt about the game. And I just happened to — and I shouldn’t have — mention what Walt Michaels just said about me. I saw Gerry Eskenazi in 1995, at a New York Jets vs. Carolina Panthers game when the Panthers still played in Clemson, and he brought that story up to me. He said there is a clause in the bylaws or whatever of media reporting in New York, and it’s called “The Ramsey Rule.” What it was, one of the papers said — and it was headlines on the back of the Post — “Ramsey and Michaels Square Off ” or something like that. It was like, “Whoa! What’s this all about?” But the Ramsey Rule was because all three of the papers reported it differently. One of them said, “I can fart further than you can punt,” the other one said “I can spit further than you can punt,” and the other 83
SACK EXCHANGE
one said, “I can blank further than you can punt.” Anyway, they all reported it differently. I got a phone call the next morning at about 6:30 from Walt Michaels, saying, “Chuck, you need to come to see me right now — it looks like you’ve got something you want to say.” And he just hung up. So I got dressed, went into his office, and as soon as I walked in, he had a copy of the paper, and he just threw it on his desk in front of me. And it was the New York Post, and it had the headlines on the back. I was like, “Oh my god.” That was pretty much my first experience with negative press. After a few days, Walt warmed up to me, and said, “You just have to watch what you say. If they can twist something, they will. You’re in the big city now — you’re not down in the hills of Tennessee.” # * -- ) " . 1 50 / They had a half-time show [on December 9, 1979 at Shea Stadium, known as “The Flying Lawnmower Game”], and this guy was flying this plane, and unfortunately, he lost control of it, and he hit somebody in the stands. '3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 It was a terrible accident — it was a model airplane that was remote controlled. I don’t know whether it was interference from other sources being around the stadium — there were a lot of other types of controls in the area, anywhere from taxi signals to other types of frequencies — [but something] interfered with this control on the remote thing. We were playing the New England Patriots, and a young fan of the Patriots got struck in the head. It was a terrible accident. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 The winds in Shea are brutal. Sometimes, the flags would be going in two different directions on the goalposts. And what happened was the guy flew the lawnmower over the stands, and a draft hit — a kind of wind shear hit them — and it crashed into a group of Patriot fans. God bless them — I think one of them was killed. Once we walked onto the field, we found out. That was like, “Wow” — you were really in disbelief. # * --) " . 1 50 / [The players] knew as soon as it happened — there was a buzz in the stadium at that time, when it happened. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w $"3640 I was there, but I didn’t think that guy died. See, 84
1979
at halftime, we went to throw a “party” on the ramps — I never stuck around for the half-time shows. The only half-time show I ever watched in my life was when they retired Joe Klecko’s number [in 2004]. You heard the crowd — “Wow! Ohh! Ahh!” Then it was like, “Whoa . . . what is this?!” I remember it was like a mad dash back to the seats. I went back to check it out, and I remember some old-timer was telling me, “One of these idiots with his model airplane made one a little too strong, and it fired into the crowd.” I forget his name, but that old man used to bring a thermos with chicken soup and Jack Daniel’s in it. A nasty combo. It was freezing out . . . so it was kind of delicious. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 In ’79, I was surpassing [1978’s stats], and I ended up getting hurt. That was the story of my career — not being healthy enough. % " / " -& 9 " / % &3 We pretty much went home for Christmas in ’78 and ’79. . "55 3 0 # * / 40/ It was February [1980], I was out on my ranch in Sarasota, and Walt called me and told me that they had traded me to Denver, for a number one, a number two, and Craig Penrose. A wonderful opportunity to go out there. Kind of got caught in the mix out there — that was Red Miller’s last year and the Orange Crush Defense was on its way down. They had taken one less step in the playoffs every year, and I was out there fighting a battle with Craig Morton. Then going into 1981, they change owners and coaches. Dan Reeves comes in — a whole new complicated Dallas offense. The “computer age” of football started. Quarterbacks kind of became messengers instead of on-the-field generals, calling the plays themselves. Just the whole complexity of things changed. I’ll never forget sitting in front of Dan when he released me, and he told me, “Matt, sometimes you are the best quarterback I’ve ever seen, and sometimes, the very worst.” The point was, I was inconsistent, and he had to go with Craig, who had a lot more experience than I did. He didn’t want a quarterback controversy, so he released me, and that very next day, I went to Buffalo, behind Ferguson. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : The pieces started to come together in the late ’70s, and in the early ’80s, they started to come into play. Except for the 1980 season, which was a pretty bad one.
85
12
MEET T TH HE JE ETS: TS: 1 98 0
T
he dawn of a new decade yields several new Jets . . . Lance Mehl (linebacker), Jerry Holmes (cornerback/safety), and Darrol Ray (safety).
- " / $ & . & ) - I’m from Bellaire, Ohio, originally. That’s just what we did — we played sports. Big football tradition back here in the valley in high school — you just couldn’t wait to play. That’s how I got started playing, and ended up going to Penn State, and then to New York. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 I’m from Hampton, Virginia. I started playing at an early age with a Pee Wee/Pop Warner League. I’m one of ten kids — Dad was a shipyard worker, Mom worked a bunch of different jobs. I’m from a family of twelve, so I learned how to work at an early age. And being one of twelve, I had to get a loan to go to college — I didn’t start out on a scholarship. I went to Chowan Junior College in Murfreesboro, North Carolina. Actually, I’m going back up there this week — they put me in the Hall of Fame on their campus, so I’ve been going back up there to be part of that. I always loved football — the kids in the neighborhood would play tag and tackle football. But coming out of high school, being 6' 2'', probably 140 pounds, not a lot of people want you — you’re kind of sticks and bones. Again, I loved the game, and I kept playing it. From [Chowan], I won a scholarship to go to West Virginia University, and from there, I was a free agent and walked on with the Jets. I just worked hard to make the Jets. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": I was a military brat — we moved all over. Ended up in high 86
MEET THE JETS: 1980
school in Texas, from there to Oklahoma. An easy transition. Then, got drafted by the Jets in second round of 1980. I look back on those days very fondly — some of the best times ever.
87
1 98 0
P
icked by some to make the jump from a .500 team to a Super Bowl contender, the Jets take a major step backwards during their disastrous ’80 season. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / 1980 was a bit of a disaster season because we took a huge step backwards. We went 4–12. We got second-guessed for trading up to take Johnny Lam Jones in the draft [the Jets’ first round pick — and second overall — in 1980] — with the vision of putting him opposite Wesley Walker, to really open up the offense. + 0 & ( " 3 % * The worst draft choice in the history of the draft. He was terrible — absolutely terrible. But I liked Lam as a person. He was a nice young man, but they recruited him as a track star. I think a lot of our problems had to do with the coaches were not involved in the draft. The head coach was, but the personnel . . . we made some terrible draft choices. Lam was an Olympic track star and was known for speed, but he had a hard time catching the football. You don’t make a mistake like that for the number one. Again, the personnel selection was terrible — so much so that I asked Walt if I could go around. I said, “Send me to the Big Ten. I want to see some of these schools.” And I’ll never forget — I went to Missouri, Kansas, Illinois. I was just a scout — to look at some specific people we were interested in. But we made some poor draft selections. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 It was hard to keep [Lam and Wesley] together on the field at the same time for health reasons. I know with Dan Henning, I’d drop a lot of 88
1980
passes [during Walker’s rookie season], and he’d say, “Hey, you’re going to catch a lot more passes than you’re going to drop.” And Walt wasn’t like that. I remember with Lam Jones, someone should have taken him aside and really worked him, because he’s one of the best athletes I saw in my life — but he didn’t have anybody, like a Dan Henning, to take him aside, because he left after that. To see talent, and [explain] what you’re going to do with him. And that — as a head coach — is what you have to do. You’ve got a position coach, where somebody can take this guy — knowing he has all this talent. That’s with every individual player. There were a lot of inner workings that I didn’t know — arguments or whatever — with players and coaches going on. And some I don’t know about to this day. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1&3 I guess he wasn’t all that everybody thought that he was going to be. Lam certainly had speed, he certainly was a deep threat. Just him and Wesley lining up at the same time was a threat. I wouldn’t say he didn’t pan out — man, I know the players and the coaches started trembling when both of them were lined up. As far as his production, maybe opportunity didn’t present itself. But Lam was a really great, fast track star. I think he could have been a decent receiver, had he been given time and opportunity. % " / " -& 9 " / % &3 He had off-the-field problems. I don’t even know what he’s doing today, but I’ve heard he’s cleaned up a little bit. He had a lot of talent, he just never utilized it. He wasn’t consistent, but he had some good games. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I just spoke to him the other day — he’s one of my dearest friends. I was in awe of him — I’d never seen a guy that could run and have the speed that he had. His biggest problem was he didn’t work as hard at it — you could see him for a couple of weeks, and then you wouldn’t see him for six months. We were all young, we liked to party, we liked to hang out — I’m like that, but you work at your craft. He didn’t have a coach to take him aside to even develop his confidence. They would yank him out because he maybe dropped a ball. Lam Jones was the best wide receiver that I’ve ever seen that had the ability and speed. And if you have a guy who could run with speed and stay healthy, it’s just unstoppable. He could have been “that guy,” but he didn’t work at it and they didn’t give him the confidence that he needed. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 Being a free agent, not a lot of people expect you to make the 89
SACK EXCHANGE
team. I told my friends at home, “I’m just going to camp, and I’m going to knock Lam Jones out. And they’ll probably cut me and I’ll come back home.” I didn’t really think they were going to keep me because I was a free agent. I went out there and I hit Lam Jones — you don’t really hit the number one draft pick in practice. After that, Jerome Barkum walked up to me, and said, “Rookie — don’t you know you don’t be hitting our star players?!” Before that, I didn’t even know anybody was watching me — caring I was out there or not. But I knew he was watching then. So after that, I tried killing anybody that was on that Jets line of scrimmage — on the other side of the ball. That went on, and I was fortunate to make the team that year. The first play I got an opportunity to play, I got beat by Dwight Clark on a post-corner. It was one of those things. - " / $ & . & ) - When I first got drafted, I was surprised they were even interested. The funny thing is I remember telling my wife two places I really didn’t want to go were Los Angeles or New York — because of the big city and being a small-town boy. But when the Jets called . . . I remember Walt saying, “Do you have any problems playing in New York?” I said, “Absolutely not.” ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : It was my very first year where I became a starter. I was a backup for I don’t know how many different positions — I was a nickelback . . . I was always on the field. That’s when I actually became a starter at strong safety. I held that position all the way until I blew out my shoulder — in early 1985. We had some good games and we had some bad games in ’80 — we beat a Houston Oilers team that was pretty good [31–28, on November 23, 1980]. But for the most part, it was pretty bad. 1"5 3:" / Matt [Robinson] got traded to Denver, I backed Richard [Todd] up, and we just had an awful year. 3* $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I always think we had a lot of talent, it just seems like we didn’t put it together when we needed to. I know that one year — I think 1980 — Jimmy the Greek predicted us to win the Super Bowl! 8" -5 . * $ ) " & - 4 I knew we were running into trouble because people began picking us to do certain things, and I think a player comes into his own. Yes, some come in as rookies — they’re that gifted. But the majority of players — especially 90
1980
big guys that make the difference on the offensive and defensive line — they start doing their thing around their fourth and fifth year. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I was linebacker and special teams coach, the defensive coordinator was John Mazur. If I’m not mistaken, in 1980, the offensive coordinator was Pete McCulley, and Larry Pasquale was his receiver coach. I’ll be honest, we were terrible on both sides of the ball. Richard [Todd] turned the ball over, and the defense, we were very simple and basic — we didn’t blitz a lot. John Mazur was kind of in ill health, and a year later had to leave. But we just weren’t very good, and the staff didn’t help out Walt all that much. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 We just weren’t clicking yet. We had everybody in line — everybody was where they were supposed to be — and for some reason, we always found a way to lose. And it went that way the whole year — it just crushed us because everybody got on us, because we were “picked.” # 0 # # : + " $ , 40/ We underachieved. Maybe they thought we were better than we were. We had — supposedly by the NFL’s experts — the best talent in the NFL. And then it proved later on that we did have that. But that year, it just was a strange year. We had high expectations, but we didn’t live up to expectations. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4&: There were two or three seasons where we were selected to have the best talent — position by position — than anyone in the NFL. We had some great individual players, but we just didn’t mesh as a team. We had some prima donnas maybe, and there was some dissension here and there. But we had man for man, some great talent — we just couldn’t get it together as a team. But what I remember about the ’80 season was I got vested — that was my fourth year. You have to be in the league four years to get vested — that way you qualify for your pension and everything that comes with it when you retire. If you play three years, you don’t get a pension. But if you play four, you get a pension, and then each year you play after that, it just tacks more onto your pension. So in other words, Brett Favre is probably going to have a wonderful pension [laughs]. -" / $ & . & ) - We sucked [laughs]. [Greg] Buttle spoke at me, he didn’t really speak to me — he was dogging me. And I think [Joe] Klecko and [Marty] Lyons gave me “The Ugliest Rookie of the Year” that year. 91
SACK EXCHANGE
." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 We just didn’t perform. Even in modern-day NFL, if you don’t start fast and finish fast, you find yourself behind the eight ball. At the halfway point of any season, if you know there are no hopes of making the playoffs, you don’t want to say people “packed it in,” but we didn’t perform. As a result, you go 4–12. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % That game was hilarious to me [September 21, 1980 against the San Francisco 49ers, when Todd set an NFL record with 42 completions]. We were getting drilled, so we were just throwing the ball all the time. I remember the announcement said, “And Richard Todd is about to break Joe Namath’s record,” and the fans are going, “BOOO!” The offensive linemen in the huddle were laughing, they’re going, “THROW IT RICHARD, THROW IT!” “I am, man, don’t worry!” Got back and had a few more passes, and, “Richard Todd is one pass away from breaking the NFL record.” They just booed [laughs]. I think our running back, Clark Gaines, caught, like, fifteen passes for 150 yards. I think I threw for well over 400 yards. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 You play those kind of games, and it’s almost like it’s an “out of body experience.” Everything you do just turns out right. You can’t miss a ball, you can’t run a bad route, Richard can’t throw a bad ball — no matter what you do, the ball looks as if it’s like beach ball. I don’t think that San Francisco was expecting . . . we had not played them — that was maybe the first time we played them. They played me with a linebacker trying to cover me, and you either cover me one on one with a linebacker, or you double Bruce Harper on the other side. So pick your poison. They picked the slow guy [laughs]. They doubled Bruce, and I was open back out of the backfield. And if you’re going to double Wesley Walker and play around with Lam Jones or Gaffney — I was the single match-up, so I got a lot of balls. And then they figured the linebacker couldn’t cover me, so they started covering me with a safety. It was just one of those games. [The Jets lost, 37–27.] 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I think sometimes things move faster, and sometimes, things move slower. When you’re hitting the passers and everything’s clicking, it’s actually slower. When things aren’t going good, everything’s faster. - "8 3 & / $ & 1 * --&34 I got traded — the 49ers came and played the Jets. Dwaine Board with the 49ers got his knee messed up. I didn’t think much about it until 92
1980
that Monday or Tuesday and made it back to camp. I think we had Monday off. Unless you had some bruises, you came in and got treated. But Tuesday, I made it back there, and one of the upper management came to me, and said, “You have been traded to the San Francisco 49ers.” And now, I’ve got to go to a team and listen to someone who just whipped your butt. Needless to say, when I made it to San Francisco, oh, they dogged me out. And the 49ers weren’t winning that much. In my mind, I’m saying, “I’m leaving a team going on four years, and I always sang the song, ‘I Love New York.’” To leave there and go to San Francisco, it really hurt. But at some point in your life, when you don’t have no say-so, when you become expendable . . . they were making way for Gastineau. I can see it now, but back then, you didn’t see it. But when you don’t have a choice and they tell you you’ve been traded, you go where your job sends you. But it was a good move — it was kind of like dying and going to heaven in football. [Pillers would go on to win two Super Bowls with the 49ers.] 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 644&/ [1980] was the only time I was injured in football. With about six games left to go, I hurt my knee up in New England. And I missed the remainder of the season — I was IR’d. That’s hell, to not even be a part of it. Whatever it was, there were periods in there where things went wrong and we just couldn’t get them turned around. But everyone still felt that we had the pieces — it was just getting them together, and keeping everybody healthy. That was the key. $ -" 3 , ( " * / &4 I started the season off leading the league in receptions — maybe third in rushing — in the first four games. And then I broke my leg, and my season was over. But it’s tough when you lose the continuity of the team, and I think they kind of lost that. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": Without beating your own drum, I actually scored a touchdown in my first NFL game. A guy dropped a fumble in the air — it was kind of like a fumble/interception whatever, and then ran it back. Then played in “The Silent Bowl,” which was the last game of my rookie year — it was a game without announcers. The last game of 1980 — against the Dolphins — was announcerfree. They faded to commercials, they faded back into the game, and you could hear the game noise and the sounds, but there was no actual commentators, which was kind of different. 93
SACK EXCHANGE
8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 We were beginning to do some different things, but the biggest thing that we did then is some of the games we lost were very close. And the most important thing was we were gaining maturity. Players were becoming determined — they were the right type physically to play for the type of football we wanted to play offensively and defensively. And they were the type of people mentally that could fit into the picture — and eventually, they knew they could become champions. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 That was the whole era of “we caught a lot of bad breaks,” it seemed to me. The games that we would lose, we lost them by a field goal or a bad play. % " 3 3 0 -3 ": We lost twice as many games in my first year as I lost in four years of college at OU [Oklahoma University]. Losing wasn’t something I was used to, and it wasn’t something I felt very comfortable with. I thought we had a chance to win half the games my rookie year. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % But I think that’s when we really started building the talent. We got Klecko and Lyons — we started getting the defense going. We got good defensive backs, with Bo Jack, Donald Dykes, and Darrol Ray. The offensive line was there, too. We had Wesley Walker, Lam Jones. It took these guys time to develop, and I was developing too — it wasn’t like an overnight thing for all of us. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / We started getting criticism back then. Probably the only good thing that took place in us having an awful season in ’80 was being able to draft high enough to take Freeman McNeil the next year.
94
14
M E E T T H E JETS: 19 81
N
ineteen eighty-one brings in two gentlemen the Jets hope will give the offense a kick in the pants . . . Marion Barber (running back) and Joe Walton (offensive coordinator). . " 3 * 0 / # " 3 # &3 Born in Florida, grew up in Detroit — basically playing street football. I guess I was in seventh or eighth grade when I first played organized football. I played with an organization called the Westside Cubs — but there were weight restrictions as a little leaguer. Anyway, going into the tenth grade, I still had eligibility to play little league football, but I was too heavy. I ended up playing junior varsity for a couple games, and I was fortunate that I got moved up to varsity after a varsity player’s family relocated to California. That was pretty much my “in.” But I grew up playing baseball — I kind of went with the seasons. I went to Chadsey High in Detroit, and had some pretty decent success as a football player. The high school coach was also the track coach, so you had to run track if you wanted to play football. I realized track helped me in terms of conditioning and the discipline of it all. Got a scholarship to the University of Minnesota. I was recruited by a couple of Big Ten schools, but the two schools that were most interested were Michigan and Michigan State. Michigan, I knew a lot of kids that went there, and I wanted to play Big Ten football. But I wanted to leave home — I wanted to go away to school to play. I got this opportunity to go to Minnesota, and it was January of ’77. It was somewhat of a trying time for my family — my stepfather was in the hospital, suffering from cancer. The weekend I went to Minnesota was actually 95
SACK EXCHANGE
the last weekend that I talked to him, where he was somewhat coherent. I told him I liked Minnesota. He said, “If that’s what you want to do, you should do that. Your mother will be fine.” He was somewhat giving me his blessing. He ended up passing away the following week. I went to Minnesota, and had a fabulous experience. My wife is also from Detroit — we grew up together, so I’ve known her since I was five or six years old. A couple of years later, she ended up coming up here. I had some pretty decent success at Minnesota, which granted me the opportunity to be drafted by the New York Jets after my senior year. My first year in New York, I was on injured reserve. The thought was they drafted Freeman McNeil in the first round and got me in the second round — they thought it was the next “Emerson Boozer/Matt Snell combination.” Although Freeman had a fabulous career, in terms of that “dynamic duo combination,” mine didn’t turn out that way. + 0 & 8" -50 / I’m from Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, where I live now. I was born and raised there. Went to the University of Pittsburgh. I was drafted by the Washington Redskins — the second pick in the second round, which then, there were only twelve teams, so it was the fourteenth pick. I went to play with the Redskins for four years. I was traded to the New York Giants in 1961, and played four years for the Giants, until ’64. Became a scout for the Giants — both pro and college — and became a coach for the Giants in ’69, to ’73. In ’74, I went to the Redskins with George Allen. I was a running back coach at first, and became the offensive coordinator in the late ’70s, under Jack Pardee, who was then the head coach of the Redskins. When Jack was let go in 1980, I went to the New York Jets as offensive coordinator.
96
15
19 81 : PA RT 1
A
new offensive coordinator brings new hope to the Jets, but the ’81 season starts off on the wrong foot.
1 "5 3:" / In 1981, they hired Joe Walton, and that’s when our offense started turning around. +0 & 8" -50 / They had a lot of good football players. I had a chance to go to three or four places — one being the Miami Dolphins with Don Shula — and I just felt that [the Jets] had a lot of offensive weapons, and a good offensive team. They just weren’t clicking at that time. I took that job, feeling like I was going with a team that had a lot of potential. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / Joe Walton basically turned around Richard Todd — who had an awful season in 1980. It was questionable where his career was going to go on a quarterback for us. Joe comes in with great credentials — because he had developed Joe Theismann. Theismann called Richard, and said, “If you give this guy a chance, he’ll make you a great quarterback.” And Richard played great in ’81 and ’82. Our offense was unpredictable — we were doing things we had never done before. +& 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. Richard got nurtured by Joe Walton. Joe Walton seemed to be the guy that got the maximum out of Richard Todd. Richard evolved into a very good quarterback. 97
SACK EXCHANGE
1 "5 3:" / We were a lot more organized offensively. The year before, they had Richard calling every play, and I think he played every play of the season. But he called every play — without much help from anybody. You just can’t do that. And Joe Walton came in and took over the offense, so we had much more organization. Things got streamlined, and it just took a while to get things going. Now the defense, they had some tools over there — they had some good players. Obviously, they had guys that could “bring it” up front, and that really made a difference. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 [Walton] brought a feeling of confidence and a good system. 1 "53:" / He just brought a lot of discipline to the offense. Before, we’d go out and practice and just run through your plays — it wasn’t any big deal. When Joe got there, it got to be a lot more serious. You’d go to practice, and you had to be ready for practice. You’d have to go out with a purpose at practice — just like it is today, more or less. Practice was almost like game days — you had to be on top of your game plan for what you were doing that day in practice because we went through a lot of different things. And he had a ton of different formations. Gosh, our playbook expanded a lot. We had a million plays out of each formation. So you really had to be on top of what you were doing. It took a little while before everybody started getting the hang of it. But once they did, we started rolling a little bit. 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , * /( A lot of fire. Where Walt would stay on the sidelines, not say much, and let you play, Joe was the “fiery guy.” He’d be the one yelling and pumping his fists. He had a lot of pizzazz. He had a few more wrinkles, like the waggles and a few things that we put in that made us not like a West Coast offense, but a little more diversified offense. In the first couple of years, we weren’t real daring — just your regular pro-set offense, just running. Walt liked to run the ball a little more than maybe Joe did — where we had some pretty big passing days when Joe joined us. .* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -& 3 I guess it was similar to what the West Coast offense is today. We did a lot of short passes, play-action passes, the run game, multiple sets, multiple formations. It was a fun offense — I loved his offense. It gives you ability to play multiple positions — you can be flexed out, you can be tight, you can be in 98
1981: PART 1
the backfield, you can go in motion. You can do all kinds of stuff. It was a good change, and it fit good for me. I fit in his system real well. +0 & ( " 3 % * 1981, I took over on defense [from special teams]. In some ways, I was upset because first of all, I’m an old offensive lineman from Maryland. I played both ways in my day — offense and defense. But I became a receiver coach at Maryland — I didn’t know anything about receivers. And then I became a defensive coach under Walt, and I had to learn. And man, I learned from the bottom up. Which was great for me potentially as a head coach. There wasn’t one phase of the game that you could fool me on. But I never coached what I was [meant to], which was an offensive line coach. I coached at Maryland one year, but that was it. The transition was tough, but it taught me so much about the game. And I guess it made me a pretty good head coach. I used to get upset that the coordinator that I worked for, John Mazur, would always go downstairs with, like, five minutes to go in the first half. Now, one of us got stuck on the phones and had to call defense — because he headed down to the board and chart, put all the things he had on paper on the blackboard. I said, “Why am I getting stuck calling all the defenses? He’s the coordinator, and he’s in the locker room, writing on the blackboard.” So when I took over, I kept overhead transparencies up in the press box — we traveled with an overhead projector. I didn’t have to rush down — I stayed until the last second. The players came down, took care of their personal needs, and then bam — I put the overhead transparencies on the projector. “This is what they did in the first half, this is what we’ve got to do.” 8" -5 . * $ ) " &-4 Just plain determined, mental attitude. I can tell you one of the big things — that year, in comes Freeman McNeil. He started running all over the place for great yardage. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 Freeman came in from UCLA. He could run the rock. You could see the quality of the drafts going up by the quality of individuals that they drafted. Freeman wanted the ball — he was a play-maker. Everybody on the team had confidence that if you gave the ball to number 24, he’d make some things happen. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": Freeman was just a little different. We called him “Freebird.” 99
ap photo
SACK EXCHANGE
Freebird: Freeman McNeil runs wild
3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % He used to like to watch birds — he was a bird-watcher. . . . He was from California, man! I don’t have the patience to watch a bird, but anyway. . . 1 "5 3:" / Freeman was fun — he stayed to himself a lot, just because he was kind of a quiet guy. But really talented. Football is not the be all/end all in California — like it is in Tennessee, Georgia, or Alabama. All those guys grow up doing a lot of different things, and football is just something else that they do. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : One of the best running backs I’ve ever been around. Watching [Freeman McNeil] come out of UCLA and when the Jets drafted him, I didn’t know what to expect. But boy, when I saw him on the field and practicing against him, he was as quick as a cat, and was a pretty big guy, too. I was happy to have him, for sure. 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , * /( I was kind of the starting tailback . . . until we drafted Freeman. My girlfriend at the time — wife now — called me and said, “They took Freeman McNeil in the first round.” I go, “Oh no!” Calls back an hour later, “They 100
1981: PART 1
took Marion Barber — a fullback — in the second round.” I go, “Get out of here!” All of a sudden, I wasn’t as comfortable with my position as I used to be. Freeman was a great teammate. He showed up to camp a little bit heavy — maybe twenty pounds too heavy — and I was looking at him in practice, and was like, “He’s not going to take my job.” And then he slowly started getting in shape and showing some of that wiggle. When he got down to his 205, he was stunning — how he could move. I said, “I’m in big trouble here.” When Freeman McNeil joined us, it immediately made me both a tailback and a fullback. I went to Joe Walton, and I said, “Would it be a good idea if I learned the fullback plays?” And he said, “That would be a very good idea” [laughs]. 8 & 4 -& : 8" -,&3 Great player. He wasn’t like the real burning speed, but I compare him to Barry Sanders. He wasn’t as fast as Barry, but he had this quickness, and he could see the field. And he could make these cuts from side to side, to see the holes and read which way the linemen were going, and was just uncanny. Just the way he could change direction, hit a hole, read the flow of his offensive line, and turn a little crack into a hole — it was just uncanny. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 I thought I was a good running back and had good vision and could cut, but to watch this guy, he did some things that made me say, “How did he do that?” He had such great anticipation. He could see the play before it happened. He wasn’t as fast as me, and I don’t think he could change directions as well, but he had something — that “other thing” — that made him so productive. +0 & , -& $ , 0 Irreplaceable. What a great guy. You knew he was getting the ball at times, and it didn’t matter. He was always there. He always got the extra yards that you wanted to get. Very dependable. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 Freeman trained with the same guy that used to train with me. You could see all of the work paid off in his running style. There were two parts of his body — he could just dupe you in a second. And the way he ran, he was like a gazelle. +0 & ' * & -% 4 Freeman sometimes was so cagey when he ran that he tackled himself! His feet would be moving one way, and his upper body the other way, and he literally would tackle himself. Really good running back. 101
SACK EXCHANGE
+ & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6 . I enjoyed playing with Freeman and blocking for him. I was one of his biggest cheerleaders. I used to steal something from [Muhammad] Ali, when [Angelo] Dundee used to tell Ali, “Rumble, young man, rumble!” After a play he’d clip off ten or twelve yards, I’d be right there to tell him, “Rumble, young man, rumble!” He used to love it. "# % 6 - 4 " -" " . Freeman we kind of spoiled when he came in [laughs]. We knew Freeman was going to be a great force to be added to the team. So even in practice, we definitely would look to hold up on Freeman. We wouldn’t even hit him — even though he might have been intimidated by us, we wouldn’t even do that. .* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 Freeman McNeil would make moves that were fun to watch on film. I don’t know how he did some of the slides that he did and set up people. I loved blocking for him — especially on screen passes. Against the Giants, especially. I can remember that we threw a screen pass — and when we threw screen passes, it was also an upfield pass, so if the linebackers came back to cover me, we threw the screen. If they went up to cover the back, they threw it to me. Well, we’re playing the Giants, and they throw the ball to me, and I’m following [Lawrence Taylor]. I get eye contact with Freeman, and Freeman just shakes L.T., and L.T. freezes, and turns his head. As soon as he turns his head, I stuck my helmet right on him, and just de-cleated him instantly. It was one of the few times we could get even with those guys for the nasty hits they would give us — just because they could. I remember Freeman setting up some of those linebackers — it was so much fun to hit those guys. I think the first thing that hit the ground was the back of his head! " + % 6 ) & Another great player that gave Jets fans a lot to cheer about. Great receiver out of the backfield — very gifted and talented. In the open field, he could make you miss, but then again, he had a lot of explosion and bursts, so he had everything going for him: powerful, quick on his feet, good hands, [and] breakaway speed. In today’s day and age, he’s not an Adrian Peterson, but in our day, he was like an Adrian Peterson. I hear all these guys talking about how good they were. I go, “Man, if we were playing today, we might not even make the practice squad” [laughs]. Because players today are so gifted.
102
1981: PART 1
$ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % When Freeman came, he solidified the running game — he took the starting position. All of the running backs benefited from the great offensive line that we had — the kind of line that could open them up. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 We had the blocking people like Marvin Powell, who came of age. Look at your offensive tackles today, and how the rookie offensive tackles get your quarterback killed. But those others are just slow and steady, and know how to hang on. That was developing with guys like Marvin Powell. And of course, Joe Fields was already a seasoned center. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 %% Fieldsy was our “Archie Bunker,” is what I called him. He was old, old, old-school. I remember going out to walk on the field with him sometimes — it would be a beautiful day, and he’d say, “It’s a great day to die.” And I’m like, “What are you talking about?!” 8 & 4 -& : 8" -,&3 Joe Fields was very underrated. A small guy, and when you think of [typical] centers in the NFL, he would be one of them. But another one of those blue-collar workers — can play, knows the game, smart, very impressive. I love guys like that. Football, it’s not just about being physical and tough — you have to know the game, and you’ve got to be smart. You can dominate physically, but you have to know how to set a person up, technique-wise, and be able to do certain things, [or] I don’t care how big and strong you are, it’s just not going to happen. But [Fields] had a talent. He wasn’t big in size, but he could play with anybody. It was uncanny because he looked just like a regular guy. Shoot, some of these guys, I could out-lift them during the day — strength-wise. But he was a guy who was very smart and knew what he was doing. You work together as a team — that’s what people don’t know. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 Joe Fields was like the quarterback on the field. He was the director of the line — he was the one that called the plays. I felt like he was the captain. Again, we had a good team, and none of the guys on the line got enough credit. Marvin Powell, he got his kudos, and Chris Ward — everybody used to talk about the two of them. But Joe Fields, not enough praise. +0 & , -& $ , 0 “The General.” You knew everything was going to go well as far as calls. A guy on the field that could actually be another coach. When he came 103
SACK EXCHANGE
to the sidelines, and there was something going on over there, you knew Joe would pick it up. Joe was a very, very smart football player. And an overachiever — as tough as nails. ." 3 * 0 / # " 3 # & 3 The center is almost a quarterback. Joe was well respected by his peers. A hard worker. Played hurt — like so many players do. He was good to his peers and he kept everybody in check . . . without being a prick about it. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 I would call the blocking assignments for the offensive line. In doing that, you had to know a little bit more than everybody else, or you had to notice or recognize some things. You were kind of the quarterback for the offensive line — to let everybody know what’s going on. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 Joe Fields was an All-Pro center. Undersized, but worked hard at it. Every single day, I remember the offense breaking the huddle, and he’d run to the line of scrimmage. That trend probably started with Mike Webster in Pittsburgh, and of course Dwight Stephenson did that in Miami. Most of the times, now you see guys that break the huddle on the offensive side of the ball, and they walk to the line. Joe was one of those guys that practiced it at practice, and did it in the game. 4$ 0 55% * & 3 , * /( You see him walking down the street, you would never guess he was an All-Pro center. But he had the kind of balance that very few offensive linemen have. Even though he was only 255 pounds, you cannot find a piece of film where he got knocked back into the backfield. He was a total master of the position. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : One of the toughest people I’ve ever met for an offensive lineman. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 & : I hated losing him as my long-snapper. He snapped to me my rookie year and maybe the second year. And then after that, he just concentrated on playing center. But as far as a long-snapper, he could put it wherever you wanted it. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & - 4 What happens is the player comes into the meetings, and suddenly, he looks around and he’s watching the film. They’ll come to me or the 104
1981: PART 1
assistant coaches, and say, “You know coach, I was really shit-faced on that. I should know better — that guy can’t block me.” And suddenly, they’re gaining a knowledge of football and the things that happen in the game. And bang — the next thing you know, they’re not making that mistake. It’s just the secret of the game. And then you’re playing each team in your division twice — suddenly, you get to know the player you’ve got to play against. All of those things come into it. It’s too long of an explanation to define all of that to the public, who just want to know one thing — “Did you win or did you lose? I’ve got to go to work tomorrow” [laughs]. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % We had done a lot of practice, a lot of two-a-days. We had a lot of young players, and the young players started to get wisdom — in reference to how to play the game. It’s one thing to be a great athlete. It’s another thing to understand the game, know how to play it, and how to apply that athletic ability inside of a scheme that works for you. And we started to find out the scheme, and we had good offensive and defensive coordinators. The team started to gel. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 &: We knew we had good talent. We knew we had speed. And “Todd to Walker” was clicking — we just didn’t get the breaks when we needed it. We had the best fans in the whole league, and it just seemed like we kept letting them down. We knew that it was just a matter of time until we could put it all together, and just didn’t know when that was going to occur. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I thought every time we started a new year, the records were 0–0, and we had a chance. You always had the expectations to play better than the year before, and the expectations of making it to the Super Bowl. I don’t think any one of us went into a season and said, “Well, geez, we’re not going to play well this year.” I think the self-confidence started to grow, personnel started to grow, the right people were in the leadership role. We always felt if we could put together a few wins, we had enough talent to go all the way. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 - &3 I got hurt in Atlanta [in a preseason game vs. the Falcons, on August 16, 1981]. I caught a corner route, and landed on the dirt infield on my elbow, and separated my shoulder. I told them, “I don’t need painkillers.” Then when I got to Lenox Hill [Hospital], I told them, “I need painkillers” [laughs]. I remember lying on the floor of the plane the whole way, and Mrs. Dillon kind of took care of me — one of the owners. Then they put me in the hospital 105
SACK EXCHANGE
for seven days or something. They changed their whole policy with how they dealt with injured players after that — because nobody called my wife. I didn’t call her, and she didn’t know. All she knew was that I got taken off the field in Atlanta. And then no contact from me. When she did finally figure out where I was, she called me, and they had me medicated pretty heavily with morphine. I would say, “I can’t talk,” and hang up on her. I stayed there in a Kenny Howard splint because they told me if I took that splint off, it would hurt — and that’s why they needed me medicated and in the hospital for the first ten days or so. It would be a six- to eight-week process, and then I could be back towards the end of the year — if it worked. If not, then it was two operations. So I did it and I came back. I was playing at about eighty percent strength. ." 3 * 0 / # " 3 # &3 I had a major concussion that gave me issues throughout my career. It was my first year. As a matter of fact, it was John Woodring and I — same rookie class — [who] collided in a contact drill. It more or less put me out for the year. That was during training camp. "# % 6 - 4 " -" " . I was out the first three games. I had an ankle strain. The doc put me in a cast after the preseason. I led in sacks in the preseason, but after the preseason was over, he put me in a cast for three weeks. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % In ’81, we started off 0–3. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : It was a big concern. We were coming in with high expectations. We were still fairly young. We had a lot of young number one draft picks — offensive tackles, and our defense was also built by the draft. We were still learning our way through, but we did start off fairly slow. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 There’s always the next week, there’s always the next game. Before you win two games, you have to win one. I don’t think until you’re mathematically eliminated do you ever give up the hope of “Let’s turn this season around.” Of course, if you put yourself in the position that you win enough games, you don’t need help. Once you get to a point where you have to win and you need help, a lot of times you’ll find yourself looking at the scoreboard, to find out, “Okay, what happened to the Dolphins? What happened to Buffalo this 106
1981: PART 1
week?” And hopefully, another team in the league can give you the help that you need to pick up the pace that you need to get to the playoffs. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I always felt as a player, you can never give up. You may start off very dismal, but as an athlete, you know these things can happen. And the only thing you can do is try to come back, do what you do best, study, and get better — things have to click. I don’t think there was any one time that we felt like because we lost one or two games in a row that it was over. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 Another thing that makes me a little different from a lot of people is not looking at the whole season, not even taking it game by game, but play by play. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 That’s one thing that never really bothered me. I was the kind of player that . . . I thought that if I just went out there and played as hard as I could, and everybody would do the same thing, we could overcome this thing. I was the type of guy that was like, “Let’s just go out here and do this.” I think that’s what happened to all of us — we started doing what we could do very well. And our backs started playing real well, Richard started throwing the ball real well. I think it just came together — I don’t think there was much thought process about it. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 At that point in time, it was a struggle. What I did was I tried to make myself do everything that they told me to do, and take care of my responsibilities. If the coach told me, “You have to go up in the stands and sit down,” that is exactly what I would do. I never questioned the coaches. I felt like as a player it was my responsibility to play the game, and do what they wanted me to do. If I took care of my job and did my job, I’d never back up to the pay window or have any doubts about, “Did I play right?” To this day in football, I never backed up to the pay window one time. And I never put myself in positions where I would doubt the coaches or doubt the calls. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": I just remember trying hard to perfect the craft, and not have a pink slip in your locker after playing really poorly. Little by little, we got it turned it around — the players turned it around, the coaches turned it around — and we got after it a little bit.
107
SACK EXCHANGE
+ 0 & ' * & -% 4 I was confident because I knew where we were. I knew we had a good team. We just needed to catch a break. And that’s all there was to it. We were a really good football team — we just needed to all click together at the same time, and become a team. Somewhere along the line, we did. 3* $ ) " 3 % 50 % % Of course we were concerned because you’re saying, “Here we go again.” We felt like we had the ability, but you can have all the ability in the world, and if you don’t gel, and if you don’t do it. . . . It’s just like a golfer — my son is a golfer, and he’s really a good golfer, but you’ve got to go out there and win to know that you can do it. To get the confidence. I think that’s what we were all going through. + &3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. You could see a gradual improvement. We had great offensive linemen, running backs, receivers. Todd was coming into his own. And we had the Sack Exchange.
108
THE S A C K E X CH A N GE
M
ark Gastineau, Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons, and Abdul Salaam (collectively known as “The Sack Exchange”) were all names that struck fear in NFL quarterbacks and helped get the ’81 Jets back on track. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / ’81 was really when the Sack Exchange came to be. The defense was playing incredibly well. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& We drafted Abdul Salaam, then Joe Klecko, Mark Gastineau, and Marty Lyons — I think it was in that order. No one was drafting these guys to become “the Sack Exchange” — we were drafting them because they felt they were good fits. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I went down and visited a couple of the defensive linemen — I won’t tell you names. One guy, I said, “What do you want to do? We’ve got to get better. Do you want me to tell Walt that you called him a name, and try to get you traded?” In those days, everybody wanted to go to the Raiders and Al Davis. Al would talk to them before the game, y’know, “I want you with me.” I actually asked Walt if he would fine them if they talked to Al Davis when we played the Raiders. I’ll never forget, Hank Stram interviewed me during the season, and the change was unbelievable in our defense. I want to say we went from twentythird in ’80 to number one in the AFC. And Hank Stram asked me, “What’s the difference? Walt said this. . . .” I said, “Well, Walt’s the head coach. . . . I’m not 109
SACK EXCHANGE
going to disagree with him.” But I really feel that I coached the defense like I did the special teams — with a lot of intensity and enthusiasm. For example, we put in a “swarm drill.” The president of Hofstra, Jim Shuart’s son was my ball boy — he was in high school. We would toss him the ball, and the entire defense — Klecko, Lyons, and Gastineau — used to swarm him, and tear his shirt off. We developed a swarm, we called “the Jets Swarm.” We did things like Marty and I sat down and we had a “swarm party” over at Eisenhower Park — just to try and get the team closer. I replaced Shafer Suggs, a safety — we traded him — with Kenny Schroy, who played special teams, and played for me at Maryland. To me, the real heart of that team were kids like Jerry Holmes. Lance Mehl in many ways was a better football player. . . . If you ask me who was the best defensive player in the history of the game, I would say L.T. L.T. was the best blitzer ever. But as an all-around linebacker, Lance did it all — pass coverage, interceptions. We had some good players along with the Sack Exchange. And don’t get me wrong, those guys — the front-four — I loved them. They put money on my table, and I’ll never forget that. But the difference might have been in those players, like Jerry Holmes, who’s the true heart of that defense, [and] Darrol Ray and Kenny Schroy, who were smart as any safeties I’ve ever come across. They were intelligent. They made calls. They coached on the field. And of course, the sharpest was Buttle. We just had some smart guys. You’re playing with two Penn State outside linebackers, and those kids were 1,400 in the SATs — they didn’t mess around. So I think we were a smart defensive team. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / & "6 Greg’s in his own world [laughs]. “The Buttle World.” + 0 & , -& $ , 0 Greg and I were roommates for years. I taught Greg how to play gin. When Greg came out of Penn State, he was absolutely feared. Why Greg never was an All-Pro, I don’t know, because he had some great years — especially the younger years. He had to play behind Gastineau — who was always rushing upfield — and he had a lot to contend with out there all by himself on an island. + 0 & ( " 3 % * We had a thing going where Buttle called the plays. I called them down to Ralph Baker on the sidelines, and Ralph called them in. Occasionally, Buttle would change a defense or two. I said, “That’s fine . . . as long as it better friggin’ work.” Lance Mehl and Ron Crosby played those years too — we had 110
THE SACK EXCHANGE
some sharp Penn State players. I told Walt one year, “I don’t want any more California guys. Those guys fall asleep at four in the afternoon — give me those Penn Staters!” We had some good athletes, but Buttle was a bright guy and a leader on the football team. No question. 4 $ 0 55 % * & 3 , */( Greg’s another guy that I lived with for a couple of years. Kind of an unexpected talent — when he would pick a ball off, most guys are just happy with the pick. He would score on some of them — I think he ran a couple back his rookie year. He was the more “political guy” — where a lot of guys don’t like talking to the media, Butts loved it. He still likes the spotlight. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. &4 Greg had the restaurant [Buttle’s Ground Floor Café] and treated everybody good. That’s why I keep saying over and over, those guys were good guys — we cared about each other. I remember Greg and I visited the prison, Rikers Island, to talk to kids. That’s the kind of guy Greg Buttle was. -" / $ & . & ) - Butts was the exact opposite of me — I didn’t say three words, and he never shut up. He’s one of the main reasons why we got good — the Swarm Defense. Nobody knows that we would have linebacker sessions, where we would go over films ourselves, and Butts was our leader. We’d be looking at end zone films, and we’d go over minute stuff such as, “Why are you stepping this way? Look at the blocks, look at the line to fire off. You’ve got to go this way.” We got down to that minutiae. And I learned more about the pro blocking schemes from him. That was as much breakdown as we got — everything back in Walt’s era you were expected to know. Well, Greg did all the breakdown stuff for us. The pro game was so much different than the college game at that time — how they did certain blocking schemes. To me, I credit him with most of my pro ability to read defenses, move, and get focused on it. Fundamentally, I think between Penn State, Butts, and New York, that was the best teachers I’ve ever had. But don’t tell him that because he’ll never let me live it down — he’s already got a big enough head! ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& In 1981, Joe Gardi brought us into the room, and we sat as a defensive group. He goes, “Guys, I just want you to know one thing. We’re 1–3–1, and I know we’re better than that. We have played better than that. And now, you’ve got to go out there and circle the wagons, and know that you guys can 111
SACK EXCHANGE
make this football team work, and get to the playoffs.” At that time, we looked at him, and said, “All right, he really believes in us.” And he sure did. And then we turned it around — we turned it around for a lot of reasons. We started to play better, we started to coach better, the offense was better. We rounded into shape, and all of a sudden, it clicked. And I’m not sure any football player in the NFL can tell you what makes it click. But I can tell you they know a click when they hear it. And the coaching game plan, there were times it was confusing, and there were times it was so simple it was ridiculous. But either way, if you performed the simple things — the blocking, the tackling — we were very tough to beat. - " / $ & . & ) - We started doing some stuff — as a linebacker group. We came up with this pot, we all put money in. We started fining each other if you loafed in practice — you had to put a buck in the pot. We just tried to make it interesting for us — to add a little bit of incentive. So in practice, we started picking it up. We’d start hustling because we’d be watching films, and everybody would be yelling out, “He loafed — that’s a buck!” It made the film-time a lot more fun. We’d be watching each other all the time. Then in games, we’d put money in — five or ten bucks. Ten bucks, I think, if you were a starter, and five bucks if you were [a backup] because the backups didn’t get as much chance to win the money as we did. The only way you could win the whole pot was to score a touchdown — by interception, fumble recovery, or whatever it was. As long as you scored a touchdown, you won the whole pot. But if you forced a fumble, you got a certain amount of dollars; if you intercepted a pass, you got a certain amount of dollars. So all of a sudden, all of the linebackers are just flying around — in practice and everything. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I’ll never forget, one of the Sack Exchange was practicing against an offensive tackle, John Roman, whom I brought from the World Football League. And John played for us for a couple of years in the ’80s. The defensive players would say, “Oh, come on, what are you trying to be, ‘All-Hempstead’?” And that ticked me off. You know what that meant? “Take it easy in practice.” I wouldn’t let them do that. Every day in practice to us — when I took over — was like a war. We ended practice with a goal line drill — every day. And I’ll bet two years went by where Joe Walton’s offense couldn’t score inside the five. I mean, we just were ruthless. Richard Todd once told me, “Coach, the toughest thing is to practice against 112
THE SACK EXCHANGE
you guys. Games are easy!” And he meant it — it was a war out there. And consequently, it made the offense better, and certainly, we played with an intensity and an enthusiasm that they never had before. And that’s what I made them do. I wasn’t a genius like Bud Carson, and I wasn’t a Buddy Ryan. But we worked hard, and I had them play with intensity and enthusiasm. And I think it paid off. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 Joe [Gardi]’s the kind of guy who will sit up front and do a little bit of everything, and he will put it together. I had a defensive backs coach, Billy Baird, I had a linebacker coach, Ralph Baker — they both played for me and were on the Super Bowl team. And I had Dan Sekanovich, who as far as I’m concerned was one of the finest defensive line coaches. Joe Gardi fit well to put all that together and call the defense — after they had it on their board, all set up. The four worked as a group very well. That was kind of a perfect defensive situation. It was a carryover from the things we had to do on defense when we won the Super Bowl because two of them were from the Super Bowl, and the other was from a great situation. On offense, Bob Fry was there, and Bob Ledbetter. We had good enough guys to do it. Pete McCulley was with the receivers at the time. Some people say, “He didn’t get along with him, he didn’t get along with him.” You know what? A lot of the players on my championship team in Cleveland didn’t get along with other guys. But when the whistle blew, they were all together — until those sixty minutes were over. That’s the important thing — to be there while those minutes are being played and you’re playing together. When the game is over, you don’t go home and sleep with each other — you sleep with your wife. Or your girlfriend . . . I don’t know [laughs]. + 0 & ( " 3 % * We improved the pass coverage immensely — we broadened it. We went to a blitz game, whereas the year before under John Mazur, we were very basic. I coached them like I did a bunch of high school kids. -" / $ & . & ) - I think [Gardi] brought some enthusiasm. My rookie year, I think we had an older guy — I can’t even remember his name — he coached defensive backs. I do remember that he expected us linebackers to get fifteen yards deep and get underneath the curls, but then come up and stop the running back. So we had to spring back and front forward — to make all the plays. I thought that was kind of strange. But Joe brought enthusiasm. He was infectious — the way 113
SACK EXCHANGE
he approached every day. You knew it was going to be fun and we were going to be flying around, and we were starting to have a blast. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 As far as Gardi, yeah, he had a lot to do with it. Just the way that we were, and the talent that we had on that. Joe Gardi was a great defensive coordinator. + 0 & , - & $ , 0 I think Joe [Gardi] was a little bit in over his head when they gave him the defensive coordinator job. And it proved out to be later. But Joe Gardi was a great guy — he was a fantastic special teams coach. But to make him a defensive coordinator . . . I think that was not a good move. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 That’s one of my main guys. My rookie year, I just played special teams, and [Gardi] was my special teams coach. He gave me a chance — as long as I was making plays out there on special teams. So now, he’s the defensive coordinator, and he gave me an opportunity. He didn’t hesitate when Donald Dykes or one of the other corners got hurt — he put me right in there. He gave me a chance to start and contribute more to the team. + 0 & ( " 3 % * We were driving in one time — Billy Hampton and I — and we used to come in Northern State Parkway, and we were going by where the horse barracks are. We’re getting ready to play Houston with [Ken] Stabler at quarterback. We picked up some horseshit at the stables, and they usually put the names up on the lockers, if they practice Saturday for a Sunday game. So we got to Stabler’s locker, and we pour the horseshit over. And then we sweep it up before he comes. So I’m going out for pre-game warm-ups, and there’s Stabler sitting in the hallway, dressing. I said, “Kenny, what’s going on? What are you doing?” He says, “It smells like horseshit in there!” And this was Shea — our locker room was terrible, never mind the opponent’s. And I said, “Okay, Kenny, you better be careful — that wind, you’ll throw it in one corner of the end zone, and it will end up in the other.” We got nine sacks — we worked him beautifully. [The Jets won the game against the Houston Oilers, 33–17.] That’s what started the Sack Exchange. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 Against the Houston Oilers, I used to have some of my best games. Kenny Stabler was a left-handed quarterback, so I’d always blindside him.
114
THE SACK EXCHANGE
+ 0 & , -& $ , 0 When Mark [Gastineau] and Marty [Lyons] came in, there were a lot of expectations — both of them being drafted high like that, as defensive linemen. We started playing better together, and in ’81, it came to a head. We became something that people had to think about. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 The locker room changed. The whole mentality of the guys — they began to care about each other. Everybody was working and had a common goal. 8" -5 . * $ ) "& -4 It was just the kind of thing that fell right in place. The good part is we had Klecko and Gastineau in the right position — where they had more freedom to get to the quarterback. And of course, if you’re freed up from the inside to double these guys on the outside, people like Marty Lyons — who were not that gifted to be out at the end — Abdul Salaam . . . but they could play the inside and cover everything. They were kind of “the cleanup men” after the first two outside guys did things. They were what I considered in perfect positions. ' 3 " / , 3 " . 04 The fact is they were sort of handpicked for various things that they did. Walt had seen Klecko play at Temple [University], when he was with the Philadelphia Eagles. Klecko was really an unheard of — as far as the media goes, or the scouts. But Walt saw in him this ability to rush the passer. At first, Joe was playing inside at tackle, before he went to defensive end. And he knew he had a solid defender in Marty Lyons, who was a good inside player — a stopthe-run player. That was the same role they got out of Abdul Salaam. And Mark Gastineau turned out to be a really solid pick. While those guys weren’t productive in their first year, very few rookies get very many sacks in the NFL. History will show that. I think you will see when it comes time around the draft, people talk about how somebody was productive in college, and now they’re going to do the same. Well, they haven’t gone up against these linemen that are so much bigger than they are — at least at that time. When Lyons and Gastineau first got there, they only weighed, like, 245 pounds. These weren’t big players. I think Gastineau only had one or two sacks as a rookie, and the same as Marty Lyons. But they became an outstanding group, and could really put the pressure on opposing quarterbacks. And they were very able in stopping the run. It became a real feared defense.
115
SACK EXCHANGE
. " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 There’s two theories on “The Sack Exchange” name. One was [that] Pepper Burruss — who was a trainer with the Jets — came up with the name. And there was another theory that some guy out here on Long Island came up with it, and we just adopted it and never game him credit for it. 1& 1 1 & 3 # 6 3 3 644 For our New England game [on October 11, 1981] I think we had eight sacks. We had played a few home games. I recall being on that bench that was on the east side of the stadium — with the horseshoe out to your right — and just up over my shoulder, looking around the stadium, somebody held up a sign with black lettering. I don’t totally recall if it said “Sack Exchange” or “New York Sack Exchange,” but it was one of those things that touches a chord. Driving to work one day, listening to Newsradio 88, and how they would have a little something about the business day — stock report or whatever — “The New York Stock Exchange is up this,” or “The Dow is up that,” and “NASDAQ is that” and “Losers and gainers.” It just struck something with me, and I started chuckling. I got to work that day, and my first thing I wrote was — this was post– New England with eight sacks — “It was a big market day on the New York Sack Exchange, with the big board average up eight to twenty-five. Last year’s close was at twenty-eight, winners outpaced losers eight to three, with the big board volume leaders, Klecko International, up three and a half to eight, followed by Gastineau Theatrics up two and a half to six and a half. On the Amex opponent board, the average gained three on moderate trading to fourteen, the last big day for the Amex was 9/13, when the gain was four, led by the Bengal Stripes.” We made four or five copies of that, threw it around the training room, and I kind of named each of the guys according to something that sounded like some business. Joe was into trucking, so it was “Klecko International.” It shouldn’t shock you that it would be “Gastineau Theatrics.” “Lyons Loonies,” and I named “Salaam Hats,” because Abdul always wore that characteristic kind of military black hat. And “Schroy Consolidated,” “Buttle Restaurants,” “Crosby Company,” and “Ray Interception” — because Darrol Ray had a few nice interceptions. Those were my “companies.” And I think even went on to say this particular time, “A new offering on the big board is ‘Long Beach Rudolph,’ at one half,” because [Ben Rudolph] had half a sack. So the next week, when I wrote the Sack Exchange . . . it wasn’t called that, it was still called the Business Day, I put down, “It was a down day for the Sack Exchange, with losers outpacing winners two to one at the final bell,” because 116
THE SACK EXCHANGE
we had one sack, Buffalo had two. And these things just started to take off. They got a little more detailed. They went from two paragraphs to three paragraphs to four paragraphs. And all of a sudden, these things got popular, and the rest is history. I don’t remember doing interviews and things of that nature. But back then, you could be out on the field, standing next to Larry Fox, or Steve Serby, or whoever, and, “Hey Pepper, how did you do this and that?” Not once did I ever say, “I dreamt up this name.” If anybody ever asked me, I said, “I saw a sign.” + 0 & ( " 3 % * The true story is I’m at my desk. Pepper Burruss came up to my desk, and says, “Do you have a problem with me posting this cartoon caricature?” I looked at it. We started 0–3, and then we had nine sacks against Stabler, and that’s what started it. And one of the things we did was blitz a lot — with linebackers, and safeties, and corners. So when Pepper came into me, he said, “This friend of mine who works on Wall Street — at the Stock Exchange — came up with this cartoon caricature.” And it was the New York Sack Exchange. It had all the names of the guys who made sacks. So the original Sack Exchange that he posted on the bulletin board — I gave him permission — was everybody that had a sack. Not just the front-four. But the media turned it into the front-four. That’s the true story — Pepper doesn’t even remember it that way. But see, I’m probably the only one — including Pepper — that doesn’t drink! So I remember that story like it was yesterday. We put that cartoon caricature on the back bulletin board, and the media then turned it into just the front-four. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 Whichever way it came about, it was a special moment in my twelve-year playing career with the Jets because a lot of credit went to the frontfour. And a lot of that credit should have been to the two guys on the outside. When you have Mark [Gastineau] and Joe [Klecko] — they had over twenty sacks apiece — getting to the quarterback, y’know, we had a special bond with the front-four. Abdul and I knew what we had to do. If Joe looked at me and gave me the nod, I knew he was taking the inside rush on the tackle. And no matter what I planned on doing, I had to divert and take the outside containment, which always seemed to work, because if Joe didn’t get the sack, he was going to flush the guy, and if I was doing what I was supposed to do, then I’d get the sack. If Joe was taking the outside, then Abdul and I knew that we had to contain the three people — the center and the two guards — so they could only have one back in 117
SACK EXCHANGE
the backfield, and they can’t pick up both Mark and Joe. They can’t double-team both of the defensive ends. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 Marty Lyons and Abdul [Salaam] were in the inside — if it hadn’t have been for them, Joe [Klecko] and I would have never tallied up all those sacks. They knew they couldn’t run in the middle, and Joe and I just kind of had free rein on the outside. 3" / % : 3 " 4 . 6 44&/ I remember Marty, and he wasn’t that big — he only weighed about 250 pounds. We kind of beat him up in the preseason [of Marty’s rookie year], and boy, he put some weight on and got stronger. He really became a football player. "# % 6 - 4 " -" " . Marty is a very intelligent player. He’s a student of the game. He’s rock solid. That was a great pairing up — with Joe’s personality. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : Marty was a past roommate, and we’re still best friends. Coming from a Bear Bryant system, you could tell right from day one that he was going to be a great player — and he was. He had one heck of a career because of it. One thing about Marty, he never stopped until the whistle blew. A lot of times, if I’m hanging on to some running back, the guy that usually pushed the whole pile over would be Marty. Just coming like a locomotive. I admired him for that. -"/$&.&)- After a game, you knew he gave you everything he had. And like I said, I think he got better every year — he got bigger and smarter as the games went along. Playing with Joe I think was critical in making Marty a much better player, too, because Marty got more knowledgeable about defenses and why we were running defenses, and how to attack people. And they fed off each other — and Abdul. I just think it made everybody better. #0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8 &3 I watched Marty have some hellacious games. Lyons was a hell of a defensive lineman. Marty had good technique — good in short yardage situations. Got a good push up the middle. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 Great technique — great technician. We get along a lot better now than we did. 118
THE SACK EXCHANGE
+ 0 & ( " 3 % * He used to have some good battles against the New England Patriots’ guard, John Hannah. 4 $ 0 55 % * & 3 ,*/( Marty was another “hole-plugger,” if you will. With him and Abdul in there, nobody tore us up inside. He was a great guy to have in the pits. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 Marty was “old dependable.” Him and I hung out a lot. Marty and I became very good friends — and still are. Just like Abdul was in the middle — that force to be reckoned with — you could always count on Marty breaking a table or two before the game to get everybody fired up. He’d dream up all kinds of stuff — he broke a table one time, broke a radio. He was always doing something crazy. Something got broke — always. He was an emotional leader, he was a verbal leader, and really, a very good football player. + 0 & ( " 3 % * The unknown guy for the Sack Exchange was Abdul. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ I just remember the two ends got all the publicity, but the guy who really held that unit together was Abdul Salaam — because they had to double- and sometimes triple-team him. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 [Abdul Salaam] is so underrated, it’s pathetic. When you talk about the Sack Exchange, you do not hear much about him — if anything at all. He was the anchor, and I bet you those guys up front would tell you that. He was the one that was creating the double teams, and freeing those guys up, so they could do their thing on the outside. Abdul was strong, but quiet — he’d go to work every day and not say a thing. This guy would scare you just looking at him, but the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 Good guy — one of my closer friends on the team. He had my back. He let me know what was going on. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1&3 It was almost like Abdul enabled everybody to do what they did. Like, for Greg Buttle and Mark Gastineau, Greg enabled Mark to do a lot of what he did because Greg backed Mark up. All Mark would really have to do — even when he wasn’t supposed to — was rush the quarterback. Abdul Salaam 119
SACK EXCHANGE
was the same thing — he clogged it up, and everybody else was able to do what they had to do. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : We always used to call him “The Gentleman.” He was one of those guys that just blossomed within the third or fourth year of his career. He was big as a house. A lot of times, he was getting double-teamed because Mark was taking himself out of a play. And Abdul would always fight through it. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 “The Silent One.” You take all of Mark’s and my success, if it wasn’t for Abdul and Marty inside, we wouldn’t have been able to have that. Because those guys were “stay at home” guys, and you had to worry so much about them on the run. + 0 & ( " 3 % * Abdul was just a great kid to coach. Abdul was a great run-stopper, yet Mark and Joe were so tenacious coming off the corner, that a lot of the sacks by those guys were because they forced them to go up the middle — the quarterbacks. And they fell into a lot of sacks. Not that they were poor pass-rushers — certainly, they weren’t equivalent to Mark and Joe. And Abdul was steadfast — he never got hurt. Just a good team player. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 Abdul I remember a lot by Larry Faulk. He was one of those guys where during the week, he was 290, but he played at, like, 320. He was brutally, naturally strong. He wasn’t big into the weight-lifting, but he was so strong that if he really didn’t want to get moved, you just didn’t move him. - " / $ & . & ) - I remember about Abdul, he had this funny laugh. When everybody would be doing their pep talks before the game, Marty would be breaking stuff, and Abdul would just do that goofy laugh of his, “He, he, he. Let’s ‘blank’ them up!” He was immovable — he was tough. And he had his share of good pass-rushes, too. (3 & ( # 6 55-& Abdul had his feet on the ground, he worked hard, and he was as good a team player as any I’ve been around. He was all about what he could do to help the team. He played defensive tackle in front of me, and if he had to grab somebody and punch them in the face for me — he’d do it. And we all loved his pre-game speeches because it was so different than anybody getting 120
THE SACK EXCHANGE
up, cursing, and yelling. He’d say [in a calm, soft voice], “We have to do it the right way.” Because of his religion — the Muslim religion — it was all about going out there, and being a sportsman, and all that kind of nonsense. A little different than Marty Lyons getting up and giving a speech because they only know four-letter words in Alabama. " # % 6 - 4 " -" " . As always, when you’re dealing with a situation — you’re going to “war” each and every week with the New York Sack Exchange — we were able to bring about a certain degree of peace and bring about a certain degree of intimidation. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 When one would worry about me, Joe would get a sack, and when they’d start worrying about Joe, I’d get the sack. At the time, you’re making all those sacks and you’re just having a great time — you think that everything is that way. But then you find out years later that not too many people in the world have even done that. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 Everybody had a different personality. Joe was a blue-collar worker. Abdul, he was like the peacemaker between everybody. If there was controversy brewing between all the personalities, Abdul was the peacemaker. He was working both sides of the fence. Of course, Mark had more god given tools than any one of us. He had speed, size, and he could get to the quarterback. And when he got to the quarterback, that’s when he was doing his sack dance. He was a unique individual. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / They were four very different types of guys. Joe was just a real old-school, tough guy — an overachiever, worked hard. He was the leader of that locker room — not even a question. Had the respect of everybody in that room. Marty was just great — a really emotional guy. He was more or less the emotional pulse of that line. He was “the scream and holler and emotional guy” — would fire guys up. The equipment guys could tell you about things he would pick up and break prior to a game. Abdul was quiet. It was almost hard to imagine that he was an aggressive football player — he was just a real gentleman type of guy. Real respected. And Mark was Mark — that could be a book in itself! 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % Klecko was the leader of it, and Gastineau was “the wild child” 121
SACK EXCHANGE
of the group. You had Marty and Abdul on the inside, and then you had Joe — who was just a bull-rusher — and you had all the speed in Gastineau. They were fun to watch. I would not want to be a quarterback and go against those guys. Joe was a good friend — if you were ever in a fight, you wanted Joe . . . in a heartbeat [laughs]. 4$ 0 55% * & 3 , * / ( Klecko started playing well, and then with Marty Lyons and Mark Gastineau, all of a sudden, we just had this ferocious front-seven. My rookie year, there would never be anybody out at practice watching. Then — when that defense started playing better and the offense started scoring a lot of points when Wesley got hot — all of a sudden there was a buzz in New York. We were the team everybody was talking about. That was a lot of fun. + 0 & ( " 3 % * Some members of the team credited me for creating the monster of Mark Gastineau and his stance, which really wasn’t true. I had nothing to do with it. But I knew this — the year before, do you know how many sacks the front-four had? Eighteen. So what was the difference? How can the same frontfour go from eighteen to sixty-six? Well, the difference is the coverage. Buddy Ryan had called me — he was just starting in Chicago, and wanted to know if I could send him that Sack Exchange film at the end of the year. I asked Walt, because Walt coached with him on the Championship Jets team, and Walt said, “No!” But if you look at the tape — which I’ve certainly studied time and time again — most of those sacks were coverage-related. You could see the quarterback looking and pumping. So that change in our secondary was probably as much a factor as the front-four, who did a great job. I mean, I loved them and think they were one of the best pass-rushing front-fours ever. (3 & ( # 6 55-& As much as Gastineau and Klecko were wonderful passrushers, they both did it a different way. Mark did it with more speed and leverage, and Klecko did it with more strength and leverage. But they both got to the quarterback. 3" / % : 3 " 4 . 644&/ Klecko and Gastineau — my god, those two guys. Klecko was incredibly strong, but more than being strong, he knew how to use it on you. People ask me, “Who was the toughest guy you had to play against?” And I say, “Hell, that’s real easy — all I had to do was practice against him, I didn’t have to play 122
THE SACK EXCHANGE
a whole game against him — that’s Klecko.” He was phenomenal. And then once in a while, I’d sneak out and try to play tackle and block Gastineau . . . my goodness. Where did this kid come from? He was fast, strong. I was kind of glad I was getting out of football because I didn’t know about handling people like that all day! + 0 & ( " 3 % * Two entirely different players. The competition was just unbelievable between the two of them. One had two, the next week, the other guy had to get three. I don’t know what they wound up with. Speed versus strength. Only god knew what Mark was into — every summer he came back with a different system. Like, one year, I think he had a “stomach guru,” and all the strength was the stomach. And the next year, it was something else. Mark could run, and I’m telling you, I clocked Randy White at 4.45 in Maryland. When I was with the Jets, the same thing with Mark — I clocked him at 4.45. Joe could run, but Joe’s thing was his quickness and get-off at the line of scrimmage. I don’t know of anyone who was as good and quick as Joe off the line of scrimmage. I think Joe’s forte was his power rush — he was so strong. In those days, we were lifting weights, but it wasn’t like it was today. Joe was one of “the weight-lifters.” He did a great job in the weight room. Again, I don’t know what Gastineau did — no one does. But every summer, he’d come back with a different thing. So Mark was speed. Joe could run, but he was more a strength/ power-rush-type guy. They accused Mark of not being any good against the run — whereas Joe was. And certainly, Marty and Abdul were great against the run. When they got sacks, it was more they were running away from Joe and Mark, and Abdul and Marty would fall into sacks. But they were great run-stoppers. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 I’ll tell you, it made our offensive line better because we were practicing against them every day. Those four guys . . . you loved it because you didn’t have to play against them on Sunday. All you had to do was practice against them — and practice doesn’t count. They were a tough group — all of them. Miami had a good rush, but nobody had a rush like them. Nobody had a rush like the New York Sack Exchange — they could get you in so many ways. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % Man, we made that defensive line. Our offensive line, listen, we fought every day at practice. Me and Joe Klecko fought every day at practice — our first couple of years. The third year, we kind of cooled it out. But they were good because we made them good — you can quote me on that. Mark Gastineau 123
SACK EXCHANGE
was good because he played against Marvin Powell every day. Joe Klecko was good because he had to face me every day. The Sack Exchange was good because there wasn’t a better offensive line that they could find in the NFL — other than what we had. They faced the best tandem that they were going to face any time in the league all year long — every damn practice. So when they got a chance to play in the games, they were like, “Oh, this is a piece of cake.” Klecko was a good player. So was Mark Gastineau. But we polished them, baby — we made them ready. When they got against some other teams, they were like, “We’re going to have fun because these guys aren’t nearly as good as what we’re playing against every day.” + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 We had a great four guys in the secondary. Darrol Ray made a bunch of big plays. Kenny Schroy was a hard-nosed, strong safety — he’d knock you out. And then Bo Jack, probably the most athletic of anybody back there — he kind of helped me because I had never played corner before in my life. He was, like, my mentor on how to play corner. And then we have my man Johnnie Lynn coming off the bench — he was the nickelback at the time, and a coach for a 49ers now. He was always full of energy — “Come on y’all, let’s go! Third down y’all, we’re going to get out of here — let’s go!” And Lance Mehl — I played right corner, and Lance with that outside linebacker, I could always count on Lance. If we’re playing zone, Lance would be taking care of the flat and forcing the run. But the friendship was off the field also with those guys in the secondary. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0 / I felt they never gave the secondary any credit at all, for the coverage that we had behind them. We had a great secondary — we had a lot of interceptions, we made the quarterback hold onto the ball longer than he wanted to and double pump. They didn’t just run over guys and get back there and sack them. I tell Mark, “I never hear you talk about us when you’re up there in the spotlight. At least shine some light on us, just to say how good we are.” Even to this day, I’ve never heard either one of them say how good the secondary was. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": I remember being a beneficiary of lots of easy defensive back reads. I remember dropping back, and Billy Bear was a coach at the time, and him telling me, “If everything is coordinated and your pass-rush is coordinated with your coverage, that quarterback is going to have two seconds to figure out where he’s going with the ball.” Looking back, I would see Klecko throw his 124
THE SACK EXCHANGE
guy to the ground, and he had a free run to the quarterback, or I’d see Abdul plugging it up, and they’d run a stunt, and here would come Marty around the corner, and before you knew it, that quarterback was already getting “happy feet.” That makes it real simple to know that he’s not going to pump fake and go long, or scan the field if you’ve got that kind of pressure. Things started becoming really easy to see once those guys started taking off. 4 5& 7 & ( 3 0 ( " / They definitely became a solid defensive team, and very competitive in that division. They were one of the better defenses — in our division, particularly. I think probably better than Miami and Buffalo. + 0 & ' & 3 ( 6 4 0 / With Gastineau, [the Buffalo Bills] would always try and put a tight end on his side — as best we could to slow him down — to give him a wider angle. Because our left tackle was not the most agile athlete as these guys are today. Or we would try to chip in with a back coming out of the backfield to try and slow him down. And then with Klecko, you just had to turn him over to the linemen because you had to double-team him most of the time. He was an outstanding player. I admired both of those guys because they played hard all the time. Klecko played more inside — in the trenches — and Gastineau was more of just an outside rusher. But a good guy — he would knock the heck out of you, and then help you up. He did his dance and all that, but he was still a good football player. A very talented player. . "55 3 0 # * / 40/ Obviously, that was the group that you had to take a look at — how were you going to handle those guys up front [in] order to be successful? So that was the real focus. We had Conrad Dobler on our defensive line [for the Bills] — with great experience. And so he had his input. But Chuck Knox was a conservative guy, and felt like he had to run the football in order to control the football game. So that was the mentality of the team. There were animosities — I think the AFC East at that point, anybody that you lined up against — there was a lot of animosity. The Bills and the Dolphins was a real knock-down-drag-out constantly, and the Bills and the Jets was — being so close to each other. It was one of those things that, at that point, was one of the most recognized divisions in football. Every team in the AFC East had a rivalry with each other, and it was very physical all the time.
125
SACK EXCHANGE
" + % 6 ) & They were pretty dominant. Obviously, Klecko and Gastineau were the two leading forces in that foursome. Marty Lyons was a key role in it, and Abdul Salaam. The four of them do some pretty good things. But our offensive line always seemed to control them. It seemed like almost every time [the Dolphins] played the Jets, a game ball would go to one of our offensive linemen. I played eight years in the league, and we played them once in the playoffs, so that was seventeen times we played them during my career. I would say of the seventeen times, a game ball went to an offensive lineman half of those times, at least. Y’know, “Let’s give the game ball to Jon Giesler for shutting out Gastineau,” or “Let’s give it to Dwight Stephenson for doing such and such.” #0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8 &3 What I remember about the Sack Exchange was [that] the guys in the middle — especially Klecko and Lyons — were the heart and soul of that. That gave Mark [Gastineau] the ability to rush upfield like he did. That was Mark’s strength — that good, strong, hard, upfield rush. But without that play in the middle . . . I’m telling you, they were tough. Klecko is a good buddy of mine. Marty Lyons was my roommate in college my senior year — he was a sophomore. I’m a defensive lineman, so I’m critiquing them all the time. And that might have been for a while the two best tackles in the game in the middle. Abdul Salaam was a good player — we called him “Abdul Salaami.” He was a heck of a player. The other thing was that Klecko was one of the few guys who had enough quickness and speed — he could get up there on the defensive end and be a real effective pass-rusher as well. Klecko could play defensive end as well as anybody. And he was as strong as an ox. Marty was, too — talk to John Hannah about Marty Lyons. He thinks Marty was one of the toughest guys he ever played against. Another Alabama guy. " + % 6 ) & The way that Gastineau and Klecko played the game [had] a big impact on the league. They set things in motion on the fact that you could be a dominant team with some great pass-rushers. Having a couple of them. Don’t get me wrong, there was “Too Tall” Jones, there was Bubba Smith, there was Merlin Olsen. There’s some history behind great defensive linemen/pass-rushers that take over the game. But they had two guys that could take over the game. '3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 After the fame spread about the New York Sack Exchange, Sports 126
THE SACK EXCHANGE
Illustrated came to us — I think Paul Zimmerman was going to write an article about them. So we set this up at the Stock Exchange, and went down there. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / The biggest thing that stands out for me with those guys in ’81 was when we decided to take a poster of them on the floor of the Stock Exchange — which is an all-time classic picture for those who are Jets fans. I’m the guy who went down to the city with them to take that shot. It was incredible. We had gone to the Stock Exchange maybe a week earlier — just to make an appearance. Maybe to ring the bell — it’s so long ago I don’t remember. But what I do remember is when we walked into the building . . . I said, “Oh my god.” These four guys, you’re with them every day — you don’t realize how big they are. But when they’re walking around in an environment like that, they were huge. And the floor of the Stock Exchange, it came basically to a halt. You had thousands of brokers chanting, “DEFENSE!” The players were just basking in all that. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 When we turned the corner at Wall Street, we’d seen all those people down there, [and] we were flabbergasted about how many people could turn up for an event. We were just a bunch of young kids at that time, and to see all these people turn out for us, it was phenomenal. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 I didn’t know it was going to be that big of a deal — I was in my boots! The Stock Exchange, when we went down there, the floor stopped trading — that was a big thing. Looking back on things like that now, you see it, and you say, “Wow.” But I was probably irritated because we had to take pictures, and I wasn’t training [laughs]. To play at that level, you have to be on top of your game. It’s like a fine-tuned car — you have to keep it in top shape. When I remember we went up there, the floor just went nuts. You can’t forget those times. " # % 6 -4 " -" ". It’s always great going into the city. But the first time we were going into the New York Stock Exchange, they rolled out the red carpet. It was very exciting. Just to be there, and to be associated with it by name. It stopped world trading! How humbled can you be? . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 Whether it was a minute or three minutes, there was no trading because all the brokers came over and gave us such a warm welcome. When you look back on it now . . . you appreciate it then, but you really appreciate it years 127
SACK EXCHANGE
after the fact. It was on a Tuesday — which was our day off. We took a limo in, we pulled around onto Wall Street, and there were thousands of people waiting on us. We got out of the limo, and the first picture we took was right outside the doors. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / And then we took the poster I think a week later down there. I believe that the poster was supposed to be sponsored by Keds. And I remember Sports Illustrated potentially becoming involved with that. But the plan was, “Let’s take a picture of the four guys in full uniform on the floor of the Stock Exchange” — obviously playing off the Sack Exchange. Went into the city one night after the Stock Exchange was closed. It was definitely a Sports Illustrated photographer that took the picture. I remember we went to the Palm for dinner first, and the quantities of food . . . we were sitting there with the Sports Illustrated photographer, the four players, and myself. I’ve never in my life seen so much food eaten at one table. The portions — the size of food was enormous. It was a lot of fun. These guys were a lot of fun to be with. And then we took the poster late at night. We took it pretty quick. Wherever these guys went, these guys were major stars in this town at that point. The Parcells’ Jets of ’98 . . . I don’t know if those guys would have gotten the same attention walking in the streets of Manhattan as these guys did. These guys were major stars in the city. At the time, L.T. — who was a great player — was playing in his early years with the Giants. I don’t know if he would have caused the stir that early in his career walking in Manhattan. These guys transcended football — if you weren’t a Jets fan or you weren’t a football fan, you still knew who the Sack Exchange were. Between Joe and Mark, I don’t think either one of them could walk anywhere without being recognized. For sure, these guys were major sports stars in this town. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 When it first started, it was supposed to be Mark and I. And then I said to them, “I’m not going to do it unless we’re all four involved.” I don’t think it was as much Mark making a decision one way or the other — it was I that said, “If Marty and Abdul aren’t involved, I’m not going to do it.” ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I’m sure that somebody approached Mark or Joe, and thought of this concept — whether it was going to be called the Sack Exchange at that point or not, I don’t know. But I know for a fact that [Joe said,] “Hey, if you’re going to recognize two of us, you need to recognize four of us — or I’m not going to do 128
ronald c. modra⁄sports imagery⁄getty images
THE SACK EXCHANGE
Iconic: The Sack Exchange at the Stock Exchange, 1981 (L–R: Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons, Abdul Salaam, Mark Gastineau)
it.” So the Sack Exchange quickly grew from two to four, only because you had a team player that wanted to recognize his other teammates. ' 3 " / , 3 " . 04 Mark was a part of the team . . . until maybe all the publicity of the Sack Exchange got out of hand. I think part of it was his agent, Gary Wichard, really wanted Mark to get the primary publicity — rather than the group of four. I was really trying to get the poster done with the four players in the Sack Exchange, and to highlight the four guys on an equal basis — even though the two biggest names were Klecko and Gastineau. But I think Mark was being pulled to have a separate poster of his own. I think that was something that really began pulling them apart. -& / # & 3 . " / There was an edginess that existed, and a lot of that had to do with Gastineau and the Sack Exchange. They were certainly on everybody’s radar. I don’t even know who came up with that phrase. The first time I heard it, I said, “Boy, that’s kind of corny.” But the poster was kind of iconic — of those four guys.
129
SACK EXCHANGE
." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 We’ve been fortunate enough that the Jets have kept the Sack Exchange at the forefront in the history of the Jets. We did an appearance out here on Long Island — it might have been for Steiner Sports or somebody — a guy came up, and I got letters from the guy, saying that he started the name [“the Sack Exchange”], and, rightfully so, he should be given the credit. And, “When will one of us stand up and say that he started it?” If there’s any truth to it, I don’t know. But I do know that over the years I’ve gotten a letter more than once from this individual, saying that he started it. Again, I don’t know where it started. All I know is the fans from New York jumped on it. 1 & 1 1 & 3 # 6 3 3 644 I’ve got a letter here dated September 26, 2003, from Joanne O’Connor, who says, “My husband has been a Suffolk County Police Officer for fifteen years, a Jets fan,” on and on . . . . The interesting thing is it says, “Dan had the pleasure of meeting you at a charity basketball game a few years ago.” And they sent a piece of paper that my autograph is on because I used to run the off-season Jets basketball team. Walt Michaels heard that the guys were playing basketball, and he said, “I’ll be darned if somebody’s going to get hurt. Pepper, you’re going with them!” For a whole ton of years — probably all of the years I was there — I kind of ran the off-season basketball team, and ran into a lot of people. This letter has nothing but nice things to say about me — it doesn’t ever say, “You took credit.” But you can sense this wife’s disappointment that her husband never really got [his] due for naming the New York Sack Exchange. I think that it’s pretty clear in the Jet Report [a Jets fan paper at the time] — I have no idea the date of this Jet Report — but it says, “Name the front-four. Despite the sorry showing of all the Jets so far this season [1980], we’re happy to announce a winner in the Jets Report ‘Name the Front-Four Contest.’ The Jet foursome shall hereafter be known as the New York Sack Exchange. Congratulations to Dan O’Connor from Brooklyn. If the team play of the Jets does not improve, perhaps the name can be changed to the ‘Sad Sack Exchange.’ Honorable mention goes to Jeff Cummins and Dennis Swanton, who both came up with ‘Gang Green’ for a moniker for Joe Klecko, Mark Gastineau, et al. The Editor.” So, this person sent me this page out of the Jet Report, which has my photocopied autograph on it, amongst all the guys’ autographs on it — Darrol Ray, Wesley Walker, Bruce Harper — guys who played on the hoops team. No one ever said, “Our guy Pepper [coined the Sack Exchange].” This thing was kind of 130
THE SACK EXCHANGE
an opened and closed story. It made the Sporting News on December 26,1981. I mean, there was a two-and-a-half-page story in the Sporting News! This thing had legs. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& Today, if those four were playing, they would have a hundred sacks apiece. In our day, most teams ran — it was more of a running game. Today, hell, the Patriots don’t think anything about throwing the ball forty or fifty times a game. So they’d probably be better today than they were then. + 0 & ( " 3 % * The biggest thing we did was Todd stopped turning the ball over in ’81, and our defense was awesome. Our defense was really why we won.
131
17
1 98 1 : PA R T 2
T
he Jets are so hot they nearly catch fire during the second half of the ’81 season, and bring playoff excitement and consistent play back to Shea Stadium. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % We started off 0–3 and then came back and went 10–2–1 after that. It just seems like we got as low as we could go, and then things started clicking. We all started getting confidence. It was the same players that won four games a year before that. The players get confidence and they get going. - & / # & 3 . " / Richard Todd is this mild-mannered quarterback, and I remember him trying to rough up Steve Serby of the New York Post. I remember he threw him into a locker. He was just upset with his reporting on what Todd perceived as negativity. Actually, coincidentally, I had interviewed Todd. I was doing a show at the time on Channel Two, called Sports People — Phil Esposito and I were cohosting the show. And we went and interviewed Richard Todd, not knowing about the Serby incident — it preceded [the interview], the day it happened or the day after. In that interview, Todd went off on this big diatribe about the media and how the media are always trying break him down. The whole thing struck me as odd because his persona was kind of mild-mannered — he certainly wasn’t in any way “a Joe Namath–style” or anybody else. He was just a workmanlike quarterback . . . and going after Serby. '3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 It was an ugly time because the fact is that Richard [Todd] was 132
1981: PART 2
getting upset in the locker room. I didn’t actually see it happen, but I was one of the first people there after it happened. Richard had pushed Steve Serby into the locker. I tried to really get Richard to apologize at the time, but the players loved it that Richard had stood up and sort of “protected” himself from the barbs of Steve. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % You’ve got to understand, at the age I was, I was very immature. I probably didn’t handle a lot of the things like I would now — that’s just part of growing up. But in New York, there’s so many papers, there’s so many angles. There’s so much competition in “the publicity world,” and all the newspapers try to get ahead on somebody. I just think Serby picked his favorite — which was Matt — and he used his forum. It was kind of biased in a way. We just didn’t get along. So I didn’t like him, and I don’t think he liked me. That’s basically the bottom line. [Serby] came up and said some comment about that I wouldn’t talk to him, and then he said something like, “Why don’t you act like a man?” Probably wasn’t any big deal now — but it was back then [laughs]. I kind of pushed him, and he kind of went into a locker. The next day, Serby [said] he was going to sue, and in the Post it said “Todd Hits Our Man.” I came in the locker room the next day, and they had the sketch of a person drawn out by the locker — like at a murder scene [laughs]. It was kind of funny — I got a kick out of that. But the funniest thing was what the judge said when he threw it out of court. He said, “I’m not going to listen to this — this is like your neighbor’s dog going to the bathroom on your yard.” , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : All I saw is Serby in the locker, almost upside down! Steve would never ask me a whole lot because I wouldn’t tell him a whole lot. He’s one of those reporters that likes to push, and push, and push — until he gets what he wants. And I guess Richard just snapped. But we all thought it was pretty comical — to be honest with you. I guess Steve didn’t. It’s just one of those things — stuff like that happens every once in a while. ' 3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 But it got reconciled after a while. I think if you called Steve about it now, he would tell you that Richard was one of his favorite players. I don’t know how often they talk, but they did certainly reconcile over the years. -& / # & 3 . " / So there were moments there, where for lack of a better word, the team was kind of “prickly.” You always have this feeling that teams take things 133
SACK EXCHANGE
from the top — maybe Walt Michaels had something to do with it. There must have been an attitude pervading the team. It’s not that the Giants had great success — they had some pretty lean years — but the Jets always had this persona of being second-class citizens. I guess anything that was perceived as a slight, they went off. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& We had our little “peccadilloes,” I’d say — whether people liked Gastineau or hated Gastineau, people would get mad at the coaches or the players. We had a really strong nucleus and core of football players on that team that were pretty good leaders — to keep things under control, and to understand what you were supposed to do and what was expected of you. 4$ 0 55% * & 3 , * / ( All of a sudden, we started beating some pretty good teams. When you gain the confidence like that, that “Hey, we can play with anybody,” your level of expectations is a lot higher. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % We started getting the confidence and we started clicking. We could have beaten anybody those games, which we did. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : Something about the Miami Dolphins — normally, we had highscoring games that were fun and always came down to the wire. We just always had good competitions. I don’t know if it was because it was Walt Michaels vs. Don Shula, or what it was. I just knew we were always up for that game, and Walt was always up for the challenge. It was always fun to play them. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 6 44&/ That’s the game I remember [November 22, 1981, at Shea Stadium]. And I would agree that that was a turning point. That really set us up to come boiling in at the end of the year. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % Oh, you mean the good Dolphins game? [Laughs] I had broken ribs — I broke my ribs I guess the week before that. I think I had two cracked ribs. 1 "53:" / Richard was hurt coming into that game, and I was hurt. I had blown my ankle out against — I believe it was — New England. We didn’t know if Richard was going to play, and we didn’t know if I could play. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 & : They prepped me all week because it would have been tough 134
1981: PART 2
to bring someone in. Every day, I ran scout team quarterback, but the last time I played in a game [at quarterback] was at Wake Forest. That had been eight years ago. I ran practice the whole week, and they’re trying to modify a game plan with just a few plays and a few audibles that I’d be able to handle — just to get through the game. So here I am, sweating bullets, thinking, “My goodness — I haven’t taken a snap in a game in eight years.” As it turned out, Richard was able to play, but we didn’t know this until a day before — on Saturday at the practice. He couldn’t bark out signals with the broken rib, he could only talk about as loud as I’m talking right now. What they did is, Steve DeBerg was with the San Francisco 49ers — he had laryngitis, and they rigged up a special set of shoulder pads that had a speaker in the back with foam rubber protecting it, and they ran a microphone around his face mask to his mouth. And when Richard would say, “Ready, set,” it would blare it out. San Francisco sent that speaker, and Richard was able to wear it. Richard, thank god, got to use that thing. I was a backup to Richard that day, and every time he got hit, I would grimace and go, “This could be it.” +0 & , -& $ , 0 It was a great game — a tremendous battle. I remember I busted my thumb, and went into the locker room and got it shot up and taped to my hand. They stitched it back together — and I missed about four plays. It was just one of them things. +0 & ( " 3 % * We played Miami so much. . . . I knew when [Don] Shula was going to the men’s room! And we shut them down on the goal line. I called the first play “pinch” on the goal line, and we shut them down. I just had a feeling he was going to try and go outside, and we called “six one outside,” which now, the whole line is slanted out on both sides, and we shut them down. They might have had to settle for a field goal. " # % 6 - 4 " -" " . There was a goal line stand — Tony Nathan was stopped five yards . . . they were on the three yard line, and when I hit him, he was in the backfield. We stopped him at the five yard line, so they had to kick a field goal. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 08 &3 [The Dolphins] were ahead, and all we had to do was stop them. Richard’s hurting, and I remember I got pretty good penetration one time — I don’t know if Joe Fields stepped on his foot or something, but I remember 135
SACK EXCHANGE
like it was yesterday, Richard started hobbling around, and it’s the last drive. We’re just all hoping he’d go out of the game. He didn’t go out of the game — he finished the drive and beat us. We had a lot of games like that. I can remember that like yesterday — I remember Shula being intense, almost like he was out on the field on that last drive. There was just this feeling on that drive that was coming out of the Jets, that, “We’re going to score. There’s nobody that’s going to stop us.” You could feel that out there. And we’re a prideful team — we’ve got a lot of good players. But that game, that sums up the relationship between the two teams for probably five or six years there, where it’s head-to-head, nose-to-nose, tooth-and-nail, knock-down-drag-out. They were always those kind of games. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 I remember getting the ball on the two yard, and just driving down the field. I can remember Shula yelling at Todd — and Todd was yelling at Shula. He just kept driving us down the field — like the perfect two-minute drill. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % We only had a minute and a half left. I remember the first play, we ran a little screen play, and all the fans were booing — like they always did. But then we had a couple of little in-routes, and started getting momentum. It just seemed to me that Jerome was wide open, which he was when I hit him. It was just the right play called at the right time. We actually had Jerome on an option, where if it’s man-to-man, he’s going to break it one way or another, and if it’s zone, he’s going to sit in the middle. I think we were on the fourteen yard line, and he was sitting there in the middle of the end zone — he was wide open. I don’t think anybody was close to him. It was deafening at Shea — it was just really, really loud. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 & : And then Richard throws that pass at the end of the game, and it was like, “Oh thank you, lord!” + 0 & ' * & -% 4 And then when he threw the pass to Jerome Barkum, and Barkum fell in the end zone, it was 15–15. We’re hopping up and down. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6 . First of all, Todd played the most heroic game that I’ve ever seen anyone play — he was playing that day with broken ribs. Prior to that play, we had a drive going, and when you look back at films, I didn’t really run the wrong pattern, I just turned the wrong way on that pattern, and I got corrected 136
1981: PART 2
on it. But even that touchdown, sometimes during the heat of the game, you have to make adjustments, and I actually ran the pattern just a little bit short, but just enough to be over the goal line. Todd cut the ball loose right on point — so it really worked itself out. But I give most of the credit to Todd because had he not thrown that ball where he threw it and how he threw it, who knows — maybe we wouldn’t be talking about this game. It made my job a little bit easier to catch that ball in that situation. It’s kind of like Larry Holmes coming up behind Muhammad Ali. I think anything that might have hung over Todd’s head — trying to fill the shoes of Namath — all of that went out the window on that particular drive that we made. It was one of the most beautiful drives. I often wonder why that never comes up on ESPN — they have these “fourth quarter drives” sometimes on ESPN, and I’m going like, “They never show the Jets!” Because I thought that was a great drive. I give Todd all of the credit for that. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I still see Jerome Barkum making that reception in the end zone — closest to the tunnel that we ran out of. It was one of those special moments where you can’t say, “Well, that one play turned around the season.” But it gave us the confidence that we needed. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 I remember they kept the picture on our highlight film, of Bob Ledbetter and I kind of dancing with each other [laughs]. We took off after that — that’s what it takes. It takes some kind of fuse to turn that dynamite into an effective “weapon,” so to speak. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I remember the stadium rocking — it was crazy. When you’re winning and things are really rock ’n’ rolling, there was nothing like it being at Shea Stadium like that. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 ##"w$"3640 They set bleachers up in the outfield — that thing was lifting off the ground and coming back down. It almost looked like it was going to collapse. I never sat out in that world — no, no, no. I was up in the main house — the mezzanine level. But that whole section was bouncing — I’d never seen it like that. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": Shea Stadium was moving on its foundation. When you look 137
SACK EXCHANGE
back and you see the stadium moving up and down, six to eight inches of solid concrete. . . . I’m telling you, it was not our imagination, that stadium was actually moving — people were stomping. I’m just thinking, “This thing is going to collapse! I know it’s supposed to have a little bit of give.” The stadium actually shook at its foundation. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / & "6 Oh man, wow, what a comeback. There were a lot of fans that had already left, and they were coming back to their seats. That was just an incredible game. And the stands were shaking — you could just see and feel . . . it was just incredible. It was a combination between the fans being so excited, and the comeback, and the way it did. It was just something that gives you cold chills. That’s when it really did turn around. 1 "5 -& " ) : That game was to put us into first place in the division. I remember very specifically everybody was excited and jumping up and down, but I was sitting there going, “Okay . . . I still have to make an extra point to win this game. . . .” + 0 & ' * & -% 4 They had just put the turf down at Shea Stadium over the baseball diamond, and the turf was all tore up. I had to roll the turf up, so I could snap the ball back to the holder for the extra point — to win the game. Because there were chunks up and down, and I didn’t want the ball to hit one of the chunks and go flying somewhere else. I remember that extra point because the grass was just a nightmare — all chunked up. 1 "5 3:" / I have a picture of me hugging Joe Fields after the extra point that decided the game. Because I was the holder — that was all I did that game, was hold for extra points and field goals. + 0 & ( " 3 % * It’s the only time I remember Richard Todd leading a two-minute drill. That was a great win. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": We were moving, the fans got behind us, and it all was working together. The foundation of the AFC East was being moved at that point in time — we became “a player” then. We also got the confidence to know that we could play with a team like the Dolphins, who were Super Bowl winners. They had the Hall of Fame guys and coaches. 138
1981: PART 2
" # % 6 - 4 " -" " . That type of emotion, momentum, and belief grew from there. The fans were just unbelievable. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I thought that’s the game that really cemented that team’s personality. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1&3 We played like champions. We did what we had to do. Look at what Richard Todd did — he got a bad knock, he was a good quarterback. Where was our weakness? Man, we did what we had to do, and we were primed to win the Super Bowl — in my opinion. $ -" 3 , ( " * / &4 I really didn’t get traded in ’80, I got traded in the ’81 season because I rehabbed the whole year. I kind of knew they wanted me out. After the trading deadline of being a veteran player, I had to agree to be put on waivers. They wanted to put me on waivers because they told me they’d like for me to come back. Clearly, there was no possible way I was going to pass through waivers and not get claimed — I’d been a starter for six years, so that’s not going to happen. So of course, that’s a signal then — they would like for you to leave. I’m not one to stay someplace I’m not welcome. Walt called me into his office one day, and said, “You understand what’s going on?” I said, “Yes.” Walt says to me, “I don’t want you to do this.” And I said, “Walt, I understand that. If they don’t want me here, I don’t want to be here.” Walt asked me not to agree to be put on the waiver wire, and I just felt it was time for me to leave. So I got picked up by Kansas City. I had probably worn my welcome out being a union rep, and having some exchanges with Jim Kensil, the president. That wasn’t the only part of it, but that was part of it. At that time, we were headed toward a strike in ’82. Pete Rozelle had put gag rules on a number of the owners, basically saying, “If you speak out or talk to the players about collective bargaining, it’s a $50,000 fine.” And one day, Jim Kensil asked me whether or not I would take the players out on strike, and I said, “Jim, I’m not even going to answer that question because I’m going to save you $50,000.” He wasn’t too happy with my comment. So he pressed, and I finally told him, “Not only would I strike, but I would be the first one outside the gate with a picket sign.” And that’s when — two weeks later — came the request for me to go on waivers.
139
SACK EXCHANGE
3 0 / $ 0 ) & / The way we made the playoffs was probably one of the most exciting days at Shea — if you talk about Jets football games at Shea — when we played the Packers [on December 20, 1981]. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w $"3640 I did something I never should have done, and I never did again. In the pre-game warm-ups, I threw an empty bottle at Lynn Dickey, and I hit him in the shoulder pad. I’m not proud of it, but it’s what I did. We came all the way down by the rail — we were cursing at them all. Cursing at James Lofton, Lynn Dickey — everybody. We didn’t like them — we wanted to get into the playoffs. So I whipped an empty bottle — I didn’t think I was going to hit him, I got no arm. But it grazed him off the shoulder pad. He turned around at us so mad, but we were like a raving bunch of maniacs. Security was not like what it is today. If I did that today, I’d be arrested — and rightfully so. But back in the day, the cops wanted nothing to do with anybody — who needs this shit in their lives? And me and my friends were like, “Wow, did you see the look on the Packers’ faces? They want nothing to do with this place.” They really didn’t. It wasn’t the cold — these guys play in the cold all the time. The crowd was insane. I remember before every game we would moon the opposing team out in the parking lot! Apparently, that’s a Green Bay tradition — that’s what I found out not too long ago. The Packers fans started that — when you pull up to play the Packers, and you’re the opposing team in the parking lot, people moon the bus. So we started doing that to other teams. Why not? + 0 & , -& $ , 0 I remember it was freezing cold . . . and poor Lynn Dickey! We got to the stadium, and I know Green Bay’s a cold place, but I’ll tell you what, I don’t think they were going anywhere and I don’t think they wanted to play. It was freezing that day. We had to win it to get in, and I remember we beat poor Lynn Dickey to death. He heard footsteps [and] before long he was ducking and running. We dominated the game. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 Freezing cold, frozen field. A matter of fact, Bart Starr said it was the coldest game he’d [been part of]. It was the wind. The field was frozen and icy and I actually wore sneakers because they were as good a grip as anything on the icy field. But the wind was just absolutely brutal. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I think the first play of the game, Gastineau or Klecko — I forget 140
1981: PART 2
which one — sacked Lynn Dickey, and you said, “Okay, we’re going to be okay today.” Richard Todd throws a bomb to Lam Jones — he catches it and it’s a touchdown. And then Wesley Walker catches a bomb. It was like a celebration for Jets fans. The team had gone through this incredibly long drought of not being in the playoffs, and now, the team is going to be in the playoffs. " # % 6 -4 " -" " . We totally shut down the run, and the sacks were just pouring in. It was unbelievable. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 We had nine sacks. When you had the Sack Exchange, it wasn’t, “Well, we’ve got to get to the quarterback.” It was, “Okay, how many times are we going to get there?” I think Lynn Dickey had more knee braces and elbow braces — at that point in his career. He lost a lot of his mobility. So we knew exactly right where the quarterback was going to be — he was going to be between the two guards. So all we had to do was collapse the pocket on him. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 I didn’t have any sacks that game [laughs]. But Joe, Marty, and Abdul all were sacking. I got frustrated, but the thing about it was it didn’t matter about me — the team won. It was a great win. 1 "53:" / The thing I mostly remember about that game is that our front-four absolutely beat the hell out of Lynn Dickey. I remember Klecko picking up an offensive tackle and [he] just bull-rushed him, and dropped him on his head — didn’t even slow down, just running right through to the quarterback. And then one time, Gastineau and Klecko both just about killed each other — they hit him at the same time. I’m surprised he made it out of that game. They just beat the hell out of him. 8" -5 . * $ ) " &-4 That’s when I think guys like Gastineau and Klecko really came into their own. They now knew how to play with each other. And you can do this with games — because we did this back in Cleveland — it’s not in the game plan necessarily, but suddenly somebody’s giving something away, and they can take advantage and do some things. The only thing I ever told them was, “If you’re going to deviate, you better darn well make the tackle or throw them for a loss.” And they were capable of doing things — I think it was a matter 141
SACK EXCHANGE
of them learning how to play football professionally, and what is expected to play like champions. They were playing like champions at that stage. When the four guys up there learn to play together as champions, you’ve got a team that’s tough and a mental approach — you’re going to have to do a lot of things if you ever want to beat them. + 0 & ( " 3 % * A lot of people don’t know this, but Walt pulled out the Sack Exchange the last game against Green Bay at Shea Stadium. I think it was out of respect for Bart Starr — who was the head coach of Green Bay. We already had nine sacks, and the place was rocking — “DEFENSE! DEFENSE!” And I often thought, well, here it was nice to get the record with sixty-six. But the way we were going that day, we could have had seventy. And of course, it put us in the playoffs. I remember that I knew somebody on the Packers’ staff, so I was talking to them. And Marty was all upset because I was talking to “the enemy.” The players were the worst at socializing with the enemy because they had all their buddies — teammates from college. But I got a kick out of that. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 But to come away with nine sacks to end the season, to make it to the playoffs, to have the goalposts torn down, and have the fans out on the field . . . we weren’t number one at that point, but I’m sure a lot of us put up our fingers as if we were number one. "# % 6 - 4 " -" " . They were tearing down the goalposts, but hey, how are you going to stop a mob? [Laughs.] + 0 & , -& $ , 0 That was kind of cool — they all went nuts. That was the first time the Jets were in the playoffs since ’69, so it was a pretty big deal. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # # "w $"3640 We tore Shea apart. We loved Shea. My friend, Mickey Griffiths, fell down, and I cleared a path to get him standing up again. Then some kid with a Jets bandana wrapped around his head said, “Hey, give me a boost!” So me and Mickey lifted him up — we put him right on the crossbar of the goalpost, while everyone was tugging it. This kid sat on the crossbar with two fingers straight up — he’s the one that made SportsCenter, god bless him. And we tore down the goalpost, and then somebody screamed, “Let’s get the 142
1981: PART 2
other one!” And then the cops were trying to disperse us all. They tore my jacket — one of them grabbed me. He told me he was sorry! He was like, “All right, all you guys, everybody — out!” And they marched us out through center field — they opened part of the wall. But not before we grabbed bunches of turf — loads of grass. We had so much of it that we had a “turf fight.” So when we were going up the stairs to the seven Train, one of my friends grabbed my pants, and dropped a load of turf down my drawers. All my friends were laughing at me. When I got to the platform, I declared that I had to take a dump, and dropped trou, and let this thing plop right to the floor [laughs]. Oh, the people on the subway that weren’t part of the game . . . I picked up my pants and everybody was going nuts. I just screamed, “Oh, what a relief!” And then we heard some guy say to somebody else, “Wow, he didn’t even wipe.” - & / # & 3 . " / If I’m not mistaken, the Giants also turned it around and were in the playoffs that year. That’s what I remember the most — that they both were there. They had both been through some tough times, and they both were there. ' 3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 New York fans had had their fill of both teams not playing well for a long period of time — there was tremendous excitement. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 Well, it was extra money [laughs]. It was great. I mean, who doesn’t want to go to the playoffs? I couldn’t believe that we were doing it.
143
18
1 98 1 P L AYO F F S: WI L D C A R D
T
he Jets’ first playoff appearance in over ten years appears to be a fiasco early on, but a storming comeback whips the crowd into a frenzy.
.* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -& 3 I thought we were just going to destroy Buffalo. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : Not having a playoff game for a long time, the fans were absolutely crazy. And loud. It was just a great atmosphere to be in. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 Walt had been there before. With being a former player and a coach on the Super Bowl team in 1969, I don’t think Walt ever got too high, and I don’t think he got too low. He got mad when you lost — there was no doubt about that — and he expressed that. But I think he expected us to bring “the A game” every single week. 1 "5 3:" / You’re playing Buffalo and Joe Ferguson — you never know what’s going to happen. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 & 3 Do you remember how that game started off ? ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 The first play, Bruce Harper fumbled the opening kickoff. And they take it back and score. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 Hey man . . . that was bad. I was pumped up — it was just 144
1 9 8 1 P L AY O F F S : W I L D C A R D
this little fluke thing that happened. The guy — unintentionally, even — when he wrapped his arms around me to tackle me, he hit the ball, and the ball just popped out of my hands. It was really sad because it was the first time the Jets were in the playoffs since the “Super Bowl era” — everybody was fired up and the stadium was rockin’. We were pumped. I got the opening kickoff, everybody was yelling, I fumbled the kickoff, they picked it up, and they ran it into the end zone for a touchdown. The stadium went silent — they were stunned. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 - &3 I hear everybody screaming — I’m figuring Bruce is running for a touchdown because I made my block. He dropped the kickoff, and they picked it up and ran it into the end zone. It just started to go downhill from there. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 After that play, I ran off the field, and stood in front of Coach Michaels. Basically, I was saying, “Okay — if you have to yell at me, go ahead and yell at me. Because I’m ready to play football — I feel good. So get it over with, and let’s move on to the next thing.” I was ready to play, but I felt that they thought I was nervous because they didn’t give me many opportunities to redeem myself. I was very mad at that. I felt they just took me out of the game, and I felt really great. I played, but they did not call my plays. Or else, Buffalo was denying me the opportunity maybe, I don’t know. They probably didn’t doubleteam me, but they figured out a way to freeze me out. I know I didn’t get many opportunities. 1 & 1 1 & 3 # 6 3 3644 It wasn’t like some scrubini fumbled that kickoff. Bruce to me — to this day — was the quintessential third down back. And I’ve watched Barry Sanders and all the wonderful half backs. I still remember Bruce as “Mr. Third Down.” + 0 & , -& $ , 0 Nobody could expect us to start the game off like that, and them getting ahead 24–0 so quickly. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& I chide Bruce Harper all the time — and I love Bruce Harper, he’s like my brother. The next thing I know, there’s an interception. It’s 17–0 before the end of the first quarter. I remember on the sidelines I’m talking to Joe Gardi on the headset about defense. He goes, “Look, it’s only the first quarter. Here’s the opportunity — it can be 48–0 at the end of the game, or we can still 145
SACK EXCHANGE
win the game. So what we’re going to do is we’re going to do basic stuff. We’re going to do this, this, and this.” Buffalo come out, and I’m surprised they were still throwing the ball at 17–0, so we had a couple of interceptions in the game. We made things happen on defense and the offense took advantage. + 0 & ' & 3 ( 6 4 0 / I know we were very confident in our running game and we were very confident in our play-action game at that point. We were spreading the field out a little bit at that time, but we weren’t real good at it — until the next year, if I remember correctly. So I was a little shocked at that [that the Bills continued to pass with such a large lead], but that’s what had got us there and that’s what we stayed with. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 Even if we were down, I thought we could come back. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I think Mickey Shuler got involved — he was an excellent tight end. .* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 I never caught a pass [during the regular season], and then in the playoff game, we’re getting killed, and I go in, and all week, Jerome had run that play — this play that we were going to run where we were trying to get them to double-cover Wesley, and sneak us down the other side. All the safety had to do was take two steps towards Wesley, and he couldn’t come back to us. I was in and it was my first catch — I caught it on about the six yard line, bounced off two guys, and went into the end zone. + 0 & '& 3 ( 6 4 0 / Late in the game, the Jets used to run a coverage that we used to call “cover eleven,” where the two safeties would line up, split from each other, and then at the snap, would come together — one guy would stay in center field. And we had the perfect play-call for that defense, it meant for Joe Cribbs to go up the seam, and if I remember correctly, we hit him for a touchdown late in the game. [With roughly ten minutes left in the game, the Bills’ running back Joe Cribbs ran for a forty-five-yard touchdown, increasing the Bills lead to 31–13.] + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # # "w $"3640 We fell behind earlier, and then Todd and the boys put on a furious comeback. I thought for sure we were going to pull it off. 146
1 9 8 1 P L AY O F F S : W I L D C A R D
3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 %% We were kind of clicking on all cylinders as far as throwing the ball. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : It was just part of our team — how we could come back on anybody. Football is a strange thing — you just never know what’s going to happen minute-to-minute. You never give up until that final horn sounds. And that’s pretty much the way our team was. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I had one of my worst games. But we came all the way back. I remember dropping three balls. I never wore gloves, and I was trying these golf gloves — this is when they first came out. I remember Frank Lewis from Buffalo, and he had all these touchdowns, he had a great game. And he had these rubber scuba gloves that I started wearing towards the latter part of my career, but I didn’t have them then. So I took the gloves off, and we drove down — I remember just praying to god, “I wish I could be on the winning end of this touchdown.” We came back, but I was hoping I could be part of a drive that could turn it around. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& The next thing you know, it’s 31–27 . . . and we can win the football game. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 &: Richard did a great job taking them down field, and I just thought, “Hey, this is it — it’s inevitable.” What an exciting drive that was. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / That last drive felt like the Miami game from the ’81 season. You just felt like that was going to be the final drive. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 You could look up at Shea Stadium, and the stands were moving. The temporary stands, they were bouncing. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 I thought we were going to win. I thought there was no way in hell we were going to lose that football game. Call it destiny, call it fate — whatever you want to call it — but I didn’t think we were going to lose that football game. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 .644&/ We were going “Omaha” — to the line of scrimmage. I think we started our two-minute. We were calling everything at the line of 147
SACK EXCHANGE
scrimmage. We’re going into the open end, I look up at the scoreboard — and when you’re running your two-minute, things are happening so fast out there — but I glanced at the scoreboard. I saw 31–27 and fourteen seconds to go, and we’re on the eleven yard line. We had no time-outs left — we couldn’t call time out. That to me, was kind of what football really is — everything is happening at a splitsecond. You look back at your whole career, and your whole career is nothing but split-second decisions. That’s what football is when you get on the field, and that’s what makes it so much fun to play. That’s probably why people really like to watch it. It’s a game of the moment, and sometimes, the moments are really short. + 0 & ' & 3 ( 6 4 0 / You always like to think that you’re going to win, but [the Bills] were in doubt at that time for sure — because they were so close to the end zone. At that point, you’re realistically going, “This team has the momentum going, they’re going to score here.” But we also had the hopes that they wouldn’t — we had a good defense. .* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -& 3 I thought we had the game won. When we broke the huddle after time-out, I thought we won. Richard just read the defense wrong. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I think we made a good effort — we came back, I just threw the interception on the last play. But I think the team came back about as strong as we could have. I threw a bad pass, but that’s what happened. I can’t remember except the last play. We had success . . . we just messed up the last play. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 When the ball was thrown, I remember looking, and going, “Oh my god, [Derrick] Gaffney’s going to get it!” And then, out of absolutely nowhere, the Buffalo Bill guy was standing there, and just reached up his hands and caught it. Myself and John Roman went and made the tackle on him. It was like, “Where did that guy come from?” Gaffney was literally reaching his hands out to grab the ball. '3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 The player that had made the interception had a concussion earlier in the game, and from my memory of what took place, he was sort of out of position, and should have never been where he was when he made the interception.
148
1 9 8 1 P L AY O F F S : W I L D C A R D
3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 644&/ When you’re pass-blocking, you can always tell when the ball is released by the reaction of the guy that you’re blocking on. You’re blocking, your guy releases, and you know. I just happened to look up, and the ball was coming right over, and Derrick Gaffney was wide open in the back of the end zone. And a split-second before he caught it, here comes Bill Simpson, and intercepts the ball. In a split-second, we went from winning the game to losing the game. That just added to it. I can see it right now — I can see the scoreboard, I can hear the fans, I can see Gaffney in the back of that end zone. And then it didn’t happen. I looked up at the clock, and it turned out to be the last play I ever played in football. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 - &3 If Richard would have thrown the ball to me, I would have walked into the end zone. The guy who was covering me man-to-man was the guy who intercepted the ball — because he was trying to catch up to me in front of the post, and that’s why he intercepted it. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w $"3640 That was it. The Bills took a knee, the game was over. What I remember about that was everybody got up and cheered at the end of the game. We cheered. I remember the other Sack Exchange members helping Klecko off the field — it looked like his knee or ankle was hurt. He was hobbling. But we gave the Bills hell that day. And it just didn’t work that day. A lot of people blame Todd, but I don’t — Todd was all right by me. But that’s the thing I remember about that game — we cheered after it was over, even though we lost. We didn’t boo the interception — we cheered that they made the playoffs and made a game of it. A hell of a game. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 - &3 It went from just super loud to dead silent in those six seconds. I remember the fans cheered us off the field. From that point forward, I always had great respect for the Jets fans. They always felt like they were the second-class citizens — just like the players did, like the Giants were “it.” I think we beat the Giants more times when I was playing there than we lost to them. The Jets fans always supported me very well — I think that’s why I had a good relationship with them, because I laid everything out there on the field. I think it was partially because of days like that — when they appreciated the effort. That was one heck of a game. We should have won.
149
SACK EXCHANGE
8" -5 . * $ ) " & - 4 Buffalo was lucky to get out. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I thought defensively, we played good enough to win. That last interception from Richard was the biggest factor. And the thing he did best that year was his turnovers were much less. 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , */( That was heartbreaking because that was the year we expected to go farther. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 It was horrible. That’s the worst feeling — it’s just over. You’ve got to pack it up and get ready for next season. That season going home was probably one of the toughest seasons because then, you had to sit back and watch the other teams play. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 When you’re almost there and you can taste it — it’s so depressing. Especially it’s the last game of the year — it’s over for you then. It’s time to go home, and you’re not really ready for it. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I remember we came in the locker room, and you have your head down. It’s a very, very quiet locker room. There isn’t anybody saying anything — the season’s over. Now, everybody is packing their bags, some people were going into the training room, asking if they could take their post-season physical, so they didn’t have to show up the next day. Sometimes, we’d have the end-of-the-year meeting right there in the locker room. The next day was off to the real world — what were people going to do during the off-season? % " 3 3 0 -3 ": We should have won that game, we didn’t, and it made for a nice, long off-season. You give up twenty-four points to a team you think you can beat. Little by little you work your way back in the game, and that says something — it says if you only spot them fourteen then maybe you win. Or if you do something well and play defense from the start of the game, you don’t go down three touchdowns to a really good team. It was a crummy feeling. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 6 44&/ At the time, I didn’t realize I was going to retire. I was going to try and come back, but a decision was made not to.
150
1 9 8 1 P L AY O F F S : W I L D C A R D
3 0 / $ 0 ) & / It was pretty depressing, but I think everybody had the feeling that we were a young team that now had the experience of being in the playoffs. And that we’d never let a game like that get away again. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 &: We knew we had arrived — we weren’t as woeful as we used to be. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : That was the start of things — we got a taste of the playoffs. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& My first playoff game in the NFL was a special experience. At that time, every one of us thought, “Man, we’re going to be doing this the rest of our careers.” Little did we know, right? 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 When you’re a young team like we were, you don’t really know what to expect. I don’t think a lot of us realized what was really at stake. I think we would do a lot of things differently, knowing that you only get one shot at it. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 I was hoping to see that [the Jets becoming successful]. Did I know it? No. That was the year that I had a busted foot, and that was the year they kept shooting my foot up so I could play. And I wound up becoming the Defensive Player of the Year that year. For me, there were a lot of times I wasn’t on the field, I didn’t feel like I was part of the team, but I’d play on Sunday. It was a very “separated” type of year for me, where it was happy and sad at the same time. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1&3 I learned that “next year” is different. You can’t wait until next year to win it. We should have put out our very best effort all the way through because guys get injured and all of these things. But I felt like we were really there. It wasn’t a matter of having to turn the corner or do anything special — we were there, man. Being on the team, we sensed that we were right there — that is what I believed. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 644&/ I think we would have gone to Cincinnati and beat them. That team was poised. And then in ’82, the team was really poised.
151
19
M E E T TH E J ETS: 1 98 2
N
ineteen eighty-two welcomes a player the Jets had their sights on earlier . . . Barry Bennett (defensive lineman).
# " 3 3: # & / / & 5 5 I was a little different from the typical football guys — I played in seventh and eighth [grade], and then I moved from small-town Minnesota to big-city Minnesota, and I skipped it in ninth and tenth grade, and didn’t go out again until I was a junior in high school. I was just starting to figure the game out a little bit towards the end of my senior year. At that point, I’m about 6' 2" and about 200 pounds — not a monster by any stretch. I went to a little Division III school in Northern Minnesota, Concordia College, and really enjoyed the experience. I pushed myself because there wasn’t spring football and there wasn’t winter conditioning. It was the right place for me in a lot of senses — but certainly, in a football sense. At the end of my senior year, I get drafted in the third round, which was pretty good for Concordia. I spent my first four years [with the New Orleans Saints]. Played very little my first year, a lot my second year, quite a bit my third year, and then hurt my neck my fourth year, and spent I think fourteen weeks on injured reserve. The end of my time in New Orleans was that fourth year, and I ended up signing with my hometown Vikings. They cut me, and the Jets picked me up the next day. On draft day, the Jets were the pick after the Saints, and the Jets’ director of player personnel was absolutely, positively going to draft me. When the Saints drafted me, he broke this glass or plastic table that the phone was on — he smashed it to pieces because he couldn’t believe at fifty-nine picks, 152
MEET THE JETS: 1982
this kid from Concordia was going to get picked right in front of where he was planning on picking me. Even with a bad neck and four nondescript years in New Orleans, they remembered me, and grabbed me off waivers [in 1982].
153
20
1 98 2 : PA R T 1
A
fter the success of ’81, the Jets have the Super Bowl in their sights for ’82. However, a lengthy mid-season NFL strike nearly cancels the season.
30 / $ 0 ) & / We went into ’82 thinking we had a really good team. Going in, it was going to be Freeman’s second season, and we thought he’d make a real impact. The Sack Exchange was in its prime. We were real excited. + 0 & ( " 3 % * We were sky-high. We were excited about everything — mostly the fact that we now had a quarterback in Richard who could manage the game and not turn the ball over. And then the biggest factor was Freeman. Don’t get me wrong, I kind of discovered Clark Gaines — because he played against me at Maryland — and I loved Scotty Dierking. But those were our backs? In the ’70s, we had Jazz Jackson . . . holy mackerel! And we lost the kid that went to the Redskins [John Riggins]. It was tough. But I think we had very high expectations. I was gung ho because of the Sack Exchange. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : We had another experience under our belt — it was a playoff loss, unfortunately, but it was a playoff game. So the expectations were very high. What we had looming in the back our minds was the NFL and the Players Association were in negotiations, and it wasn’t going that well. There was always that thing in the back of our mind that we might have to go on strike. Believe me, none of us wanted to do that, but it was one of those things that we had to do because we’re all part of it. 154
1982: PART 1
% " 3 3 0 -3 ": Super Bowl. Our defensive line was thought of at that time as one of the two or three best defensive lines in football. Man, I don’t know if there were two other defensive lines that were more highly thought of than ours. Our offensive line was really, really tight. We had Fields, Alexander, Powell, Ward, Shuler, Walker, Jones, Harper, McNeil, Barber — we had a nice team. Our team wasn’t “Hall of Fame,” but it was dang good. I thought maybe that was going to be our year — strike-shortened or not strike-shortened. We had a team then, and we had a nice like for each other. I don’t remember any fights, or hateful comments of this and that. So when you have a team that feels good about your other players — no matter where you came from or your points of origin — everybody felt good about each other. That was our time. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 I thought the next step was the Super Bowl. Oh yeah. I didn’t know no better at that time, how hard it was to repeat and all. But I thought we were good enough to go to the Super Bowl. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 High-flying. We were ready to go. Oh yeah. We know we’re going — let’s just go. " # % 6 -4 " -" ". We already knew we were going to improve because we were looking to be part of something great. That whole psychology — that “psychoapplication,” so to speak. We had everything down pat as far as the system. So that’s why each and every year, we made progress. But more importantly, that’s why we had character and personality to do it. And that year, we belonged in the Super Bowl — I still believe that today. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I think we could have played with anybody. We had a lot of ability, and it was just a matter of putting it all together. [If] you stay healthy and don’t get your guys hurt, that has a lot to with it in professional football — especially back then. I think maybe they’ve got more depth than they had back then — they can probably have more players. But you had to keep the Sack Exchange well. You had to keep all our receivers intact. You just had to keep everybody healthy. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 We thought we were going to pick up where we left off. There was a lot of hope. It was tough getting started, but once we got started, everything came around. 155
SACK EXCHANGE
+ 0 & ( " 3 % * I out-coached myself against Miami [in the season opening game, on September 12, 1982]. I scouted [Don] Shula so well. I mean, I had Gastineau worried about the shuffle pass. And worried about the quarterback going out as a receiver on a half back pass. We prepared so hard. And I made a mistake. What it did is they thought about all those little dinky things, rather than what they do best — playing and swarming the football. So we opened up with them, and they beat us [45–28]. 1 "5 -& " ) : That was the year we opened up with the Dolphins at home, and Shula had a special play, where he let Mark [Gastineau] rush upfield, and he pitched it underneath to Tommy Vigorito, and they just used that play time after time. He knew that Mark was rushing the quarterback, and that’s what he did. " + % 6 ) & That ’82 season is what culminated the explosion of the rivalry [between the Jets and Dolphins] — what fans are interested in now. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 I broke my knee in the Patriots game [on September 19, 1982, won by the Jets 31–7]. It was terrible. We were beating them pretty good, and I got taken out of the game. We were getting run on a little bit, and they were starting to move the ball. I — like a dummy — put myself back in the game. And that’s when it happened, right when I put myself back in the game. I guess I can say that I was the idiot for doing that. I got chopped by Don Hasselbeck on the play, and it blew out my patella tendon. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I remember [Joe Klecko] on the plane coming home — with his leg all stretched out. He was stretched out in one row, and Stan Waldemore — who was an offensive lineman, he tore his knee up that game too — was in another row. 1 & 1 1 & 3 # 6 3 3 644 [Klecko] literally had to have it wired in place to heal. I’ve said about Joe, he might not have been the strongest man I ever knew, but I knew no one stronger. He may not have been the toughest guy I ever knew, but I knew of no one tougher. I’ve certainly come across a lot of tough guys over the years, but Joe was kind of the hallmark for that. [Around the time of Klecko’s rehabilitation] he was still on crutches, and as he was coming down the stairs — I think it was a split-level down at Point Lookout — he tripped. And as he fell down the stairs, he 156
1982: PART 1
probably did some very athletic, almost “wrestling” moves to keep that leg from hitting the ground. I believe he put his elbow and then his hand through the drywall in two different places falling down the stairs, and never hit his leg. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / And then, the strike comes after the second game.
157
21 STRIKE
W
ill the NFL strike ever end? And if it does, can the Jets get right back on track?
8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 You could feel an electricity — I did, anyway. I had been a champion before — I had played with the Cleveland Browns — and I felt the kind of thing coming through the locker room. These guys were ready to go win a championship. And here comes the strike, and every diversion under the sun seemed to break into it. As a matter of fact, I never even saw some people in the office — our head honchos of the office were downtown, involving themselves with, “How are we going to get this strike over with? Are we going to play any games?” Nothing is more disruptive to a team than when you’ve got these distractions. And this was as big a distraction as anything. Suddenly, when we go to put it together, it’s like, “Wow . . . what happened?” 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I think everybody thought it would be over very quickly. That maybe it would be a week or two. And the next thing you see, it’s gone from one week to another week, to another week — and it starts stretching into October. I remember it being depressing, demoralizing. At some points, you wondered if the whole season was going to disappear. Was there any end in sight? $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 If you recall, in 1974 they had a strike — it was “No Freedom, No Football.” They were asking for free agents. And then in ’82, we changed what
158
STRIKE
we wanted, and we wanted a percentage of the gross revenues. Back then, it was fifty-five percent of the gross — it looks pretty good to them now, I guess [laughs]. 8 & 4 -& : 8" -,&3 We wanted fifty percent of the gross — that was the big comment. I remember there was fighting going on amongst ourselves — who really wanted to stay in and stay out, together. You have to look at the fact that it’s still a business. I can separate it, and not everybody else can. Even now, maybe you don’t get treated as well — it’s the nature of the business. There’s no loyalty, you just have to know that. % " 3 3 0 -3 ": All I remember is it was a strike for collective bargaining. Looking back on it, there’s so many things that we probably could have done better or been more effective. The guys now are making tons of money, and I think some of us haven’t enough fortitude to say that we thought some of the things that were going on weren’t correct. And striking, holding out, and not receiving pay was probably a precursor to some of these guys being able to sign for four, six, eight, ten million dollars, or more. I’m not talking about quarterbacks that were always “spotlight players.” I’m talking about defensive backs, long-snappers, punters are making a million dollars a year. Of course, economics and times change together, but if you’d have thought about it back then, without the new collective bargaining and guys striking for bigger pieces of pie, some of this stuff probably wouldn’t have taken place as quickly as it has, and possibly, some of the old dinosaur methods that the NFL prospered under. I think it all worked out for the best — nobody likes to strike. Anybody who likes striking probably doesn’t understand the economics of football. You only have so long to play, and if you’re sitting on the sideline, it doesn’t mean you get an extra year to play — it means there is just somebody else in college a year stronger, bigger, and faster, and ready to take your job. Looking back on it, I’m kinda thinking it was effective, but at the same time, it would have been nice to just play and be done with it. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I always felt that every time you went out on strike, it was trying to get the younger players or the rookies more money, rather than . . . trying to get the older players more money, and the players that really made the game, that were now removed from the game, better benefits. Use it as today’s current
159
SACK EXCHANGE
players are going to show some concern for the players that gave us this opportunity — with the TV revenue and all the different revenues coming in, let’s share that with some of the guys in the past. I remember sitting out — and I think we almost settled for what they offered on day two of the strike. I remember being up here in New York — I went and got a job. I started doing some work in the community, to try and set myself up with some more dollars coming in. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 & 3 The strike sort of changed things around — it wasn’t a typical season. # " 3 3: # & / / & 55 I remember the day my wife and kids got out there was the day we went on strike. In some ways, it was good — my family and I cruised all over Long Island and the northeast. At first, we tried to practice fairly regularly, but it was a long, long strike. + 0 & ( " 3 % * One of the things we did best was when [the team] took off and were working out. I think they were in a ballet class. They stayed in shape — they worked out together. ,& / / : 4 $ ) 3 0 : It was not ballet! I was the one who set up for all the players to work out up at the Syosset Club — which I think was a different name back then. This was a workout place — weights, racquetball — and included different exercise classes that we could take advantage of and stay in shape. About twentyfive to thirty of us would participate in this class — along with regular men and women — and asked the girl instructor to work the heck out of us. I knew the instructor and she really kept us in shape. It made the nightly news on all channels, and gave the club some great press. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % At that time, Richard Simmons was out there doing the step dances and all that, and we got together and did step dancing. 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , * /( I was actually in better shape coming back after the strike than I was before it! ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / & "6 That’s when I first started boxing. Just to stay in shape. I did different things, but I learned then — after about two days of going into the gym 160
STRIKE
in Times Square — it was something that I wasn’t going to pursue at that time because it was so hard. It kept me in shape. But I didn’t think we were ever going to come around and get the season started again. 8" -5 . * $ ) "&-4 You’re still breaking down the films, and putting things together. Suddenly, you’d hear on a Friday or whatever day it was, “There are no games this week — the negotiations are still going on.” Now, that’s like sitting on top of Mount Everest, and suddenly, you’re falling off. You’re on edge. You’re ready to go, and suddenly, someone says, “There’s no game this week.” So what do most of the guys do? How do you eliminate that edge to keep them ready to go? It’s not easy because you’re dealing with fifty or sixty guys. And the one on edge might be the one that creates the most influence with the team. You go the racetrack, let’s say, and you see those horses trying to get out of the gate? They’re on edge. And if you hold that up too long, you lose the edge. And that’s what happens. They weren’t playing, and if you follow all the weeks and the negotiations of the strike, you’ll find they were like horses trying to get out of the box. # 0 # # : + " $ , 40/ We stuck together as a team, and we practiced as a team — although we were locked out. We met every day and we worked. We organized the practices — no coaches at all, only players. With leadership, we had Marvin Powell, who was very active in the union at that time. Marvin kept us together. We had our offensive leaders — Jerome Barkum, Joe Fields. We just had a total team — everybody worked out like we had a regular practice. I don’t know what other teams were doing, but I doubt they were doing what we were doing. " # % 6 - 4 " -" " . We already had a system and knew how to apply it. It was just a matter of coming together and doing it. The Sack Exchange always let out that whole intensity — it was a matter of how intense that you practiced. So we knew exactly how to practice and what we needed to do in practice in order to make it work. +0 & , -& $ , 0 I remember Joe Fields picked me up from the hospital and I was on painkillers in the backseat of his car. He just had his dog in the backseat, and there was hair all over me. I showed up at practice, and the guys looked at me like . . . I had dog hair all over me and I’m half out of it because I was on 161
SACK EXCHANGE
painkillers. I wanted to go lift that day! These guys were going to go do good things — I knew we were on strike and all that, but I used to go lift with all the guys every day, wherever we went to a gym. I’d go with a cast on and everything. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 I had just gotten married and was expecting my first baby. It was actually a wonderful time — the team was together because we were having our own workouts together, despite the strike. I was an assistant union rep with Marvin Powell, so we were doing the union thing, and then we started developing our own practice on our own time. With Richard Todd, we were all working together — just as a receiver corp. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % That was the first year I was married too, so it was kind of weird. You’d think you’d be at practice, but you’d be at home all the time — trying to think of things to do. I remember us going out there and trying to have some sort of organized practices. They took off at first — there would be some guys out there. You’d have receivers and running backs — there wouldn’t be any linemen out there or anything — but you’d get the backs and receivers, and you’d run plays. But that didn’t last too long after a couple of weeks [laughs]. Guys are saying, “I’m going home — I’m getting out of here until it’s over.” They’d just leave town. That’s probably what I would have done too, but I was married, and we just stayed up in New York. Probably pretty good for the marriage — get to know your wife. We had a good time going out to restaurants, eating, and enjoying each other. % " / " -& 9 " / % &3 I went home, back to Baton Rouge, for a little while. And actually went to a couple of LSU football games. I didn’t hang around. We just sat it out and lost a little money, but after they came to an agreement, we came back. It was a shortened season, but we got back in it, and were ready to roll when we came back. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 You have the same game plan together, and after five weeks or whatever, you’re looking at that same game plan, and you go, “Wait a second, let’s change this.” And that’s the worst thing you can start doing because now you’re getting into theories that just aren’t going to work. - & / # & 3 . " / That was not a happy time. I had been assigned to do a pre-game 162
STRIKE
show, and we did a pre-game show every week — to no game. For the first few weeks at NBC, we broadcast the Canadian Football League. It was the only league in the world that had two teams with the same nickname — there were two teams called the Rough Riders [Ottawa and Regina]! I guess America wised up and really wasn’t in love with the longer field and the rouge, so they stopped broadcasting [Canadian Football]. We continued to do pre-game shows to no game. # 0 # # : + " $ , 40/ I played in one of the strike games out in L.A. that Ted Turner held. [Two exhibition “All Star Games” were held during the strike, promoted by the National Football League Players Association.] One was in Washington, the other was in L.A. I played in the L.A. game, and the winner of that game was going to play the winner of the one in D.C. in Toronto. And that week, they ended the strike, so I was mad — I wanted to go to Toronto! I caught myself playing in a dream secondary — it was me at corner, Louis Wright the All-Pro corner that played Denver Broncos, Burgess Owens who was our free safety, and then you had Mike Davis who was a strong safety for the Raiders. We ended up winning the game. You had guys like the running back from Kansas City, Joe Delaney. He died a year later trying to save [three boys] from drowning, because he couldn’t swim himself. He tried to save these guys, and all three of them drowned. [According to a Sports Illustrated article dated November 7, 1983, one of the children survived.] He was such a great guy, such a great talent. I don’t know if I would have been able to do something like that — giving up your life to save somebody else, knowing that you couldn’t swim. Hopefully somebody will bring that up and do something great for him. I’m pretty sure the Chiefs have their own thing they do, but league-wise, I don’t hear anything about the sacrifice he made that day. I got a chance to play with some guys that I usually played against — like Art Still from Kansas City. We practiced for a week out there. +0 & ' * & -% 4 I don’t know if the strike did anything to us in ’82. I think we’d all rather have played, but it is what it is. - " / $ & . & ) - It sucked. I didn’t know what the heck was going on. I lost half my salary that year. Of course, we weren’t making a whole lot — I think I was making $50,000, maybe $60,000. The younger players didn’t really know what was going on. We didn’t know why we were striking. There was just no other choice. 163
SACK EXCHANGE
8" -5 . * $ ) " & - 4 We stopped the season with the third game, and didn’t get back until about the tenth game or something. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I remember the feeling of excitement when it was settled. We knew we were going to have a shortened season, but we were going to have a season. We thought that we were ready. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 We came back, and there were some hard feelings in the locker room that we quickly mended, and moved on. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0 / We knew the strike was going to end one day, so we wanted to be ready. We thought that the team that was ready when the strike was over, [that we] had the best shot. And we were right there.
164
22
19 82 : PA RT 2
W
ith the NFL season back in business, the Jets finish ’82 with a winning record (6–3), and a Wild Card playoff birth.
. " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 Once we got back after the strike, it was a matter of, “Okay, let’s put together as many wins as we can, and see what they’re going to do with the playoffs.” 1 "5-& " ) : It was very hard — especially from a personal standpoint — because a part of your routine as a kicker is you work every day with the same people, time and time again. When you don’t work with those people for two months, then all of a sudden, you come back. . . . I remember, the opening game, we beat the Colts, and I had a perfect afternoon [the Jets won, 37–0, on November 21, 1982]. But I could tell my mechanics were off. It wasn’t there. And then, I went on what was probably the worst stretch of my career. But it’s funny because that was probably the best team I was on. 8 & 4 -& : 8" -,&3 We were just on fire — I think we came together as a unit, as a team. And we were playing well on both sides of the ball. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4&: The hit that Stan Blinka put on John Jefferson [when the Jets beat the Packers, 15–13, on November 28, 1982] — I believe that was the game that Bart Starr called Blinka a “hoodlum,” because he thought it was cheap shot.
165
SACK EXCHANGE
4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , * / ( We had some really nice wins after that strike. I remember we played the Buccaneers [on December 12, 1982], and they looked like they hadn’t played in a couple of months. And we were clicking on all cylinders. 3* $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I remember we played Tampa when they had a pretty good team — Doug Williams was the quarterback. The weather report was supposed to be fairly warm, and they basically came up there in mesh jerseys. I think it was, like, thirty degrees and the wind was whipping — it was freezing! They wanted to get off the field so bad — we beat them up pretty good that game. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # # "w$"3640 I was also at the game with Tampa Bay in the blizzard. They fumbled the opening kickoff twice and we scored right away. It was never a game. Poor Doug Williams — I felt so bad for him. He sat all by himself at the end of the bench — he was having a horrible day. He was thrown to the wolves in Tampa Bay. The crowd was pelting him with snowballs. He took all the blame for that mess. You could see that Tampa Bay wanted nothing to do with any of this that day — for sure. [The Jets won, 32–17.] + 0 & ( " 3 % * [The Dolphins] beat us later in the year. It was a long one — I made the decision to ease off, said, “Hell, if they catch this pass, they’re not going to make a field goal.” It was a fifty-two-yarder, I think [listed as forty-seven yards]. And then sure enough, he makes it. [The Dolphins won, 20–19.] And we had put the quarterback out of the game, and Don Strock came in, whom I hated to play against. We put [David] Woodley out, and Strock came in and won the game — [resulting] in a field goal. In those days, they weren’t kicking them that long. #0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8&3 You’ve got to remember, [the Dolphins] had a hellacious defense that year. That was really the birth, where everybody started giving us an identity as “The Killer Bs.” We went 7–2, but we could have gone undefeated that year — we had a good team that year. 1"5 -& " ) : [About my kicking slumps, Walt and I] had several “spirited” conversations [laughs]. He basically told me a couple times if I didn’t pick it up and start producing, he would have to make a change — which I understood. Then it kind of came around a little bit at the end there, and I had a couple of good games. And I was fine then. But it was a very stressful time because the 166
1982: PART 2
mechanics and the timing were just not to where I would hope it would be. And just that two-month period of missing those regular workouts was a big factor with me. We played six games after the strike I believe, and it was probably those middle three or four [that Pat struggled]. One of the games we played was against Minnesota. I missed a field goal, but I kicked the ball really well. And then I think I made two fields goals [in the final game of the season, against the Chiefs]. I would say the support of my teammates was always paramount to me — that I blend in with my teammates. Because as a kicker, you’re part of a football team — but you’re not a football player, period. So I always made sure, even if I had a great game, I never said it was me who won the game. Never. I was part of the team, and if I could contribute, that was wonderful. 4 $ 0 55 % * & 3 , */( Walt was very to-the-point. He said, “Pat, you miss another one, I’m going to have to let you go.” And he’d rip off ten straight — every time. To play for eighteen years in this league, he was something special. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 Pat Leahy was a special guy, too. Pat talked about when he first came in the league, how much money he made, which was almost peanuts. But he was consistent. He had a long career with the Jets, again, another one of those quality individuals that when the game of football was over — or the practice was over — if we went across the street to have a beer, you wanted your kicker to be with you. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 “Lee-high” — that’s what we used to call him. He was “Mr. Consistent” — for a lot of years. He led the Jets in scoring over a career. He had more points than anybody else. Lee-high was really good, and you could count on him. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : We had a lot of fun with Pat. Pat had a little speech impediment, but he had one of the finest legs you’ve ever seen. He was difficult to communicate with sometimes, but if you asked him to sing it, he could sing it like there was no tomorrow [laughs]. Kickers are a little different usually, but Pat was one of us. He definitely wasn’t going to hit anybody, but he could kick that football. 1 "53:" / Pat [Leahy] told them he wanted me to hold. I’d never held before in 167
SACK EXCHANGE
my life, so I started working on it, and had some ups and downs, and some nervousness from never doing it before. But we worked on it a lot. I tell everybody, “Hell, you can teach a monkey to hold for extra points and field goals — it’s not that hard.” You’ve just got to get comfortable doing it. Holding for Pat was a dream anyway. Most kickers at that time grew up kicking off a tee. They would just watch the tee — they wouldn’t watch anything else. So the ball had to be in an exact spot they were looking at, in order for them to kick a field goal. Well, Pat wasn’t like that — he came from a soccer background. By the way, he could kick with his left leg or his right leg. It was amazing. Pat was different in that he didn’t watch the spot — he watched the ball come back from the center. So I can put it pretty anywhere in a five- to six-inch area — I could just take it and slap it down on the ground, and he would watch it through and kick it. He could adjust and kick it from different spots. That made it really easy on me at the start. As I got better, I could put it where I wanted to put it and spin it and all that. But we were a pretty good combo — I guess I held for Pat for ten years. I think we only had one or two flub-ups in that time. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 & : Pat was my running mate — he was my roommate and he was my golf buddy on our days off. He and his wife and kids and me and my wife and kids on our days off, we’d be at the tennis courts. I’ve always said this about Pat: he was the most underrated placekicker in the NFL. I mean, people don’t realize what it’s like kicking a ball in Shea Stadium. My goodness, there were times I thought I’d be fair-catching my own punts! It’s ridiculous. I’ve talked to all the other punters throughout the league, and they dreaded coming to Shea. For Pat not to be All-Pro one year is amazing — he hit some pressure kicks, he sure did. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 What a great guy. Dependable. He owned Shea Stadium. People talk about swirling winds and the dirt on the field — it didn’t matter to Pat. Pat owned that stadium as far as kicking. 1 "53:" / We got to be good friends. Everybody liked Pat — you could not not like him. You wouldn’t know it if you didn’t know him, but he’s one of the funniest guys that I’ve ever been around. Once he gets rolling, he’s hilarious. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I remember when we used to do the testing, when you’d come 168
1982: PART 2
back to start the season, because of the way we fell alphabetically, I would always spot Pat Leahy. At that time, I think we were testing with 200 pounds — how many times you could do it? I would always rearrange the weight, and slide on, like, 180 pounds rather than 200 pounds. It hit his chest, and I would put four fingers underneath the bar and pull it up for him. And he would do it, like, twelve times. They would say, “Wow, that’s amazing!” All of a sudden, the coach would say, “Wait a minute, that’s only 180 pounds.” “Well, Coach . . . you should have realized that when I was moving the weights around.” ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& At that time, we felt how devastating [Klecko’s injury] would be. Who are we going to put in his place? And this kid — this little, undersized defensive lineman, Kenny Neil — came in and played pretty well. We were able to do things differently. Joe Gardi had to change things a little — we couldn’t depend on the pass-rush as much, and we may run blitz a little more than we used to. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 [Klecko’s injury] was tough because they could just focus on me. It was hard. -" / $ & . & ) - I saw Klecko pick up a guy, throw him, and knock the quarterback down one time. Kenny Neil didn’t have that same strength. He had the enthusiasm — he hustled. He gave it one hell of an effort. He did really well that year. If I looked at Klecko, he’d look at me, and say, “Lance, I want the outside this time,” and anything that came on the inside, I’d take it. We had a great rapport. With Kenny, we pretty much did it by the book — whatever the defense was called. Nobody beat Klecko when he was healthy, there’s no doubt about it. But Kenny did an admirable job — I have to give the guy credit. He took a beating, I know that because he had to work hard to keep his weight up and stay at that same level. He never quit. 5* . % "7 & : Some of the teams that we would have faced — if there wasn’t a strike — I don’t know if we would have made the playoffs. There were some tough teams we bypassed that year, that we didn’t play. # " 3 3: # & / / &55 I remember Marty Lyons had pulled a hamstring pretty badly, so that gave me an opportunity to play a little bit. I believe I started and played pretty much the whole Kansas City game [on January 2, 1983], which was the 169
SACK EXCHANGE
season-ending game. Actually played fairly well, and Marty made a pretty good recovery. It seemed like they were working on him and his hamstring almost 24/7. I think when he originally pulled it, they thought he would not be playing, but he came back. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 &: The last game we played against the Chiefs, they beat us [37– 13] — in Kansas City. And I think there were 11,000 people at the game. It was just a dismal turnout, and it was a game that didn’t mean anything — we were already in the playoffs. But I thought, “Well, at least we’re in the playoffs, and we get a second chance here.” 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 We were only able to get in as the Wild Card. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 As fate would have it, I came back and played in the playoffs. So it wasn’t too bad. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : That particular first loss [against the Dolphins] is the one that hurt us. We weren’t going to have any home games, unfortunately. Everything that we were doing was on the road. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % We were just excited to be in the playoffs. I thought we had a great chance. Our motto that year — or when they did the film after that year — they called us “The Road Warriors,” which I think we were. ." 3 * 0 / # " 3 # & 3 Again, not taking anything for granted, defensively, we probably had to be one of the best in the league. And offensively, I know we could score points, which was key during the playoffs. You play good defense, and if you can run the ball, we were able to do that. But the defense I would have to say is the one that jump-started us in that run. That’s kind of how we ended that season, and then entered into the playoffs. It was the defense that I believe really ignited that team. % " 3 3 0 -3 ": I think playing on the road gave us a more spirited core. We were more tightly bound to each other because we were all in the same place at the same time. I’d rather have had the 60,000 Jets fans than anything I can think of, but the second-best thing was we were all together on the road for weeks in a 170
1982: PART 2
row. We just seemed to get tighter. I noticed you always go in hotel rooms and watch college football on Saturdays, and football was just about over for the college season by then. There were usually a bunch of guys in a room — the room could barely hold all the guys! It was just one of those things — you could just feel the excitement and energy. And it wasn’t because we thought we were going to lose to them, it was because we thought we were as good as anybody, and we were ready to rock ’n’ roll. " # % 6 - 4 " -" ". The belief it took to get to that point augmented its presence — we knew already that we were going to be in the Super Bowl. Not just us — but the fans also knew. And most of that was built out of the culture of the New York Jets fans. They are the ones that had hardened our character in the fire of their belief itself. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : The previous year, we let it get away. So we knew we had to do a hell of a lot better, which we did.
171
1 98 2 P L AYO F F S: WI L D C A R D
T
he Jets start off the ’82 playoffs with a meeting in frigid Ohio, with the reigning AFC Champions, the Cincinnati Bengals.
3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % We went up to Cincinnati, and they had such a good team back then. I think we were underdogs every time we played. ." 3 * 0 / # " 3 # &3 Nobody really gave us a chance — even when we went to Cincinnati. 1 "5 -& " ) : [The Cincinnati Bengals] had just lost the Super Bowl the year before. We didn’t know what to expect, but I knew there was a lot of talent on that team — I was more concerned with Kenny Anderson, Cris Collinsworth, and those guys. I thought, “These guys were in the Super Bowl last year, and they’re looking to head there again.” ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& Joe Gardi comes in, and says, “Guys, this is the best offensive football team that we’re going to play in the playoffs — even if we go to the Super Bowl. Kenny Anderson is spectacular, and what they do is they read the defensive people and play off against you. It’s a ‘read and react offense.’” At that time, most of the offenses in that day and age were looking to throw it to numbers, throw it to the hash-marks, or throw it in between zones. These guys really worked about where the quarterback had to know that if the defender is inside of you, you have to go outside. They were good at it — and they didn’t make many mistakes. 172
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : W I L D C A R D
+0 & ( " 3 % * They called the defensive coordinator of the Bengals, Hank Bullough, “The Doctor of Defense.” Now, I’m ticked because we’re pretty good and I kept hearing about Hank Bullough the whole week. They had the announcer now at wide receiver, Cris Collinsworth, also Isaac Curtis, Kenny Anderson as the quarterback, and the big fullback, Pete Johnson — they would take him and put him out at wide receiver. We changed our defense. They liked to catch what they called “the hide route” — to Collinsworth and Curtis underneath. We took Buttle and put him out on a corner. So we went two deep, and split the underneath coverage. We took away all these “hides” on them. And we didn’t think that Johnson could beat us in the running game. So we took a chance and moved a linebacker out on a wide receiver. " # % 6 -4 " -" ". I was coming back home here, and there was no way we were coming out with a loss. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % I’m from Ohio — it was wonderful. I was raised in Dayton. My neighborhood was only fifty miles from Cincinnati, so I had a bunch of relatives at the game. We had a good team, man. A bunch of young buccaneers that were rambunctious. 8" -5 . * $ ) " &-4 They were on edge, and the secret was trying to get them to a higher level. The secret was trying to bring them down. I don’t think there was one of them that didn’t feel like we were going to win the Super Bowl. So you didn’t have to make them any higher — they were already there. The secret was keeping them there, without jumping over. # 0 # # : + " $ , 40/ Before the game . . . Cincinnati is a very hostile place. Back then, they had the “Who Dey?” [chant]. So they were doing all their crazy stuff. When we came outside of our locker room, there were fans all outside — they were too close. I’ve never seen fans allowed to be that close to our locker room. So as we were walking out, you had a little barricade, but they were all over — they were drunk, they were hollering obscenities to us. I was walking behind Darrol Ray because the DBs, we were a very close unit — me, Darrol, Jerry Holmes, and Johnnie Lynn. There was this one fan that was drunk out of his mind. So Darrol kind of eased up to him, and said, “BOO!” Scared him. He fell back on the ground — his friends were laughing at him and 173
SACK EXCHANGE
he was all embarrassed. So Darrol just walked off. The guy got up, crossed the barricade — he was going after Darrol. And my instincts . . . I just hit him. I hit him with a forearm, and knocked him out cold — right there in the tunnel. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 Cincinnati was a pretty good football team — and we whipped them pretty good, on their turf. ." 3 * 0 / # " 3 # & 3 I remember my man Kenny Neil had a big game that game — he was up against Anthony Muñoz. Of course, we know Anthony Muñoz is “Hall of Fame,” but Kenny had his way with him. That Cincinnati game . . . I think we knew at that time that we had arrived. - " / $ & . & ) - The defense pulling together — we started off a little slow, but then we came together. People just stepped up all over the place, made plays, and turned things around. It was amazing. It was something that we just expected was going to happen. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % We beat them pretty handily. [The final score was 44–17.] Our defense did the same thing — they were giving the quarterback fits — and Freeman rushed for 200 and something yards. We had a big pass with Wesley on the first play of the game — I think that led to a touchdown or a field goal. 1 "5 3:" / We gave it to Freeman, and he pretty much took over the game. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 All I remember was Freeman. For him to run for 200 yards like that in a playoff game. . . . There really wasn’t much about that game, except I remember Freeman running all over the place. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / & "6 Freeman McNeil — the way he ran. What a game he had. He was just really “on.” He was in great shape. That was one of his best games. I just remember how glad I was to see him have a game like that. 4$ 0 55% * & 3 , * / ( I remember Freeman McNeil running like he had bees in his helmet! When he was healthy, there was none better that year. When you’ve got a guy that can run for 200 yards like that, I think it can probably be compared to
174
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : W I L D C A R D
what Brett Favre is going through this year [2009], with Adrian Peterson behind him — it takes a lot of pressure off the quarterback to produce. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1&3 Freeman McNeil had a great day — he threw a touchdown pass and he ran for . . . they thought it was record. What happened was I was number 42, and one of my plays they gave him credit for [McNeil’s number was 24], so one of the plays didn’t stand. He didn’t break any records, but he still had a phenomenal day. Again, throwing a touchdown pass to Derrick Gaffney. Freeman was so tricky — he had vision. He could see it all. But again, not giving all the credit to him — you have to attribute it to the offensive line. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 Frank Ramos — for whatever reason — came by [during the game]. I said, “What in the world do you want?” He says, “Freeman only needs so many yards to break a record.” I said, “Frank, I’ll put him in and do it, but if he gets hurt, I’ll choke you [laughs].” , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : When you keep the offense on the field that long, it helps the defense. Let’s face it, we’re not on the field that long — it’s fun to be three and out. And to go up against Kenny Anderson — one of the great quarterbacks of that time. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 %% It wasn’t much of a game after the third quarter. I just remember everything was clicking. We had a good football team. When your running back is rushing for 200 yards that means your offensive line is just beating them up. And that opens up play action — you don’t have to pass much. I can’t remember the stats on that one — or if we had to throw a lot — but I don’t think we did because our passing game was effective with a running game like that. # 0 # # : + " $ , 40/ Darrol made the key play that turned the game around for us: he intercepted a pass and went ninety-something yards for a touchdown. If that guy would have hurt Darrol, we don’t make that play. That’s something that nobody saw — other than us. And that fan that I hit, I don’t know who he was, but he got what he deserved. He had no business coming up there. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": I read the ball right, and made a good jump on the ball. I was
175
SACK EXCHANGE
pretty fortunate to get to the end zone. I pulled a muscle on the way. I pulled a hamstring, and couldn’t really play against the Raiders [the following week]. But it was one of those timing things — the rush was coming. If Anderson doesn’t throw that ball to Collinsworth right now, he’s getting sacked. And he knows it. So he’s got to let the ball go and see what happens. We got lucky. But sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good. Once I got out into the open . . . it’s after sixteen weeks of the season, you’re doing it in December, when was the last time you had a hundred yard run? For forty yards, that’s all you run all season long, and your muscles start to tighten up. If I’d have been in a little better shape, I’d have been okay. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / Darrol Ray might have been one of the best pure athletes we had on the team — he could have played a lot of different positions besides free safety. I remember the feeling of exhilaration on the sidelines when he ran the interception back to ice the game. But the fact that we’d won a playoff game was a huge “Wow.” 1 "5 -& " ) : I’m not sure if they overlooked us, but Freeman was unbelievable that day, and Darrol returned an interception for a touchdown. I remember those plays, and it was like, “You know what? Maybe we are pretty good.” # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 & 3 I had a good run — I was out in the open. I was getting ready to put a move on somebody, and all of a sudden, my leg “popped,” and I just had to fall to the ground. Nobody tackled me, I just had to fall to the ground because it was my hamstring. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 & : What I remember personally was that was the only game — in my high school, college, and pro career — that I never had to punt in. We didn’t punt! I caught so much grief from the players afterwards, about, “You’re not going to take a paycheck, are you, Chuck? You didn’t do anything.” But I was mentally exhausted after that game. It was uncanny — we were beat deep in our territory and it would be third and twelve, and Richard would throw a twelve-yard and six-inch pass that they’d have to measure, so I had to be getting mentally prepared and focused. Then they’d measure it, and we’d have a first down. Then it would be third and nine, and Richard would throw a nine-and-a-half-yard pass, or Freeman would run 176
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : W I L D C A R D
nine and a half yards — and they’d have to measure again. I bet they measured six or seven times, and I’m mentally trying to get ready to go out there and do my job. Boy, at the end of that game, I was worn out . . . and I didn’t do a thing. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& The only way we would be able to beat them is we have to confuse Kenny Anderson and what defenses we’re playing, and you’ve got to get a pass-rush on them. We devised this thing where we had a couple of defenses out there where there were only two defensive linemen. Now you’ve got to understand, we have the Sack Exchange, and we’re going to play two defensive linemen? Well, we did. And there were times it was so confusing that our defensive backs couldn’t line up correct, and they’re running all around in the secondary. Once you do that, and the snap of the ball — Kenny Anderson doesn’t know who’s playing safety, let alone where to throw the ball. And the next thing you know, he makes a mistake and Darrol Ray picks it off and goes back the distance for a touchdown. Defensively, the game plan was tremendous that Joe Gardi came up with. That’s when we knew, “Boy, we’ve got a chance. We can do anything we want on defense, and beat teams.” That’s what I remember about the Cincinnati game . . . other than the bottle of beer being thrown down on me after the game. % " / " -& 9 " / % &3 I remember as we were running off the field, them pouring beer on us when we were going through the tunnel after we beat them. +0 & ( " 3 % * They were chanting “WHO DEY? WHO DEY GOING TO BEAT THEM BENGALS?” And after the game, I chanted to the stands as we walked off the field, “We dey! We dey!” Take your “Doctor of Defense” and stuff it — you’re now talking to the president of defense!” +0 & 8" -50 / That was probably our best day we had that year on offense. Everything clicked, everything went well. I also thought we played well against a good Raider team, the next week.
177
24
1 98 2 P L AYO F F S: DI V I S I O N A L ROUND
A
fter walloping the Bengals, the Jets meet up with another AFC powerhouse, the Los Angeles Raiders, in a game best remembered for Lyle Alzado’s hatred of the Jets’ helmets. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 Through this whole process, I remember Walt Michaels walking in — I forget the difference in the dollar amount, if you won the game or if you lost the game — but I think the first game if we won, you got $5,000 per player. I remember Walt walking in there with a stack of one hundred dollar bills at the team meeting, and saying, “Hey, do you guys want this? Then win.” And the next week, he did the same thing before we played Oakland — “Do you want this? You win.” It was a materialistic thing that you could look down and go, “Wow, man, that’s a stack of a hundred dollar bills. If we win, we each get a stack.” 3* $ ) " 3 % 50 % % Then we went out to Los Angeles. [The Raiders played in Los Angeles at the time.] The Raiders were a very tough team — I don’t think anybody gave us a chance then. + &3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. We went into a hostile environment. The Raiders today — all that mystique of them being tough, badass guys doesn’t exist anymore. I mean, it’s like you go out to the Raiders, kick their ass, and go home now. But back then, man, that was probably the last of the badass guys. They were the highest penalized team in the league I think at that time.
178
al messerschmidt archive⁄getty images
Jets offense in mid-flight, led by Richard Todd
+0 & ( " 3 % * I’ll never forget Al Davis called me. He was so treacherous that he would call the coordinators of the teams that were getting ready to play teams in his conference. For instance, we were getting ready to play San Diego, and Al had called me — “This is what you have to do against Dan Fouts to beat him. . . .” ' 3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 When he got films from the Raiders, Walt told me that they would arrive a day late, and the films were hard to read. We went out and played the Raiders one year, and we actually stopped by the stadium after dinner — I was with Walt and a couple of the coaches — and there were people watering down the field at the stadium. Our thinking was it was to try and slow our football team down because we had a lot of speed. And then other times, Al Davis would come on the field before the game and start talking about our players. We would arrive in our hotel, and Al Davis would be in the lobby of our hotel. I’ve never seen any other coach, general manager, or part-owner ever at the visiting team’s hotel, and trying to talk to your players. People would say he would say to Weeb, “I told our players, ‘Don’t really hurt Namath — we need him, he’s important to the AFL.’” Things like that — to plant that seed that it might happen. There are a lot of things that go back with Davis and Walt [Michaels]. 179
SACK EXCHANGE
3 0 / $ 0 ) & / Going in, you had the whole Jets/Raiders rivalry. Walt — being an old Jets guy from old AFL days — had that real intense feeling of what that rivalry was. The players knew it was going to be a real tough, physical game. That was “the Lyle Alzado team” the Raiders had, and at that point he was basically one of the leading personalities in the league — let alone the Raiders. I remember that it was beyond emotional in the locker room before the game. I think Marty broke a projector or threw it against the wall. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I walked into the locker room, and there’s Marty with my overhead projector, ready to throw it on the ground. I said — and a few expletives — “You break that, and I’ll fine you so bad you’ll play for me the rest of your career!” He put it down. But they were in a furor. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I remember in the locker room before the game, trying to get the guys pumped up. There was a . . . I knew it was a window, but I didn’t know it was a glass window. There was a wooden panel painted white, and I went to hit that, and it was glass. I shattered the glass everywhere into the . . . I think it might have even been the coaches’ room. I pulled my hand out, and I had scratched my hand all up — I had blood coming down, and we were walking out. My hand was bleeding, so I just put it on my white pants. We wanted to make sure that number one, they knew that we were there to play, and number two, we weren’t going to be intimidated. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 &: What stands out to me most was how cold it was in New York, and going out there and being able to kick in “July” again — it being so nice out there in L.A. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ We went out there, and it was just a gorgeous day — a perfect day. There were just as many New York fans in the stands as there were Raiders fans — I couldn’t believe how many people from New York were out there, supporting us. I didn’t come out fearing the Raiders — the big, bad persona they had. None of that. But I remember looking over there and going, “Man, there’s Marcus Allen over there, Jim Plunkett, Howie Long, Lyle Alzado, Lester Hayes — all these great guys.” We were heavy underdogs, but I just knew we were going to beat these guys. I remember the first play of the game, I think they
180
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : D I V I S I O N A L R O U N D
fumbled the ball, and we got a turnover right away. I had an early interception the first half — caused by Jerry Holmes. Great pass coverage on a guy. " # % 6 - 4 " -" " . The Raiders were a little bit more difficult because we knew they were going to come out with their “intimidation mode.” And everybody then was a little leery of the Silver and Black. We believed we had the character and the personality, and we would rise above any opposition. When we took the field, we took the field with that belief because we had practiced enough to the perfection to make it happen. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& The Raiders game was interesting because everybody had picked the Los Angeles Raiders to go to the Super Bowl. And they were a good football team — big, fast, and strong. Good athletes. I remember Joe Gardi talking to us, and saying, “This is going to be more about we have to beat Plunkett. This kid, Marcus Allen, is good, but he ain’t beating us. The only guy that’s going to beat us is number 16. And here’s how you’ve got to do it — we’ve got to get depth on our drops because he’s going to hold the ball longer.” +0 & ( " 3 % * This was our game plan — I said, “Don’t you let Cliff Branch beat you on a fade,” because Al Davis used to love to test you with Cliff Branch running the fade route — the bomb. So that’s the first thing I took away. I said, “I don’t want you to let their tight end, Todd Christensen — Buttle, I don’t care if you have to mug him — hold him and don’t let him off the line of scrimmage.” And then Marcus Allen — I said, “Lance, you have a slow collapse. Don’t you let him cut it back against the grain. That’s the way he’ll beat you.” % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": We knew they were really talented, but they didn’t strike fear in us. We matched up well with the Raiders. You know why? They were a deep vertical passing team — going through a tremendous pass-rush. That means that the odds should be in our favor because our guys would whup their guys for the most part — one on one. We were putting pressure on the quarterback, and when you put pressure on a quarterback, he’s going to have to throw the ball . . . or he’s going to eat it. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % They had just awesome defensive backs. Our whole game
181
SACK EXCHANGE
plan was we ran everything away from [Ted] Hendricks — you never ran to Hendricks. 1 "5 -& " ) : Again, you’re playing a team that, at that time, was a perennial power in the league. They had been to several Super Bowls, and they had all “the names.” It was really a physical football game. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 It was a war — we did nothing but fight that whole day. That was good because we didn’t care — that’s what we wanted to do, too. And that was the Raiders’ mystique. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 That game was probably one of the best, toughest games I ever played in. There was, like, a fight from the first play to the last play. It was just blood and guts. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": I remember trying to go hard the first two or three series, and Plunkett battled me on one pass. He threw a pass that I limped to and missed it by two or three yards. If I’m healthy, I catch that on my back pedal, and we’ve got an interception. I knew I was going to hurt the team, and Kirk Springs came in, and did a real good job the rest of the game. It’s one of those deals where you know your body, and you know you’re not capable, and I was 100 percent sure I wasn’t capable of playing in that game and helping our team. 1 "5 -& " ) : But the thing I remember about that game was Wesley. They just didn’t have an answer for him. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 I remember Wesley scoring that first touchdown [in the first quarter], and saying, “There is no way we’re losing today — there’s just no way.” They had a tough time stopping us that day — even though we only scored seventeen points. I just felt there was no way they could beat us. 5 *. % "7 & : That was where Lyle Alzado ripped off Cubby’s [Chris Ward’s] helmet and threw it. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % I remember I shut Lyle Alzado out. And he pulled my helmet off! He got frustrated because I blocked him — he wasn’t on the stat sheet, he wasn’t 182
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : D I V I S I O N A L R O U N D
in the game, he didn’t have no pressures, no sacks, no tackles, no assists. The only thing he remembered about me was I was laying on him, and he could smell my breath — his helmet was down in the mud, he was on his back, and I was on top of him. I had a great game there. He got frustrated late in the game — I think it was the third quarter. He pulled my helmet off. As a rookie, I remember he put a beating on me [back when] he was playing with the Cleveland Browns. I was a young player, and he took me to school. I said, “Oh . . . I remember you! You took me to school. Guess what? You’re going to have your hands full today.” +& 3 0 . & # " 3 ,6. Lyle Alzado was acting like he lost his mind, and he ripped Chris Ward’s helmet off. He came towards me, and I stood in one place and pointed my finger at him, and he stopped in his tracks. I just stopped and pointed, like, “Don’t bring your ass over here.” But I don’t know what I would have done if he had! So they didn’t intimidate us — even ripping Chris’s helmet off. +0 & ' * & -% 4 I was standing right there. I was going, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” [Laughs] That’s exactly what I said. Alzado threw that like a missile. It was rather humorous, actually. . " 3 * 0 / # " 3 # &3 You know, today, that’s a flag and a fine. No flag, no fine — we just lined up and, “Let’s go for it again!” ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& Most of the time, I’m on the bench catching a breather or going over stuff. But at that point, it happened to be where I saw him rip the helmet off and throw the helmet. I remember talking to Ted Hendricks about that play, and Ted said, “I went to the ref and said, ‘There’s no penalty that says you can’t take another player’s helmet off.’ And the ref said, ‘I’m not penalizing you for that, I’m penalizing you because he threw the helmet!’” It was funny, but that play — no one got rattled by it. Chris Ward wasn’t rattled by it, our offense wasn’t. We had a pretty good, veteran football team that allowed us to stay within the scope of the game, and not think about trying to fight anybody. # 0 # # : + " $ , 40/ Supposedly, Al Davis had called our locker room and said something [to Walt Michaels, during halftime]. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 That phone call came in. That guard on the door that came 183
Over the hump: Scott Dierking scores deciding touchdown in 1982 AFC Divisional Round Playoff vs. Raiders
over. I’ll never forget him saying, “So-and-so is looking for so-and-so.” And I’m looking, saying, “Now how in the world could they have that phone alive there in the locker room?” It shouldn’t have even been alive for any reason. But it happened. 5 *. % "7 & : It was the clubhouse gentleman’s office — it was right outside our locker room. He came in and told Walt Michaels that he had a phone call. He said it was Leon Hess. Well, Walt got on the phone, and it was not Leon Hess. I can’t remember exactly what was stated, but Walt thought it was Al Davis. He was another person that Walt hated — Al Davis. You wouldn’t have believed what went down the week prior to that game out at the complex. There was a helicopter flying over our practice site that Walt was saying was Al Davis trying spy on us. He had me go over to the sixteen-floor tower of the library at Hofstra University, and make sure that no one with binoculars was watching our practices that week. It was paranoia is what it was. Just total paranoia. But the phone call went through — he went out and answered the call. If Leon Hess is calling you, for god’s sake, you go. He was the boss, and he wasn’t even on the trip. So that even made it more so thinking that Leon was calling to 184
ap photo
SACK EXCHANGE
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : D I V I S I O N A L R O U N D
encourage us or whatever. And when he got on the phone, it wasn’t Leon. Came ranting and raving, coming to me. Saying, “That fucking Al Davis . . . I’m going to kill him!” It was just something to distract Walt and the team. Walt was fired up, that was sure, and when the coach is fired up, the players usually react. So shit, I’m sure they felt it as well — from his talk before they went out on the field. I’m sure it was some wacko or a transplant from New York who lives in California. But the question was how the hell did he get through to that phone? That’s the key. That’s what we couldn’t figure out. But he did, and Walt took the call — I was a witness to it. 8" -5 . * $ ) " &-4 It was a good emotional incentive to “Let’s go play harder.” And we did — we played harder the second half. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : Walt went bananas. I don’t even know if we changed our game plan because of this craziness going on. So we went out in the field the second half of the Raiders game, and I don’t think we changed a thing. We just went out and out-hit them. Or at least played as good as they were. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 It might have been Cliff Branch. Kirk Springs, our safety, almost knocked his head off, and I just happened to be there breaking on the ball. So Kirk actually made the play, but I was there to get a break on the ball, and get the interception. It was probably in the middle of the game — third quarter or somewhere in there. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& The offense did what they had to do — the big play by Wesley Walker [in the fourth quarter] was tremendous. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I remember playing against one of my former teammates — Burgess Owens, a safety. I remember catching a pass on the goal line. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % Wesley caught that pass with about three minutes or four minutes left — a fifty-yarder. Put it on the one, and Dierking took it in. # 0 # # : + " $ , 40/ I just felt like we were in control of the game. I never thought we were going to lose . . . until Freeman had those fumbles late in the second half. 185
SACK EXCHANGE
3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I remember Freeman fumbling at the end. I forgot who picked up the ball for the Raiders, but if the guy doesn’t stumble for a second, he’s probably gone for a touchdown — and we lose the game. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ I was like, “Oh please, somebody tackle this guy!” And Marvin Powell — out of all people — is the one who made the tackle. He dove through three or four guys and made the tackle. And Marvin was not very known to tackle people. But it was in slow motion. It was like, “Oh nooo.” And Freeman never fumbled. But the guy who hit him is my best friend — Burgess Owens, my former teammate. But Lance came through for us — big-time. + 0 & ( " 3 % * Bam! Now we’re back on defense. Lance intercepts Plunkett. Now, all we’ve got to do is run out the clock. Bam! Freeman fumbles again. Here comes my defense again. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 I knew our defense would stop them. I just knew it. I had the confidence in our defense, that they weren’t going to let them score. I didn’t know what was going to happen — I just knew they weren’t going to score. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 All I remember about that is Jim Plunkett loved Lance Mehl, y’know? He threw those two interceptions to Lance Mehl, and really solidified the game for us. 1 "5 -& " ) : That was the game that made Lance Mehl a star! - " / $ & . & ) - The first one, I think they were trying to suck us up with the crossing routes underneath. I figured I’d just sit back, and I took a peek at Cliff Branch — who was doing that deep crossing route. So I figured, “What the heck?” I saw Plunkett throw the ball — I just kept going and grabbed it. And then after the fumble, they got the ball back. I remember walking back, talking to Jerry Holmes and Darrol Ray, saying, “We’ve got to get the ball back. We’ve got to stop them — we’ve got to do it again.” And then they ran the same damn play a few plays later! I’m thinking, “No . . . it can’t be the same thing.” And here comes Todd Christensen across. I look back, I see Branch curling, and I go, “You’ve got to be kidding me. He ain’t going to throw it again.” I look, and there he throws it. So I just remember doing the same thing. 186
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : D I V I S I O N A L R O U N D
, & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : One thing we knew is they always loved deep patterns. Plunkett was a pocket passer, and he was going back there seven steps all the time. He was going to have a twenty-yard out/in/take-off — whatever you might want to call it. We knew that, so we put a heck of a pass-rush on them, and tried to take that away. He had a couple of long passes that he tried to attempt, but I don’t think anything was completed. So we did pretty good on the secondary in that aspect. And it came down to Lance Mehl intercepting a pass to put it away. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 That was one of the most exciting games that I think we had, too. That’s right up there with all of them. When Lance did that, I just remember the sigh of relief. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I’ll never forget it — I wanted to kill Freeman. But Lance just did a great job. Certainly, Plunkett was a great quarterback, but we didn’t feel he should beat you — especially in a two-minute drill. . " 3 * 0 / # " 3 #&3 The end of that game was kind of a brawl. I remember a lot of the scuffles that game, and the joy of the victory after the fact. And I remember some scuffles going off the field. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 What happened was we’re taking a knee. Of course, the Raiders are really pissed off because they were going to go down and score, and beat us . . . and Lance Mehl intercepts the ball. So we come in to take a knee, and Ted Hendricks reaches across and twists my nipple! So we start a little shoving contest, and everybody is yelling at each other. Second down comes up, and we’ve got to run two more plays to run out the clock. We snap the ball, and he does the same thing. I get back in the huddle, and I say, “I’ll tell you what — if he does that again, there’s going to be a brawl.” Well, he did it again, so we got in a big fight. The benches cleared, everybody was fighting. It was kind of like a bench-clearing brawl at the end of the game. One of those things. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 I remember Matt Millen got in a fight after the game — I jumped on his back and was giving him an earful. We played together in college, and he told me, “Mickey, give me a couple of minutes — I’ll talk to you when I’m done.” So I got off his back, he continued to fight, and then he came over to talk me . . . because he had to keep his image. 187
SACK EXCHANGE
." 3 * 0 / # " 3 # & 3 I remember particularly, Matt Millen and I got into a tussle, and I want to say it was either the next year or two years later [that] we played them in a preseason game, and we got into a tussle again. We both looked up and saw who the other was, and we just chuckled. It was like, “You again?!” As violent as that game can be, there are a lot of laughs and giggles that go in that game as well. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& I was hugging and kissing Lance Mehl on the field — that’s all that I can remember at the end. [The final score was 17–14.] % " / " -& 9 " / % & 3 I just remember shaking hands with Howie Long after the game, and going, “Man . . . we’re going to Miami for the AFC Championship.” ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 I went up to Lyle [after the game] — it looked like it was a friendly shot, but I was asking him, “Why all the negative publicity?” There was a lot of stuff they were saying — that I wasn’t good against the run, and that I was only playing for the sack. They said I was always way up the field too far and wasn’t in position. But I’d rather be able to get up the field, than not get up the field at all. But anyway, he said, “There was no hard feelings — everything’s cool. Much respect.” And that was it. '3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 I was totally taken off guard when I got to the locker room after the game. Freeman had really thought that he lost the game when he fumbled. So I was trying to console Freeman. And when I got there, Walt was so agitated. When he started telling me about this “Al Davis incident,” it came out of left field to me. Because I was completely unaware of it — I was prepared to give Walt some things to talk about. A lot of times, we would talk about what he would talk about with the players and what the media might be asking him about. I was ready to talk about that, and then he tells me about this phone call that he got at halftime. And Walt believed that it was set up by Al Davis. That’s what he told the media after the game. Many days later, we found out it was some bartender in Queens. So Walt really lost his cool — but it goes way back to Walt being an assistant coach with the Raiders in 1962, and Al Davis came in ’63, and fired the whole Raider coaching staff — which happens frequently. But then he had asked Walt if Walt would give him his playbook. Walt said, “Here, you’re not going to keep me, but 188
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : D I V I S I O N A L R O U N D
you want to keep my playbook?!” The bad blood began there, and it continued throughout all the years of the Jets and Al Davis. 8" -5. * $ ) " &-4 I recall I was kidding with some of the media after the game. I said, “Can you imagine?” And whether it came out the way it did or not, I don’t know. But it’s very typical whenever you’re playing an Al Davis team. The fact that whatever happened, or how it happened, or whoever did it — any time shenanigans went on, you only went to one source who did the shenanigan [laughs]. And we left Los Angeles a winner. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 It was a nice plane ride home, let me tell you that. Because those West Coast games can be a real bad trip home — especially after a loss. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I think after that game, the feeling was, “This is real, and we have a real shot to go the Super Bowl.” 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 Everybody seemed to just come together. We weren’t expected to go anywhere. We were expected to maybe lose — like the underdogs. People took us for granted, and we ended up just playing. And we were a lot better than people gave us credit for. 4 $ 0 55 % * & 3 ,*/( We never really played well on the West Coast. And after watching the Jets for many years now, I don’t think they ever really play well out there. So that was a real nice victory for us — to beat a real good Raiders team that year. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& That’s one of the big turning points in a football team — can you win the close game? And we did. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 I’m coaching with the San Diego Chargers [years later], and the Raiders were in the Super Bowl — the year against Tampa Bay. The Raiders were using the Chargers’ facility. Al Davis was walking up towards the sidewalk — I was leaving work. I said, “Hey, how are you doing, Mr. Davis?” And he said, “Do I know you?” And I said, “No. I’m Jerry Holmes.” And he remembered me when I intercepted that ball in that playoff game! That was, like, I don’t know how many years. I thought, “Man, this guy is special.” Because I’d heard some 189
SACK EXCHANGE
stories that he could memorize the whole board — as far as the NFL and bringing people to the Raiders, as far as free agency. And being that old, and he’s going to remember an interception that I caught? I thought, “Wow.” 1 "5 -& " ) : You’re sitting there thinking, “Maybe we are talented enough to play in the Super Bowl.” 8" -5 . * $ ) " & - 4 We were wiping them all out . . . until “the unfortunate incident.”
190
25
19 82 P L AYO F F S: A F C CH A M PIONSHIP
T
he only thing standing in the way of a Jets Super Bowl appearance is the Miami Dolphins in the AFC Championship . . . and swamplike field conditions that only Yoda (and A. J. Duhe) would be comfortable in. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to “The Mud Bowl.” . " 3 5: -: 0 /4 We were pretty confident going down there. We were 0–2 against the Dolphins, but we were on a pretty good roll — a pretty good high. + 0 & ( " 3 % * If you asked me how do I start a new franchise, the first thing I would do is draft tackles. We had a great match-up — our tackles, who were Marvin Powell and Chris Ward — against the Dolphins, who were [A. J.] Duhe and someone else. And then we had a great match-up with Gastineau and Klecko against their offensive tackles. It’s all a game of match-ups. # " 3 3: # & / / &55 We had a better ground game than they did. We had a healthy Freeman McNeil, and they didn’t have anything resembling that. % " / " -& 9 " / %&3 Walt Michaels kept us in New York all week, and we practiced in cold, cold weather — a frozen field. A lot of teams will go to the site and practice there for a week, but we stayed in New York and practiced in the cold. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& The one thing about that game is I remember practicing for it, and it was bitterly cold in New York. Where it’s dry, cold, and crisp in New York, 191
SACK EXCHANGE
it’s wet and windy in Miami. We talked about the weather report, and how it was a hurricane, but it would clear up by Sunday. There really wasn’t too much worry. It was almost like, “I don’t care what Miami’s doing — we’re going to go down and kick their ass anyway.” We were going to show them that they beat us in two games earlier in the year, and that this is going to be different. The media was making an issue out of the fact that they beat us twice — can they beat us a third time? It didn’t wear on anybody on our team. There was nobody on our team that thought for one second they were going to lose that game. It had nothing to do with being overconfident — it had to do with we were really good at that time. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 They had a marathon run at that time [in Miami]. The run started at the Orange Bowl and it ended there. And one of the fellows running in the race was a good friend of mine who used to come to all the games. He called me on Wednesday, he said, “We’re going to run this race, but the water and the mud at the Orange Bowl is ankle-deep.” I said, “You’ve got to be kidding me. The league rule calls for the field to be covered.” Well, I mentioned it to our front office. I said, “Hey, get on the stick — whatever it is. That field isn’t covered, and the advantage goes to them.” In the meantime, the emotion of going into the playoff game that takes you to the Super Bowl — I don’t care what anyone says about it, you can get emotional. I told them that, and then let it go — assuming it was fine. But when we got down there, it was a different story. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 I remember waking up in the morning [of the game], and thinking, “I’m done.” It may be selfish, but I was looking for, “What can Wesley Walker contribute to the team?” I’m a team player — I want to be a part of this and I want the ball. I got up, and I just knew it was going to change the game — I knew we were in trouble. It becomes a game of field position, turnovers, and who plays more controlled ball and scores. I always had success [in Miami], and I wake up to a monsoon. It was coming down. I could’ve cried that day. I just knew it, I just felt it. It’s not that you’re not confident, but I knew it wasn’t going to be a passing day. That just blows it for me. + 0 & 8" -50 / Our forte on offense was speed. We had some pretty good “speed people” — Freeman McNeil and Wesley Walker. And the mud kind of got to us — it was a sloppy day. 192
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : A F C C H A M P I O N S H I P
3 0 / $ 0 ) & / The question became whether it was intentionally not covered because we were a team back then that relied on speed. And the muddy field was going to negate all of that. Miami did not have that type of team — David Woodley was their quarterback, and the running back was Woody Bennett, a guy we used to have. And he was just a power guy. The field was really bad. If you put your foot down on the field, it was ankle-deep, and our game on offense was negated by the whole thing. ' 3 " / , 3 " . 04 It had been raining in Miami since Wednesday afternoon. They were still watering [the field], rather than the pump taking water off the field. When our players went on the field, the water was over the top of your shoes for the players. Walt was blaming it on [Don] Shula, but the game was supposed to be handled by the National Football League. They were supposed to be in charge of the championship game and the conditions. And they had done nothing about it. And the Orange Bowl did not own a tarp. There was not a tarp on the field for all those days, and the Orange Bowl — at that time — throughout the season, high school football played there two to three games a week. Plus the University of Miami and the Dolphins played. The field could not handle that type of water because the grass had really been chewed up throughout the season. " + % 6 ) & [The Dolphins] had to reschedule our practices a couple of times that week because it was one of those fronts that came in here and it rained for, I think, four or five days in a row. A couple of times the forecast would be heavy showers in the afternoon — I think we changed a couple of our practices before lunch. I know one time, we ended up having to come in, watch film, and go back out. It was just a really crazy week of practice — the weather was nasty. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 All I remember was hating Don Shula because it was horrible. It was a little bit of an advantage for me at the time because I was still hurt a little bit. But the footing was so bad that the offensive linemen couldn’t do nothing with it. 1 "5 3:" / I remember the field was underwater. I remember going out for pregame warm-ups and kneeling down in like five inches of water to practice field goals and extra points. It was sloppy.
193
SACK EXCHANGE
8" -5. * $ ) " & -4 When I went to the guy responsible for that — I knew how to get to workers because I worked all my life — I said, “Are you in charge of pumps here?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Would you please put on those pumps if they’re able to work.” And he said something — I didn’t hear it all. I said, “You turn the pumps on if they’re able to work . . . or I’ll crack your skull.” You know what? He turned the pumps on. So why weren’t they on when they were supposed to be on? # 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8&3 No — I don’t remember a tarp ever being used [in the Orange Bowl]. They had that PAT [Prescription Athletic Turf] — the Orange Bowl was one of the first places to use that system, where they had a drainage system underneath it. I don’t remember the field ever being tarped. I guess that was part of the issue there. Now, I’m not saying it wasn’t, but I don’t ever remember it being tarped. It rained in Miami a lot. I think the big issue there — as far as that particular game and the field — was that the Orange Bowl was used for us, the Miami Hurricanes, and they played high school games on it. So, late in the year, they were always trying to keep that thing decent, but it was always a challenge. I remember there was a lot of sand in it, so it would drain. You’d be out there playing, and after the game, you’d have sand all over you because the sand was part of the system. I can remember them having to paint part of the field green because it just wasn’t in good shape. "+ % 6 ) & There was a lot of sour grapes about the field not being tarped — I don’t ever remember that field being tarped in my life. I found out about this three or four years ago from a guy who told me this story — his uncle who worked in maintenance with the grounds crew at the Orange Bowl — that field was what they call Prescription Athletic Turf. It’s kind of a man-made grass that they farm and they bring it in — that’s when they just started doing that stuff. Back in the old days, people just put down sod, and that was your field. Then the Orange Bowl, when they tore out the turf in I think ’75 or ’76 and went to real grass — that’s when the [National Football] League was starting to complain about injuries and the turf was a bad substance. So they put in what’s called Prescription Athletic Turf, which was just a natural grown grass. Beautiful — it was almost like golf course green grass, expect it grew thicker and it was longer. But it was a flat surface — it didn’t have a turtleback. That’s why the field was so wet, because it didn’t have a turtleback — it was just a level playing
194
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : A F C C H A M P I O N S H I P
field, like today. Today’s fields are all flat — I don’t think there are any turtlebacks anymore on fields. If there is, it’s so slightly pitched, you won’t even notice it. So basically, it rained so much that week that the drainage and pumping system — to keep the field sucked out and sponged out — broke on them. And these guys couldn’t get the damned thing fixed, so the field just flooded. It was sloppy. As players, we were going, “What the hell?” Because we had a lot of rain in previous years in Florida — we played in many a rainstorm — and had three or four days’ worth of rain before a game, and never ever remember the field turning into a muck. Sloppy and swampy. It was gross. -& / # & 3 . " / In 1982, I became the host of NFL ’82, which was the NBC pregame show — I replaced Bryant Gumbel. I hosted that show for two years. I was actually the host for that memorable AFC Championship Game in Miami — at the rainy Orange Bowl. Here they were, within a step of the Super Bowl, and it had been raining all night. Now, we’re about to do this broadcast, and the NFL comes over to us — before the broadcast begins — and they tell us, “There’s no NFL rule that says you have to cover the field with a tarp.” And I remember that struck me odd at the time, because no one asked them. In other words, they were volunteering a defense of something before anybody accused them of anything. So obviously, it blew up to be a major story. It just always struck me as odd that the NFL was defending themselves. But the field was just a quagmire in the old Orange Bowl. It was a mess. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 When we came out to start the game, there was no water on the field — just mud. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % If I was them, I wouldn’t have covered the field neither — it’s about winning. It’s like, remember New England, when they brought the snow blower out? + 0 & , -& $ , 0 Don Shula is a competitive guy, and did he do it on purpose? I don’t think so. But he may be laughing inside, too. +0&("3%* That’s all an excuse. Do you want the truth? It slowed Miami down more than it did Freeman McNeil and Wes Walker. Trust me, it did. We had to
195
SACK EXCHANGE
play on the same field — it’s just an excuse. It had nothing to do with the outcome of the game. Believe me, Mark Duper and all those guys were a lot faster than we were — and it slowed them down. It was still the same field, so it had no bearing. But it was something we wanted to say. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / & "6 I definitely thought that we were going to win — you always go into that train of thought. But I didn’t think it was going to be a game like it was. 1 "5 -& " ) : I remember the guy that day who got the most carries was probably Scott Dierking, because he was a “plodder.” " + % 6 ) & That game was pretty memorable for me. It seemed like it was memorable for all Dolphins fans and Jets fans. I remember our whole week of preparation — we had a real good game plan. Jerome Barkum, Wesley Walker, and Freeman McNeil were three elements of that offense — you really had to worry about all three of them. Any one of them could beat you, so we had to figure out schemes that would neutralize them. Obviously, the field neutralized Freeman McNeil a lot, and Wesley Walker. The situation did hinder the ability of the Jets’ offense. Our offense, we didn’t have the “let’s get downfield/breakout offense” back then — we’d run the ball, we threw some little option passes, went to our tight ends and receivers in possession situations. But our defense was the nuts and bolts of that team, and we really had a great game plan in preparation of how to neutralize some of the routes they liked with Walker and Barkum. And we had some fronts in place to neutralize some of their run plays. So we thought we were well-prepared — we had a great game plan. We knew the results of the game were the pinnacle of any player that plays this game — to make it to the Super Bowl. You want to win the Super Bowl, but obviously, the first thing is you have to make it there. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : I didn’t know what shoes to wear — it was just one of those deals where there was no cleat big enough to get you through that big thick mud that was on that field. Each player is responsible for different types of cleats. We all bring [them], no matter what game — especially if it’s a grass field like the Orange Bowl was. We were all pretty much prepared for that. And if you weren’t, you could get your cleats changed, so that was no big deal.
196
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : A F C C H A M P I O N S H I P
# * --) " . 1 50/ All we had to do was put longer cleats on the players’ shoes — but that didn’t work either. In those days, the players were lucky to get one pair of shoes — not like they get today, they get all the shoes they want from Nike and Reebok. They usually had one pair of shoes, and we had to change the cleats on the field at that time, and carry extra cleats for that purpose. They did mostly on the field. And if they didn’t, we changed them at halftime. They were usually broken-in shoes. In those days, they used to give the players one pair of shoes for the game, and they only wore them to the game — he had to supply his own practice shoes. Now, shoes are no problem. But back when we played Houston in the Astrodome for the first time, I got the players’ size, went to the bank, got a pair of shoes for everybody, and then returned them after the game! . " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 I know that I was looking to get some different cleats because of the fact that we never thought it was going to be like that. We had those “turf shoes.” In fact, the trainer from the Miami Dolphins went and got me some. But we were really having a hard time with that. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % The balls were just mud. I don’t have big hands anyway, and you gripped the ball and there’s nothing but mud all over them, it’s so slippery. I remember throwing the ball, and it “quacked” out of there a couple of times — just an end-over-end ball. It was not a game for passing. I mean, maybe Namath could have thrown well under those conditions, or Marino. But it was not a game to throw the ball. 1 "5 -& " ) : I felt bad for Richard because he just had a horrible day, and he kept trying to win the game for us. When you’re playing like that and you can’t stretch the field with speed, they’re just going to sit on those short passes all day long, which is exactly what happened. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4&: I had a good game — I remember I had one down in, like, the six inch line, and then two others inside the ten. We pinned them back and we were taking it to them. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& There was a play in the middle of the game, where there was a screen pass to Andra Franklin, and I come out of the side, and I’ve got a beat
197
SACK EXCHANGE
on him. I know he’s got to cut the ball back. So I take off, and as he cuts the ball back, I nail him and force a fumble. And Gastineau recovers the fumble. Must have been on our own forty yard line — the beginning of the second half, I think. And the referee calls it down. We don’t have instant replay at that time. And I’m saying, “Absolutely not.” They called him down, and he was not down. It was a fumble — Gastineau recovers the ball and we were going to get the ball. Instead, they get the ball, and I remember Bobby Jackson was upset — we’re upset defensively because we were on a roll. It was 0–0 at the half, and now, we make a turnover, and the referees give them the ball. I think the very next play — or the next couple of plays — Miami throws a ball down to, say, our eighteen yard line. Bobby Jackson is covering somebody, and I don’t remember seeing what had happened, but they called Bobby Jackson for pass interference on a ball that can’t be caught, or he was out of bounds. Bobby Jackson went nuts and they penalized him — unsportsmanlike conduct — for cursing the ref out. They move the ball to, like, the seven yard line. It was unbelievable. And then I think they scored two plays later. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I eventually went to work for the NFL and did instant replay for the officiating department for five years when I left the Jets. The first thing they showed me in the NFL office when I went to work for them was a play in that game — I may have them mixed up, but I want to say Gastineau caused a fumble, and Buttle recovered it. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& So they scored a touchdown there, and that’s the way the game stays until A. J. Duhe makes an interception and runs it in for a touchdown. " + % 6 ) & I had three [interceptions]. I think the first one might have been when Richard [Todd] tried to throw a little check-down to Mike Augustyniak coming out of the backfield. He hit him in the hands — actually, I was beat. He threw it to his back shoulder, it hit his hands, ricocheted up in the air, and I caught it on the deflection. So that was kind of just good timing on my part. The second one, obviously, part of our game plan was to have underneath and overthe-top coverage on Barkum. Barkum ran a seam route — Richard might not have seen me on the underneath. He probably saw the safety was playing deep on him, so he goes, “Let me just feather it into him.” I made a good play though
198
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : A F C C H A M P I O N S H I P
— when I saw the ball up in the air, I had to jump up and steal it from Barkum, so that was the second interception. The third one was just plain good technique. I was a defensive end when I first came into the league — they moved me to linebacker — so through my last stages of my career, they would utilize me as a down-lineman/pass-rusher/ stand-up linebacker. We kind of created the zone blitz. The zone blitz started with us back in 1980 — that’s when I got moved to defensive end to linebacker, and Coach Arnsparger looked at it like, “Wow, we’ve got a guy that was a defensive lineman now playing linebacker. We can maybe get a little tricky and fool some people.” And it was a basic zone blitz. Nowadays, the zone blitz is phenomenal and unbelievable the way they can use it and develop it. But we started it all off. I was just playing an outside pass-rush over Marvin Powell — rushing the passer. He went to cut me. I guess from so many repetitions of the cut-block, I did the right things the way I was coached — protected my feet, got my hands up in the air. Normally, what happens is you try and get the defensive tackle to set fast, and then you get the defensive end rushing with so much speed, as soon as you go to his feet, it’s almost automatic that you can take him off of his feet. I think what happened was the conditions of the field helped me because I didn’t have the speed rush. It enabled me to be working at a slower pace and protect my feet. I got my hands up in the air, he tried to throw a little swing pass to Bruce Harper . . . it was all timing. Richard probably goes, “One, two, three, he’s cut, I can throw it right here.” I didn’t get cut, I batted the ball around a few times and caught it, and took it into the end zone. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I was “The Most Valuable Player” for the Dolphins! I threw five interceptions, and if they could have caught the ball, they would have had ten. I think Woodley threw three against us, and if we could have caught the ball, we would have had five. The field was just . . . I’m not making any excuses, but it was just horrible. The only way they scored is off an interception. A. J. Duhe became “A. J. Du-Hey” after the game [laughs]. Just not a day for offense. , & / 4$ ) 3 0 : I think it was who got the breaks and who didn’t. We were trying to run the ball a lot because passing was so freaking difficult. I know A. J. Duhe had all those interceptions — I had two myself in the first half. It’s just really, really difficult having a passing game. You can stop the run in the mud. Nobody can get
199
SACK EXCHANGE
any push — it’s like one big old pile right in the middle. It was just a muddy mess — I’ll never forget that game. I never played in mud like that in my life. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8 &3 It was all defensive — both sides of the ball. And that comes back to the Jets’ defense — they had a hellacious defense as well. I keep thinking as far as that year, that defensive line they had was the core of that defense. And we had a very similar-type defense that year. We had a good defensive line, as well. That dominated the game. And then A. J. Duhe had three interceptions that game. The field helped lend that to itself. It was muddy for both teams, so I don’t know why Coach Michaels would have thought that because we had some pretty good players on offense, as well. It was just a defensive battle all the way through. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 We were in position to win that game. I saw a game the other day with Brett Favre [the Vikings vs. the Steelers on October 25, 2009], and I got that “picture” of Richard Todd throwing one of those interceptions, and the guy ran it for a touchdown — and he didn’t even try to tackle the guy. I saw Brett Favre do the same thing — twice — last night. He needs to retire if he’s not going to tackle that big, slow lineman — or jump on his back. And that’s what popped in my mind — I’m sitting here the other night watching that game, and I’m thinking about Richard Todd not even trying to tackle that guy in the Miami game. It’s one of those things at the end — he must have gotten frustrated. I felt like if he just made a play on that guy, the defense was playing great all day, and might have come in and stopped them. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % You can say all you want, but if you look back, the Dolphins beat us three times that year. They beat us in New York, they beat us in Miami, and they beat us [in the AFC Championship]. So they kind of had our number. We probably should have done a lot of things differently [laughs]. Because whatever we did the first two games, we should have done the opposite the third game. It’s always been hard for us to run against the Dolphins — they had the Killer B’s. I would have loved to play them in good football [weather]. 1 "5 -& " ) : Unfortunately, that’s probably a big remembrance of Richard’s career. But he made a lot of great plays for us. It was one of those things where he kept trying to win the game, but they just had everything covered all day long.
200
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : A F C C H A M P I O N S H I P
It was just a terrible afternoon of football. They probably should have postponed the game, but TV said no. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 - &3 I thought they should have used me more. I think we tried to pass too much. In hindsight, it was a nightmare as far as the field. But I had always been kind of a “mudder guy,” so I always was good with my feet and kept good balance. I think I’d have been better able to play that game as a predominant tight end — I think Jerome played most of that game. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& I never played in weather like that. Maybe I did one other time — at Penn State, I played in a hurricane. And we lost that game, 7–6, to Navy. I remember on the sidelines thinking of that game — there was no reason that Navy should have been on the field with us. None. But if you turn the ball over five times like we did against Navy — we fumbled the ball inside the ten. At the end of the game, I remember thinking to myself, “We’re still not going to lose — we’re going to win this game, somehow.” The time is running out, and there’s nothing you can do. You’re walking off the field, going, “How did we lose that game?” I remember sitting on the bench with Kenny Schroy at the end of that game in Miami, incredulously going, “How did we lose this game?” You play as hard as you possibly can — you should win that game. But Richard Todd throws five interceptions. You give Miami every opportunity to beat you, and they just ended up beating us. + 0 & ( " 3 % * We had a great game defensively. And I’ll never forget, after the game Joe Walton said he was sorry to me. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": My first thought was “Damn, we let them off the hook again.” You don’t get many chances. When I played in college, we ended up number two once and number three twice in the country, and I never won a national championship with Oklahoma. The 1978 team, we had a Heisman Trophy– winning running back, Billy Simms, and an Outland Trophy–winning lineman, Greg Roberts. We had a great, great assembly of football players, and we were voted “the greatest team to never win a national title” by Sports Illustrated, after twenty-five years. That’s nothing to be proud of. So there’s nothing to be proud of being a really good team and not getting over the hump, which we didn’t do
201
Dirty Dolphins: Jets fans’ recurring nightmare, 1982 AFC Championship (L–R: A. J. Duhe, Bob Baumhower, Doug Betters)
with the Dolphins. So my first thought was, “Damn, we let somebody else off the hook.” And it’s not that easy to get there. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. We pissed up a rope that game, man. We had so many damn distractions — supposedly Shula had watered the field down, and they didn’t put the tarp down on the field. It was just stuff that, to me, was non-football related. We were in a place we had never been before. Some teams get in the playoffs and it’s like, “Okay, we’re going to go on from here.” But when I look back at it in hindsight, it was almost like, “We’re in the playoffs. Wow, we made it to the playoffs!” It’s almost like we just pissed it off after that. It seems like we just weren’t ready to play — and I know we were because we had just beaten the Raiders. Clearly, the Dolphins weren’t a better team than we were that day, but obviously, they played better. We made a tremendous amount of mistakes that day. It was a bad day for us. ." 3 * 0 / # " 3 # & 3 I just remember when we lost the game in Miami, guys like 202
al messerschmidt archive⁄getty images
SACK EXCHANGE
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : A F C C H A M P I O N S H I P
Bobby Jackson — grown men — in the shower, crying. You just don’t realize the impact of a game when you’re that close to doing something great, and not knowing if you’ll ever get that opportunity again. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ I was real numb — that’s all I remember. Like, “Wow — we’re really not going to the Super Bowl.” I couldn’t believe it. I got permission to stay in Miami because my family is down there — my mom and everybody. So I didn’t come back on the flight with the team. But the thing was, I was down there, and all the newspapers were, “Miami, Miami.” So I had to live with that the whole week. My son was three years old at the time. On this phone is a screensaver of me and my son sitting in the Miami Dolphins’ dressing room, and the reporter is interviewing me. He’s looking up at whoever is taking the picture, not knowing what is going on. I’m being interviewed, telling him, “We lost the game, hope they beat the Redskins.” But inside, I was dying. That’s what you live for. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I remember at the end of the game, going, “I can’t believe I came this close to going to the Super Bowl, and now we’ve got to start over.” I remember going into the locker room, and you could hear a pin drop. At that point, I had been playing with a pulled hamstring for three straight weeks — and getting taped from the middle of my back to underneath my ankle, down to my heel. I remember them ripping the tape off, and making sure they didn’t tear the skin. I remember reaching behind my leg, taking my hamstring, and it was like a piece of Jell-O, and realizing, “Okay, now it’s the off-season. Now you have to get your hamstring back in shape to be ready to play the following year.” To get so close and to come up short . . . it’s an empty feeling. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& Again, you go out there and you play hard, and as well as you can play, and you can’t win — it was [incredible]. You think there is no way it can happen, and the real depth of the situation was we weren’t going to the Super Bowl. The plane ride back was terrible. So, that was a great memory. Thanks for bringing it up. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % Five interceptions — that’s what I remember. That’s the worst memory because I really believed we should have won the Super Bowl that year. We were ready.
203
SACK EXCHANGE
+ 0 & , -& $ , 0 At the time, I was mad at Richard a little bit because of throwing the interceptions. I felt we didn’t get beat, we lost the game. But hell, I always said that we wouldn’t have been where we’re at if it wasn’t for Richard. At the time, you’re not happy about losing — especially when the next game is the Super Bowl. % " 3 3 0 -3 ": How many times can you throw an interception for a touchdown and not have a good game, when you’re on national TV, and there is not any other sporting event on at that exact same time? Half of America is watching you, and you don’t have your best game. I mean, I’m a defensive back — I blend in with eleven other defensive players. I may get beat deep, but it’s not like the quarterback who takes a snap on every ball. And everything is right at his fingertips. That said, I think he’s probably been unjustly crucified for the lack of what we did that game. We probably could have figured out another way to win. It’s not on Richard’s back — he was a good quarterback. Let me ask you this — how could we have gotten there if he hadn’t have played well? 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 Coaches are a part of that too — you have to be able to call plays when it gets like that in weather. That’s why it’s a team thing. Coaches — despite conditions — have to come up with a plan. “Okay, it’s like this? This is what we have to do. Here is a play that we can run with what they’re going to try and do.” And then we have to perform that. Didn’t do either one of those. + 0 & 8" -50 / We did do that [adjust the offense’s game plan during the game] — we tried to run the ball more, tried to keep it a little closer to the vest. But the type of team we were, our best weapons were nullified in that game. + 0 & ( " 3 % * We didn’t think they were going to beat us three times in a row. But to be honest with you, the offense . . . what term can I use that would be nice? They wet the bed. # " 3 3: # & / / &55 Basically what happened is their defense was the number one unit on the field, our defense was the second-best unit on the field, and our offense in that game was the weakest of the four units on the field that day. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 When you only give up one touchdown, you’re supposed to win. I know we threw that interception and they picked it up and scored, but 204
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : A F C C H A M P I O N S H I P
when you hold a team like that to one [offensive] touchdown, I think you should be in position to win the football game. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. It was just one of those unfortunate games where we just didn’t show up. And playing in mud, hell, we played in Shea Stadium, in cold. We played over in Buffalo. So mud was nothing. I just don’t know how that was a big issue. But it ended up being one. % " / " -& 9 " / % &3 I still think that could have been a different game down in Miami — on a dry field. Or a covered field, anyway. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 Even during our early years versus Miami . . . I knew they were always scared of us. And thank god it rained for them because that was the only reason I think we lost that game. You can’t use any excuses — you have to be able to play. But we were a running and passing team, and we played well against Miami — even during our losing seasons. I’ve always had success against Miami. I was so disappointed that game. I caught one pass — towards the last quarter. 5* . % "7 & : After the Raiders game, I stayed back [in California]. Because the Super Bowl was being played in Pasadena that year, me and two other gentlemen stayed back and coordinated all the travel plans, and office setups, and everything — for playing in the Super Bowl, as one of the teams. Geez, I had my whole family all squared away — booked and ready to be on the planes, hotel rooms, and everything. They were all ready to go to the Super Bowl. And then to lose 14–0 in the mud. . . . + 0 & ( " 3 % * It was devastating. I had sixty-five relatives wanting to go to the Super Bowl — it was in California that year. # " 3 3: # & / / &55 I remember we had tickets to the Pasadena Rose Bowl. We had gone into town in Point Lookout and bought the tickets to Pasadena. We obviously had to cash those in. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 ,6. That was the year the Dolphins played the Redskins in the Super Bowl. That was one damn Super Bowl I didn’t watch.
205
SACK EXCHANGE
% " 3 3 0 -3 ": I thought we would have matched up better against the Redskins. They were a power running team, and we had a power defensive line. Riggins may or may not have had as good a game, but my thoughts were our defensive line was stronger than Miami’s, and we would have held up better against the Hogs’ power running attack. - & / # & 3 . " / That’s not a bad point. The Dolphins seemed to be more of a finesse team that had trouble scoring, and I think the Jets might have been able to stuff Riggins. It was clear that the Dolphins didn’t have an answer defensively for Riggins. That would have been a great match-up: Theismann and Riggins against the Sack Exchange. That would have been a very sexy match-up. I actually hosted the Super Bowl for NBC. That’s a great discussion, and I guess thinking back twenty-seven years, the way the game unfolded, who knows? But yeah, I can see where you can make that argument — that the Jets might have defensively given the Redskins a better battle. The Jets ran up the points on the Bengals, but I don’t recall them being a high-flying aerial circus — offensively. There’s no question that Walker and McNeil were solid players. Who knows? Maybe it would have been a low-scoring Super Bowl. ." 3 * 0 / # " 3 # & 3 “The Hogs vs. the Sack Exchange” — we felt we were a better match for Washington, and thought we had a better chance of winning that game than the Dolphins did. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 I think we would have beat them because nobody could run on us. And that was the big day John Riggins had. [Riggins rushed for a Super Bowl record 166 yards (and was named the Super Bowl MVP), resulting in the Redskins beating the Dolphins 27–17.] I don’t think they would have done that against us because we had played them in the preseason earlier, and we knew how we would match up against them. I knew we would match up really good against that line because they wouldn’t have done to us what they did to the Dolphins. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8 &3 No, I don’t think so at all — I think we played [the Redskins] pretty good. What happened was we had played them really well up until that fourth and one, where Riggins bounces it outside, breaks the tackle, and goes in for a touchdown. If you look at the stats, they got a lot of yards in the fourth quarter. And that’s one of those weird things — we opened with the Redskins in RFK 206
1 9 8 2 P L AY O F F S : A F C C H A M P I O N S H I P
[Stadium] in ’84, and beat them 35–17. It was one of those deals where we didn’t get it done on that given day. But I don’t think [the Jets] would have matched up any better with the Redskins than we did. That was a game where there were a lot of key plays that I don’t think it had anything to do with how we matched up — the “almost interception” by [Kim] Bokamper, where [Joe] Theismann makes a hell of a play and bats it away. And that fourth and one play — if you look at that, we almost had him in the backfield. The bottom line is that the Redskins made the plays at a couple of critical points where the Dolphins didn’t. The other piece of it is [the Jets] had a heck of an offense — that offense against the Redskins defense probably would have matched up better than our offense, in that you had Richard Todd — who should have been in the Pro Bowl that year. And you had Freeman McNeil, and two of the premier wide receivers in the league, with Wesley Walker and Johnny Lam Jones. Our offense was pretty one-dimensional, in that you had Andra Franklin who had a good year that year, but our quarterback was inconsistent at best. I think there’s probably an argument there. As a team, I don’t know that it would have been any better. Late in the game, we couldn’t move the ball very well, and one of the touchdowns was a kickoff return that we had. We ended up paying dearly for a not real balanced game that particular game. I can see why especially Jets fans would say that, that the Jets might have matched up better with the Redskins than the Dolphins — I can see where that would come from. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& You have to take your hat off to Shula. Shula had good game plans against us. I think he out-coached us — particularly in the championship game. ' 3 " / , 3 " . 04 [Walt Michaels and Al Davis’s relationship] certainly wasn’t at the same level [as Walt Michaels and Don Shula’s relationship]. I think it was more fiery competition than anything else between Walt and Don Shula. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 Don and I started together in professional football in 1951 with the Cleveland Browns. Don was a free agent — he and a guy by the name of Carl Taseff came out of John Carroll, which is a school in Cleveland. It was then that thirty-one out of thirty-three were coming back — I was traded to Green Bay because they wanted another defensive end, one of them retired. Don Shula and his other buddy stayed on Paul Brown’s taxi squad. That was what I knew of him as a player — that little time in camp. The rest of our time, he came back 207
SACK EXCHANGE
from the service and played a few games at the end of the season — in 1952, I think it was. And then, Paul traded Shula, Taseff, and a couple of other players to Baltimore. The rest that happened down there, I don’t know. I had a brother [Lou Michaels] that played for Don in Baltimore. But I didn’t know him personally. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8 &3 I don’t know what their relationship was like. I was one of those defensive linemen that put my hand in the dirt and just chased the quarterback — so I didn’t hear a lot about what was going on. I did know that Coach Shula had a lot of good relationships with other coaches. But that’s the only thing that sticks out in my mind, that Michaels wasn’t happy with the field conditions at the Orange Bowl. I can’t remember where it came from, but I heard that he was thinking it was on purpose — to slow them down. But who knows if that’s right or not. " + % 6 ) & After that statement he made about accusing Coach Shula about not covering the field, I don’t know what kind of respect he had for him before the game. But I’m sure after the game, he lost some respect when he would make those kind of comments, and insinuating that Coach Shula was trying to fix the game, or cheat, or do anything to have an edge. 8" -5. * $ ) " & -4 A lot of people say, “[Walt] blew up in the mud.” No, the mud blew up on me.
208
WA LT ’ S DI S MISSAL
A
major reason for the Jets’ success in ’81 and ’82 is the leadership of Walt Michaels. However, ownership feels differently, resulting in a controversial decision that many feel will alter the Jets’ fortunes for the remainder of the decade. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I know that Walt was beyond angry and upset over what had taken place — not just in the game, but the field conditions. It changed the entire thing. Walt’s an emotional guy, and under the best conditions would never accept losing. But under those conditions, he felt like we had really gotten screwed. " # % 6 - 4 " -" ". He was very upset about the loss — like all of us were. There were some people that said he was so upset that he was kicking the bus. 8" -5. * $ ) " & -4 I was just upset with the entire game. The biggest upset I had was the field — why weren’t the pumps turned on? Why wasn’t there a tarp over it? You and I know there is a league rule regarding the tarps — fields have to be covered. They never fined Shula. Well, who’s responsible? He was the coach and general manager, wasn’t he? [Shula was never the Dolphins’ general manager.] Then who was responsible in the Miami organization for having that thing covered and having it in the best possible condition? I remember there was a snowstorm at Shea Stadium one day — it was a later game of the season. I’ll never forget how our front office came in — I won’t name names — and said, “We’ve got to do this, we’ve got to do that.” I said, “I want it covered for my own sake. I want it to be in the same condition for us as 209
SACK EXCHANGE
them. If we can’t beat them even up — we don’t deserve it.” I don’t know if that was said down there in Florida. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I don’t really know what happened on the plane ride — you have to ask people that were there. In fact, I think that’s one reason why Walt got really mad at me, because I tried to talk to him after the game, and I couldn’t get him. I just told one of the assistant coaches, “I’m going to stay down here.” I didn’t even know we had to be back in New York. I think that definitely made Walt mad. I didn’t go back with the team, so I don’t know what happened — but I kind of heard. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : The way the plane was always set up, the press and the coaches were up in the front of the plane, and the players had their run of the back. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& I’m sure Walt Michaels was cursing somebody out — and for good reason. I’ll tell you one thing about Walt Michaels: he didn’t curse anybody out just for the hell of it. If he was cursing you out, he had a good reason to do it. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 Our front office, well, I said a lot of things. I’m not sure what was in their mind. If I could read their minds, or if I could prophesize whatever it is they were thinking, I’d have a direct pipeline to the guy up there — and I didn’t have that kind of pipeline [laughs]. But whatever they were thinking, I’m not sure. And to rehash it today, I don’t even know. I could say a lot of things, and then someone would come back with one statement, and who could prove the statements — because there are, what, from that front office, three or four that are dead already. I wouldn’t try to make a guess on it because everybody would want to second-guess me after that. And you’re getting absolutely no knowledge whatsoever with it. Who was it who said, “You cannot improve on saying nothing”? Once you say something, every explanation gets you into deeper troubles and deeper problems. I just don’t want to get into controversies that can’t be proven either way. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 I heard a couple of things, although I didn’t see much. But Walt was very angry with Al Ward. Al Ward had been with the Jets as general manager, and now, he was the president of the AFC. So Walt felt it was up to [Ward] to tell Shula to cover that field and pump the water off. He was upset and carrying on because he thought that Al was siding with Shula, and was going against us by not having 210
WA LT ’ S D I S M I S S A L
that field pumped off. What I heard was a lot of yelling. He was yelling a lot at Al Ward — because he was on our plane. Jim Kensil was the president at the time, and he was yelling at Jim Kensil. There were some words going on. " / 0 / : . 0 6 4 Here’s what went down. Walt Michaels — years after he got out of coaching — had a neck operation. It’s an old football injury. During the time, he did not have a drinking problem per se — he was not an alcoholic. He did take a drink. He stayed and slept at the complex — for whatever reasons, whether he didn’t want to go home and face his wife and kids, or he was so into football, or wanted to be by himself. He was kind of a loner to begin with. What would happen was: he would stay late at night, and have a couple of “pops” [drinks]. He would fall asleep in his desk chair, and when he woke up, he had a tremendous pain in his neck — the type of pain that you would get a numbing down your fingers because of the nerve endings in your neck. So what would happen is he would pop a couple of Valiums to take away the pain. Well, it just so happens that on the Wednesday before the Miami game, he was out on the practice field, and our team physician, Jim Nicholas, was out there and saw him fall down. Lost his balance. There was an investigation as to why or who was prescribing the pills for Walt. It just so happens that Jim Nicholas’s brother is Cal Nicholas, who was the medical doctor. He came to me, and I said, “Well, you may want to call your brother, and see if he prescribed them. I don’t know how he got them.” So then when we lost in Miami with the flooding and field, of course, he blamed it on Shula. He hated Shula. They were teammates in Cleveland, [and] he hated him — there was just a despising feeling amongst Walt Michaels towards Don Shula. It went really deep, and I don’t know how deep it went with him, or what the reasoning was or anything. But he despised him — I knew that for a fact. Coming home on the plane, a couple of things led up to going down. He approached the president, Jim Kensil, and asked if wives could go down with the coaching staff, and they were told, “No.” So then, none of the wives went down. But one of the assistant coaches who was there was busting Walt’s balls because the wives couldn’t go down. That same coach was busting Walt’s chops about the wives because on the plane coming back home was the president’s wife, the public relations director’s wife, and John Hess — Leon Hess’s son — [and] girlfriend or fiancée at the time. On the plane. So when they saw this, this coach started to bust Walt’s balls about that, as 211
SACK EXCHANGE
well as Walt had a couple of pops in the plane. He was yelling out — in the firstclass cabin, which is where he was sitting — “Shula’s in bed with someone in the league office, and [I’m] going to find out who it was!” Because he got away with flooding the field. This is the mentality of a coach, you know what I mean? Shula didn’t have any part to do with it, but he blamed Shula — when it should have been the league’s fault. Because if you didn’t have tarps and you knew it was going to rain, from my experiences with my job and that day, you don’t trust an underground system to suck out the water. You go find fucking tarps, you get them down, and you protect the field. It’s just common sense. Well, the funny part about it was the guy who was in charge of the game, was fired by the Jets the year before. You look at it, and you say, “Son of a bitch. The guy that’s in charge of the game doesn’t go out and find tarps, when he could have found them.” All around that whole area is the spring training of all the major baseball teams — who have tarps. You just bring them in, or you bring in some from Atlanta, or wherever you have to bring them in from — to ship them in for a championship game. That’s what you do. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8&3 [Shula] was always real involved with the NFL Rules Committee. Coach Shula would bring somebody in every year at the beginning of the year, and would go over the changes in rules. I can remember: it was either my first or second year, the guys came in, and for years, offensive linemen couldn’t open their hand — they had to be clenched, and you had to keep your arms within the framework of your body. It was in the late ’70s sometime when they changed it to allow the offensive linemen to open their hands and put your hands on defensive linemen, and being able to have your arms and hands on the outside of the framework of your body. Taking away the head slap. There was a time where it seemed like they were taking away everything from the defense and giving it to the offense. But Shula was real involved with all of that — he wanted his team to know the rules inside and outside, so we could take advantage of whatever we could, as far as playing the game within the rules, and using the rules to our advantage. He was the best at that. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & - 4 The players probably told you that I was upset, and if you’re upset before the game, you might be upset after the game — regardless whether you win or lose. I was accused of I don’t know how many things, or “Did I upset the front office?” Isn’t it possible the front office upset me? There’s a combination 212
WA LT ’ S D I S M I S S A L
of things when you get into the game, and in a game situation, which is only going to last sixty minutes. Which will take roughly three hours to perform. With all the science of it and what your body has to go through . . . I’ve got my degree. When you get upset, somebody better understand it and let [you] get it out of your system, and away we go. # " 3 3: # & / / & 55 We’re going in for our season ending meeting [the morning after the championship loss and flight home], and the only thing I know for an absolute fact is the head coach wasn’t there. Everybody heard different stuff — maybe it started on the plane ride, I don’t know that. We had a nine or ten o’clock meeting, and Walt Michaels wasn’t there. It didn’t stop me and my family from driving home to Minnesota. And later Joe Walton called me and explained what happened. 8 & 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I don’t remember, to be honest [about Michaels not addressing the team after the Miami playoff loss]. Things were so bad on the team, and I wouldn’t blame him — and for what had happened, it wouldn’t have even been necessary. I would have done the same thing — because they didn’t treat it right. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 I coached the Pro Bowl. I was out in Hawaii [on February 6, 1983]. I never really gave it any thought — I just went out and said, “Okay, it’s the emotion of a game, and away we go.” I’ve seen players fight on the practice field, and two days later, they’re out having a beer together. But I just went out, coached the game, and that was it. [The Jets] were represented with the most players in football. +0 & ' * & -% 4 I didn’t talk a whole lot to Walt, even though I was captain for a lot of years. Yet, when I went to the Pro Bowl, I talked to Walt more out in Hawaii than I had talked to him in the previous six years. It’s weird, isn’t it? " / 0 / : . 0 6 4 Leon Hess came out to the training complex in Hofstra, and sat down with Walt and discussed it with him. What he knew, I do not know — I couldn’t tell you. I don’t know if Jim Nicholas said something to him when he fell down — because he and Nicholas were very close. I don’t know if his son said anything to him on the way back on the plane, from what Walt was saying on the plane. But Leon sat down and talked to him, and gave him a package — to 213
SACK EXCHANGE
accept, okay? And part of the package was that he had to go up to Boston and get checked out for alcohol dependency. And he breezed through that with flying colors. He was not dependent on alcohol at all — or drugs. The settlement went down, and Joe Walton took over. That’s the story. '3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 Some people probably shouldn’t drink, and Walt probably is one of those guys that shouldn’t have had any drinks. But I don’t know if you could call it a drinking problem. I’m not equipped to be able to say that. "/ 0 / : . 0 6 4 The only time he took a pill was in the office when he woke up and had a pain. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I think if Walt would have been a player, they would have treated him differently than what they did when he was a coach. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 There were a lot of accusations made — oh, I was a drug addict and I was an alcoholic. But do you know who the alcoholics were? That’s for you to research. I would not say that or accuse anyone of anything because that’s not my personality. I had all of those tests taken. I was not either one — alcoholic or drug addicted. The rest of it, they went their way and I went my way. There are so many ways that there were people wrong — including people in the league office. + 0 & 8" -50 / I’m not familiar with what Mr. Hess and Jim Kensil — who was the president at the time — were thinking or why Walt decided to retire. I have no idea. All I know is all of a sudden, he was gone. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / How would I sum up Jim [Kensil]? Jim had come over from the league office. He was a team president while I was there. A really smart guy who understood big-picture stuff. Didn’t have the football background, but understood, and had the best people in their roles, and let you do your job. He had been the PR person for the league for many years — just from sitting and being across from him, you learn from listening. I would try to soak it up like a sponge because I knew “he knew.” You could go to him for any type of advice. He was accessible to everybody in the building. I thought he was a terrific guy.
214
WA LT ’ S D I S M I S S A L
4 $ 0 55 % * & 3 ,*/( I know he was real instrumental with Pete Rozelle at the beginning — when the industry was very small, and was a fraction of what it was today. They were a couple of people that laid the ground-stones for what the league would be today. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 Jim did a lot of good things. For us to be where we were at, he must have done something right. The drafts that we had, he had a lot to do with, and the direction of the team where we went. I guess the only bad thing I can never forgive him for was firing Walt Michaels. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 I just sat there and waited to read the papers, and that was the end of it. A couple of my assistants picked up my stuff [from the office]. The only thing I’m sorry I didn’t save was all the newspaper articles — I had all the things filed in my office. I only saved the parts in the paper pertinent to my six or seven years. A lot of it would be interesting to me today to look through — I never had intentions of writing a book myself, that was not one of my gifts. The other parts I enjoyed. As far as everything else, I didn’t go anywhere, and when the spring came, I went with Donald Trump [from 1984 to 1985 to coach the New Jersey Generals in the United States Football League]. And I don’t think I made any noise there. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& Walt Michaels gets fired. What a mistake that was. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 Even when I sat with him out in Hawaii and talked that evening [of the Pro Bowl], I had no idea he wasn’t going to be there. It was very strange. . " 3 * 0 / # " 3#&3 The way it happened, I think it was shocking to a lot of people that Walt stepped down, and then there was really nothing said as to why or what the circumstances were. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4&: I’ve often wondered what could have happened to bring that on. You get to the AFC Championship Game — why would you make a change unless something woeful happened? I was shocked when they let him go. Who wouldn’t be? He worked six years to get us where we are, and feeling like we’re all on the same page. And then all of a sudden, he doesn’t have a job.
215
SACK EXCHANGE
+ & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. People have fights, and knock people out — so if you’re mad after a heated game, what can you say that will warrant a person to get fired? To me, I think they overreacted. Walt was clearly a pissed-off coach. . . . Look at Mike Ditka — who knows what the hell Mike Ditka has told people? So I don’t know what Walt could have said. He didn’t hit anybody, so I don’t know what he could have said. And a lot of times, people are forgiven when reporters go up and interview players right after a game because they’re frickin’ mad. So Walt was pissed — and he had a right to be pissed. That’s part of the game — you’re pissed off after a loss. I don’t know what he said, but it was just a shock to us that he got fired. I don’t think it was warranted. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # # "w $"3640 They fired my boy Walt Michaels, which was a crime. That was terrible. What happened — he got drunk and complained about Don Shula? Let me tell you something, all the Jets fans went and got drunk and complained about Don Shula. . . . They didn’t fire me! He didn’t deserve to be fired — he deserved a raise, if you ask me. What the hell was that? % " / " -& 9 " / % &3 In football, everybody gets fired — the players, the coaches — so it’s a way of life in the NFL. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": I just know that you’re going to quit or they’re going to fire you — one or the other. There’s no easy, grace period. The grace period gradually fades into the woodwork when you coach. You get cut or you retire. There’s no in between. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % They treated Walt bad, if you ask me. You never know the politics going on behind the scenes, but it seemed like he was undercut or something. I definitely liked Walt. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 & 3 It was not healthy, it was not right the way they let him go. It was unjustifiably done. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 It was terrible because Walt, to me, was “my guy.” I loved Walt. For them to have done what they did to him, after what he took that team through. . . . However it happened, and whoever is at fault for Walt getting fired, I just think it was terrible. And I hated it. 216
WA LT ’ S D I S M I S S A L
+ & 3 3: ) 0 -. &4 Everybody respected him. It was a young team — I think most of those guys Coach Michaels brought into the Jets. He was a good motivator. I thought he was an excellent coach — fundamentally sound. Me being a coach now, I’m using the same kind of formulas I learned from him when I was player — how to get the players to respect you and play hard for you. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 It really affected us. It was a shock because everybody knows that Coach Michaels is a great coach. But when that happened, it was just like, whoa. 4 $ 0 55 % * & 3 , */( I hated to see him go so quickly like that because I think we were building something really special. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % It’s unfortunate that the Jets got rid of him when they did because we were on the way to the Super Bowl — to be perennial Super Bowl Champions. I really do believe that. I really believe they should have kept Walt Michaels. Every year, we were going a game or two farther in the playoffs. The team that we had was not old. We were one or two players away from being perennial Super Bowl Champions. We had the makings of it — we had a great offensive line, a great defensive line, skilled positions. Some of them could have been better, but it didn’t really matter — we won by running the ball and maintaining that by playing good defense. I really hated to see Walt Michaels go. I really believe that it was a slide for the Jets. But who can determine what management is going to do? Even when you look at today’s environment, you don’t know what management is going to do. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I don’t know what effect it really had on the team because again, I think players understand that this is a business. I didn’t quite understand it because I’m coming off a Pro Bowl, he had faith, and all of a sudden, he’s gone — and he’s my guy. We were one game away from the Super Bowl . . . and he gets fired? There were some inner workings going on that we didn’t know about. These are the things you don’t have control over, and you never get the truth, and you don’t have people that can tell you those things. Some things are secretive — what goes on in these meetings? People tell me, “You wouldn’t believe some of the things that are being said about players, and who’s making decisions that have no business making decision on players.” Those are the things that 217
SACK EXCHANGE
we don’t know, that I wish we would have privy to what goes in the meetings. I was told there were guys in there that had no business even contributing to the conversation of our players, when they’re going to cut them. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ He didn’t mix words with anybody. He fought for the players. If he didn’t like what was going on, he made sure that Jim Kensil and whoever else would know about it. I think that was his downfall, but also what we respected about him — we knew he was behind us 100 percent. But you also had some other factions that were undermining his ability to coach the team. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & - 4 Regardless of everything that happened then and whatever happened to me, that Jets team was ready to continue on as a good football team. It wasn’t designed for someone new to take over the leadership. But someone new took over the leadership. - & / # & 3 . " / I’m sure that Michaels didn’t get the respect he might have deserved. He wasn’t a glamorous coach, and he certainly had that other side — that didn’t like criticism. And of course, what happened afterwards should have brought more respect to him. Walt Michaels in retrospect — not a bad coach. But no one ever thought of him as a great coach at the time. You hate that [Bill] Parcells line, “You are what your record says you are.” And I felt bad for Walt — talk about a nice guy. The “Walt must go!” thing was viral before there was viral and YouTube. It carried on and carried on and doomed him. Again, in retrospect, when you talk about the pantheon of Jets coaches, people are going to go, “Oh, Weeb Ewbank, Bill Parcells, Rex Ryan.” And somehow, Walt Michaels’s name is going to slip between the cracks. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ Freeman and I were talking about it. He was like, “There was a conspiracy for us not to win the Super Bowl.” Because if we won, then Walt Michaels would have all the power, and he would get rid of Coach Walton, Jim Kensil. . . . All these guys that were trying to undermine what he was trying to do, would be gone. If you look back at [the Mud Bowl] and I think back to it — why were we trying to run the ball outside on a field like that? Why were we trying to throw the ball deep down the field when they were playing two corners pressing our receivers because they can’t guard the line — it’s muddy — and they got the safety laying on the top and his footing was bad? Miami was running 218
WA LT ’ S D I S M I S S A L
what they should have — a power game, running the fullback at us. They were powering the football at us. We had Dwayne Crutchfield and Freeman who could run inside — why didn’t we do that? Why were we trying to constantly throw the ball down the field? Why did Richard Todd throw five interceptions in that game? It hurt me so bad that I couldn’t watch that film — ten years later I watched it. I saw it, and I was like, “What the heck? Were we trying to lose this game?” So I couldn’t understand why our game plan was such that we didn’t adjust to the field. We were still trying to throw the ball deep, which was just ridiculous for that game. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 They passed a league rule [about covering the field before the game in inclement weather] after that game. It cost Walt Michaels his job to get that league rule pushed through. 8" -5. * $ ) " &-4 The only thing I don’t understand — which I can never prove — is I never got a call to get another job in the National Football League. So what do you think that means? If I was Detective Sherlock Holmes, and I put all of it together, I would call it a conspiracy. I would call it a blackball — to be very blunt. But tell me how are you going to prove that? You know how many people may apply for a head coaching job at one time? Twenty. So when no one called, I just automatically assumed. But Donald Trump did, and I was very happy. We won twenty-five games in two years with Donald Trump. Now that put it all together. I was one of the head coaches in the United States Football League, there was Jim Mora, who came to the NFL, Marv Levy, who is now in the Hall of Fame. And I had better records than a couple of them that went back into the NFL. But I didn’t, and I couldn’t prove it in court. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 - &3 From then on, I don’t know what happened, but it seemed like he wasn’t allowed to be back in the NFL, which is a shame. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. Walt was on his way, man — and they just snatched it away from him. It’s funny how something can happen, that seems like you get blackballed, and Walt never got a chance after. But damn, he was a good coach. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 It was a sad moment — to win the two games on the road, to lose that game 14–0, to then dismantle the team, and fire your head coach. 219
SACK EXCHANGE
+ 0 & ( " 3 % * Walt was such a great guy to work for. You talk about “coaching trees,” but what hurt me most of all was my coaching trees were Lou Holtz, who quit before the last game, and Walt Michaels, who was fired one game away from the Super Bowl. . . . My friggin’ coaching tree just died. I wanted to be a head coach in the NFL, and Walt told me I would be. And that one plane ride home changed everybody’s direction. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 The best financially — as far as I was concerned — was the last two years I spent with Donald Trump. I enjoyed every bit of those two years. His personality is a challenge for anyone that goes to work for him, but it’s interesting. I enjoyed it — I learned a lot. I was older, he was a young fellow just coming up — he was only in his late thirties at the time. He was very generous. I’m sure that a lot of the things he did created these salaries that the players are making today. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 I’ve always had the utmost respect for the man. When I talk to him on the phone now, he talks about the lord — he’s saved. We bring up the Miami game and what happened there. That was a big thing for him. I don’t think he should be as hard on himself sometimes as he is. But he’s a good man. I’ve always respected him, and he always got 100 percent of me. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 When I look back on it now and when you see him now, I wish we would have had the relationship we have with him now. Walt Michaels was just a hard man to understand, because he wasn’t very approachable — it was just a demeanor that he had. And he felt that you couldn’t be friends. I had a discussion with him [recently]. I was like, “Walt, why couldn’t you have been more like this now? We’re having a nice conversation.” He’s very smart, but you never got that impression as a player. He let his coaches have the coaching duties. He was very, very bright, but it never came across personality-wise. As Marty Lyons spoke at an open luncheon yesterday, and said, “You would see Walt in the hallway — put your head down and walk right past him because he’s very intimidating.” But you really didn’t get to know him as a person. At times, you wouldn’t think he was very bright, but he knows the game of football. I didn’t really get a chance to know him until after I retired, when we’d do these appearances together or be at certain functions. Just more personable and a very nice guy — a very knowledgeable person, but it never came across as a player 220
WA LT ’ S D I S M I S S A L
when we were applying it. He felt the coaches could not be friends or have closeness [with the players], which I disagree with. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 Walt and I got along very well. Walt and I were two peas in a pod — Walt reminded me of my father. Walt and I are both [of] Polish heritage, and Walt grew up in [the] same [kind of] household I grew up — he was a tough guy, my dad was a very tough guy. My dad ruled the roost, and he never gave me many accolades — and Walt was the same way. Walt probably couldn’t coach today because of all the different personalities, but back when I played, Walt was my kind of guy. Because I see my father in Walt. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 ,6. All I can say is that the best coach I played for was Weeb Ewbank . . . and Walt Michaels. 8" -5. * $ ) " &-4 On the plane, sure, I said something to some people. And you know what? A lot of times, a lot of things are said. And if that was the reason — just one simple comment on a plane, and it wasn’t with the years and the building of a team ready to win a Super Bowl game — then obviously, one incident will do it. But you know what’s happened to the Jets since.
221
27
J O E WALTO N, H E A D CO A C H
J
oe Walton is promoted as the Jets’ new head coach.
5 * . % "7 & : Jim Kensil jumped on the opportunity to go and talk to Joe [Walton], and offer him the job as the head man. That was not Leon Hess’s or anyone else’s doing — it was Jim Kensil’s doing. + 0 & ( " 3 % * At the time, I was a close friend of Joe, and had a lot to do with him getting hired. I tried out for the Redskins and Joe was on the Redskins in 1960. So I’d known Joe for years — not close, but I knew who he was. And I knew after Pete McCulley and Larry Pasquale were running our offense in ’80, we needed help. I’ll never forget Walt left me with Joe Walton in a restaurant, and I told Joe, “You’ll be the head coach of the New York Jets, or you’ll get a job offer as a head coach elsewhere.” And it happened. We didn’t know it was going to happen that way. + 0 & 8" -50 / They interviewed me, and at that time, I was being interviewed by about three or four teams for head coaching jobs — the Atlanta Falcons, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Los Angeles Rams, and of course, the Jets. I liked the Jets and I liked the people there. And also, I was settled on the Island and my kids were in school, so I thought it was the best thing to take the head job with the Jets. 30 / $ 0 ) & / He was a hot property after the ’82 season. So the switch from Walt to Joe happened very quickly. Joe came in with great fanfare. 222
ap photo⁄w. funches
J O E WA LT O N , H E A D C O A C H
A satisfying stogie: Joe Walton
+ 0 & ( " 3 % * It was a big change. Joe [Walton] and I were very close friends — we drove to work together every day and drove home. Joe made me “assistant head coach,” which was nice. I know this: I was coordinator of one of the best defenses in the NFL and made $45,000 . . . which was embarrassing. When Joe became the head coach, they raised me exactly the same salary as Parcells was making with the Giants — that’s what I told them I wanted. That was $90,000, $100,000, and $110,000 for three years. Of course, now, the coordinators are making millions. 1 "5 3:" / It was one of those things that shocked everybody because it happened, like, overnight. The prevailing attitude was Joe Walton was leaving — he was going to get a job somewhere else. Somebody was going to hire him because he was a hot offensive coordinator at that time. So we thought we were going to lose him. We came back from Miami, and just a few days later, he’s our head coach. A lot of things changed after that. Joe coached a lot different than Walt. Joe was a good offensive coordinator — he was meticulous and on top of everything. But as a head coach, everything ran a lot tighter. He had a different philosophy than Walt. Walt left you alone if you did what you were supposed to be doing. But Joe was always messing with somebody. Joe was good to me — he liked me because when he played me, I usually produced and played well. I got along with him, but a large majority of the team did not get along with Joe Walton very well. 223
SACK EXCHANGE
.* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -& 3 All the players really liked Walt, and at the same time, liked Joe. It put the players in a weird position because you have respect for both of them, and we lost a little chemistry. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # # "w $"3640 He was always picking his nose, so me and my friends called him “The Booger.” And he always had the nicest looking Jets sweaters. The beige ones with the green — very nice. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 Because they named Walton head coach and didn’t bring in somebody from the outside, I think there was a little bit of animosity in the beginning. But I think that went away very quickly. Some guys got upset because they thought that Walt got fired so that Joe could be head coach. Who knows — that could be true. But there was a little animosity from some of the guys. I liked Joe — at that time, me and Joe got along real well. We didn’t later. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& It started out, “All right, they hired a guy within the system, maybe that’s good. At least they didn’t go out to get some new guy who’s going to come in here and be a nut.” Little did we know, they hired a guy within the system that was going to turn into a nut! The things he would do and say were beyond us. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 Joe was our offensive coordinator through those good times, so we were thinking that maybe he would turn the corner on us. But as we grew as a team, and we didn’t do as well, he got schizy on us. He didn’t treat us like men, and he’s teaching us fight songs. The kind of atmosphere that wasn’t conducive to being a big, tough football team. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 & 3 Walton being a really good offensive coordinator gave the appearance that they didn’t need Walt, that he would be a great head coach. And it was absolutely not so. I think Joe Walton became too much of a tyrant — he was too much into “the position” of head coach. I think that position went to his head, or he was trying to direct the team too much. I didn’t like that part. When you think about Walt Michaels, he didn’t say much. But what he said, you listened to it. And Joe Walton said an awful lot. % " 3 3 0 -3 ": He was an offensive guy, and Walt Michaels was the opposite — a hard-nosed, rock-ribbed defensive guy. 224
J O E WA LT O N , H E A D C O A C H
( 3 & ( # 6 55-& The crumbling of what we were building there happened because they fired Walt Michaels and hired Joe Walton. And unfortunately, they fired the wrong the guy, and they hired the wrong guy. In those days, Leon Hess didn’t run the Jets the way Woody Johnson is running the Jets: he’s more handson, and Leon Hess was not. And so the little fiefdoms of people with the Jets at the time were what ran the team. Unfortunately, one fiefdom won out against another, and Joe Walton is the new head coach. And then little did anyone know they were going to hire a paranoid schizophrenic, so to speak. See, I thought Joe Walton would be a good coach for the Jets — I really thought to myself, “Okay, they’re going to hire a guy on the staff — he knows the players. Maybe this is a good move.” Not that I liked the fact that they fired Walt Michaels — I thought that was wrong. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4&: When you’re an assistant coach, you can be “the good guy.” When you’re head coach, you’ve got to be “the bad guy.” 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 Joe Walton, to me, was the best thing that ever could have happened to the Jets. He was a motivator — I would have gone through a wall for this guy. But I don’t know what happens with head coaches — the pressure. He changed as a person after that. And nobody could even listen to his speeches anymore — that’s how bad [it got]. In his case, he tried to do too much. When he was a coordinator, he was brilliant, and he let the coaches do what they had to do. But when he became a head coach, he did everything. [Later on] Rich Kotite had the title of a coordinator, but he never called the play — he just ran some of the meetings. Joe Walton did it all. He was even trying to run the offices with the secretaries! Instead of doing what he does best, he tried to control everything. That’s where he made his mistake. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I believe there were personality conflicts between Joe Walton and some of the players. And rather than working through those personality conflicts, in his mind, maybe it was easier to get rid of those “problems” — to get rid of those personalities. They weren’t problems — they were personalities. Everybody should be entitled to express their personality as long as it’s done in a respectful manner. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 %% I don’t think Joe backed his players very well, so I think it goes 225
SACK EXCHANGE
hand in hand. When things were going bad, you didn’t really get any support. I see a lot of head coaches nowadays, the quarterback has a bad day — “He’s our quarterback, we’re sticking with him.” 5 *. % "7 & : I think [Walt was] more respected. Joe would blame a lot on the players — right to their faces during meetings. He would cry the blues about his family taking a beating when we lost, and telling the players, “My family’s going through hell because you guys didn’t perform.” He would have a staff meeting on Monday or Tuesday, saying that the buses were late, or their steak or eggs weren’t cooked right — that’s why we lost. And I was dying to stand up and say, “It wasn’t because of the four plays you called in the red zone that we lost? It wasn’t because the buses or the fucking eggs weren’t cooked right!” He always pointed a finger to someone else — always. And was a very poor manager of people. Maybe not coaches, but people in general: office staff and people that worked in the office. Didn’t know how to treat them. Whereas Walt, Walt was great — he really was. He respected everyone and respected their jobs, and what they were supposed to do — and what you were responsible for. If you didn’t cut it, you were gone — but he was a guy that you wanted to work for. And that’s why [the players] played for him so well and respected him. They really did. There was nothing phony about Walt Michaels — nothing. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 As far as the coach is concerned, I never questioned the coach. He was my new boss, so that was exactly what I did — what he wanted is what I would do. I never second-guessed the coach. It wasn’t for me to determine if he was good or if he was bad. I never ever wanted to go there. 1 "5-& " ) : I was always very appreciative to Joe because the year that he came in was after my worst year. And he could have made a change, justifiably. But he came to me in camp, and said, “Look, I’ve seen you in the past, and I’m going to stick with you.” So I’m always appreciative of that particular thing from Joe. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w $"3640 Certain guys are great coaches, and they just don’t pan out as head coaches. Like Herm Edwards. I would love to have Herm Edwards on my staff, but I just don’t think he should be running the whole show. Herm seems to be a great guy and the players love him. Herm wants it bad, he
226
J O E WA LT O N , H E A D C O A C H
tries hard — that’s all you’ve got to do for us. Joe Walton, I’m sure he tried, but he did too much thinking. He made it too complicated. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 I felt he should have stayed in that position [offensive coordinator], but then he was named the head coach. I had a little issue with that.
227
28
M E E T TH E J ETS: 1 98 3
W
ith the arrival of 1983 comes a player who will serve as an important part of the Jets offense for the remainder of the decade . . . Ken O’Brien (quarterback), as well as Ted Banker (guard). ,& / 0 # 3 * & / I’m born in Brooklyn. My mom and dad are from New York, and then moved out here [California]. My dad was a doctor, moved the practice out here after my second brother was born. Grew up in California since I was three. But many of my relatives are New York City’s finest. I had a lot of friends and family back there. It was enjoyable to go back there because it reconnected me with a lot of the side of the family that I wasn’t really able to understand or participate with prior. Just like any other kid — playing on the front lawn when you’re a little kid, dreaming about coming up and having a chance to play quarterback in the NFL. Fortunately, everything falls in place, you work hard, you have a lot of luck, and you get an opportunity to do what you dream about your whole life. Coming out of high school, I had only played a little bit of quarterback. I was just growing into my body — I was tall and skinny, and just growing as I got older, as opposed to being pretty mature when I went in. I ended up going to UC Davis [in California], and it was an absolutely perfect situation. It had great coaching, ran a pro-style offense, and had a coach there [Jim Sochor] that spent nothing but hours and hours with me off the field teaching me all about football, defenses, and pass protection. Part of the benefit of going to a Division II school was, at that time, there were no rules on how much time you can spend with 228
MEET THE JETS: 1983
coaches and players — so it was unlimited. We became best friends. It not only helped my growth as a player, but confidence and leadership. It was a great time. Everyone says, “Wouldn’t you have liked to go somewhere else?” I think physically you can do it, but the entire package was a perfect setup for me where I was. In hindsight, [the NFL draft] wasn’t like it was now. ESPN was just starting up. It was on the East Coast and it was real early — on the West Coast, I was in bed. I remember I had a test that morning in one of my classes — I got a call right before I headed off to the test. They said, “Hey, we just chose you.” I talked to them for a few minutes, and then said, “I’ve got to run — I’ve to get to class, there’s a test I need to take.” And that was it. It was a different world in those days. Obviously, it was a great phone call — it was great to hear the news. But at the same time, you’ve just got to move on. Not too many highs or too many lows. It was exciting because there was a lot of interest with where you were going to go or where you were going to end up — you never really know. They had a Combine, but I had been hurt — I broke my leg in the last game of the season. Everybody would come out to school and work you out here — everybody was out here at one time or another. You just never know who likes you and who doesn’t like you. 5& % # " / , & 3 I started when I was a kid with the town football team, when I was eight, and then signed up for football and started playing then. I grew up outside of St. Louis. I was a walk-on free agent in ’83. I had a good camp and they wanted to keep me, so they put me on injured reserve — it was kind of their way of keeping people back, like a practice squad back then, which they didn’t really have. Guys that they wanted to keep, they would say, “You’re hurt.” It was just a way of hiding some people they wanted to keep. Now they have an official thing for it, which they should have done back then, but they didn’t. Eighty-four was the first [year Banker played in games with the Jets].
229
29 1 98 3
J
ust a game away from the Super Bowl in ’82, the Jets figure ’83 is “their year.” Not quite.
+ 0 ) / / : i # 6 # # "w $"3640 When we drafted Ken O’Brien, the only thing wrong with O’Brien was he wasn’t Dan Marino. Dan Marino ruined everything for everybody. Before him, you drafted a quarterback, and he sat on the bench until he was ready. Marino showed up, and he was ready — right away. Nobody else was — Tony Eason wasn’t ready, Todd Blackledge. . . . I thought Blackledge was going to be the best one of the bunch. He was the first one to go to the booth. They all came out together. ,& / 0 # 3 * & / Dan’s a great guy, a great quarterback, and a friend. I never really ended up worrying about any of the stuff. Maybe I should have, but I didn’t. + 0 & 8" -50 / Dan Marino was not on our board. When we got ready for the draft, there were some rumors about things about Dan that I wasn’t aware of. I knew what a good player he was, but we had a very strict drafting procedure, and there were certain people we were not allowed to draft — for one reason or another. We thought Ken O’Brien was a guy that would fit into our offense very well. 8 & 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 If you mention Kenny O’Brien, just him having the accolades coming in — with the likes of Dan Marino, John Elway — I remember him being booed when they drafted him, which is an insult. To this day I don’t 230
1983
think people knew his ability — the athleticism he brought to the New York Jets. He was just so underrated. It makes me angry — I used to train with this guy, and I knew what kind of ability he had. He just needed more of a surrounding cast. I remember him just having this real strong arm, and he could throw with anybody. It was a pleasure not only to know him as a player, but as a friend. He was just a terrific individual. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % You don’t spend a number one pick to sit on the bench, so you kind of read the writing on the wall after that. -" / $ & . & ) - I think there was just not the security there that you should have, and you see that going on today too — you can see the coaches aren’t secure. I think [Walton] left Richard and the offense out — instead of him being “the strong leader guy,” saying, “Hey, this is what we’re going to do” and “Richard, you’re my guy” — they drafted Kenny O’Brien. It was one of those strange years. , & / 0 # 3 * & / My first season I didn’t play — I played in preseason. Of course, Richard was there — who’s a great guy and a great quarterback — and Pat Ryan. It’s a little uncomfortable because you’re drafted, and what are you doing? You’re back there and you’re really just jerking around — there’s not a whole lot for you to do because Richard was a great player, and he’s established, as was Pat. And I was just “the new kid on the block.” I had really good stats in warm-ups. It was a nice experience to watch them, but the only way to get better and learn as a quarterback is to play. You can do so much watching somebody else or watching film, but if you’re watching yourself, that’s how you can apply it a little bit better. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % That’s why they say it’s a jinx to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated [Todd was on the August 1, 1983 cover]. I didn’t really think that back then . . . but now I’m beginning to wonder [laughs]. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : [Expectations] were high again. Two years in a row, you’re in the playoffs, and then that next year, you’re hoping to do the same thing. It has to be — you can’t go into a season thinking you’re not going to be in the playoffs. It’s just the mentality of a football player. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I think the expectations were, as a player, you go, “All right, we 231
SACK EXCHANGE
had a taste of it — let’s get back.” But you’re looking around, and a lot of the personnel that you got so close with is not there. So the new challenge was to understand the business of the NFL. Here today, gone tomorrow. The face of the franchise is going to always change from year in and year out. It’s not like college — you have your teammates, and you go in as a freshman, and if you don’t get redshirted, you know you’re going to be there for four years together. But guys that had helped us get to the AFC Championship Game weren’t there anymore. I don’t think that we all said, “Okay, we’re all going to go back to a rebuilding year,” which it ended up turning out to be, and it ended up turning out that we struggled. But I believed that expectations were always high for us — as soon as the season started. How long they lasted is another thing. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": We were one game away from the Super Bowl, so we figured it was going to be an easy repeat. Once you get up that high, you play a lot tougher schedule, and everybody’s got you kind of circled on the calendar. It ended up being a little bit more of a struggle — probably more than what we were prepared for. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 I just don’t know how much everybody was on the same page. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 It was a lot of stuff going on. For example, the USFL was getting ready to go into play. There were a lot of articles in the newspapers about, “Is this player going to leave the Jets?” It was always some distraction. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / It’s funny — things from ’81 and ’82 are so clear, and things that went on in ’83 are a blur. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I just think we didn’t come back ready to play. It’s a team sport — you win or you lose as a group. It’s never easy. Anybody can beat anybody on a given Sunday. Everybody’s got good quarterbacks, receivers — guys that can play. When you have a good year, people are going to focus. I mean, everybody wants to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers this year [2009]. When you have a good team, people know you have a good team. We were in the AFC Championship, so we were probably one of the top four teams in the league the year before that. So you’re not going to sneak up on anybody.
232
1983
. * $ , & : 4 ) 6 - &3 It had a lot to do with chemistry. I think it took [Joe Walton] a year to get his feet wet, and get to where he wanted to be, and it took us that time to reevaluate and get our thinking straight. It’s tough — the game is so mental. When you go back to that 4–12 team [in 1980] — if you don’t have the right chemistry and the guys pulling for one another . . . you’ve got to all be on the same page. I think it hurt us a little bit. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 I think injuries had something to do with it. But I [also] think it was a different team. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : Injuries started. Some of our key defensive players got hurt. I think we had some close games that we should have won and we didn’t. It’s the NFL — things like that happen. And unfortunately, it happened to us. " # % 6 -4 " -" " . I had a knee injury, I believe. I played some — but I think most of it, I sat out. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 We started getting banged up a little bit. When you get banged up, guys start getting depressed. Every week, you start losing somebody else. It happened to us again a few years later. And the next thing you know, everybody’s playing hurt or they’re hurt — and that never works well. # " 3 3: # & / / &55 I remember the chaplain, Tom Skinner, preached, “Hang in there. Whether you disagree with some of the little things [Walton] is doing or not, if we all make a deal of ‘We don’t like that,’ we’ll never get anywhere.” I remember he preached that you’ve got to buy into the program. 1 "5-& " ) : We opened up the year at San Diego, and they had that game touted as “The AFC Championship Game.” And we beat them pretty handily [41–29, on September 4, 1983]. I don’t know why [the season] happened like that, but it was disappointing. Klecko got hurt in the strike year, and I’m sure he wasn’t 100 percent. When he was 100 percent, that made a big difference to our team. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / We lost the home opener to Seattle, and it was a bad loss. I don’t remember a lot of the details from the ’83 season — other from the fact that
233
SACK EXCHANGE
Richard started playing poorly. Really poorly. Stuff going downhill real fast. Ultimately, it was just a really unhappy time. 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , */( When we played the L.A. Rams, Jackie Slater — their big All-Pro tackle — said in the paper, “If Gastineau does that dance, I’m coming after him.” Sure as heck, Gastineau gets a sack, does that dance, Slater drops him. I run five yards onto the field because there was a big — y’know, everyone was pushing and shoving — and then decided probably for my own health it was better to go back to the bench [laughs]. And Rozelle fined me! I forget what it was, $5,000 or $2,500 — just for leaving the bench area. There were, like, twenty of us fined. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / & "6 I got back to [Vince] Ferragamo, did a little dance, and then all of a sudden, somebody hit me from behind. And then it just started breaking out. I remember that the fans were so behind me. The teammates, they came. That was some kind of a fight, boy. I didn’t have any idea that I was going to be fined so much. I think we hit a record on that game — it was an all-time record for fines. Anybody that was out on the field got fined, I think. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 &: We were watching the game film the next day. When the fight broke out, our cameraman, Jimmy Pons, kept the film running, and filmed the free-for-all. It was so funny because the coach was pointing out heads with the little laser-light — he was pointing out different Los Angeles Rams players that were in a tussle with one of the Jets. And they’d back away and look around real fast — they were looking for where Joe Klecko was — and then they’d start fighting again. And then they’d stop and look around, to make sure Klecko wasn’t coming at them! % " / " -& 9 " / % & 3 That’s when they implemented the “sack dance rule,” or whatever you want to call it. 5 & % # " / , & 3 I fought Gastineau four times in one practice. It was Friday’s practice, which was lighter in nature — people weren’t going as hard. Mark asked me to take it easy because I was a young guy and I was going harder than most. Practice was my way to play. It was mid-season at that point — once you start getting banged up, you don’t want to do that heavy hitting. The next thing I know, he takes off and just drills the quarterback — lays him out. I’m like, “What the hell was 234
1983
that?” So now I’m pissed because that’s going to get me cut — I’ll find my way to the highway real quick. So next play, I go after him, and go full. He starts getting all mad at me for that, and started swinging — we went at it. Then the next play, Mike Augustyniak goes, “Go get him Teddy — I’ve got your back.” He’s firing me up. I was running scout team, and I was supposed to actually pull or do something going the opposite direction. But I didn’t — I just wanted to go after Mark [laughs]. So I didn’t do my assignment — I just went after him. Again, we end up in a ruckus. They’re trying to calm things down, and they put Marvin Powell in, who was a player/starter, and putting him for scout team — just to calm things down. And Mark’s just jawing, talking smack. So after a couple of plays, I’m like, “That’s it, Marvin, I’m not going to stand here and take this — I’m going back in there. You’re not supposed to be in here anyway. Let me do this.” Again, it was another play where I was supposed to pull to the right, and instead of pulling to the right, I went directly and run-blocked Mark. By now, everybody on the team is watching because it’s been heated and a couple of brawls have broke out. I just buried him — ran right over him and planted him into the turf. Mike Faulkner — who was one of the assistants — gets up and starts teasing Mark, and brushing off his back. So now Mark is getting mad because Mike Faulkner was a funny coach like that — he actually interacted with the players a lot. But he had gotten Mark all riled up. Next play, nothing happens. Then the next play, things are being said. Augie is back in the huddle, and he goes, “Go — I got you!” Then an all-out brawl broke out — a lot of the guys from both sides. That was like a highlight for me in ’83 because I wasn’t doing anything else but practicing. # 0 # # : + " $ , 40/ I don’t know what it was that [Joe Walton] had about [Dwayne] Crutchfield, but nothing he could do was right. He destroyed that guy. He built up Mike Augustyniak over him. Mike Augustyniak was a good guy, but he was definitely not better than Crutchfield. Joe Walton destroyed that boy. And another thing was Crutchfield had a weakness for white girls [laughs]. His girlfriend was white, and I don’t think Joe Walton liked that very much to be honest with you, being down where he’s from. +0 & 8" -50 / Well, you have certain rules and certain things you have to follow as a football team, and [Crutchfield] wasn’t following them. And we decided we’d be a better team without him. By the way, when you research Crutchfield, he never played any place else very good. He had a hard time following the rules. 235
SACK EXCHANGE
8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 [Crutchfield] was a big party animal, but I’d never seen somebody that was so well-built, and just had this ability. Again, staying healthy and getting in the right situations and being consistent, that didn’t happen for him. But from a standpoint of just being built and strong and physical, he just didn’t get the numbers. But as a physical specimen, boy, I’d never seen anything like it. He had this free spirit about him, he reminded me of a guy I played with, Chuck Muncie. Like a Lam Jones — if you stay healthy, use your talent, and how would it be if he did all the right things in life, to see what would have happened. Those are the intangibles, and you’ll never know. But here’s another guy — if you look at him physically, I’d never seen a guy so well-built. I know he liked to party and everything else, but [Crutchfield was] the nicest guy, and he was a stud. They wanted to give him opportunities, but it just didn’t work out at certain times. But from a physical and athletic ability, shoot, there would have been nobody better. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ Some of it was Crutchfield’s destructive off-field behavior, but some of it was . . . I remember him scoring a touchdown, and coach was telling him, “Hey, you should have went this way.” I mean, wait a minute, he just scored a touchdown. What was wrong with that?! He criticized whatever he did. It just got to the point where he started drinking more, partying more — his destructive behavior became his downfall. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / & "6 Sometimes, people can start believing in their publicity and start believing everybody. You go in and you start to win, and then you let yourself get sleepy. All of a sudden you find yourself in a season that you thought was going to be really great, and it’s a complete nightmare. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w $"3640 I was there when Billy “White Shoes” Johnson from the Falcons beat us all by himself — punt returns, kickoff returns. Oh, it was a horror show — he scored left and right for the Falcons. I was there when Eric Dickerson made his debut. Oh my god, we were screaming for the Sack Exchange to kill this rookie from Southern Methodist University. And here comes Dickerson from his own fifteen. The first time he touches the ball, phooom — eighty-five yards. I couldn’t believe it. He finished with 199 yards that day. And we beat them in overtime. That was the day that Marty Lyons and Jackie Slater got into the fight. The house was rocking then, too. Oh — I was there when Dan Marino first showed up. I still have nightmares. 236
1983
I remember talking to Klecko in the parking lot — I told him, “Hey, what’s the story with this quarterback?” And he said, “I hit that kid as hard as I’ve hit anybody,” and we’d seen it — Marino was on all fours, throwing up on the field. And I figured, “Wonderful, we killed their new quarterback.” He didn’t miss a play. He came back and rifled the ball all over the place like I’ve never seen in my life. We took a 32–14 beating that day. % " 3 3 0 -3 ": When Dan Marino started, I was on the field, and when I saw him throw his first pass, I knew he wasn’t just chopped liver — he was going to be a world-class quarterback. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I remember the very last game at Shea [on December 10, 1983] — it was a Saturday and it was really cold. We were playing the Steelers — it was Terry Bradshaw’s last game. He comes in, throws two quick touchdown passes, leaves the game for the day. Richard played horribly. I remember the fans being pretty tough on the team — as I guess they should have been. Everybody was pretty disappointed. There were a lot of questions about where we were going to go — moving forward after that year. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w$"3640 That was Terry Bradshaw’s last game. Terry Bradshaw’s last throw of his career, he banged his elbow off somebody’s helmet, his elbow broke, but he still got himself a touchdown. Go figure. And I remember at the end of the game . . . you know when I was talking about rushing the field, tearing it apart? Well, the end of that game was like a madhouse — it was almost like a riot. It was an angry crowd tearing up the field and smashing seats and throwing the broken pieces all around. They were looking to tear Shea Stadium down. I didn’t get in the middle of that. I stood off to the side and watched it from the mezzanine level. My friends were like, “Are you looking to go down there?” And I’m like, “I’m not going nowhere near that field. Look at what they’re doing to those people.” The cops were out with horses and dogs — it looked like they were getting ready to unleash the water cannon on these people. It was violent at the end. Nobody was happy. All of a sudden, what, we’re not going to play here anymore? [The Jets had announced that they would be leaving Shea Stadium at the end of the season.] Where are we going, we’re going to Giants Stadium? What a sin. It was a slap in the face to Jets fans everywhere. And now that this guy is 237
SACK EXCHANGE
sharing a stadium when he could be doing his own, it’s more than a slap in the face. It’s like a kick in the balls. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 & : I remember going 7–9, after all the experts at the beginning of the season said not only would the Jets be in the Super Bowl — they’d win it. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I think we went 7–9 because we lost some good coaches. We lost an offensive line coach, a defensive line coach. He brought Rich Kotite in, and I don’t know what to tell you about Rich Kotite’s career. . . . I guess they write enough about that [laughs]. Jim Ringo became the offensive line coach, and I think our only problem was some injuries and the fact that we had a new staff. The transition was tough. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 I missed Dan Sekanovich. Dan Sekanovich taught me everything I knew. When I won the Defensive Player of the Year, I attributed it to Dan Sekanovich. When they fired Walt, Dan left, and I really hated that because, like I said, he was like another father to me at that time. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I think our biggest problem was the offense couldn’t play. You had to have great defense. And when we lost Jerry Holmes and Ben Rudolph to the USFL and lost [Joe] Klecko and Bob Crable to injuries, we just weren’t the same football team. + 0 & 8" -50 / I remember I was very disappointed, being my first year. But there’s all kinds of circumstances that cause losing seasons. I don’t recall what they all were at this time — but it wasn’t a good year. % " / " -& 9 " / % & 3 [Did Richard Todd ever recover from the Mud Bowl?] I don’t think so. It was tough times for him, and it wasn’t all his fault. He took a lot of the blame for it — but there was enough to go around. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I think what bothered Joe Walton most of all was Richard didn’t come back with us on the plane from Miami after the Mud Bowl. I think it took its effect with Joe. I think it bothered him for another year, and finally, he got rid of Richard. And Richard, y’know, he wasn’t Namath certainly, but you could win with him — we proved that for two years. 238
ny daily news archive ⁄ getty images
Let’s have a riot: Disgruntled fans after last-ever Jets game at Shea
SACK EXCHANGE
+ 0 & 8" -50 / I loved Richard — Richard was a very tough kid. Had a good arm. I think he had one of the best years he ever had in pro ball in ’82. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % You knew after the ’83 season — and the way that Joe Walton acted — you weren’t going to be there. You knew it was coming up. And I remember about a week before I got traded, I started to get calls from people down in Mobile that knew the Saints. I think that’s when they were talking to them. Believe me, there’s a lot of “behind the scenes” when there’s a trade going on. Players act like they don’t know about it, didn’t know it was coming — they definitely know about it. They’re using their people to talk to your people and your friends and find out if you would like that. If you come back and say, “God, I’d hate to play down there,” then the bottom line is you’re not going to get traded down there. I don’t know how they do it nowadays. You always hear about these players, “I never knew it was coming” — I think that’s kind of bull. They have their feelers out there about what you think of the trade before it actually happens. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I adore Richard Todd. I think my worst day was when I found out Joe had traded him to New Orleans. I was devastated. Because then I knew I had to play with Kenny O’Brien. And now, everyone asks me, “How are the Jets going to do?” And I said, “They better not have good defense, but great defense because they’re playing with a rookie quarterback.” Because I know what that’s like. Kenny O’Brien was a great young man, but you’ve got to have not good, but great defense to play with a rookie quarterback. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 When I came in as a rookie, Richard Todd pretty much took me underneath his wing. I don’t want to say there was hazing, but rookies would stand in line to get taped, and if a veteran came in in front of you, he’d jump in front of you. I was fortunate that when I came in, I had three SEC quarterbacks — Matt Robinson, Pat Ryan, and Richard [Todd]. So it made my life a little more comfortable — at least coming in, that I knew one player. 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , */( Richard was . . . I don’t want to say a prima donna–type quarterback. Richard could bench 350 pounds and ran a 9.9 in the 100-yard dash in high school. He was more like a running back/fullback mentality. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 Let me tell you, there was nobody tougher as a quarterback than 240
1983
Richard was. A guy has broken ribs and goes out and plays in a football game — that is one tough SOB. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 He always thought I liked Matt Robinson the most, but I always really liked Richard. I loved playing with Richard. I had a lot of respect for him — he was a tough guy. I can remember him getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, and breaking his toe — stubbing his foot on the bed, the night before a game! He was a team player and a really tough guy. He had a lot of respect. 1 "5 3:" / We had some down years early in his career — specifically the one I talked about in which he had to call every play that season [1980]. And he took a lot of heat for that, and a lot of that wasn’t his fault. He was doing all he could do, but he just didn’t get any help from the coaching staff. Our offensive coordinator was scared to make a call, so he made Richard do it all. I think that affected Richard. Richard was kind of a sensitive guy, and a lot of people riding him hurt him pretty good. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % He needed some development. They had several offensive coordinators there, and five interceptions is what I remember. Every time I looked up in that championship game — I was “on defense” trying to tackle somebody in a Miami Dolphins jersey — that’s what I remember. Richard as a person, I liked him. But I remember the five interceptions — I’ll never be able to forget it. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 I think Richard should have stayed around a while longer — I didn’t see there was any reason to get rid of Richard. I really didn’t. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 It was unfair how they treated him. That guy could throw, he could run. He was a smart quarterback. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w$"3640 I never booed Richard Todd — I never booed my team. The only person I ever booed in my “Jet world” was Rich Kotite. I never booed — it doesn’t help. To me, Todd was an excellent quarterback. He had a great year and a half with us. And then Walton fucked it all up. Figure, Todd was a champion coming out of Alabama. He was doing just fine. So what if we lost in the Mud Bowl? He threw a bunch of interceptions — hey, it happens. Freeman 241
SACK EXCHANGE
McNeil was useless in the mud, what can you do? What did we give up? One legitimate touchdown, and the interception for a touchdown by A. J. Duhe. The defense did their job, we just didn’t get it done in the mud. There was no reason to fire the coach and clean house like Walton did. That was terrible. 8" -5. * $ ) " & -4 Richard was as good a quarterback as some quarterbacks that have gone on to the Super Bowl. But again, there’s a combination of the personality that goes with the quarterback — not the quarterback alone. And people make that mistake because of a guy like Joe Namath — who was so dynamic. + 0 & ' & 3 ( 6 4 0 / A true competitor. I always admired what he went through with the Jets — with the fans. And perhaps as I did, getting beat up in Buffalo — but that’s the nature of the position. But I always admired his competitiveness and his athletic ability, for sure. " + % 6 ) & Richard was a quarterback that I’m sure most teams in the league would have liked to have had. He performed well, he had a good, strong arm. I don’t think he was one of the fastest guys on his feet, but back then, I don’t think there were very many athletic quarterbacks. I think the “athletic quarterback” came into play maybe in the ’90s or something. He was your standard, dropback-seven-step-passer — with a good arm. He had a quick release and he made good decisions. He played for a long time in the league. He was a guy that ran their offense and did what you needed him to do. He caused [the Dolphins] some headaches — you were telling me about some games that they were beating us twice in one year and they had losing seasons. He had our number — he knew how to dial us in. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 There’s a lot of things that go into making a quarterback, and I thought that Richard had all the components. Sometimes, [there are] circumstances and situations where the fans don’t see or don’t know about how many offensive coordinators Richard Todd had. I don’t believe he fulfilled all his potential — some of that is because offensive coordinators kept switching in and out on him. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & - 4 Richard could have blossomed into something. But the minute he didn’t respond or look like the second coming of Y. A. Tittle . . . the next 242
1983
thing you know, they were drafting another quarterback and Richard was gone. They were setting a program up totally different with O’Brien. ' 3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 Richard probably would have blossomed more if he was not in New York — under the eye of the media or the burden from the fans, that he was a number one draft choice also from Alabama. The media frequently wanted him to be “another Namath,” and would frequently point out that he wasn’t. Not necessarily pointing it out as a football player or quarterback, but pointing it out as not being the dynamic person that Joe was. I think we haven’t seen too many Joe Namaths. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I don’t think I was ever media-friendly [laughs]. Like I said, I’m pretty immature — and was definitely back then. I don’t know — I keep thinking, if I was the coach, I’d probably do the same thing. When you take over as a head coach, you want to do things your way. If they feel like they can’t win with some of the people they’ve got, they make changes. And that’s what they did. You see that every year. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": He wasn’t a Joe Namath, but Joe Willie won one gigantic, huge game, and he’s immortalized for that. Richard wins one more game, and maybe he’s on the same level. Richard Todd was a nice, classy guy, and he was a hell of a quarterback. I’m sure he’s doing extremely well in his after-football life. You’re not going to read about him ending up in a crackhouse, or beating up his wife, or driving 100 down a highway drunk — Richard was a classy individual. I’m proud to call him our quarterback. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 %% You get down in New Orleans, and it’s the same thing — you’re coming in, and [following on the heels of] probably one of the most popular quarterbacks that ever played, Kenny Stabler. He’s revered and loved in New Orleans, and it’s kind of the same thing. I started my first year down there, and things were going good, we were about 50/50. It’s still the same — if you’re not winning anything, you have to make a change. And it’s either the quarterback or the coach. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : Richard Todd was traded to New Orleans. Abdul Salaam was traded [to the San Diego Chargers]. There were a lot of guys that were traded. 243
SACK EXCHANGE
You still had Marty Lyons, Mark Gastineau, and Joe Klecko, but then Joe was getting injury-prone — he had hurt his knee at that time. A lot of changes were taking place — which just happens with a new coaching staff. To this day, it still does the same thing. It is what it is — it’s football, and each year is different. + 0 & ( " 3 % * We were decimated up front, and losing Jerry Holmes and all those kids — it was devastating. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 At that time, being a free agent, the New York Jets . . . I had proven that I could play football, and they still wanted to pay me a free agent salary. My coach that I played for at West Virginia University, he was going to be the head coach of the Pittsburgh Maulers [in the USFL]. We had a relationship, and my agent did a nice a job of getting me a package to play for another guy that I respected. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % I was one of the changes that they made. I wanted out after that. At the time, I felt it was a money issue. They paid some free agents more money than me, and I believed that I was good, which was evident when I left there — I had multiple offers to go to a lot of different teams. They didn’t have free agency then like they have it now — the owners had control of everything. There was no free agency. I just felt like I was unappreciated here — I didn’t think they really appreciated the caliber of tackle they had, especially with a young quarterback that was developing. To keep him playing every week, to keep people off of him, and to keep some people from really hurting him — he did wind up getting hurt anyway, I think he dislocated his shoulder or something. So they asked me to keep him healthy at all costs. I just didn’t feel that the management of the Jets appreciated me as a player — as much as they should have. When you have a person who’s not drafted, comes in, and he’s playing next to you and making more money than you, you have to draw a line somewhere. And I just don’t feel the new regime that came in — Joe Walton — appreciated my talent. So it was time for me to go someplace else. [Ward joined the Saints in 1984.] % " / " -& 9 " / % &3 Some people might say Joe Walton, some people might say other things [as the reason for the Jets’ poor 1983 season]. I couldn’t answer that. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0 / It was really tough not having Coach Michaels there. Coach 244
1983
Walton was a different type of guy. To me, he was not a loyal guy. That’s one thing that Walt was. If you performed for him, he had your back. Joe, I thought he would throw you to the wolves. He wouldn’t stand up for you when it was time — if you were injured or whatever, he’d make a question about it. I just didn’t think he was loyal at all. He exhibited that with me. I broke my finger the last preseason game, and had to play San Diego with a broken finger. I had a great game, and he kind of left things the way they were. He inherited Walt’s team — he wasn’t going to change anything. But then we had an under .500 season, and he started cutting everybody. Everybody was walking on eggshells, and man, you just couldn’t play relaxed. You felt that if you made a mistake, that was it. I know he really got on me. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 It really was [the end of an era]. I started out in Shea Stadium — you just get used to it, you get used to everything about it. And now, you’re shipping over to Jersey. Once you start breaking up the team, things change. Things never seem to stay the same — they really don’t.
245
GO O D B Y E , SHEA
S
hea Stadium serves as the Jets’ home from 1964 through 1983, before supposed foul bathroom conditions result in relocation to New Jersey’s Giants Stadium. ." 3 * 0 / # " 3 # & 3 Even before I got there, it was rumored that the Jets would be leaving Shea Stadium. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I don’t think it came as a surprise. I think Mr. Hess clearly made the announcement to New York City — what he wanted from New York City and the improvements that he wanted at Shea Stadium for the Jets to stay. When those improvements or those concessions weren’t made, he did what he felt was best for the franchise and best for the team. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / Shea was a pretty beat-up place — not in great condition. In the press box, when it got to November/December games, it was really cold. You could feel the cold coming through your shoes from the concrete in the press box. There were leaks all over the place. And the heat consisted of . . . there was just, like, a heat coil above your head — that was “the heat.” The last year or the year before, it was an open press box, and we had one game where fans were throwing snowballs at John Madden. I just remember it being old, run-down — the city wasn’t going to fix the stadium at that time. Leon made the decision that we were going to go across the river.
246
GOODBYE, SHEA
5 * . % "7 & : I was involved in that as well — as director of operations. Leon approached the city, and said, “You must do something about the stadium, or I’m leaving.” Leon had a fetish about bathrooms. A fetish. That’s why when you drive by his gas stations [Hess], they’re immaculate. The white curb is painted clean, the parking lot is clean. It’s not a “gas station” — there are no mechanics there. They just pump gas. I was told that he paid a gentleman $450,000 a year to go inspect the bathrooms at all his stations on the East Coast. Shit, if I had known that, I would have applied for the job [laughs]! But that’s how serious he was. And he would say to me, “Tim, you keep this place immaculate” — meaning the complex that I ran at Hofstra. And he said, “You know how I know that? Your bathrooms are immaculate. When you go into someone’s bathroom and you see it in an office, then you know the rest of the office is immaculate.” If that’s your gig, that’s your gig — what can I tell you? So, they didn’t move a muscle, the city — because they had no money. They wouldn’t do anything at that stadium. If it came down to getting something done at the stadium and the city was not going to do it, I would take it off the rent, whether it was a renovation job in the locker room — which we did — all sorts of different things. Improvements. But his biggest thing was cleaning up the stadium, one. And two, cleaning up the bathrooms. I mean, we had patrons coming in to our offices with soiled jackets, that they sent to testing that came back with urine on it — from the pipes up above them that were leaking! Leon knew about this. The funny thing is that Shea Stadium never renovated or had any work done to it until after we left. That’s when they started renovating, and started putting in all private boxes, and cleaning up the place really well. There was also a battle, that we couldn’t play our first four games there because of the Mets. The Mets had control. It’s almost like what Oakland has in Oakland County Stadium out there with the A’s. The same type of thing — that the baseball controls the stadium. And Minnesota’s going through it with their stadium. Why? Because they play 84–86 home games. And for football, you rely on the baseball ground crew, really, to take care of the field for you. That’s why Leon wanted to have games being played on this side of the river in preseason. That’s why we went to Yankee Stadium — he cut a deal with Steinbrenner to have two preseason games at Yankee Stadium, as a matter of fact. It was Lou Holtz’s year — that’s when we started it. The first game was canceled because of a hurricane, so we played two games within, like, five days of each other.
247
SACK EXCHANGE
+ 0 ) / / : i # 6 # # "w $"3640 As for Shea, I don’t know what Leon Hess was talking about with dirty bathrooms — why he left. All bathrooms are dirty — I’m not talking about bathrooms in people’s homes, I’m talking about bathrooms where 50,000 or 60,000 people are going to be in and out, pissing and shitting, and washing, and whatever. They’re going to be dirty, and that’s just the way it is. I was heartbroken and devastated. It made me sick to my fucking stomach. I died a thousand times over because I had spent years goofing on the Giants fans — “You can’t call yourselves ‘New York,’ you’re the fucking Jersey Giants.” And here we go — we’re the Jersey Jets. I was mortified. Nobody was happy with this — it sucked. What is this dirty bathroom bullshit? This is a guy with enough money to build his own stadium. You didn’t have to sell the naming rights — you name it after yourself, “The Hess Dome” or whatever the hell. You can put gas stations at every entrance and exit for the parking lot for all we care. It’s all green and white — I don’t understand. You go to a Hess gas station now, and you can get the Jets schedule still. But he’s got nothing to do with the team. What the hell is that? Why didn’t he build his own stadium? Woody Johnson — the same thing, even worse. We’re like nomads — we don’t have a home stadium. I don’t care what they name this new stadium. What are they, going to sell the naming rights? Come on, Woody Johnson — what is that? I mean, alright, who am I to tell you $20 million a year to blow it off, but this is a guy with $20 billion — he’s making $20 million a day on interest, I bet. Come on Woody, please. I met Woody, too. I tried to tell him my side of the story, but he’s got serious bodyguards with him. They didn’t want to hear my side of the story [laughs]. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& I hated it and I thought it was a mistake, because it really foreshadowed what was going to happen. The reasons for leaving Shea Stadium certainly weren’t because the bathrooms were bad. There was a lot more involved in that decision — not that I would blame Leon Hess for doing it. We all saw the corruption within Queens and the political system, so no one was going to make any deals in Queens at those times. Unfortunately, it switched the fan base from a real Long Island fanbase to a New Jersey/Westchester fan base. And it made the commute impossible for games. I remember the first time we did it, Joe Walton says, “Okay, you’ve got to be at the hotel at seven.” So everyone [thinks], “I’ll leave Long Island at five-thirty, to go forty-five miles.” That’s about how far it was 248
GOODBYE, SHEA
from Hofstra to Route 80. How about three hours? Everyone was trapped, everyone was late. You couldn’t believe it. So it became terrible. The traffic after the game was terrible — three hours to go fifty-five miles was pathetic. We hated it. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": Driving from Long Island — I lived out in Huntington, and driving from there to East Rutherford, was not a fun proposition. If you did it on a Saturday in the midday, it was a little bit easier. But I remember one day, it was Labor Day and we played the first game of the year, it was four and a half hours to leave the parking lot! The traffic was backed up so far from the George Washington Bridge. There was no way you could get out the parking lot — there was only one way to go if you were going across the bridge to get back to Queens and Long Island. Four and a half hours to get out of the parking lot — that never happened at Shea. We had a lot more fans there. We would always sell out and there’d be 80,000 people. But truth be told, they probably would have been better served just staying at Shea Stadium. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / The traffic was unbearable. We got home earlier from road games — places like New England and Buffalo — than we did from home games at the Meadowlands! ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& After one of our first games at the Meadowlands, I did what I usually did — I went up to their “Diamond Club,” which was the Arena Club, and said, “Can I get a table for ten?” And they go, “No. You need to have a reservation.” I say, “Well, I’m playing.” And he goes, “It doesn’t matter who you are. If you don’t have a reservation, you’re not getting a table.” I go, “Are you kidding me?” He goes, “No — this is for season ticket holders.” What? And so it was different because it was run differently over in New Jersey, as opposed to my buddy John Morley running the food and beverage at Shea Stadium. And you had Pinky at the Diamond Club, and you knew everybody and they knew your family, and the fans — whether you won or lost — would applaud you when you came up to the Diamond Club. And that’s what I’m talking about with the difference between Shea Stadium and the Meadowlands. The players and the Jets lost that type of interaction with the fans once they left Shea Stadium. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 ##"w $"3640 We all tried to pay to get into the Meadowlands, and that didn’t work. The guys at the gate were not money-hungry like our 249
SACK EXCHANGE
friends at Shea. We figured, “All right, it’s Jersey, we’ll try ten bucks instead of five.” I tried to bribe this guy ten bucks to get in, and his answer was, “Sir, that is not a ticket, that is a ten dollar bill.” I was like, “Right, shhh — take the money, let me in.” “Sir, I cannot let you in without a ticket. That is not a ticket — that is a ten dollar bill.” None of that shit worked. I tried every usher — all around the hall, twice. None of it worked at all. And then, you had to buy a ticket, you had to sit in your seat. It was terrible. It was nothing like Shea at all. Shea was our house — Shea was better. They knocked Shea down, they botched it — and they replace it with something that looks like an Erector Set [Citi Field]. I hate it already. The regular guys are being priced out. Why do you think the stadiums aren’t as rowdy as they used to be? They can’t possibly be — how can they be? Now, you’ve got nothing but GE and GM. These are suit-and-tie guys. They’re not fans — I’m a fan. I go to the games, we love the games, I watch them on TV. These guys are going to the games because it’s like a fucking “status show.” Now that the economy’s in the tank, I was reading in the paper that the NFL is not even going to lift the blackout rule in certain cities. That is rude. There are certain places like Detroit that are tapped — Detroit is broke. The Lions haven’t sold out their games, so those games aren’t going to be on TV in Detroit. What are you telling the people? See, we’re in New York, we’re oblivious to that shit. ABC, or NBC, or whoever the hell will just buy up the rest of the seats — it’s like going out to lunch for these guys. But the rest of the country’s hurting, man, and these guys have no mercy. They are wrong. And this commissioner? Oh, he’s tough on the players, but he should put the hammer down on a few things. Look at the Mets — the Mets are saying, “We haven’t made a decision yet on if we’re going to raise our prices.” Raise your prices?! What are you, out of your fucking mind? You guys are on pace to lose a hundred games this year [2009]. Think about it. Hey, is it my fault that Madoff took Wilpon for $700 million? What are you, fucking kidding me? Come on, man. You got that kind of money and you don’t keep track of it? I have a hard time feeling bad for him. I mean, what, poor baby — you’ve only got $300–$400 million left? On no, how will we ever get by? These guys are not in touch with the common people anymore. + 0 & 8" -50 / It wasn’t a complete surprise — I knew it was going to take place. Giants Stadium was a great place to play. However, all of our players, wives, and our coaching staff lived on Long Island because that’s where we worked, at Hofstra. So it was like playing away games every week. 250
GOODBYE, SHEA
1 "5 3:" / Nobody liked going over to the Meadowlands. I bet everybody would have rather stayed at Shea — it was a little dilapidated, and the locker rooms weren’t all that nice, but the Meadowlands were a lot farther way. Hell, it was Giants Stadium. What the hell were we doing playing in Giants Stadium? . " 3 * 0 / # " 3 #&3 We were “guests” over there. They were great hosts, but it was still the Jets playing in the Giants’ stadium. That was a tough pill for a lot of people to swallow — for a long time. % " 3 3 0 -3 ": When you have a stadium . . . I played at Oklahoma. Picture playing at OU, and then [moving] down to Dallas and playing at the Cotton Bowl Stadium or something. There was just no way. You just don’t do that. You have your stadium, and you have your stadium for a reason — good, bad, or indifferent. It’s like your house. Your neighbor may have a really nice house, but hell, it’s not yours, so you don’t get to live in it. + 0 & '& 3 ( 6 4 0 / You kind of lost the enthusiasm of the Jets. I enjoyed going to the Shea Stadium, myself. I thought that was more the atmosphere of the Jets. . "55 3 0 # * / 40/ I was very disappointed to see them go to the Meadowlands and share a field with the Giants — or anybody for that matter. I think they somewhat lost their identity when they made that move. 8" -5. * $ ) " &-4 Well, you know it had to be a financial move. I was at a dinner at Shea Stadium, and there was the governor at the time, Mario Cuomo. I said, “Mario, when in the world are you guys going to get smart and put a stadium up here that’s livable? And then, you’ve got to put a dome on it.” He looked at me, and said, “What are you talking about? You want a dome on it?” I said, “If you put a dome on it, you’ll have a Super Bowl in New York every five years.” He looked at me — I thought his head was going to drop — and he said, “You are so right. I’ve got to get to [Ed] Koch — I can’t go over his head.” But before all of that took place, Leon and Steve Gutman moved to New Jersey. New York was ready to give it to them — I know that as a fact. If you ever question Mario Cuomo — if he remembers — ask him sometime, “Hey, how about that stadium?” [Laughs.]
251
SACK EXCHANGE
'3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 I could see it coming because the fact is the city wasn’t going to do anything to keep the Jets there. I thought Ed Koch was a very good mayor, but he was not a sports fan. If there had been a different mayor at the time, the Jets might still be playing in Queens. But he didn’t have that interest that say, David Dinkins had in tennis to get the U.S. Open Stadium built. If somebody else had been in charge at the time, they may have been able to build a separate stadium in that area for the Jets. It was really our idea at one time to — in fact, before they did Yankee Stadium in 1976, we met with Mayor Lindsay with the idea that they would build a stadium in Queens, a separate stadium — this is before Arthur Ashe Stadium was in that area — and have the Jets and Giants share a stadium there. The mayor said he was so tied up with getting Yankee Stadium done, that he asked us to not to talk about that publicly — about getting a stadium. He said he would turn his attention to that after Yankee Stadium. But once it went that far, the Giants were really on their way out — to go to the Meadowlands. Maybe if the city decided to do something at that time, the Jets and the Giants would have had a stadium in Queens and shared that. I don’t know how that would have worked out, but we had made it as a proposal at that time, and meeting at city hall. But you could see that it was coming, and I know a lot of people throughout the years really hated the move. But there is no doubt when the Jets went to the Meadowlands . . . if the name wasn’t Giants Stadium, if it had been some corporate name like a lot of stadiums are, maybe the players and fans wouldn’t have been so upset. Because Giants Stadium, we never called it “Giants Stadium,” we called it “The Meadowlands.” We tried to do everything we could to make it look like the Jets’ home field. But you have players and coaches always talking about, “We’re not playing at home,” and it was a long drive home after the games. I used to try and tell coaches, “Why do you even talk about it? The drive home happens after the game — it has no effect on the player playing the game. I felt that when Bill Parcells got there, it certainly didn’t affect Bill Parcells playing in Giants Stadium. His record as a coach, he said, “I had a lot of wins in this stadium before,” and he proceeded to do that with the Jets. I think he showed the players, what difference does it make where we’re playing? But I think some of the other coaches . . . it actually gave them a crutch. If you ask Boomer Esiason, just ask him how much he hated the drive home, and how he would talk about it. To this day, Boomer and other players just hate the fact that it was Giants Stadium. I think after a while, you have to get over it. But it didn’t happen.
252
GOODBYE, SHEA
+ 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w $"3640 Who’s the man who let all the teams go? Koch. What’s wrong with him? How could he have done such a thing? Giants Stadium belongs in New York City — I firmly believe that. It doesn’t belong in Jersey. And the Jets don’t belong playing in Jersey. I’ve got nothing against Jersey, it just belongs here. It’s not like the Patriots. The Patriots were the Boston Patriots. Then they call themselves the New England Patriots — fine. You’ve got five or six states rooting for you, so you can play up in Maine for all anybody cares — you’re still New England. We’re playing in New Jersey and calling ourselves New York. It’s not right. I mean, hell, we call ourselves “the Jets” because of the jets that fly over Shea — that’s how we got our name. We switched it from the Titans, when we were at the Polo Grounds, to the Jets because of the planes that flew over the top. Nothing flies over the Meadowlands. It ain’t right. I’m totally against it all. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : The fact that the Mets didn’t give Leon any concessions and parking and that good stuff — that he was trying to get — didn’t surprise me a bit. So moving over to the Meadowlands, it didn’t surprise me. I didn’t enjoy it, I didn’t like it because they had AstroTurf on that field — and I hated that stuff. Thank god they did change it. But back then, they didn’t. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I didn’t want to go to the Meadowlands. See, that’s like five minutes from my house in New Jersey — where I grew up. Yeah, it was nice to have my mother and my whole family come up to every game. But the wind, the airplanes — Shea was a great defensive coach’s stadium. The only one who could handle that wind was Namath — in the old days. I hated moving over. In those days, Giants logos were all around the stadium — I felt like we were second-class citizens. I got in trouble one year because we were scrimmaging the Giants one time in preseason, and I was responsible for the practice schedule, so I put “Jets vs. New Jersey Giants,” and [Joe] Walton and Jim Kensil got ticked. I had to change it and pass out new practice schedules, with “New York Giants” on it. But we loved Shea — as rotten as it was. They didn’t go out of their way to make our facilities nice, either. It was interesting — I had a talk with Leon as to why we went to the Meadowlands. And he basically said he was tired of being treated like a second-class citizen. That’s why we made the move. But I hated going to the Meadowlands.
253
SACK EXCHANGE
1 "5-& " ) : I would have liked to have stayed in Queens — not necessarily Shea because that was very difficult for me personally. My years there, I had some really good seasons and I had some really bad seasons. It was such a hard place to play with the wind, and if the Mets were in the playoffs, we didn’t have a home game for six weeks. And at the beginning of the year, a lot of the kicking came off of the infield and pitcher’s mound. But the biggest thing was I could never get a reading on the wind and what it was doing on any one time. When we got to Giants Stadium, the two things that helped me the most were kicking off of turf — because it’s never wet and slippery — and even though it was very windy there, I figured out the wind, and I could play the wind. On the turf, you could always make a good, solid strike on the ball because it’s sitting perfectly. As soon as we changed to over there, my percentage went up dramatically. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w $"3640 Shea was broken down and dirty, peeling paint, musky and smelly — but it was beautiful, and we loved it. It was our house. That was the Jets’ home field, you know what I mean? It was just so convenient for everybody in New York City to get to a place like that. Look what I have to do to get to the Meadowlands. Nowadays, they want you to take a train to Penn Station. From Penn Station, you take a train to Secaucus, then they shuttle you into the game. Come on. If you don’t have a parking pass, you’ve got to go to Secaucus, pay $25, then you have pay $7.50 for the shuttle bus to the game. They’re bleeding you dry. Shea Stadium was a subway token — you’re there and back. Shea Stadium was a beautiful place. The parking lot is what it is — you could pay for parking, or just drive over by the pitch-and-putt, over the by tennis center. You take your chances if you parked over on the grass median, I would imagine. I never drove to Shea Stadium — I have no car. But I always hooked up with guys that drove. I’m a mass-transit guy — I take the trains and the buses anywhere and everywhere. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & - 4 If it were me, I’d do what Donald Trump did — New Jersey Jets. I wouldn’t keep saying, “New York.” Come on — Donald Trump did it, and it didn’t hurt the New Jersey Generals. Who’s kidding who?
254
MEE ET T T TH H E JETS: J E TS: 19 1 98 84 4 +1985
N
ineteen eighty-five gives the Jets a player who will form one of the league’s most dynamic receiving tandems with Wesley Walker . . . Al Toon (wide receiver). " - 50 0/ I’m from Virginia, and first started playing football as a junior in high school. I did try out for football as a sophomore, but got cut, and ended up trying out again my junior year and making the team. And then my junior year, I started getting recruited, and Wisconsin was one of the schools that was interested in me. I ended up at the University of Wisconsin, where I played for four years, and was drafted by the Jets. Quite frankly, I didn’t know how interested the Jets were in drafting me. On draft day, my coach and I — and my future wife — were watching the draft at his apartment. I actually thought I was going to get picked by several other teams, but I ended up making it down to the tenth pick, where the Jets picked me. It was a little bit of a surprise, but it obviously turned out to be a pretty good pick.
255
1 98 4 + 1 9 8 5
T
he Jets’ first two seasons in Giants Stadium, ’84 and ’85, contain their share of triumph and disappointment, as the team tries to adapt to their new home.
." 3 , ( " 4 5* / & "6 I took Kenny O’Brien with his now wife, Stacey, and some of the Hampton brothers [to Studio 54]. They ended up getting drunk and started a fight. I just got through renegotiating my contract, and everybody pointed their finger at me. I wasn’t even around when the fight took place. I wasn’t there, I didn’t touch one soul. But that changed my whole image. So that’s what did it. I wasn’t even drinking. ,& / 0 # 3 * & / It happened before the season. There was a rigmarole down at Studio 54. Looking back, they didn’t know who Ken O’Brien was — all they knew was Mark Gastineau because he was such a presence not only in New York, but nationwide. It was a combination of things — being young and being in the wrong place. Unfortunately, they didn’t know who I was and they went after Mark. That was wrong and Mark was left out to dry on that deal. Pat [Ryan] played because I was running around [with legal problems]. 1 "53:" / I started, I think, the first six games of that season. In fact, we played the first game in Indianapolis’s indoor stadium — the RCA Dome. We opened up the season there. It was one of those seasons where we started out pretty good. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& We were playing in New England [on October 28, 1984]. We’re 256
1984 + 1985
playing in a rainstorm . . . you look at coaches’ decisions why they do things, and to this day, I still can’t figure out half the decisions that Joe Walton would make at those times. But anyway, it’s 20–6 at halftime. Bottom line is they come back and beat us, 30–20. And we just turn the halfway point — we’re 6–2. We’ve got Pat Ryan as our quarterback, and offensively, we’re not a real good football team — we can’t score points. We lose to the Colts in a rainstorm, 9–5 [on November 11], and get cursed out on defense because our defense “didn’t play well enough” — figure that out. And so we end up losing to New England, and the “offensive genius” comes into the meeting room afterwards. I remember this is when Joe Walton lost me as a player. He comes in and says to the whole team, “If I had 22 Mark Gastineaus, I’d win every game.” We were in the back, going, “What?!” I said something like, “But he can’t punt!” Everyone laughed, but he didn’t think it was funny. 1 "5 3:" / I ended up getting knocked out with a concussion and a rib injury, and Kenny came in. He played pretty much the rest of the year. , & / 0 # 3 * & / It’s all part of an experience — it’s part of learning, figuring out where you are, making decisions, and how you present yourself. You learn from it. I think it made Pat and I closer, too. At the time, I was so young that I was thinking, “I’ve just got to get back on the field and play.” 1 "5 3:" / We were fine — we were good friends. Kenny was the quarterback — I knew that. And I was filling in for him the first part of the season because he missed a lot of training camp. Really, we were in competition for the job, and Joe gave it to Kenny. Then he had to go through all that other stuff, so I kind of inherited it back. But there was never any problems between me and Kenny, not at all. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I loved Kenny O’Brien. If I had to choose a quarterback to play with, I’d take Kenny O’Brien over Dan Marino, John Elway, Joe Namath — he was my guy. If you look at his stats and numbers, he could compare to anybody on the Jets or anybody in the league. Just awesome. And his character was even better. He would be my number one choice out of anybody — besides this guy I had in college, Joe Roth, who died his senior year from cancer. I put them both in the same kind of realm. 257
SACK EXCHANGE
'3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 I thought that Kenny O’Brien was a much better quarterback than critics would ever say. I think the fact is that when people talk about Kenny O’Brien, they will always talk about the fact that the Jets took Ken O’Brien and didn’t take Dan Marino. But you can say that for just about every team in the NFL that had an opportunity to move up and take Marino ahead of where the Dolphins did. And the Dolphins in the past, if they thought they had a player that they really wanted to get, the Dolphins would have traded up. If people would look back now at his record, you’d say, “He should have been the number one pick in the draft.” And he wasn’t, he was the twenty-seventh player picked. If the Dolphins really knew this was what they were getting, the Dolphins wouldn’t have waited until the twenty-seventh pick. And the same with all the other NFL teams. Marino’s senior year was not as great as his junior year in college at Pitt. But Kenny, his critics would say, “He didn’t win like Marino.” I think Marino was surrounded by better players. And the fact is [O’Brien] was sacked an awful lot — he held onto the ball. But he was one of the most accurate passers to ever play the game. Had very few interceptions, and had a lot of touchdown passes. I think there are a lot of teams that wish they had Ken O’Brien [rather] than somebody else that they might have had at quarterback. Ken suffered by comparison to Marino, but you could say that about nine tenths of the guys to ever play quarterback. % " / " -& 9 " / % & 3 Ken O’Brien took a lot of blame in the “Joe Walton system.” And I don’t think he ever got the credit due to him that he had — he was an awfully good talent. The system that he was put into, I don’t think fit him. The Joe Walton system was hard for the quarterbacks — no matter who it was. It’s a shame — I think he would have done better at the time with some other team. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 & 3 He was a great guy — laid-back. As far as the quarterbacking, man, that guy was accurate — he had a gun, he could get the ball downfield. He was really a talented quarterback. The only issue I ever had with him was — again, being a rookie coming in, you know how excited they get — I was used to catching balls from Richard Todd, coming out of the backfield, like, little short passes. And Kenny, oh man, he could throw the ball really hard. It took some adjusting and getting used to him throwing the ball. He threw a hard ball, and I knew Wesley Walker loved him.
258
1984 + 1985
1 "5 3:" / He really could throw it. He had a great touch: he could throw it long, throw it short. He just had a really good knack of passing the football. The knock on Kenny was always that he held the ball too long. But back in those days, there were a lot of years we didn’t have very good offensive lines. He took a severe beating — he was a tough guy. I got a lot of respect for Kenny O’Brien. , & / 0 # 3 * & / It was different than where I came from. Joe [Walton] was the head coach, and he was also calling the offense, and Joe Gardi was there at the time on defense. It was kind of like two separate deals, but [Walton] knew his offense — inside and out. He knew what he wanted to run. It’s a big change, how you go as an offensive coordinator–type guy to the head coach. Everyone’s learning at that time — he’s learning how to be a head coach. But as far as the offense was, I think he knew it like the back of his hand. There was a lot to learn — there was a lot of memory. Once you had it, you had it. So I just spent all my time figuring out what I was supposed to do and learning it. I got a pretty good handle on it — there was a lot of offense. Looking back on it, I just think it’s hard for a head coach to be the offensive coordinator and the defensive coordinator. I think the best situation is to just let the head coach be the head coach [and] let the offensive guys be the offensive guys. But as far as strictly an offensive coordinator, Joe knew the offense inside and out. He wanted you up to speed, and was demanding to get up to speed on it — which is a good thing. He was the head coach and he was calling the plays. There were a bunch of guys there that helped him — Rich Kotite and other guys. Like anything, when it’s working well, there’s nothing like it. And when it’s not, then you’ve got to figure out how you’re going to right the ship. That’s the million dollar question — how do you get the confidence and momentum going on your side? That’s all it takes. Because you certainly have the same plays and the same players. To me, it’s a state of mind — “Let’s get going the right way and put everything else on the back burner.” . " 3 * 0 / # " 3#&3 I remember coming back for [Walton’s] second year, and he used the phrase, “Getting out of the comfort zone.” I think some of it had to do with him trying to keep things the way they were, as opposed to when he went into his second year, he needed to do some things for it to help him, and what he wanted to accomplish with the team. And I use that a lot, “Don’t fall into a comfort
259
bill kostroun ⁄ ap photo
SACK EXCHANGE
You may want to throw it soon: Ken O’Brien
zone.” Because it’s easy, sometimes you’re accustomed to doing something one way, and you don’t change or adjust with the times, the players, or what’s going on around you today. I would assume that’s what he learned after his first year. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I remember Joe Namath coming back — we did a ten-year reunion my first year as an intern there, and he came back for that. But I don’t remember him coming around a lot. Joe started coming around a lot in the early to mid-’80s because our first year in the Meadowlands we retired his number. We retired his number [12] at halftime during a Monday Night game. And then Joe was broadcasting for NBC for a while. So I remember him being around a lot then. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 The 1984 season itself was just one of those disappointing seasons. Every year as a Jets player, you come in with new aspirations of wanting to do well, and then when you don’t — whether it’s related to injury, or you falter, or something happening — it’s always a big disappointment. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 & : ’83 and ’84 were not real fun years late in the season to come 260
1984 + 1985
into the locker room and go out to practice. We just let everybody down. Our best players since I was there was ’83 and ’84. And to go 7–9 both seasons was heartbreaking. -" / $ & . & ) - In ’84 is when I signed a new contract, and Joe Walton was definitely instrumental in me getting the contract — if he didn’t want me there, they wouldn’t have paid me. But when we started losing, every time we lost a game, he’d start at the top of the salary list — obviously, there were several ahead of me — but the coaches would meet us at the door on the way in and Joe says, “I’ll have to cut you if you don’t start playing better.” It got to the point where it was just miserable to come in to work. They’d play the blame game and it was my fault because we weren’t winning games. And I’m busting my ass — as was everybody else. I didn’t know of anybody that was trying to lose games to make him look bad. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& Ron Meyer was the head coach of New England — it was the same year. He gets fired — I don’t know if it happened before or after that game [that the Jets lost to the Patriots on October 28, 1984] — and apparently, there was an uprising by the players that wanted him fired. Most notably, John Hannah. They went to ownership, he ends up getting fired, and Raymond Berry becomes the head coach. I remember Joe Walton walking into the room. . . . And you’ve got to remember, these are a bunch of football players in a room, that most of us aren’t reading the newspapers. I don’t know what’s going on — I don’t even know what’s going on on our team. He comes in and starts yelling, “If you think that is going to happen here, you’re crazy!” And I’m looking at Lance Mehl, going, “What is he talking about?” And he goes, “I don’t know.” Joe goes, “I can’t believe what happened up there! You think a player is going to get me fired? You’ve got another thing coming!” And I’m going, “This is crazy. What is he talking about?” Maybe two players in the room knew what he was talking about. He was ranting and raving for half an hour about Ron Meyer getting fired in New England and Raymond Berry taking over — he must have been Ron Meyer’s buddy who talked to him, I guess. And so you looked at that, and you go, “Man, that’s crazy stuff. What do we care?” The team starts looking at him, going, “What is he, nuts?” It wasn’t just me — it was the whole team. I’m the biggest team player out there — if you said, “You’ve got to go skate on ice today,” I’d have skated on ice. But at this point, he wants me to skate on ice, and it ain’t ice — it’s water. Joe Walton did 261
SACK EXCHANGE
things that were incredulous from a football player’s perspective, that a coach would say and do these things, and think it was sane — and think that no one would think about, “What is he talking about?” I’ll give you a “for instance.” That Thanksgiving . . . this is what Leon Hess used to do, we used to hold Thanksgiving dinners at Shea Stadium, and Leon Hess would say, “Invite your family and friends because at Thanksgiving that’s where you should be — with your family and friends.” He would pay for a Thanksgiving dinner held at the Diamond Club at Shea Stadium. And I’ll tell you something, we looked forward to that day. Your family would come in, your friends — there was one turkey for every five people. It was spectacular. Leon Hess would come and say a few words, and it didn’t matter how bad or how good the team was — it was all about your families on that day. Leon was very loyal to his team about doing that. In 1984, they held the Thanksgiving dinner at the Marriott — there might have been 300 people. And now, it’s time for Joe Walton to address the team. And he went on a tirade. “There are going to be players on this team that won’t be here next year! And if you don’t think you’re going to play for me, you’re not going to be here next year!” What are you, kidding me? At Thanksgiving?! He went on a tirade like you can’t believe, and every guy is looking at each other going, “This guy’s nuts!” And Leon Hess gets up — he didn’t want to embarrass his head coach by saying, “Shut the fuck up.” If I were the owner, I’d say, “You’re fired!” But those are the type of things that as a player you look at and you go, “No wonder he lost the team.” And then the only way to get a team is to get rid of players and bring other guys in, and threaten their jobs. And that’s what he did. - " / $ & . & ) - Greg Buttle was outspoken, which was a no-no with Joe Walton. That’s why Butts left. He was as good or better than whoever we had to bring in to replace him — and I know he certainly could have played another year or two. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& By the time that I got cut, Bruce Harper got cut — it was all over. The run was over. It was a weird dynamic of what the team was in ’82–’83, and what it turned into in the mid-’80s. And it tore the team apart — from the time Al Toon was there and how the team expected to go somewhere. It could only go so far, and it destroyed the team. At that point, I’m an outsider looking in, going, “He just doesn’t learn. He does the same thing to other players.” It was a shame. 262
1984 + 1985
" - 50 0 / I liked Joe Walton a lot — he was more of a father figure. I respected him as a coach, and he respected me as a player. I liked his offense, but it was a little complicated — which was fine with me. I enjoyed his system, and I played well under his system. I still stay in contact with him. My rookie season [1985], I was the last first rounder to sign, so I ended up missing . . . it was seven weeks into when training camp began, I ended up signing. So it was after the first game of the season. I believe Marvin Powell, Wesley Walker, and there was another player that was out — I don’t remember who it was — but hadn’t signed, and they brought us all back after that first game of the season. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I was always disappointed with the Jets because there were times where they would call in people and re-do their contracts. I wouldn’t ask for something that I didn’t think I deserved, but there were certain points when I did hold out, and I always had to. They were giving people contracts and I thought I’d deserve it, but I always had to hold out for some strange reason. And then when you come into training camp late, they would use that against you. Those years could have been a lot better if it was just handled correctly. Probably from both sides, too. It was still disappointing when I got back to playing-wise because there are certain things that an organization — as coaches — how they can bring you along, practice-wise and everything else. And they just did things from the totally opposite end of what you would do with an athlete. A lot of times, I didn’t stay healthy because of that. There’s a way you can handle players, and there’s training, and trying to push you the way they did. In the back of my mind, it was things that could have been a lot different — where I’d stay healthy and been more productive. " - 50 0 / Obviously, things kind of gelled after that, and we had a pretty successful season. Kind of getting acclimated to the level of the game — the speed of the game — took a couple of games, but after that, I enjoyed being a Jet, and felt it was actually a tad easier than college because they had to respect all the other people on the field. So I didn’t get a lot of double coverage, as I did in my junior and senior year in college. It was actually not a difficult transition at all — other than getting used to the speed of the game. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I remember one of the things with Al Toon was he didn’t start right away, which he probably should have. Joe Walton always . . . sometimes, 263
SACK EXCHANGE
people have this stigma, like “rookies can’t play,” and I believe anybody can, as long as they have the equal opportunity. He didn’t come in right away. They actually fed him the ball, and he became a player, but he didn’t get the opportunity right from the beginning — just from the mere fact that coaches felt that rookies couldn’t come in and play right away. Which is wrong. He ended up being a star player — which could have been done from the very beginning. % " / " -& 9 " / % &3 [Al Toon] was like Lam Jones was expected to be — and was, briefly. But Al Toon and Wesley together was something. Scared the defenses, I’m sure. '3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 He probably should go down in history as one of the best wide receivers to ever play for the Jets. There weren’t too many better than Al Toon playing anywhere in the NFL. Al had a great ability to separate himself from coverage with speed and moves, and great receiving ability. He had excellent hands, and was a very tough player — that’s probably what led to the end of his career. The fact is he was never afraid to go over the middle. Even with that great speed, he was actually more of a “possession receiver,” but he did have great leaping ability. He and Kenny O’Brien had terrific on-the-field and off-the-field relations — their wives were very close and they spent a lot of time together off the field. % " / " -& 9 " / % & 3 Al Toon was a super receiver, super nice guy. He was a silent leader himself. Just an outstanding person. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 Al Toon, when he first got there, he didn’t have the great speed. And a lot of people thought that when Al Toon came in, he made me better — I was very modest and there was always a slight competition. I remember his agent made a comment when I was renegotiating my contract — “I’m not in the league of Al Toon.” And anybody that knows the league would say just the opposite of that, and that I would have helped him. I was a team player, and we helped each other: there were things that Al could do that I couldn’t do and vice versa. But there was a little competition — on and off the field. I never operated like that. Even my ex-wife always thought [Al and I] should hang out. We were so different. When we held out to try to get more money [during the subsequent 1987 strike], some of these guys wouldn’t even share information — and Al Toon’s agent and he were one of those kinds of guys. Deep down, I always thought 264
1984 + 1985
that he felt that he was better than me, and I was always, “Just give me the ball,” and I wish I had as many opportunities as he did — catching the ball-wise. Then we would see who would put up the numbers. And that was always a problem for me — because it’s about opportunities. When he was drafted by Joe . . . sometimes, when coaches draft you, they would sway more towards the guys they drafted. I would put up the numbers with the catches as far as yardage, but I didn’t have the numbers where potentially, I could do more damage, because I didn’t catch as many balls. " -50 0 / Wesley’s a great guy. I enjoyed his company. He taught me a lot about the game, and clearly, he was older, more seasoned, and more experienced than I. I asked questions. I think on the field, as players, we complemented each other very well. He was considered “The Deep Threat” — even though I thought I could run deep balls too. But I ended up being more of “The Possession Guy,” which was fine, and had success doing that. We were a great complement. And our families spent a lot of time together, too. Off the field we had a great relationship — as well as on the field. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 For instance, I could catch as many balls he did and have just as many yards or more touchdowns, but I just didn’t get the opportunity. So that was one of the frustrating things as a player. Some of my coaches — I had Rich Kotite — they would say certain things, which was an insult. I remember we went into one game — we were playing Washington, and Darrell Green is one of the best cornerbacks in the National Football League that I’d ever played against — and I remember Rich Kotite saying, “Well, he usually covers the best wide receiver, so [another Redskins player] will probably be on you.” And a lot of the guys on my team were like, “Holy shit!” They thought it was kind of an insult. We get to that game, and Darrell Green is covering me all over the field — they wanted to stop the big play. And I wanted to tell him, “Well, since he’s covering me, who is the best receiver?” I was never given that same opportunity. Some of the accolades that people were giving him — some by my own coaches — didn’t even give me the respect that I really deserved. And I was never the type to say that kind of thing — I can say that now that I’m retired. To this day, I don’t think the Jets organization gave me the credit that I really deserved, but it’s not for me to say. My numbers speak for themselves. The problem that I’ve always had was staying healthy and getting 265
SACK EXCHANGE
the opportunity. If I would have stayed healthy, I would have been able to put up even more numbers than I did have. But I certainly didn’t get the opportunities like Al Toon — getting pumped with eighty, ninety, a hundred balls. I would say, “Give me that opportunity, and I’ll put up those numbers,” and they put a stipulation on me which was always an insult to me — I was just known as a “Deep Threat.” But I would welcome to be able to catch the short-range passes, because I prided myself on catching the football. I could run fast, I had good hands, and I could catch the football. But that wasn’t a thing that I would be known for, and that’s about opportunity — that was my frustration. "- 50 0 / Rich Kotite was the coordinator and the receiver coach I think maybe my first five years. Actually, Joe Walton was the coordinator, and they kind of worked together. I think Joe Walton was the official coordinator, and Richie coached the tight ends and the receivers. So, they worked hand in hand. They worked well together — they seemed to get along well. I’ve been on teams where you can see some tension between coaches, but I didn’t see any of that with them. He was a good teacher. The system was a little different, a little unorthodox than what I experienced prior to that. But it worked well for me. Joe Walton was very involved with the offense. - " / $ & . & ) - And Joe Gardi gets booted — that had a big effect on the defense. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I was let go by Joe Walton, and everyone wonders why and how. That’s the way things happen. It cut my pro career short. But then, the next fifteen years, I had a great time at Hofstra as a head coach that won almost seventy percent of his games. - " / $ & . & ) - Then Bud Carson came in, and it was a chance for a rebirth. It actually got me interested in playing again. When they got rid of Buttle, Darrol Ray — they got rid of a bunch of my teammates, and I was just about ready to retire. I almost retired that year. I can remember talking to Randy Rasmussen — he was on the bus with us one time during a preseason game, I think he was doing radio at the time — and I remember asking him what it was like being retired because I was thinking about it. But then Bud made it interesting — I think it was a challenge for me again. It was just a whole different thing that I kind of liked. 266
1984 + 1985
# " 3 3: # & / / &55 That was ’85 that Bud Carson came in. I believe my coach, Ray Callahan, came with him. I loved playing his defense. You line up with a little bit of a shade on the guard, and guarantee that guard tackle hole. And it was attacking — it was kind of built after what the Bears had done with their attacking defense. It wasn’t so much “sit back and read,” it was “get upfield.” That was a fun, fun defense to play. It was fun to play for Bud Carson, and specifically, Ray Callahan, my D-line coach. Bud had come from winning teams. He’d won a couple of Super Bowls with Pittsburgh. I think partly it gives you some credibility — when a guy comes and he’s won a Super Bowl, there isn’t too much doubt. You buy into his philosophy a little bit quicker. All those coaches back then, it seems like they spent two or three times as much time as we players did studying. -" / $ & . & ) - Bud Carson took it to another level — giving us a chance to do it from a different front and coverage — I think he challenged me intellectually. # " 3 3: # & / / & 55 At least in football terms, I think Bud was a very smart man. He knew in his mind that Joe Klecko could do what Joe Greene had done — I believe that’s where that defense came from specifically with us. Because Joe had been a pretty good defensive end and then a pretty good defensive tackle. Bud stuck him on that nose, and pointed him to one side. I never analyzed the stuff that any of my coaches told me to do — I just did it and enjoyed the physical challenge of that. I’d just say that the time that I spent playing in Bud Carson’s defense — in an attacking position, when I shaded the guard — I loved every minute of it. [Carson and Gardi] were pretty different personalities. Bud was really intense, and Joe was pretty outgoing. I know that Joe had been that D-coordinator for a few years. Joe was a great guy, but Bud’s defense fit me and I had a blast playing for him. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ There was an incident that happened in the locker room: we were watching film of the San Diego Chargers playing the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo was killing San Diego, and I said, “If I played for San Diego, I’d be All-Pro in their defense!” I’m just commenting on the way they played. We’re sitting around the room, BS-ing. Somebody heard me say it, and [Walton] had a lot of “snitches” as we called them, and we had some coaches that were not very good — I don’t know where he got these coaches from. But this one guy went and told him that I wanted to be traded to San Diego! Within minutes, I was called into the office. 267
SACK EXCHANGE
I was like, “Damn, what happened?” He was very stern, chewing on his cigar. He wouldn’t even look at me. He said, “I heard you want to be traded to San Diego. If you do, we can accommodate you.” I’m like, “What?! Coach, who told you that?” I reiterated what I said. And by that time, he had made up his mind — he was going to cut me or send me to San Diego. I was like, “Coach, what sense would it make for me to go to San Diego? San Diego is three and whatever. We’re 10–6 and going to the playoffs. They’re going home — why would I want to be in San Diego.” We had a bunch of snitches. The next day, he auditioned two guys for my job — they were cornerbacks. I got hurt in camp — I hurt my knee. By that time, other guys like Kerry Glenn were looking pretty good. So the bottom line was he was trying to get rid of me. But I was still their best corner — I led the team in interceptions that year. What happened was after he told me he wanted to get rid of me, I was hurt already, and Johnnie Lynn was practicing in my place until I got well. Johnnie Lynn got hurt in practice. The next day, he says, “Johnnie Lynn is not going to be able to go — whatever you can do for us tomorrow, I’d appreciate it.” I said, “Coach, whatever I can do to help the team to win, I’ll do it.” So I go out there on one leg — in Buffalo, in the snow — and had probably my worst game. I didn’t get beat for a touchdown, but Andre Reed should have beat me for a long bomb, but dropped the ball. And that was the last play I played for the Jets — they took me out of the game. We were winning the game anyway. He put me on injured reserve the next week, and then they cut me in the off-season. So, that was my “Joe Walton experience.” 5 & % # " / , & 3 In game fifteen, we played against the Bears — I actually played against Richard Dent that day at left tackle, of all places. At halftime, it was 7–6. We played the Bears really well, and that was maybe one of the best teams in the history of the game. We ended up losing 14–6, but it was a good game. We kept it close and played them well. Miami was the only team to beat them that year. We were good. And then we went to the playoff game. I broke my leg, ironically, against the Cleveland Browns, the team that I ended up going to. The game before the playoff game, I broke my leg pretty bad, so I was done. Freeman just got tackled and rolled over my leg, and my leg was fully planted, and the bone snapped in my leg. # " 3 3: # & / / & 5 5 I remember thinking that we were the better team [than the 268
1984 + 1985
Patriots, which the Jets played in the AFC Wild Card Playoff Game on December 28, 1985]. I think there was a fumble or something by our goal line, that we coulda/shoulda/woulda — we didn’t end up getting the ball. I just remember feeling that it was an opportunity lost because we finished well enough that we got the home game. We split with them during the year — we didn’t win many games in New England. But I remember being disappointed and surprised that we were “one and done.” [The Jets lost the game, 26–14.] 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 At the time, you don’t know how good teams are. You never know who’s going to get ultimately to “that game.” And there’s a lot of parity involved with certain teams because things just have to break your way. It just happened to be New England’s time during that period [the Patriots would play against the Bears in Super Bowl XX — but lost 46–10]. They’ve always had good offense and pretty decent defense. All around, I always respected them as a team — it was always tough going in. If you could ever come up with a win against them, you were lucky to be successful. " - 50 0 / The most difficult part of it was we had a chance, and we didn’t pull it out. As a rookie, you don’t really understand. I’m just trying to keep my head above water, so I don’t remember a lot of it, other than I’m just trying to make sure I’m doing the right thing on the field. I don’t remember anything specific about the game — other than we were close.
269
1 98 6
N
ineteen eighty-six starts out as one of the Jets’ most successful seasons ever, resulting in talk of a “Subway Super Bowl” with the Giants. A late season swoon is followed by what appears to be a “refocus” in the playoffs . . . before a late hit on a quarterback alters the Jets’ plans. + 0 & 8" -50 / I thought we had one of the best teams in the league in ’86. We were 10–1, eleven games into the season, and playing very well. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 Coach Walton did a nice job of getting the team together, well prepared. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 I remember us being 10–1. I thought at that point in time — and still do — barring injuries, that was the best team the Jets ever had during my era. I thought we were definitely going to the Super Bowl. Every phase of our game was really pretty good. '3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 That might have been the best football team — going back from ’86 to ’69 — the Jets had. People were talking about there was going to be a “Subway Super Bowl.” 5 & % # " / , & 3 What kicked that streak off was that game at home in ’86 — the Miami game [on September 21, 1986]. Miami had taken the lead, 45–38, and Miami had the ball at about the fifty yard line, with maybe only a couple of 270
1986
minutes. If they got a first down, that game was over. But they got maybe seven yards, and they were down to maybe our forty-three. They had to punt, and the ball went in the end zone. I think we had like 1:20 left — not very much time, from our own twenty. We ran a couple of plays — ran a hook and ladder, where Mickey cut the ball and lateraled it to Freeman, and got a nice big play out of it. We moved all the way down to the twenty yard line, and the stands were eighty percent empty — everybody had given up. Virtually one play, we’ve got to get a touchdown — that’s it, there’s nothing else. So they ran a blitz — I ended up cutting the guy and taking out both linebackers, and one of them was unaccounted for, actually. Kenny stepped up in the pocket, and drilled Wesley right at the goal line, and we tied it with no time left. We kicked the extra point, and it was 45–45. They kicked off, and not Bruce Harper, Michael Harper, caught the ball on the kickoff. . . . In the film-room the next day, there was a big debate — and there was no replay then — if he fumbled or not. It really was a fumble, and Miami really did recover. But they ruled that he was down by contact. We end up getting the ball, ran about four or five runs, and we were near the fifty. We were running a play action pass, a fifty-yard bomb to Wesley going down the sidelines. And we win, 51–45 in overtime. , & / 0 # 3 * & / When you’re playing a team that’s got Dan who is throwing the ball, and they’re going to score points, it was a reason why we had to score points. We were always balanced. Now, they throw it fifty/sixty times, but then, say you threw it thirty/forty times — I’m using that as a number, I don’t know what it would be. We would always run — we were more fifty/fifty. But then once you get behind and you get in a shootout, you’ve got to score, you’ve got to throw, and you do things that maybe are a little different for you. And it seemed like against Miami, that was always the case. It was great for a quarterback because you can go do everything you can and lay it on the line, and put the ball in your playmakers’ hands, and let them go up and make catches. I think that’s what we saw certainly in that game. We saw it from everybody — everybody was making plays. That’s the kind of thing you like to think you can do all the time, yet, it wasn’t the philosophy they were comfortable with. They had a strong defense — they wanted to play that and run the ball solid, and also throw the ball. But be very balanced at it. Especially when you’re at the Meadowlands and in the northeast in the wintertime. 271
SACK EXCHANGE
"- 50 0 / It always seemed to be a high-scoring game between [Dan] Marino and Kenny [O’Brien]. We had a successful offensive day — I think I caught quite a few balls, and Wesley caught the winning touchdown in overtime. I think he maybe had three touchdowns that game — I don’t remember specifically. [It was four touchdowns.] I had more catches, but he had more touchdowns, so there was a lot of offense in that game. That’s what I remember the most. I was probably the most fatigued from running in that game than any game I played in my career because it was “get the ball down field,” and running a lot of offense. But it was exciting. Obviously, winning at home in that fashion is always great. ,& / 0 # 3 * & / It was one of those freak things — it came down to the last play. Wesley ran a post, and I threw as hard as it could go in there. As great as it was for us, I’m sure they were disappointed that their safeties were playing in the back of the end zone. He just snuck in a seam, caught the ball, hit the ground in the end zone, and it was a touchdown. Fortunately for us, we won the coin-flip, and two or three players later, that was it — it was over. “The last man standing with the ball” — that deal. But Wesley was on fire — Wesley obviously could fly. In that game, the last play that he was running, you just put the ball up and Wes was going to go get it, which is what he did. I think he’s still running! He ran right out the exit after he caught it. I remember him disappearing after that play. % " / " -& 9 " / % & 3 I had torn my rib cartilage that week, and I played the whole game with it. They shot me up before the game and shot me up at halftime. That’s what I remember about it — I was hurting the whole game [laughs]. 5 & % # " / , & 3 We went on to win the next eight games, and the confidence that came out of that game was scary. We went on a tear. Offensively, we were just putting it up. In the middle of that, we played Denver on Monday Night — they were 6–0 and we were 5–1. They were supposed to be the world-beaters, and we beat them 22–10 at home. I think that was one of “the close games.” There were games in there that we were just beating people up by halftime. But during that stretch, it was just remarkable with Wesley Walker, Al Toon, Freeman McNeil, Mickey Shuler, Johnny Hector — we were just lighting it up. Kenny was just unbelievable, and we just had it going. - " / $ & . & ) - I remember Klecko and I talking in ’86, we were about 6–1 at the 272
1986
time, and he says, “If we stay healthy, this is our year.” I’ll be damned if it wasn’t two or three weeks later that I blow my knee out, he blows his out, Mark blows his out, and then Marty hurts his shoulder. We lost four of our starters on defense. +0 & 8" -50 / We had a stream of injuries — something like five or six All-Pros went down — and most of them for the season. It forced us to bring in free agents or guys on the street that were looking for a job. It really hurt us late in the year. , & / 0 # 3 * & / When we were healthy and firing on all cylinders, there was a feeling that we could do whatever we wanted to do. Unfortunately, when things were going well, we started getting a lot of guys banged up — especially defensive guys — and it takes a toll. If they get hurt, there’s a lot more pressure every week — there’s a lot of guys playing that you weren’t counting on. They can step in, but not on a mass-role type thing. 8 & 4 -& : 8" -,&3 When you lose that caliber of athlete all at one time — and defense — I don’t care what anybody says, you win with good defense. We were getting field positions and turnovers. Consequently, when your offense gets the turnovers and you’re in field positions, you can operate and do a lot more things. And I was most disappointed because I had twelve touchdowns with five games to go, and we just stopped throwing the ball. It seemed like [what could have been] the thirteenth touchdown was an interception in the end zone. I remember getting hit by this guy, Jerry Gray, from the Rams. I thought I was going to set a record. For the Jets at that time, Maynard’s record was fourteen, and I think the NFL was eighteen. So I’m thinking, “I’m going to get this for sure.” And we just went into the tank — we stopped throwing. It was very disappointing for me. I relate it to our injury factor on defense, especially. 5 & % # " / , & 3 It was almost with every season — we would lose at the end of the year under Walton. We used to practice at least two and a half hours to three hours a practice, and two-a-days, twice a day. These days, these guys barely wear pads twice a day — if they’re lucky. Never full pads. We wore full pads — twice a day, almost three hours each practice. It was a lot of practice. We started in mid-July — I think one year, I even remember starting around July 12. . . . These guys are lucky to start by the end of July these days. And just the amount of time in practice — the physical beating it took on the human body — I think there’s 273
george gojkovich ⁄ getty images
SACK EXCHANGE
The Jets’ wide receiver double threat Wesley Walker . . .
evidence there on the Jets through that whole era . . . at the end of the year, we were beat up. Almost every year, we were beat up at the end of the season. Training camp was a solid four weeks with two-a-days — if not five, back then. And now, they’ve got a couple of weeks — two and a half weeks, maybe. So the physical toll, it was bad. Usually the team that gets a nice streak, like the Giants were firing on all cylinders at the right time two years ago [2007], and if we could have had that going late in the year . . . but we never did because we were always so damned beat up. I’m not one to make excuses for losing because you are what your record says you are — you lose a game, you lose a game — but we always had a lot of injuries at the end of the season. We did practice an extreme amount with full pads — where a lot of other teams just didn’t do as much as we did. 1 "5 -& " ) : One of the raps against Joe was that we always had a hard training camp, and we would start off the year well, and by the end, we’re pretty tired and had some people hurt. I think that was always the players’ concerns — that it was really a hard camp. By the end of the year, there were some tired people. 274
george gojkovich ⁄ getty images
. . . and Al Toon
SACK EXCHANGE
+ 0 & 8" -50 / I came from coaching with George Allen, and I took a lot of his practice sessions and he was the same way in the time slots. It’s possible that it was too much, but that’s what I had learned, and wanted to make sure we were in shape and ready to go for the season. 5 & % # " / , & 3 Come mid-November/December, we were beat, and beat up physically. It took its toll, and I think our record not only indicates it, but backs up everything I just said. Every year — it wasn’t just one year. # " 3 3: # & / / & 5 5 The twelfth game of the year was in Miami on Monday Night Football [on November 24, 1986]. So we got a nine-game winning streak — we’re 10–1 — and we’re going to Miami to play the team that we started our winning streak with. And it’s 45–3. There were four, five, or six injuries, and we hung in there — we fought them. And we just weren’t deep enough. Our whole D-line — the three guys in front of me — were all hurt. I don’t know if any of them played in Miami. But it was a straw that absolutely broke the camel’s back. We lost the last five games. .* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -& 3 We could have used a couple of veteran players to come in. They were pulling guys in off of the draft picks that we had, or free agents that we had in training camp. They weren’t capable of playing. And I don’t think the Jets had a network to do that — I don’t think they were set to find “that person” somewhere. % " / " -& 9 " / % & 3 That was like two different seasons, almost. We thought we were unstoppable there for a while, and then all of a sudden, we lose five games in a row. Joe Walton was going out of the box. Those last five weeks we were losing, it was kind of hard to go to work. We were under a lot of pressure. "- 5 0 0 / It was a tough time in the locker room because we clearly had everything going for us — for a streak of ten games. You’re feeling pretty good about yourself . . . and then you go on a skid like we did for a while. I just believe we were not making the plays when we needed to, and we were before. I don’t think there is any magic to winning — other than when you need to make a play, you need to make the play. And clearly, we were missing on some of those.
276
1986
1 "5 3:" / But we still made the playoffs. Barely. # " 3 3: # & / / & 55 I remember Joe Walton coming in when we made the playoffs with our 10–6 record, saying, “Guys, there’s ten teams in the playoffs, and eight teams going home” — whatever the number was. “From here on out, everything is on the positive. We’re going to the playoffs and we’re going to keep everything positive.” The next day, George Allen called Joe up, and said, “Joe, what in the world is going on with those guys? They lost five in a row — they’re backing into the playoffs.” Of course, George was somebody that Joe really respected. I remember the next day, just getting chewed out, about backing into the playoffs, and “You know what’s going to go on your tombstones? Lost the last five in ’86!” I can understand that — Joe took a lot of heat. Here’s this team that was winning nine games in a row — and winning convincingly — and all of a sudden, we weren’t even in any of those five games. It was embarrassing. I do remember that he kind of flip-flopped there — one day, everything’s on the positive and we’re going to the playoffs, and the next day, we got chewed out for losing the last five. 5& % # " / , & 3 In ’86, he would pull out the speech that he used for Miami in ’85! We were grown men. . . . Come on, you’re pulling out the speech from last year. Klecko, Gastineau, Alexander — we used to sit back there and laugh. " - 50 0 / We felt like we had gathered ourselves, and we were back on track. 1 "5 3:" / It wasn’t necessarily Kenny’s fault that we lost five games in a row — it was a “whole team thing.” We just weren’t playing very good football. So [Joe Walton] came to me, and said, “Hey — you’re playing this weekend.” I had played enough there and I had come in and played at times, so everybody was comfortable with me and I was comfortable with them. They just kind of took it in stride with some of the stuff that Joe used to do. " - 5 0 0 / As a receiver, you’re just wanting to get the ball. Pat and Kenny were totally different players. Pat was quite seasoned in the league, and had a lot more experience. I think he had a broader knowledge of the pro game. Other than that, they both were good quarterbacks — I didn’t care who was in the game.
277
SACK EXCHANGE
8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 Pat Ryan was certainly really a focal point during that time. And when you have a guy that can virtually come in with not that much experience — because you don’t get a lot of repetitions — he was the type of guy that, when they called him, could step in and do the job. Regardless of who was at quarterback, we could be successful. ,& / 0 # 3 * & / I think panic sets in when things are going wrong — you’re winning and all of a sudden, you’re losing. You start looking for why, and that’s the job of the coach. It’s ultimately his decision, and he thought it was time to step back and make a change, and bring Pat in. Pat’s a great player, and played real hard and real tough all the time. He’s a terrific guy, so obviously, I’m going to root for him to do real well. And he did — it was fun to watch him. Do you agree with those decisions? Certainly not. But at the other side, it’s their job to make those decisions. We should have just played better in the previous game or two, and it would have taken care of itself. But it didn’t. It’s interesting how people react in those situations, and it’s a lesson to be learned — how to approach things so you don’t get in those situations in the future. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 I think it jump-started us, but it’s also a different demeanor that you have. Coordinators have to run things differently — depending on who is in there at the time. 1 "5 3:" / We played a playoff game against Kansas City and beat them [35–15, on December 28, 1986]. We moved the football — I threw three touchdowns. Didn’t throw for a ton of yards, but we moved the ball, and had a good game. Anytime you throw three touchdowns and win a playoff game, it’s a good day. # " 3 3: # & / / & 55 I remember Gastineau had given me an ugly pair of high-top, green tennis shoes, and I wore them. I think I played fairly well that game. I was in the right place at the right time, and put a really good hit on [Todd] Blackledge, and got a page-and-a-half foldout in Sports Illustrated — hitting Blackledge. Like Klecko or Gastineau . . . I didn’t get the cover of Sports Illustrated, so it was kind of cool to get a significant picture in there. I certainly remember that we were very optimistic at that point. Pat played really well in the Kansas City game. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 I remember playing Kansas City, where it could have gone 278
1986
either way then. We just weren’t playing good football — we were lucky in my opinion to win that game. Because a big play could have gone either way — that’s the way football is. We were lucky to get past Kansas City. " -50 0 / It’s always good to win at home. I think the best feeling about it was we advanced past the Wild Card game, and moved to the next level. That’s always the goal — to do at least one better than the year before. So that was an accomplishment for our team, and we felt pretty good going into the next game. We were on our way — our goal was to make it to the Super Bowl. And we felt like we could. 5& % # " / , & 3 And then we went to Cleveland [on January 3, 1987]. I’ll never forget before that game, just to go play, the line in the training room of the guys that were going to get injected to get out on the field was amazing — I was like number fifteen in line to get my shot. So many guys were going up to get shot up to just get on the football field. I don’t think you see that as much these days as we did that day. You had warriors — Fields, Klecko, Lyons. A whole bunch of people doing whatever they did to get out on that field. Again, people were just beat up and hurt. Lidocaine, Novocaine — the numbing agents — so you didn’t feel your body. To mask the injury. I’ll tell you what, it was a lot of guys. 1 "5 3:" / That was a weird game. They had a good team. We threw a fleaflicker early. I think I pitched or handed off to Freeman McNeil — he went right, and threw it back to me, and then I threw about a fifty-yarder to Wesley Walker in the end zone. That was kind of the highlight of the day. I injured my groin late in the first half. Kenny came in and played, and played pretty good. ' 3 " / , 3 " . 04 We had the game won. . . . Things were going well. We came on and had the lead, and looked like we were in position to win the game. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / Freeman gets a touchdown with four minutes to go — to put us up by ten. I don’t think there is anybody who didn’t think it was over. Although I was with Frank during that game, and Frank thought there was still way too much time left on the clock after Freeman scored. That part I’ll never forget — everybody was thinking, “Damn, we’re going to Denver!” # " 3 3: # & / / &55 I remember Charley Steiner — when Freeman scored that 279
SACK EXCHANGE
touchdown to get that ten point lead — said, “And the Jets are going to the AFC Championship Game!” It’s not Charley’s fault, but certainly, announcers usually keep that really quiet, until there’s a three touchdown lead with twenty seconds to go. But boy, he put the kiss of death on us there. % " / " -& 9 " / % & 3 That was “the game from hell.” We had that game won, and that’s the famous Mark Gastineau hitting Bernie Kosar [play] — hit him late. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 Obviously, the penalty with Mark Gastineau [roughing the passer] — everybody blames Mark. You’ve got to play smart football and we had them backed up in their own end zone. He gets a penalty, and then they go on. And we’ve had several games over the years in my career like that — you give life back into a team, and they come back and make a play. That’s why you have to play sound football throughout that sixty minutes, and we just couldn’t do it. We were inconsistent in that department. 5 & % # " / , & 3 Ugh — that was brutal. I’m on the sidelines, the defense is out there, and we’re winning 20–10. All I’m thinking is, “We are going to the next round.” Four minutes and change. And then I see Mark just drill Bernie. I’m standing there, going, “No!” And you could see it — it was so late. There was no question — it was a penalty. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 Somebody mentioned about that play, “Come on, let’s get this one for Klecko!” I think Klecko didn’t play or was hurt that game. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / & "6 A lot of people will always remember that one play, and the other sacks they have a hard time remembering. That one play has just been like . . . I know how a kicker feels when he misses a field goal or something like that in playoff game. That’s something that I will always live with. 1 "5 3:" / I thought it was extremely stupid. I mean, how can you do something like that at a point like that, in a game like that? That just goes to show you that your head is someplace else. "- 50 0 / Clearly, it’s like a dropped ball or a personal foul — sometimes you have a brain fart during the game, and we all have them. It was just not a very 280
1986
opportune time to have one. Again, we made it, and we had more opportunities in overtime to win the game — which we didn’t. We could blame it on one play, but it’s usually just not one play that will dictate your destiny. , & / 0 # 3 * & / We can say what we want — it was a stupid play and blah, blah, blah. But ultimately, they made the plays they had to. They still had to make a drive down there and kick a field goal — and they did. They were better at the end than we were. Did that play help them? Sure it did. Was it stupid and you wish it didn’t happen? Yes. I think Mark and everybody would agree. It wasn’t something that was done on purpose, and unfortunately, it went against us and they took advantage. Like I said, it’s small little things, and to take advantage of the situation when it presents itself. % " / " -& 9 " / % &3 All we had to do was just stop the Cleveland offense. And all of a sudden, Gastineau blatantly hit him late — automatic first down, they go down, tie the game up, it goes into [double] overtime, and we lose [23–20]. That was probably the worst that I ever experienced in thirteen years. # " 3 3: # & / / & 55 I do remember that one hurt. I remember being more disappointed than I’ve ever been in my life about a game. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I know a lot of people have [blamed Mark for the loss]. We lose as a team, we win — that’s an old cliché. But there were other facets of the game that we didn’t get done: blocking up front when we were running the ball successfully, and then all of a sudden, we didn’t make a play running the football. So you can look at a couple of different things. But as a team, you lose that way. It wasn’t just one particular play because if we made a couple of plays to keep a drive going to get a first down to score, that would have helped — or a turnover here or there. When you have a chance to back up [the Browns] in the end zone, you’ve got to be aware of things to do, but some people . . . you lose your head or lose your focus. But I can’t say Mark Gastineau was to blame. That was one of the plays that could have kept us in, but we had several like that, with our running game — things that we just couldn’t get done as a team. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 The other thing that hurt us was if Freeman wouldn’t have scored on a 36-power from as far out as he did — we would have ran the clock 281
SACK EXCHANGE
out more. There were weird things that happened — somebody going for an interception when they should have been knocking the ball down, and [the Browns] made the catch. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I think that it’s obviously one of the most negative games in Jets history. Beyond disappointing. # " 3 3: # & / / & 5 5 Not that it makes one bit of difference, but about ten weeks earlier, we beat Denver. So certainly, we thought that we could have competed with them. And our team was getting older. Everybody that ever plays in that league wants to at least get to the Super Bowl. And it looked like we were going to get another opportunity. % " / " -& 9 " / % &3 That would have put us in the championship game with Denver, and we would have had them at home in New York, also. The famous “drive game,” that Denver beat Cleveland in Cleveland, should have never happened. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 Ultimately, we lost it, and as far as I’m concerned, cost us being in a Super Bowl. + 0 & 8" -50 / I think that was our best team. That year — and of course 1982 with Walt — were the two best years we had a chance to get to the Super Bowl. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / If you stop and think, we came closer to there being a Jets/Giants Super Bowl than anybody imagined. Because I think the feeling we had was Cleveland was going to be the tough game — we thought we matched up really well against Denver, who we would have played the next week. And had we beaten Denver, we would have played the Giants in the Super Bowl. [The Giants would go on to beat the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXI, 39–20.] # " 3 3: # & / / &55 I remember pouting all the way home — pouting on the plane and pouting on the bus. And walking into the door of my Point Lookout house, and my three-year-old daughter comes up to me, grabs me, and says, “Hey, Daddy!” And I remember the pouting was over. As important as that game and the $18,000 were, it paled in comparison to my family.
282
19 1 98 87 7
T
he 1987 season serves as a step backwards for the Jets.
5& % # " / , & 3 In ’87, we were coming out smoking, and put it on the Patriots on a Monday Night Football game [43–24, on September 21, 1987]. We started out 2–0. Then that strike happened, and we were the opposite team that came back. It was just not the same. The strike was very divisive for us — it divided us bad. When things started back up, we were anything but that team that started 2–0: guys taking sides, some guys reporting back to the coaches who was doing what — it was ridiculous. And Walton was the kind of guy behind it, wanting to know things. He had a couple of players reporting to him what was going on. Then guys got wind of it, and weren’t happy with the guy that was reporting to Walton. I don’t want to tell you his name — if he reads this, he’ll know. % " / " -& 9 " / % &3 The first strike [in 1982], they basically locked us out and that was it. And the next strike, they wanted players to cross — to try and break the union. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 That strike destroyed us because we had guys that crossed the picket line. It was hard to deal with. We had guys that were talking about just playing for their paychecks, and they didn’t care about what other people thought. It was a very disturbing time. We should have been able to go through and win the Super Bowl that year — because we had enough talent — and we 283
SACK EXCHANGE
lost the mental edge we had before the strike. I don’t think we ever fully recovered from it. It just was horrible — I don’t know how to describe it. I can remember fistfights and Klecko having a hold of some individual’s throat. It was very violent in our meeting room, believe me. [Klecko] was very “unionized” — and so was I. I did the “team thing” — whatever was best for the team or us as a group, I did. That’s lost with the athletes of today — they’re more in “the me mode” than “the we mode.” I think we had a good core of guys that wanted to lay it on the line, and we had a few guys that weren’t. Because of that, it caused too much for us to overcome. ,& / 0 # 3 * & / A lot of things happened during the strike. First, they had replacements, scabs — whatever you want to call them — and the Jets lost just about all those games. And then they counted them against your record, so you’re coming back in and rather than being undefeated, you’re in a different situation. I know the way that it was handled fractured the team for the rest of the year — that could have been a real good situation for us. My take on it all along was the Players Association was outmanned, and that the owners had better people around them — smarter people around them. What’s your goal? What do you really want to get, and how are you going to go about getting it? I guess that’s just like life itself — in any decision you make. I think the decisions and the way the Players Association decided to lead was set up to doom at the time. But at the same time, I think from a team perspective, you have to stay the course together. I think that’s what a team is all about, and that’s what I did. I think some of the guys that didn’t were: a) older guys, b) making a lot of money and didn’t see how they were going to replace it, and c) at some point, didn’t care about the other guys — cared about themselves. Some teams didn’t let guys cross the line, and I think teams that stayed together were the teams that benefited the most. By crossing the line, it was not only that year, but it went longer — there are still guys that I meet that talk derogatorily about guys that came on and played during that time — which I think is ridiculous. It’s just an opportunity for kids to play. I don’t blame any of the people for playing in the games. 5 & % # " / , & 3 It was some form of free agency and better benefits — pretty much normal stuff. But we were not organized at all. Maybe Gene Upshaw [who led the National Football League Players Association in the 1987 strike] became 284
1987
something, but that was so poorly done, and did nothing for the players of our era. This guy was heralded as this or that. Well, I venture to say all the guys that played during our time would say something different. I mean, he helped, but that strike was a mess. " - 50 0 / There was tension throughout the league. Clearly, any strike at any level there is tension because there are two sides to the issue. One can’t control what another player, personnel, administrator, or owner thinks — you just have to do what’s right for you, which you feel is right for you and your family. I was still a relatively young player, and hadn’t experienced that before, so that was my first experience in dealing with a contract dispute like that and a collective bargaining agreement negotiation. It was all new to me, and I was just playing it day by day, listening to both sides, and trying to make an educated decision on what was right for my family and me. % " / " -& 9 " / %&3 The owners tore the teams apart around the NFL. We all voted as a team to not cross the line, and we had player meetings every day around the corner at some park from the complex. We’d go out there to meet and work out a little bit — just to stay together as a team. We had a rule, that if anybody were to cross the line, they had to come before us and tell us. And they did. It was kind of a tough thing to do. But anyway, like I said, we voted on it as a team. I personally wasn’t going to cross the line — no matter what. That was just my feeling. And it cost us all money. The ones that did cross, they all had excuses like, “I have to pay the bills.” Well, we all had to do that. We all voted on it. So when they did cross the line, it split the team up. Even today, you know who crossed and who didn’t. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 People came out to the strikes and we had a picnic out there, and talked to a bunch of the people. I think they got the feel that we were not being as greedy as maybe the owners wanted us to be portrayed as. We were looking for basic rights and a little more balance to the pay scale than just certain positions getting all the money. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 There were incidents when one of the players spit on Mark Gastineau [after Gastineau opted to cross the strike line]. And there was also a big split with some of our guys who came as scabs that we knew. There was a 285
SACK EXCHANGE
big split, and when we got back together, I remember Mickey Shuler calling out some of the guys. Freeman was one of the guys that didn’t want to go on strike. Gastineau said what he felt from the beginning — he didn’t want to go along with the strike. And we were supposed to do this as a team. From the beginning, Mark didn’t want to do it, so he stood by his word. Joe Klecko, and Marty Lyons, and all our supposed “team captains,” we took this vote to do this together, and then they start trickling in, and they got jammed up by other people. You find out they’re not what they said they were, and deep down, people were very, very selfish. In my opinion, as a team, that’s why we weren’t together. We weren’t really a close-knit family as people try to portray it to be. And that’s what was disappointing for me because I came from a school, Berkeley, where you love each other — football is a team sport. And I thought when you got to a pro level, it was going to be a lot different. But you had to deal with prejudices, racism, cliques, and certain people got away with certain things — there were different rules. I mean, people used to say there were rules for Gastineau and then the rest of the team. But there would be certain rules for certain people. There were a lot of people — not just Mark Gastineau — who could get away with a lot of things that other people couldn’t. And people saw that. And we did have a big split on that team. But when we did play, I would like to think that we would leave that at the door and play. But deep down, I think it really hurt us as a team. 5 & % # " / , & 3 I think it was [Jets center] Guy Bingham got into it with Mark because Mark said somebody spit at him. I think he thought it was Guy. There was a little brawl there — not very much of one, but there was, yeah. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 That was a bummer. I decided Leon Hess had never done anything wrong to me. I took the position that if I would have went out, I would have stayed out. Probably if I had to do it over again, I might not have done that. "-50 0 / I didn’t really focus on what anyone else did — I focused on what was important for me. And we were all adults at that time and that level, and they had to make the decision of what was right for them. There’s always two sides to a story — we don’t know what an individual’s situation dictates to them to do. 5 & % # " / , & 3 I was hurling an egg at a bus full of replacement players driving 286
1987
in to Hofstra one day — this was right when things were getting stirred up. Obviously, we were all a little angry. It wasn’t real anger — it was just, “Get these guys out of here.” It wasn’t being mad at them per se, as it was just what they were doing. I didn’t know them personally. We were all hurling eggs — it was like Halloween! Someone got a good picture and it was put it in the New York Times. To be quite honest, I was afraid I would get in serious trouble — blackballed from the NFL for doing that because I’m one of the guys stirring shit up. We weren’t the Chiefs — the Kansas City Chiefs were riding in the back of pickups . . . with shotguns! It was crazy. ' 3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 There were guys who were able to cross the players’ picket line because what they did is they went back for rehab. Like, Joe Klecko didn’t actually play when he came back, but he had been injured, I think, in the second game of the season, and he came back to rehab because it would have been very difficult for him to do his rehab without having the use of the facilities. And the players were not bothered by that. I think they were more bothered by the fact that Gastineau wanted to come back. But one of their most respected leaders, Pat Ryan, came back, and played quarterback. It was a very difficult thing — probably for teams all around the NFL. It certainly changed the leadership to a younger leadership at the Jets — from an older leadership. 1 "5 3:" / Everybody was fired up to strike, but like a lot of things, when it starts out, everybody is really into it. And as it goes along, people get tired about not getting paid, and they get tired of sitting around and not going to work. I think everybody realized after a period of time that we weren’t going to win that thing. I mean, they were going to throw us a few crumbs, but we weren’t going to win it. They had the replacement games going on, and in fact, I came in for the last game. I broke line, and I said, “The hell with this. This is going nowhere — I’m going back in.” I went in and played the last game, and then the day after I came back in, everybody came back in. But they wouldn’t let everybody back until after the next weekend. So I played the last replacement game against Miami. There were a lot of hard feelings going on. You get that many people together, everybody has their own opinions. And some people are more forceful about expressing them than others. I’m sure there were a bunch of them that were unhappy with me because I bailed out. I didn’t care. And it turns out, hell, the next day, 287
SACK EXCHANGE
everybody was bailing too. So it wasn’t like I was doing something that everybody else wasn’t thinking about doing. But there were a few people that gave you a hard time about it. 5 & % # " / , & 3 They gave an option — it was something stupid, like if you came back before noon, you can come back in open arms, or if you went back after noon, you couldn’t go in. There was a noon deadline, and I think I walked in at ten to twelve. And then everybody coming back after twelve, couldn’t go in. It was something silly because everybody ended up coming back. The whole unit, we were so unorganized, it was a joke. Upshaw, the whole thing, was a joke, and the way he conducted the whole thing was laughable. The owners won before it was even started — they had a plan, and we were flying by the seat of our pants. Every day, it was something new — there was no plan. "- 50 0 / Any time a team is disrupted, sometimes you come out better at the other end, and sometimes you don’t. Clearly, we didn’t play as well as we had prior to the strike. [The Jets finished 6–9.] ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 The game changed dramatically, for what Freeman stood up for in free agency. And that goes unnoticed — if Freeman didn’t have the type of commitment, that he meant to the NFL, it would have been a long time since free agency even existed. Freeman took the podium, and said, “We are limited in the amount of choices as a player that we have.” The first person to try to do that was Darrol Ray. He wanted more money, and the next thing you know, he wasn’t even on the Jets team. But Freeman stood up and talked about as a player, we should have the ability to shop our talent, and not be basically locked into one team from the time you’re drafted to the time you retire. I think the NFL started to listen, then free agency came about. That’s what makes it difficult for the fans to identify with the team because one year you’re here, and the next year, you’re not. One year you have a good year and it’s the last year of your contract, and the next day, it’s “payday.” "- 50 0 / It was an extra great feeling to be in a position to catch that many balls. [Toon was the leading AFC receiver in 1987.] I was developing as a respected receiver in the league. I really enjoyed playing with the offensive team that management had put together. Things were clicking for me. Ended up enjoying the 288
1987
Pro Bowl for that year — it was a fun year. No serious injuries. That’s always a good thing — to get through the year without any serious injuries. # " 3 3: # & / / &55 Klecko and I were cut at the same time — after the ’87 season. Walton called in January or February and said, “We’d like to have you come out.” I said, “You’re just going to fire me?” And he basically said yeah. He said, “We’re just going to go in a different direction.” In ’87, because I stayed healthy, I led the D-linemen in tackles. I didn’t have the sacks, but I thought I had a decent year for the role that I played on that team. So I was obviously disappointed. Everybody that’s ever played in that league thinks that they’ve got another year or two in them. " -50 0 / [Joe Klecko] was a great contributor to the Jets’ legacy, and was clearly highly respected. He was one of the players that was selected to the Four Decade Team — and justifiably so. It’s always difficult for a team to make tough choices like that. I was glad I wasn’t in management — it’s just like the situation with Brett Favre and the Jets. There’s sometimes decisions where you have to flip a coin. If it’s going to be right or wrong, you just don’t know. I just happened to come on the board of the Packers after that transaction took place [Favre leaving the Packers in 2007], so I heard a little about it, but clearly, there’s still talk. But the relationship with Joe Klecko, it was clearly a tough decision. I think he was having some injuries, and he had been in the league a while. Clearly, it was a changing of the guard — younger players were coming in.
289
1988:GASTINEAU’S EXIT +1989: WALTON’S EXIT
T
he 1988 and 1989 seasons will not be best remembered for what happened on the field, but for Mark Gastineau shocking the football world by an abrupt retirement, and Joe Walton being relieved of his duties as head coach. 1 & 1 1 & 3 # 6 3 3 644 I lived through Mark Gastineau’s flamboyant years — from the Rolls-Royce in the parking lot, to The Sack Dancer racing boat in the parking lot. Mark was very proud of the Rolls-Royce — he was quite intrigued with the fact that the trunk was air-conditioned or refrigerated, so you could keep your fur back there. Mark was certainly fit for New York or L.A., with that glamour thing. “The Brigitte [Nielsen] years.” '3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 The most remarkable thing was we would have these scrimmages with other teams in preparation for the season during training camp — it was prior to preseason games. We were using Lafayette and Lehigh University to have a scrimmage — either with the Philadelphia Eagles, the Washington Redskins, or the Giants. They were not games per se — they were controlled scrimmages. We did that, and [Brigitte Nielsen] came to the game. She pulled up in a limousine right behind the track that surrounded the football field inside the stadium. And her limousine pulled up right behind the Jets’ bench — she had a blazer on and a short miniskirt, and she got out of the car, went behind the bench. Not all of the press box was being used, so we had her come up to the press box, where she could sit. It wasn’t where the working media was — it was
290
1988 :
GA S T I N E A U ’ S
E X I T
+
1 9 8 9 :
WA LT O N ’ S
E X I T
another section of the press box. But it was quite a striking move when she got out of the limousine — she’s a very tall and striking woman. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I remember Joe Walton talking about it — you see her come out of the car, and he’s like, “Oh my god!” Because football coaches are not into distractions. She gets out of the car, she’s walking around. And Mark was impressed by the whole glitz and glamour of that. He wound up on the front page of People Magazine with her at one point. # * -- ) " . 1 50 / I remember her coming to the Jets complex on Long Island, and one of the coaches kidding her, “How can you go with that guy? Look . . . I’m available!” -" / $ & . & ) - That was right towards the end of my career. He made me ride back from New Jersey one day — we were playing a basketball game in the offseason. And I remember riding down with Jerry Holmes, and Mark just pestering me to ride back with him. Jerry hung me out to dry — he made me drive back with Mark. We’re coming up the Garden State Parkway or something, we’re going eighty-five miles per hour, and he’s talking to me and looking at me the whole time. I’m scared to death. We’re in a little Toyota Supra, and I’ve got my hands on the dashboard, telling Mark, “Watch out! Watch that car!” And he’s just talking a mile a minute. He pulls over to one of those rest areas, and says, “I’ve got to call Gitta” — that’s what he called her. I said, “Mark . . . shit, it’ll take us two and a half hours to get home now!” Forty-five minutes I sat in that car waiting, while he had to get out — this is before cell phones. He had to use the pay phone. If I’d have been with Jerry, I’d have been home. But that’s the way it was. He got in the car, and said, “Gitta said to tell ‘56’ hello.” Because they didn’t know my name, they just knew my number — that’s all that Mark could remember [laughs]. He had another girlfriend that he took to . . . oh, I don’t know if I should say that. I’d better not. That was when he was married still, so I’m not going to go there. But he used to try and clear them through me, and I’d just tell him no. I’d say, “Mark, you’re a married man.” He’d bring pictures up, and I’d say, “No — don’t do it, don’t do it.” But it didn’t work obviously. I guess I was his conscience or something like that.
291
al messerschmidt archive ⁄ getty images
And this was just the pre-game pep talk: Marty Lyons
1988 :
GA S T I N E A U ’ S
E X I T
+
1 9 8 9 :
WA LT O N ’ S
E X I T
3 0 / $ 0 ) & / But ultimately, it led itself to we had played a Monday Night Football game that year [the Jets vs. the Bills, on October 17, 1988]. The next day he comes in, and says he was leaving — he was going to step down and not play anymore. I think the team was pretty pissed. 1 & 1 1 & 3 # 6 3 3644 I was the one that walked onto the practice field. . . . I was doing something inside, as the assistant trainer, and got a call from the receptionist, that there was an urgent call from Brigitte for Mark. I walked out onto the practice field and told Coach, who told me then to tell Mark. I told Mark, he went running in, and that was the last time Mark Gastineau was on a football field [in the NFL]. He quit — that was when he quit. I brought the news down — I had no idea what it was about, no one told me. I just knew there was an urgent phone call from his then girlfriend/fiancée. 5& % # " / , & 3 His girlfriend, Gitta, had cancer. It was a scene every day — driving up with Brigitte in his convertible brown Rolls. But after game seven . . . we had “the players only meeting” on, I think, Monday mornings, and if you had anything to say to anybody, you just aired it out. And he came in, and said she had cancer and he didn’t think he was going to play anymore. He made it seem like it was serious, but meanwhile, it was so minor, all they had to do was snip a piece of skin off. And that was it — that was the extent. He was actually having a good season up to that point. I just remembered thinking, “Here’s this guy that’s going to walk out on like $900,000 for eight weeks” — because it was eight more games. “Where in the rest of his life will he be able to make $900 grand in eight weeks?” Because they paid you one sixteenth every week back then — we didn’t have a bye. I was like, “Where on this planet . . . especially that year and era?” I felt bad because I’m like, “God, I wish I had a chance to make that.” That was big money back then. How can you just do that — get to that point and then walk out? , & / 0 # 3 * & / I remember he walked into the team meeting and gave a speech — it was unbelievable. He walked out of the meeting, walked out into the parking lot, and was gone. It was really a strange time. Once again, why? Why would you do all that stuff and go through it? I remember I tried to call Mark because Mark’s a really nice guy, and I think he’s misunderstood a lot. I just wanted to
293
SACK EXCHANGE
wish him well — and make sure he was doing what he wanted to do. I didn’t get a call back. He had moved onto a different part of his life then. If you’re not 100 percent into it, I don’t know that it’s worth doing it. I mean, I never thought about doing anything else — I loved every day about it, everything I did. If you didn’t want to, you’re just wasting your time, and you might as well follow your dream — which is what he did, and god bless him. Was it bizarre? Yeah. It’s like, who does something like that? It was totally nuts. 1 "5 3:" / How he retired? Hell, he just left! We never saw him again. It’s the damnedest thing I’d ever seen. We were getting ready to go down and play Miami. He stands up in a team meeting, and tells everybody, “I know I haven’t been playing like I should be playing. I’ll tell you what — this weekend, I’m coming and I’m bringing it.” So then we break the meeting, everybody goes and eats lunch, and we come out to practice. When we go out to practice, there’s no Gastineau — after he just gave us this big talk about how he was going to really show up and play hard that weekend. He didn’t show up for practice, and I didn’t see him again for twelve years. He didn’t say he was retiring, he said, “I’m coming to play this weekend.” He didn’t tell anybody he was retiring. Whoever told you that . . . my memory’s not very good, but I remember this like it was yesterday. He was talking about how great he was going to play, and how he was going to be such a good teammate that weekend and whatnot, and then he just went out the back door and we never saw him again. '3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 He said it was because of her illness, but he was also struggling physically for the first time in his career — he was not able to play up to his physical abilities. I can’t recall what his injury was right now, but he was limited and not playing as well as he had been able to. It was a combination of that and the fact is he was retiring because of her illness. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / When Mark decided he wasn’t going to play anymore, the amount of media coverage that came down to Hofstra was more than I had ever seen before. Certainly more than even the playoff games. It wasn’t just a sports story — it was a major news story. There was more press, more camera crews — more everything. Supposedly, she had a cancer scare, and he was going to go back to either Arizona or L.A. with her — to help take care of her. But the fact that it was
294
1988 :
GA S T I N E A U ’ S
E X I T
+
1 9 8 9 :
WA LT O N ’ S
E X I T
the day after a Monday Night Football game, and we were getting ready to play the Dolphins the following Sunday . . . just the whole suddenness of it. The guy that was going to take his place on the field was this kid, Paul Frase, from Syracuse. I remember feeling really bad for him because he ends up in this position — and nowhere near the player that Mark was, obviously. A huge distraction. The whole football player mentality is that quitting is not acceptable. Because you’re just not quitting for yourself — a lot of other guys are depending on you. I think a lot of other guys on the team didn’t react well — just thought it was such a wrong thing. " - 50 0 / Clearly, it was a shock to the organization, and probably a bit of a disruption — to both his life and the team. I think in the short term, it was an adjustment. As a team, we made the adjustments, wished Mark the best, and moved on. , & / 0 # 3 * & / I don’t know if it had an effect on . . . I mean, obviously, you miss Mark’s ability to play, but other guys have to step up. I don’t think it had any effect that way — chemistry and that stuff. I think Mark always “beat to his own drummer,” and was always going to do his thing — that’s just Mark, and there’s nothing wrong with that. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I really don’t remember whether [Mark] wanted to come back or not. . . . Obviously, he didn’t. # * --) " . 1 50/ Unfortunately, you know how it ended up. The guy, after that, I don’t know what happened to him — he just got all fouled up. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 There were some tough times for me. A lot of people thought I was a lot happier than what I was. I didn’t have a lot of friends on that team that I could call my friends. When I went to Canada [Mark played for the CFL’s BC Lions in 1990], it was the first time that I was on a team that accepted me for who I was and didn’t judge me. I wouldn’t trade that one year in Canada for any of the years there with New York. I thought that it was going to be more like in New York, and it wasn’t. There could have been some jealousies on there. But I was never jealous of anybody — I was always happy when somebody did well. That was just the way it was. I didn’t think anybody would be jealous of me.
295
SACK EXCHANGE
# " 3 3: # & / / & 55 The funny thing is I got to play one game with the Jets in ’88 — that was kind of the closure. It was the eighth game of the year — it was after Gastineau quit. I was pheasant hunting in South Dakota, and called Joe up, and said, “Joe, what’s up with Mark?” I was going to ask if I could come and try out the next Tuesday, and he said, “I’d love to have you in Miami . . . on Sunday.” So I went and played the eighth game of the year for the Jets. I believe Mark quit on a Wednesday or something like that, and Saturday, I flew from Minneapolis to New York, and met the team there, and then flew from New York to Miami. I might have played a couple of defensive downs, but I played on the field goal/ extra point team, which is a team that I had been on for four or five years. It’s a position I played for quite a few years. It was fun — I got a game check, I ended up getting credit for my eleventh year in the league, and I got a chance to say goodbye to some people that I hadn’t had a chance to say goodbye to. I was hoping I would play the last eight games and make a little bit of money. When I went up to talk to Joe, he said, “We know what you can do. We need a pass-rusher.” And he also complimented me, he said, “You’ve got a pretty good head on your shoulders. You’re going to be fine after you leave this game.” In times when he would get a little discouraged with some of the players, I think he kind of held a pessimistic viewpoint about some of the players’ responsibility levels and such. 5 & % # " / , & 3 I was really upset that Mark walked out on the team because we were doing well, and we ended up 8–7–1 that season. We could have made the playoffs — I think 9–7 would have put us in the Wild Card that year. That tie we had against Kansas City [on October 2, 1988] was awful. I played two ties in my career — one on the Jets and one on the Browns — and the real irony was they were both against the Kansas City Chiefs! And twice I lost on Thanksgiving at Detroit — twice on really good football teams, and Detroit was horrible. .* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -& 3 One of the neatest things was we played a game against the Giants in the Meadowlands [on December 18, 1988], and they had to win to go to the playoffs. And I caught a pass right at the end — there’s a picture of me kneeling in the end zone with the ball with the winning touchdown [laughs]. It sent them home for Christmas — everybody kept saying, “Merry Christmas” to them. "- 50 0 / Statistically, clearly I was [one of the top receivers in the NFL — Toon 296
1988 :
GA S T I N E A U ’ S
E X I T
+
1 9 8 9 :
WA LT O N ’ S
E X I T
led the AFC once more in receiving in 1988]. I always felt like I needed to get better. My perspective was if I wasn’t getting better, I was getting worse. So I was working on becoming a better player, and working on things that I considered were my weaknesses. It was a great time, and it was a good run at the time. 1 "5 3:" / When Wesley and Al got to play together, I’d say they were [one of the best receiver duos in the NFL]. Really, I don’t think they were on the field much at the same time. Injuries here and there kind of curtailed both of them. Wesley [Walker] was phenomenal — you talk about a guy that had an extra gear. Wesley could play — you couldn’t cover him when he was healthy. And then you had the bigger guy on the other side — Al [Toon]was the type of guy who would come across the middle and make those types of plays. You put those two guys on the field, and then you’ve got Mickey Shuler playing tight end: that was a pretty good receiving corp. Al was great — he was a hell of a receiver. He’s a physical guy, could run, great hands. He was exceptional. Unfortunately, he got cut short from some severe concussions. " - 50 0 / The first [concussion] was in high school, and then none in college. And then I had a few too many in the league. I don’t remember exactly when [the first concussion occurred with the Jets]. It’s just unfortunate — it was probably later in my career when the concussions were occurring too frequently and too close together. That’s when it became a problem. [Toon played eight years — retiring in 1992.] % " / " -& 9 " / %&3 I still thought he had a good career. It was shortened somewhat, but yeah, concussions definitely held him back a little bit. He was a good talent though, he really was. " -50 0 / Sure — hindsight’s always 20/20 [if anything could have been different with how the Jets’ staff handled the concussions]. There’s been more research done. And I think today, maybe things would have been handled a little differently. But back then they asked my opinion — how did I feel? It wasn’t just the medical staff that made the decision — they asked me how I felt. So I was partly to blame too, in going back out to play on the field maybe too soon. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 ##"w$"3640 All this “Al Toon six yards over the middle” — don’t 297
SACK EXCHANGE
do that to Al Toon, man. He’s supposed to be going deep, hard — like Jerry Rice, John Taylor, Randy Moss. You don’t see these guys doing five yard bug hugs to get their heads knocked off. Look at Al Toon, he had eleven concussions, man. # * -- ) " . 1 50 / If you remember, they were booing Joe Walton at the Meadowlands — chanting, “JOE MUST GO!” + 0 & 8" -50 / I was done with the Jets in ’89 [after a 4–12 record]. Spent two years as the offensive coordinator with the Pittsburgh Steelers, under Chuck Knoll. When he retired, I took a self-imposed year off, and in 1993, I was named the head coach of Robert Morris University, which is about twenty miles from my house. And I’ve been here ever since. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 It was very heartbreaking. I remember I was very angry. My last game was in San Diego [on December 3, 1989], where I got hurt. I felt like my relationship had been strained with Joe Walton. There was a time — and I’ll never forget this — it was after a game, and I remember him coming back to talk with some of the guys. Al Toon was sitting in front of me, and he had this whole conversation with Al, and didn’t say a word to me. I was disappointed because I felt like I never got a fair shake — like the opportunities Al did. A lot of things have to happen in your favor. And a lot of coaches, when they draft you, feel like they want “their” players. I always felt there’s a certain point that a lot of players go through where they try and get rid of you, or they’re trying to move in a different direction. But sometimes, people hang around because you’re good and they can’t replace you. I always felt that. And I just remember him having a conversation, and I’m like, “Geez, he didn’t even say anything to me.” I was kind of standoffish because there was a time when I felt that Joe Walton was a god — he was genius. He motivated me. What I remember towards the end of his time — towards the latter part of his career — he tried to take on too much. Especially when he became head coach, he tried to control the whole gamut of things, instead of just doing what he does best with his expertise. It put a lot of pressure on him, and when he started losing, the speeches got to be old, and people couldn’t wait to get out of meetings. Everybody basically turned on him. But I do remember seeing a documentary one time during that time. There were all these people — “JOE MUST GO!” and throwing stuff at him. I remember crying watching this because they had his wife in the stands — and I loved his wife 298
ray stubblebine ⁄ ap photo
Mr. Reliable: Pat Leahy
SACK EXCHANGE
— she was saying, “That’s okay, Joe, don’t give up.” It was very moving. I was sitting there, thinking to myself, “As much as I was angry with him at certain times, nobody deserves to be treated like that — as a human being.” It brought another face to this business that’s very nasty and vindictive, and something that I hated. And no man — despite what you feel, not being able to bring your team to the Super Bowl — nobody should be subjected to that kind of behavior. I will never ever ridicule a person because you don’t know what goes on at home, behind closed doors. I had a great deal of respect for him, although things didn’t turn out the way I wanted to see it work out. He’s one of the best coaches I ever had. "- 50 0 / I think the team’s reaction was mixed [to Walton being fired]. There was the new guard and the old guard — those of us who had been with Joe. Part of the team was split. Not everyone gets along. I think it was a transition year for the Jets as a whole — trying to move in a different direction. I don’t know what happens behind the scenes, but clearly, they wanted to make a change, and it’s always stressful — whether it’s positive or negative for any organization of that size. It was difficult. It was difficult for me, personally. And the next few years were a little bit of a struggle. At that point, I was looking it as, “Am I in the right place, or should I move on?” I was questioning whether I should be there at all. It was a difficult time. I was one of the seasoned players when Joe Walton was fired, and they brought in the new guys. They brought in their philosophies, and their players, and their offense. I think that was a tough time for many players on the team — in trying to figure out what your role was with the new regime. They had multiple changes in administration, so you just try to play the game and figure out where you fit in the program. It wasn’t an easy time. It was a difficult time for everyone involved.
300
JETS FANS
T
he Jets fans are unlike any other in football — especially during the 1980s.
. " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 We had another weapon: the fans. I don’t think [visiting teams] worried about the team as much as they worried about the fans — what they would do [laughs]. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % The fans of New York are the best sports fans in the world because they know the game. The average guy who works in a deli making sandwiches — he knows how many plays you got penalized. New York fans are real sports fans. And when you lose in New York, it’s the worst. They have a long-term memory. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 I think the Jets fans are a different breed — they had to make a conscious decision to be a Jets fan [laughs]. It’s much easier to be a Yankees or a Giants fan than it is to be a Mets or Jets fan. I’m a Yankees fan because I was named after Mickey Mantle. But I feel for the Mets. I don’t care what happens — even if we beat the Giants for bragging rights, it didn’t matter. Three months later, they forgot about it. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 Jets fans, they love the underdog. They love the Horatio Alger story. And underdogs are always heroes.
301
SACK EXCHANGE
. " 3 * 0 / # " 3 # &3 It’s like we were their adopted children. Jets fans I’d have to say are some of the best I’ve ever been around. 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , * /( When we won three games my rookie year, it was kind of quiet. When we started winning, people came out to practices and would be across the street, trying to look over the pine trees to see practice. They seemed to be more passionate about football than even Chicago. Where the fans here love the Bears, if they don’t do well, no big deal. New Yorkers take it so personal. + &3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 In New York, they absorb everything that the team is doing, but they were closer to the players because the media did a nice job of exposing everything. Anybody did anything, they knew it. - "83 & / $ & 1 * --&34 They were loyal fans — whether you win, lose, or draw. They were always there for you. ,& / 0 # 3 * & / Everybody wants to win, and when you win they let you know it. And when you lose, they let you know it too — and you can’t blame them for it. It turns as quickly as the success level of it. I think they’re adamant about trying to get winners. - " / $ & . & ) - After a game when we got beat — I think it was the first game I ever played in — I can’t remember who told me, but they said, “You’d better put your helmet on.” They were throwing stuff at us, telling us we sucked. I remember being abused: in fact, I remember in ’81 we were playing Buffalo, and it was the game Marty knocked me out. I was making a tackle on a tight end, and I just started throwing the tight end down, and my head came open, and Marty drilled me in the face. I can remember waking up, and Marty looking down at me, laughing, telling me I should have ducked. So I went out for a couple of plays, and went back in and played the rest of the game. That’s the game that [Joe] Cribbs caught a touchdown pass — on a duck that I was covering. Of course, I was supposed to have outside leverage on him. I was supposed to have inside help. But anyway, the ball was thrown inside, and I didn’t get the help. So I remember the fans yelling at me, “Mehl — you suck!” It cost us the game — it was the winning touchdown.
302
JETS FANS
+ 0 & ' & 3 ( 6 4 0 / I know Richard went through a lot of different things — emotions — up and down, like I did in Buffalo. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 %% Jets fans are like all other fans: they love you when you win, and they can’t stand you when you lose. They show their emotions. I remember my first game out there — Joe [Namath] was starting. He gets a couple of passes and they’re cheering him. We ended up losing the game, and at the end of the game, they’re booing Joe. I’m like, “God, they’re booing Joe — why are they booing Joe?! He won the Super Bowl. . . . What are you guys doing?” But that’s just fans all over. Fans are fans. In that ’81 season, we were winning, so everything was great. They’d have signs up there — “Todd is a God” when you’re playing good, and then “Todd is a Clod” [when you’re playing bad]. I got married in ’82, and it was the ’83 season when things weren’t going good — [Todd’s wife, Lulu] went up to the game. She lived on a farm all her life, and she’s kind of sheltered — coming from Alabama to New York. And [the fans] go, “Hey, Lulu,” and they had some doll on a pole, and they burned me in effigy! She just freaked out — she never went to a game after that. She’s like, “I’m not going — I’m staying home.” I’m going, “They don’t mean anything — they’re just being fans. Don’t take it personal — it’s just the way they are.” . "55 30 # * / 40/ In ’78, Richard [Todd] had been hurt and I had played twelve games. He came back onto the field, and I remember the fans used to chant, “We want Matt, and that is that!” It was quite prevalent in the stadium. I felt for Richard, but I have to admit, it made me feel pretty good. So I have a love affair with the New York fans when it comes to the Jets, and that will never change. 1 "5 -& " ) : From a personal standpoint, there were times when they were tough on me — and that was rightfully so. But I think overall, they were so starved after ten years of losing and mediocre football, they were really behind our team. There’s no question about it because the couple of times that I have returned up there for events, they’re very appreciative of what we did as a team in the early ’80s. And they were also treated to some pretty good football through that decade — all the way up until 1989, because we had some pretty good teams in ’85, ’86, ’87, and ’88.
303
SACK EXCHANGE
% " / " -& 9 " / % &3 Tremendous fans for as many bad seasons as the Jets have had. And when they started having some good seasons, it just made it that much better. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 644&/ It felt like a personal relationship between the players and the fans. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 The fans were fantastic. I had a fan club called Klecko’s Country. Donny and Hughie — two ex-cops — created it. I used to go out there after every game and I had the greatest time in the world with our fans. They weren’t obnoxious — they were good people. They always made sure we were fed after a game. I loved sharing the experiences with them. And I’ll tell you what, when we lost that Buffalo game, they stayed in the stadium — they clapped and carried on. We never expected that. I was in the parking lot every time. My guys would hang out there and wait. I’d hang out until they put the lights out in the parking lot. Every time. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 I loved the fans — especially when we were at Shea. I had a group of fans, they called themselves Fields Fans. Fields Fans and Klecko’s Country were next door to each other, so after the game, we would always go hang out with the fans. We’d always have a couple of beers with them or have a sandwich or something. It was a great group. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I had my fan club. They were called the Lyons Loonies. They would make up T-shirts, and as soon as the game was over . . . the difference between the Meadowlands and Shea Stadium was we were parking in Shea Stadium in the players’ parking lot. But it was basically the players’ parking lot for the New York Mets, and it wasn’t fenced in. So as soon as you pulled in, fans were all the way around the cars. They would walk you into the stadium and out of the stadium. And once we got out of the stadium after the game, there was so many different tailgates, we as players would go to as many tailgates as we could. You pop a beer with the guy, you sit and talk about the game. But the fans were able to identify with the players — outside of their uniform. With free agency now, whoever wore number 19 this year may not wear number 19 next year. They try to identify with the number. Back then, they identified with the players. Now, you go to the Meadowlands and you drive towards the stadium and you go through a security booth, and the players are pretty much isolated — parking 304
JETS FANS
inside a fence, walking inside the stadium. Unless they take it upon themselves, it’s very hard for the fans to identify. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w$"3640 A friend of a friend said that he knew Joe Klecko, because we were tailgating all the time. He said, “If you go to this spot, you’ll get to hang out with Joe Klecko and the players.” Who’s going to believe that? We didn’t really believe my friend, Steve Connelly. So we go there, hang out, and here are these people — this lady says that she’s Joe Fields’ wife, and we pretty much blow her off. This guy says he’s Joe Klecko’s father. Me and my friends didn’t believe them. So what we did is we drank all their beer, ate all their food, and just stood there — hanging out. And then all of a sudden, here comes a bunch of Jets players. Here comes Joe Klecko, Dan Alexander, Joe Fields, Scott Dierking, and I think Marty Lyons. Five guys, and they were five of the biggest people I’ve ever met in my life. And then when they came, there was no beer and no food — us kids ate and drank it all! We felt terrible, we didn’t know. The very next tailgate, when we showed up, we put aside a case of Foster’s — because these guys were so huge, we figured Foster’s was the only way to apologize. That, and two fifty-piece buckets of KFC. Threw it back on the grill, and they loved it! After that, everything was okay. The players were very nice. The children [fans] were number one, not us guys — we were teenagers and young adults. When Klecko wanted to take a picture with the little kids, us guys had to get out of sight. You’d have to have a death wish to argue with a guy like that when he was in his prime. Klecko’s a sweetheart of a guy. He’s a barrel of a person — he’s just a big old boy. Shaking any of those guys’ hands — when I ran out on the field after the Green Bay game, I ran right up to Marty Lyons, and this dude grabbed my hand, and shook my whole body! I mean, I’m pretty heavy now, but tack on fifty or sixty pounds back in the day — I was a fat fuck — and this guy ragged on me like I was nothing. But in the parking lot, after the first few encounters, everything was good. Friends of Fields had a big banner — everybody would sign it. I wonder if they still have it. Hanging out with the players was great — every one of them signed anything. I remember little Dan Klecko when he was five years old — I can’t believe he’s playing ball now and won Super Bowls with the Patriots. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 The Shea fans are just so loyal — those are fans that were left, and they’re still there. They still live in the same places. They might have 305
SACK EXCHANGE
gotten married and moved out of their mom and dad’s home. But some of the stories you hear from Queens and the stories are like, “We used to sneak in,” and “I went with my dad,” and “It was the best place to watch a game — we still love you guys, but we can’t afford to go over to the Meadowlands.” ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& The fans at Shea Stadium were like family. You’d see the same people in the same seats. And in those days in Shea Stadium, the front row was waist-high. The people that had “the great seats” so to speak — on the fifty yard line — couldn’t see the game because the players stood up, and you couldn’t see anything. Before the game, you could talk to the fans, and the fans would come down and say hi to you. It was more like an old, rural ballpark in a metropolitan city — it just was different. Shea Stadium reminded me a little bit of Penn State, in that despite being a huge market football team, it was a little market mentality with the fans, and I thought it was great. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w $"3640 I even told it to Woody [Johnson] — “I am an ‘A-number-one’ Jets fan. I have been here before you showed up, and I’ll be here after you’re gone as a Jets fan.” And I tell that to a lot of the Jets players when I get to arguing with them. Not the real ones — I’m not going to get in a guy like Klecko’s face. I mean, I like having my head squarely on my shoulders. I remember one time, I asked Boomer Esiason for an autograph, and you know what he told me? He goes, “Why should I give you an autograph? Where were you when we lost 9–6 to the Colts?” And I blew a gasket on Boomer. “Where was I? Where the hell were you?! I sat in the goddamn pouring rain up there in section 312. You clowns couldn’t give me one goddamn touchdown to win a fucking game?! Where was I? Screw you!” I was like, “Listen, Boomer, I’ve been here before you showed up, and I’ll be here after you’re gone as a Jets fan. You’re just a hired gun — you’re not really ours. You’re ‘Cincinnati.’ Boomer, god bless you and all of that, but if you ever went into the Hall of Fame, you’d be wearing a Bengals helmet in that place.” And he didn’t say nothing — he was just shocked. He wanted to give me the autograph, and I didn’t want it anymore. I told him, “I’m a grown man, what am I doing to do with it?” + 0 & ' & 3 ( 6 4 0 / Hard on the players and coaches — just like Buffalo. The fans in Buffalo are tough — they’re hardcore, working people. I think the Jets [fans] were pretty much the same way. 306
serene ðinatale
#1 Jets Fan: Johnny “Bubba” Caruso
SACK EXCHANGE
" + % 6 ) & You hear it two different ways. When you’re up there, you hear, “J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS!” When you’re down here, you hear, “J-E-T-S, SUCK, SUCK, SUCK!” I’m actually pretty impressed with the amount of Jets fans that come to games down here [in Miami]. It wasn’t that big back in the days when I played at the Orange Bowl. But since they moved to the new facility — Joe Robbie Stadium became Pro Player Stadium became Dolphin Stadium became Land Shark Stadium — they do come out in numbers for the games down here. I’m pretty impressed with that. I don’t know if it’s because we don’t have a very large season ticket–holder database or brokers are buying the tickets and selling them — I don’t know how it works in today’s day and age. But I do know one thing, when they played a few weeks ago, there weren’t that many. So I was kind of impressed with the amount of Dolphins fans that went out and acquired the tickets. Because the Jets fans, when they have any reason to get off their keisters, jump up, scream, and yell — they do it. And they had many opportunities — they took the lead, they made some big plays [during the October 12, 2009, game, in which the Dolphins beat the Jets, 31–27]. And it just wasn’t as noisy this past outing when they came down here. But going back, I think the stadium opened in ’87, there have been a lot of Sundays where the Jets are playing here at Miami, and it seems like they’ve got twenty to thirty percent of the tickets in the stadium, which is amazing for a visiting team to have that many people. But then again, there are a lot of people from New York that live down here. I would think that maybe only 3,000 to 4,000 are traveling with the team — the rest are all people that live down here and are avid Jets fans from their youth. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8 &3 Raucous, wild, intense, passionate — nothing negative. I know they’re tough, but man, they really love their football. And if you’re playing the game of football, it makes it that much more fun. It doesn’t matter if it’s a hostile crowd or not. It makes the game more fun when you know that game means something to the people that you’re playing it for. That’s the way I always looked at it — you play for yourself, but the fans are what make the world go ’round. So when they’re that intense and when they’re that into it, that energy does translate to the players. 5 & % # " / , & 3 [The fans were] loud, crazy — setting stands on fire on Halloween 308
JETS FANS
when we were playing Buffalo! You get out there on the field and you feel that stadium rocking . . . it just does something to you physically. % " 3 3 0 -3 ": J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS! Hey, there aren’t many more chants that are as popular in the NFL. If you could name one, just start spitting them out to me because when they do it on the TV — Boomer [Esiason], [Len] Berman, or Dan Patrick on the radio — when they say something about the Jets, they always spell it out. There’s a reason they spell it — because of that fireman in the stands spelling out “JETS” for all those years made it sort of special. I remember about the Jets fans that they were Jets fans. You didn’t see Jets fans doubling as Giants fans — they embraced us. The Long Island part, the Queens part — they embraced the heck out of us. I think that’s something that was very, very special. They weren’t frontrunners — I mean, we didn’t give them a reason to be frontrunners, we were never in the front! And they supported the heck out of us. It was really encouraging sometimes to look up in that old ratty stadium, and seeing 60,000-plus people, and hearing them spell out the team’s name. It would reverberate — I’m sure if you were outside the stadium, you might hear it a mile away. It was awe-inspiring. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 I still get a lot of calls from Jets fans. The fans still call and they’re still great. They still want to know, “What did you see in the game?” I’ll say this — I feel great when I get these calls. I feel like I was on the right path. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I always will love the true Jets fan. Some of them are my good friends to this day. They will be there through thick and thin. They think they own the team! I have friends who are hitting the TV and screaming, and it’s only the preseason. I have the utmost respect [for them], and they are always the ones that I will acknowledge first before anything else — and to thank them for being there. To this day, I was walking in the city, and a cab driver is like, “Hey, Mr. Walker, how’s it going?” I’m floored sometimes. I get probably more accolades now than when I was at the height of my career. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : Today’s fans I think are a little bit different. This is probably going to be the last year [2009] I’m going to see a lot of my old friends from back in the 1970s that still go to the games. They probably won’t go anymore because they can’t afford the licensing fee for the stadium. It’s a real shame about that, 309
SACK EXCHANGE
unfortunately. But the old-time fans, I think you’re not going to see anymore. It’s going to be more corporation type of stuff. That’s just the way the game is going, nowadays. You’re going to have to have money to be able to go to the game, for sure. "# % 6 - 4 " -" " . The fans made all the difference. We would not have had the success without the culture that the New York Jets fans brought. They added the fire that hardened the character, and believe me, you can’t win the prize without building the character. The fans are what set everything in motion in regards to that character building and focusing attention on what was important. +0&8" -50/ At times, they were frustrated — it’s understandable, we all were frustrated. I think the Jets fans are good fans — I hope they get their championship. It looks like they have a good coach now in [Rex] Ryan and a good quarterback that’s young [Mark Sanchez], but should develop very well. I wish them the best. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 They’re waiting, waiting, waiting for a championship trophy. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / & "6 They’re the best, you can’t beat them. They still are. The ones that were at Shea Stadium were die-hard Jets fans. Right now, if somebody comes up to me and says that they’d like an autograph, I can tell if he’s from Flushing or not. I can tell right away. Because just the emotion and the excitement that they get — I don’t think there are any better fans in the world than them. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 & 3 If I could thank every one of them individually, I would. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w $"3640 The night I got set free from my crazy girlfriend . . . she was trying to bring me down, she was one of those “misery girls,” you know what I mean? Not happy unless everybody was as miserable as she is. So she hits me with the big, “You have to make a decision right now — me or the Jets.” Ha ha — forget about it, I’m free! Are you nuts? I’m out of here, good luck, it’s been real, hell of a three years, I’m gone. Thanks for everything I suppose, and goodbye, here’s your key. That was a no-brainer for me. Are you kidding me?
310
SHEA REMEMBERED
A
lthough not the best-equipped football stadium, Shea Stadium holds unforgettable (and fragrant) memories for those who attended or played in games there. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 I fell in love with Queens, Flushing, and the whole works. I have nothing against Shea Stadium. +0 & , -& $ , 0 Everybody hated to come play at Shea — because of swirling winds and the airplanes. And every time we played there, I thought we had an advantage — especially in the kicking game because Pat Leahy could do anything he wanted there at Shea, and all the other kickers hated to come in there. It had that “old ballpark feel” about it. The locker rooms weren’t as good as when we moved, but I remember growing up at Shea — we became a team at Shea. That was one of those things that I hated about leaving there. That whole thing about Giants Stadium never bothered me — when you’re playing football, I’m worried about the guy in front of me. But Shea Stadium was something special because that’s where we gelled together. I missed it — it was like a home I missed. 1 "5 -& " ) : Our home field became a place that other teams didn’t like to play because we were a pretty good team, and it was just a god-awful stadium. Especially from a kicker’s standpoint. Terrible. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 Kickers literally had a heart attack in that stadium — they just 311
SACK EXCHANGE
didn’t know what to do. I remember playing Dallas in 1975, it was something like ten degrees, and the windchill made it like forty below zero! It was stupid-cold, and it was blowing so hard that you couldn’t take your coat off on the sidelines — it would blow away. It was awesome. .* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 I remember seeing Pat Leahy trying to kick sometimes in there, and that ball would actually go ninety degrees! The swirling wind would just grab a hold of that ball and throw it to the ground. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % When you’re first there, it’s kind of intimidating because it’s always so windy. It was opened as a baseball stadium, and always had the wind swirling in there. But I remember Joe [Namath] telling stories about Shea Stadium and the wind, and then you get to experience it yourself. I remember asking Joe, “Well, what do you do?” He goes, “You just throw the ball like you normally do, and sometimes it comes out good . . . and sometimes it doesn’t.” It was sort of true. But I think playing at Shea was probably one of the better home stadiums you can have, especially in the wintertime with that wind whipping, because you’re used to it and nobody else is. It’s not like you’re going from one end to the other when you’ve got the wind with you, and you’re coming the other way and the wind is against you. The wind was against you whichever side you were going. 1 "5 3:" / I didn’t like throwing in Shea Stadium that much because you never know — you could throw one out there twenty yards, and it would just spin and go perfect. Then you throw five seconds later, and the same pass would go ten yards and one of those whirlybirds or wind things would catch it and it would just go off to the right somewhere. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w $"3640 Every single game, we didn’t have any tickets. You go up there, and you’ve got to figure, the guy ripping ticket stubs, he’s only making minimum wage, and he’s there for only three or four hours of the day. At best, this guy’s making fifteen bucks. Along comes twenty or thirty of us with five dollars apiece — here’s 150 bucks, and we were right in. It was upstairs, to section 17 and 19 in the mezzanine level, where we had a friend — another two bucks a head. Boom, boom, boom, and that’s it. Seven dollars — incredible. Now, it costs eighty bucks a game. 312
SHEA REMEMBERED
We started going to games like that. A lot of my friends would climb the walls at Shea, but I ain’t Spider-Man. They went right up over the walls. And we were able to bring beer and booze into Shea. They let us bring anything we wanted. We ran amok at Shea — it was kind of lawless. You try any of that stuff in Jersey, they’ll arrest you. At the end of some big games, you were allowed to run out on the field, but you can’t do that never again. At Shea, we would just pay the five and get in there — everything was just so dirt cheap. There were games where me and my friend would walk to Shea Stadium — it’s not that far. You get up on Northern Boulevard, hit every bodega on the way. By the time you got there, you were nice and loose. + & 3 0 . & # " 3,6. Of course, the airplanes would fly over. It had that little drop-off in the close end of the field, where you would run, and the field would kind of drop off in the end zone. So we knew all of the things of the stadium because it was like knowing your backyard. We had some pretty good games there, we lost a lot of games there, but it was our home field. You just felt good. We shared the stadium with the Mets — so sometimes we didn’t have access to the stadium. We’d have to go to Rikers Island to practice — the prison. # * -- ) " . 1 50/ We couldn’t play a home game there until the baseball season was over. So we played three games in a row on the road — which hurts you; if you play three games on the road in the beginning, you’re in trouble. [Starting in 1977, the Jets were able to play home games in early September]. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 644&/ We had the dirt infield that we could never get grass to grow in. When they put grass down, it just tore up. Teams didn’t like to come in and play because it was kind of crappy. Left field was sinking and the planes were always flying over. The 747s were coming and going out. And when it rained, the locker rooms leaked — there would be a pail here and a pail there, catching water. We had all kinds of “friends” down there — from cats to mice to everything else. But at least it was our stadium. Shea Stadium was always near and dear to my heart. And when they tore it down [in 2009], you felt kind of sad. That was our stadium — the Jets’ stadium. And it’s gone now. . "55 3 0 # * / 40/ I’ll never forget Shea Stadium early in the year, you’d have the pitcher’s mound headed towards the closed end — around the thirty to 313
SACK EXCHANGE
thirty-five yard field goal range. We were playing New England and we’re coming down to the end of the game, and we’re driving in that direction. It’s third down, I call time-out, go to the sideline, and I go to Pat, “Pat, what do you want to do? Do you want to kick from the center of the field — in the pitcher’s mound, in the dirt — or do you want to put it on the hash and kick out of the grass?” And Pat starts to stutter, stutter, stutter — he’s pacing the sideline, and I’m talking to Walt about what plays to run. I’m like, “Pat, come on, give me an answer,” and he can’t get it out of his mouth. So the referee yells at me, “Robinson, get your team out on the field!” And Pat finally gets it out, “IT DOESN’T FUCKING MATTER!” 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , * /( I just loved the atmosphere of the field itself. It felt like a smaller stadium — not intimate, but I can remember I think it was my rookie year, Bob Griese was playing. It was a foggy day, and the planes were coming in real low, and they had to call time-outs because nobody could hear. I just loved the feel of it. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 The wind and cold, oh man — it would be freezing! [Laughs] When we moved to the Meadowlands, it just wasn’t the same. Shea Stadium, I’ll never forget those memories. Those are some of the best memories of my life. My mom and I shot a commercial there, too — for Norelco Razors. That was right out in the middle of the fifty yard line. That was one of the best memories of my life — my mom came out and shot a commercial with me. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % Oh, man. Shea Stadium — cold, drafty . . . nasty! + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # # "w$"3640 A lot of puffing and a lot of drinking [in the mezzanine at Shea]. You’ve got to remember, it was the late ’70s/early ’80s — everything was everywhere for everybody. At Shea, we used to smoke weed all over the place. And then you’d get confused going back and forth — because we had no seats. One time, me and my friend Ed Burke — he’s passed away now — we wandered around, and we ended up in the blue section below the mezzanine. It was very exclusive, like the luxury boxes from the old days. We wandered into these things at halftime — I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was like, “What seats! What a beautiful view!” I declared it — “This is for me!” And all of a sudden, some cop comes, and says, “Hey, Eisenhower, get the fuck out of here.” 314
SHEA REMEMBERED
+ 0 & ( " 3 % * Shea used to rock. You could feel the stands, and they’d be chanting, “DEFENSE! DEFENSE!” That was such a great thrill for me as a defensive coordinator, to know we put the enthusiasm back in the crowd. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 ##"w $"3640 Shea was set up differently [for a football game]. It would go from third base across towards the outfield. It didn’t go from home plate out. It would go from the left field where the goalposts were, and shoot out. The right field bullpen, that was the other set of goalposts — it would go across that way. And then, the outfield bleachers — where they had that silly apple and all that crap — that’s where the thing was bouncing [during the dramatic 1981 Dolphins game]. " # % 6 - 4 " -" ". We had to go through the dugout [to enter the field]. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 ##"w$"3640 They didn’t go through center field — they would go through the dugouts. The visiting team would come out through the visiting dugout, and the Jets came out from [the Mets’ dugout]. The visiting team had to go stand on their sidelines — almost out by where center field was, and the Jets’ sideline was by home plate. So any time they had to go from the sidelines to the dugout, the visiting team would have to go all the way around the back of the end zone and through the tunnel, whereas the Jets were right in front of the steps. 4 5& 7 & ( 3 0 ( " / Well, Shea Stadium was not one of the nicer places to go play [laughs]. It was an older, rundown stadium — with rabid fans verging on lunacy at times. We had some great battles down there. + 0 & ' & 3 ( 6 4 0 / A big stadium and a historical stadium — I enjoyed going over there. The playing conditions were not always the best, but it was just a great atmosphere. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 08 &3 Oh, beer on me before we got out on the field [laughs]. Being there while the U.S. Open was going on there — that happened a good bit. We would open with the Jets in New York a lot of times, and the U.S. Open was going on the same weekend, which was interesting for me. The World’s Fair with the big globe was part of that system — I remember all of that. 315
SACK EXCHANGE
1 & 1 1 & 3 # 6 3 3 644 It had to be ’80 or ’81 — I had shown up early for a Sunday game at Shea Stadium, and it happened to be when you came in during U.S. Open time, you competed for parking with them. Walt Michaels was in there early, and in his gruff, loving voice, said, “Pepper, come in here and open this thing.” And on his desk was a brown paper-wrapped package, with strings around it. He said, “It’s liable to be a bomb — open this up!” We ripped it open, and it was a huge block of tickets to the finals of the U.S. Open. It had been misdelivered. Walt and I looked at each other with that smirk, like, “Wow, we could get rich quick.” Of course, they were turned into the right person. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8 &3 I never played on a dual-use field before. I didn’t like playing on the infield of the baseball field — on the dirt. That was really different, if you’re not used to it. The Orange Bowl was always just a football stadium. Playing on a dirt infield, it’s hard to get good footing, come off the ball, and do the things you want to do. And then the history — being an Alabama guy, watching Joe [Namath] play at Shea all those years. It was special to be there, thinking about what Joe had done there all those years. " + % 6 ) & The baseball infield I hated — that was something we got used to. Nowadays, I make it a point that I don’t go to any Dolphins games until the baseball field is covered. I just hate seeing the game being played on that surface. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w $"3640 The crowd was always raucous. Did you see the Jets game that just passed, with the New England Patriots [on September 20, 2009]? Did you hear how the crowd was? It was deafening. That’s how it was at Shea — every game. The crowd at Shea was much more raucous than Jersey ever had it. There’s no comparison. And the stadium itself was a rickety old girl. The seats were cheap and flimsy — everything was hardcore concrete and metal. I ran out onto the field after the Green Bay game that was in December [1981], and it was grass, but in the freezing cold, that stuff is rock hard. That’s no joke. I thought it would always be kind of plush — it’s not plush, it’s rock hard. And that day when we tore down the goalpost, they came down pretty easy. But I guess you had hundreds of people tugging on it. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 At least we could say we were in New York and we had our own stadium. That was the difference between going to the Meadowlands. I still 316
SHEA REMEMBERED
don’t like going there now. It lost some of its luster. I’m a Long Island guy — I’ve been living here since ’78, so I feel like I’m a New Yorker. But I never felt like we had our own identity. I think we had it a little bit at Shea, even though I would have wanted to have our own stadium — without the Mets or anybody. And I wish I had that while I was playing. But now, they can start a new tradition, now since they moved. But Shea was something special. And I was very fond of some of the Mets that I happened to meet, that I got to know — Howard Johnson, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling. I remember meeting Cleon Jones, and Tommie Agee — just a wonderful, wonderful person. Just heartbroken when he died. Art Shamsky is another friend of mine. Just nice, nice people — you get to know them as people, and not the sports end of it. People forget that they’re human beings. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # #"w $"3640 The food at every stadium is a horrible thing. I think stadiums are designed to make sure you go home with no money left. As for the food, we’d always barbecue and tailgate — I never ate anything at the stadium. I still don’t. As far as beer, at Shea, we were able to bring our own beers in. And the prices back then, you’ve got figure, in the early ’80s, if a beer cost four bucks, that was a lot. At the Meadowlands today, it’s eight and a quarter. I mean, come on — if you were there with three friends and you had to buy the round, you’re talking thirty-something dollars. It’s off the hook. The tailgate was great. Nothing like the Giants tailgate. Now, I’ve been to Giants games with their tailgate — much higher class of people than Jets fans. And I have no problem saying that, and almost every Jets fan would agree. First of all, they’re an older crowd — they’re not as rowdy. Just as loud, I’d imagine, but they’re an older crowd — they’re subdued, they’re smooth. Right back to the parking lot to tailgate [after the game]. When the Jets win the game, everything is good. You don’t care — you throw the football around, you barbecue again. If the Jets lose, nobody really wants to hear it. It’s a somber thing. You’re sitting there, you’re barbecuing, and you’re just mumbling to yourself. Everybody is cranky. Everybody has a reason or an excuse as to what went wrong. But when you win, it’s all good. See, most of my friends are married with children. So Sunday is like their “great escape.” The tailgate is a very important thing. Me, I eat every day — I could care less, what the fuck? The tailgate is just what it is — have a burger and chug-a-lug some brews. I was there for the game — the game is still what it’s all about for me. Not the tailgate. But the tailgate 317
SACK EXCHANGE
is a huge part of it — you can’t underestimate how important the tailgate is for everybody. Tailgating at Shea was great because the cops didn’t really torture anybody. In Jersey, if you got caught smoking a joint in the parking lot before a game, it’s a $1,000 fine. That’s not a little fine, that’s a heavy-duty fine. The last time I got caught at Shea smoking a bone, I was in the parking lot. The cop said, “How did you get here?” I said, “I took the train.” And he said, “Well, take it again — get the fuck out of here.” And that was it. I’ll take that deal any day. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % Everybody’s got new stadiums now — I look at the stadiums they have now, and I’m like, “Man!” + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6 . Shea Stadium was our “thirteenth man,” if you will. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 It was a different place to play than any of the other stadiums I ever played in. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # # "w $"3640 Shea was a great place. The wind, the cold, even the stink off of the bay was home field advantage. The stench coming from Flushing Bay was god-awful. For a visiting team, it must have been like, “What the hell is that?!” To us, it was like, “Right — tide’s out. Here it is — it’s the stink.” I loved Shea. Shea was one of my favorite places. Everybody hates it, everybody was glad to see it go. I miss it to death.
318
FUN WITH THE JETS
T
he Jets look back on the hijinks, pranks, and merrymaking of the 1980s.
+ & 3 0 . & # " 3 ,6. Joe Namath and I were some of the biggest practical jokers on the New York Jets. I remember once, I had pulled a prank on Joe — I don’t know exactly what it was. Before practice, you have to go “alleviate” yourself, so I’m sitting in a stall. I see these flip-flop shoes come up, and Joe threw some water on me — nobody wants to be wet when they’re in a stall like that taking a crap! And he dusted me all over with Ajax, that powder cleansing stuff. So I’m sitting there full of Ajax and water, having to take a crap. So to pay him back, I took a big thing of Gatorade, and he was getting ready to come in after signing autographs. I had the trainer get his camera, so I dashed him full of Gatorade. We used to play around so much that Weeb Ewbank would call us out in meetings and say, “Barkum and Namath, I wish you would stop playing [around] so much — I’m afraid you guys are going to hurt one another!” $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 &: I was known in the media guide books and all that stuff that I was sort of “the team jokester.” What I did — and it got to be a ritual with me and Richard Todd — Richard would want me to come up with a joke for him before every ball game. We dressed next to each other — I was number 15, he was number 14 — but we always waited until we got to the training room at the stadium, we would both get our ankles taped together, because the trainers would want to hear the joke, too. So I was on a mission every week to find 319
SACK EXCHANGE
the best quality jokes to try and get everybody rolling on the floor. That would loosen Richard up. And it just got to be that every time I didn’t have a joke, he’d be really upset with me because it allowed him to stay uptight a little bit more. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. Bill Hampton was our equipment guy, and he knew I liked practical jokes — putting eggs in guys’ boots and stuff like that. Hampton had some itching powder, so he tells me, “Barkum, I’ve got some itching powder.” He was real sneaky. So I got it, and I noticed Mickey Shuler’s locker right next to me, and he was running late. We used to roll up the jockstrap, socks, and a half T-shirt in a neat little roll. So I unraveled it, and sprinkled a little itching powder in his jockstrap, and rolled it back up. I told Wesley Walker, “Wes — watch Mickey during stretch exercises.” So we go out on the field and we’re stretching. Itching powder is a weird thing — you start out where the itching powder was in the jockstrap, and Mickey was scratching right down at his groin, and then his back, and all over the damn place. So I asked him, “Mickey, what the hell’s wrong, man?” He says, “I don’t know, I think somebody put some itching powder in my jock!” I said, “Mickey — you’re late for practice. You’re probably cheating on your wife — fooling around with some damn whore or something.” And he goes, “NO, NO!” He was scratching all over the damn place, and Wesley meanwhile, he couldn’t exercise — he was down on the ground, rolling and laughing [laughs]. .* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -& 3 I’m sure he did [the itching powder prank], and I’m sure I was just oblivious to it. It probably would have been my rookie year. Because I was like a tough guy — I would try and push all that stuff off. He did a lot of other stuff — there are some other stories that probably would be too colorful. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. [Joe] Klecko is a crazy guy. I think it was Klecko and Marty Lyons, they lit a firecracker under my door — boom! And it went off like a damn bomb. The reaction was I was supposed to run out of the damn room, right? That’s when the guys really get off, like, “We got him!” Well, I didn’t budge — I just wanted to hear who was at the door. And at the same time, this guy, J. V. Cain — the tight end for the Cardinals — died from a heart attack at training camp. So I think they may have thought they killed me — like a heart attack or something! I didn’t even budge, man. They called me Geter — Richard Todd came up to the door, and said, “Geter, are you in there?” I think I heard Klecko and Alexander. 320
FUN WITH THE JETS
They said, “Oh, he must have broke curfew tonight.” So the next morning at breakfast, they say, “Where were you last night, Geter?” And I said, “Yeah, I got your ass, and I know who it was!” I’ll tell you, that thing scared the shit out of me. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4&: I think it was ’83, we were playing San Diego. . . . Did you ever see that little mongoose prank thing? It was a practical joke on all my teammates — I’d get them one at a time. I had this box with a wire screen on it, and on the side of it was stenciled, and it looked authentic. It just said, “DANGER: LIVE INDIAN MONGOOSE.” It had a spring door that I could trip, and this furry little object would fly out at them — but I would wait until they got right up to the screen door, to sort of look at it. I got the coaches, the players — but we would get them one at a time. I got Freeman McNeil, Wesley Walker — all these people on videotape. And it so happened that I did it the day before we went out to San Diego for a nationally televised game, and Merlin Olsen was at our practice. He said, “Chuck, I want to take this videotape, take it to the studio, and let them transpose it over to three-quarter-inch, and we’ll show it during the game tomorrow.” They showed it two different times during that nationally televised game, and Larry Pasquale — our special teams coach — had just poured himself a scalding hot cup of coffee, when he walked in and looked at it. And of course, he took off as soon as that thing came out, and spilled coffee all over himself! + & 3 0 . & # " 3 ,6. We used to lock each other in our rooms in the dormitory. You could take pennies and jam the door, and you couldn’t turn the doorknob because the door had so much pressure on it. So one time, we did it to Todd, and he panicked! He thought he was going to be late for practice the next morning — he was beating on the door, “Let me out!” [Laughs.] . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 A funny story was Rocky Klever was sick one game — he had stomach cramps. The first pass he caught, he landed on the ball and he crapped himself. So he tells everybody to get around him and huddle around him. We’re all facing him, not thinking about it — we’re standing on the sidelines, making a circle around him. He’s going to pull his pants down, and wipe the stuff off from his pants. So he wipes himself, and as soon as he pulls his pants down, man, it smelled. So everybody goes, “Ugh!” We all step away from him — he goes, “Get back here!” So we turn our backs to him. Anyhow, he cleaned himself up, and Bill Hampton wraps the towels up and sticks them on the end of the bench — away from everything. 321
SACK EXCHANGE
At the end of the game, Marty Lyons is sitting on the end of the bench, and he says, “Hey, Hamp, your towels, they smell like shit.” He says, “Where did you get that towel?” He says, “Right there.” He says, “That is shit.” + 0 & , -& $ , 0 How I got involved in [the movies Smokey and the Bandit II and The Cannonball Run] was I had an article in Sport Magazine, I think it was. And it showed me standing on top of a rig I used to drive. Burt Reynolds had seen it, and he wanted me in his movie. He had called my house, and I remember my mother said, “Joe, Burt Reynolds called.” And I said, “Yeah, Ma, sure.” I mean, Burt Reynolds calling me? And then Hal Needham — the director of Smokey and the Bandit — called me later that night, and we consummated the deal for Smokey and the Bandit II. It was great because I was a young kid. My wife and I went down the first time — I actually drove the tractor trailer that was involved in the movie all the way down to Florida. It was interesting because it’s not as complicated to do these films as you would think from the outside — if the director really knows what he’s looking at. We just went through it real quick — it’s not like I had a big part in the movie. But being involved with guys like Burt Reynolds, and at that time, Jerry Reed. Jerry Reed was as funny as anybody I’d ever met. So it was really nice meeting these big stars and working with them. Cannonball Run was really great because I worked with so many guys. I worked with Dom DeLuise. I had really created a rapport with Dean Martin. I would go out and run real early in the morning, and he would always wake up first, and I had coffee with him in the morning. Here are these guys that you watched on TV — they’re great stars — and are just normal people like everybody else. And, of course, because of us being football players and athletes, they had a lot that they wanted to talk about with us. I wouldn’t say Burt and I hung out. There were times we were on the set and things like that and we decided to talk. But one of the guys that I loved the best and I got to play Liar’s Poker with every day was Jack Elam. He’s the guy that [was] in Gunsmoke. I just really got along with him — greater than anything. We actually took Roger Moore for some money because we played Liar’s Poker again, and we snookered him — we kept kicking each other when we didn’t have stuff! It was a lot of fun doing that. I know Burt was a “Florida State guy,” and at that time, Terry Bradshaw and him were very good friends, so I suspected him to be a Pittsburgh fan. But on late night TV, he talked about some of his favorite players, and I was always one of 322
FUN WITH THE JETS
them. So he had a soft spot for me there. As far as him being a Jets fan, I don’t think he was. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 ,6. We would have celebrities in the stands back then — like Captain Kangaroo! We had Johnny Mathis, Hirohito — the Emperor of Japan — just people who would come in that stadium and support us. I know Harry Belafonte was a big fan. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 I’d seen Bon Jovi in the locker room. I got [no memories about meeting Bon Jovi] — I was busy playing football. I listened to country-western music, so it wasn’t a big deal to me. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 Van Halen. We became friends when Night of 100 Stars was in New York — they had me come in to do that. So I met Eddie Van Halen, and Eddie didn’t know who I was! Valerie Bertinelli was a big football fan, and she was telling him who I was. Eddie comes up, and goes, “Who are you?” And I said, “Who are you?” [Laughs.] Anyway, we became friends. Eddie went through some times with David Lee Roth that I’ll never forget. When David Lee Roth left him, Eddie took me in and showed me his music. He said, “Every bit of this music, I’ve written . . . and he just ups and leaves me?!” That was a really big thing for Eddie because he never expected him to just do that. But when they’d come to town and have concerts, they’d always send a car for me. Eddie did [come to Jets’ games]. He’d head down on the sidelines — he wanted to watch from the sidelines. He was in the way all the time [laughs].
323
JETS VS. DOLPHINS: FRIENDS OR FOES?
T
he Jets/Dolphins rivalry is one of the most heated in all of the NFL. But the 1980s teams have deeper ties than many fans realize.
" + % 6 ) & I was a Joe Willie [Namath] fan. I tell people, “I’m kind of closet Jets fan,” and they think I’m nuts! I say, “Well, I pulled for Joe Willie when he played for the Jets.” I mean, I’m not a fan of them per se that I’m pulling for them to win the AFC East, but I do have some memories or recollections of pulling for the Jets at some point in my life. Is that a closet Jets fan? I use that phrase to just probably make some Dolphins fans go, “How can you say that? That’s sinning!” It’s all in good fun. #0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8&3 More than anything what I remember about playing in Shea was the night of the game, Coach Shula would always give us the day after off, and I would stay in New York a lot of times with Rich [Todd], and go hang out with some of the guys. That was always a good time. I used to go to the Islands a good bit, and one trip, I took Richard with me, and Scott Dierking and Dan Alexander went with us. We all had a great time for about a week over in the Abacos in the Bahamas. That was the other part of the rivalry back then — we were all pretty close. A lot of the guys knew each other on both sides, so that makes the rivalry that much more special. It was intense back then. Coming from my perspective, too — a guy like me, because I come from [the University of] Alabama — there was a connection with the Jets and Alabama for a long time. Paul Crane played with 324
JETS VS. DOLPHINS: FRIENDS OR FOES?
the Jets [and] he played at Alabama. Then Richard follows Joe, and then you’ve got Marty Lyons, and this had something to do with it: the Dolphins had five guys from Alabama playing on the team. That is not a normal number of players to be from a college on one team. You had Dwight Stephenson, Don McNeal, Tony Nathan, myself, Barry Krauss. And then the history of the Jets and Alabama before that, so that adds to it probably as far as the rivalry was concerned — all those relationships being intertwined. You didn’t just have that “Dolphins/ Jets thing.” " + % 6 ) & But the rivalry, I had a lot of friendships on that team. Richard Todd and Bob Baumhower were college teammates — Richard came here a lot in the off-season, they actually had a little business together. I got to know Richard a little bit as a friendship. Dan Alexander was a college teammate of mine. And then I got to know Joe Klecko based on his relationships with the league and the Players Association, and off-season activities. So there are some good memories and some good relationships that go back a long ways. I think our rivalries . . . I don’t know if they were bitter. Today, it seems like it’s a bitter rivalry — back in our day, I think it was more of a “friendly rivalry.” We would beat each other’s brains out, and then after the game, say, “Swing by the cars — we have a couple of twelve-packs on ice.” I don’t know if that goes on today after a game. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8 &3 Joe Namath went to Alabama, and he’s “the man.” And Joe would come back to Tuscaloosa and work out — usually some time in late spring or early summer. You’d see him around. Later in my college career, it looked like I was going to have an opportunity to play pro, and I decided to use Joe’s agent, Jimmy Walsh. I go with Jimmy, and Richard Todd had become my best friend. We both dated Chi Omegas there at the University of Alabama so we were always hanging out. We became close and started to do stuff together. Richard gets drafted in the Jets in ’76 and I get drafted by the Dolphins. Joe lived in Fort Lauderdale during the off-season — he spent a good time down there. So Richard and I bought a condo in the same building Joe was in. I was a “Joe wannabe” [laughs]. Joe had his Eldorado convertible, and Richard got an Eldorado convertible, and then I got an Eldorado convertible. I think it was Jimmy Walsh’s idea: “We need to do another Bachelors III.” Jimmy put the deal [for the bar] together, and it was a big thrill for me — I think it was for Richard as well — to be able to do something like that with Joe. We 325
SACK EXCHANGE
had very, very small percentages — Richard and I. We used to tease each other about which plant we might own, or which chair we might own. But we were still partners with Joe Willie. That’s what actually got me into the hospitality business. I had a really good time, and Joe was great at working the room. He was “Mr. Hospitality” — he was just the best. It was awesome. You’d be in a restaurant, and it was fun to watch people watch Joe. Wherever Joe was, he’s going to be the center of attraction. Somehow — and I don’t know how he did it — he always found a way to be cordial, warm, hospitable, and classy. He was just the best at that. It was just a big thrill: being an Alabama guy, playing at Alabama, and then watching him when you were growing up. It wasn’t like we were always hanging out together — that didn’t happen. But we did spend a little time together. Joe and I would go out on a boat once in a while during the off-season. We would go and hang out on the boat off Fort Lauderdale sometimes. It was just a huge thrill for me. I’m twelve years younger than Joe — I was just like a kid in a candy store being able to be around the guy. Like a lot of things in Fort Lauderdale, things come and go. It was a lot of fun for a while, and then we closed [Bachelors III]. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % When you played the Dolphins, there were a couple years in a row where they would lead the division, and we would always beat them. They would be so good, and we’d always beat them. You hear about people having their numbers. It really is like that in sports. You can have a lousy team, and you’re playing a Super Bowl Champion and playing pretty good. We got beat by the Raiders the year they won the Super Bowl [1977], but we had a great game against them. I think Wesley caught an eighty-five-yard touchdown pass, Jerome caught a long pass, and Rich Caster [caught a touchdown pass]. % " / " -& 9 " / % & 3 The Dolphins won the division a lot of times through those years, but we had a streak where we beat the Dolphins two times a year for, like, four years in a row or something like that. Even though some of the years we didn’t go to the playoffs, we beat the Dolphins twice, and they went to the playoffs. So we used to tease them about that. In thirteen years, I think we beat them about as many times as they beat us, and they had a lot better teams over the years than we did. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8 &3 It was tough [playing the Jets]. In fact, I’ve got a guy staying 326
JETS VS. DOLPHINS: FRIENDS OR FOES?
at my house right now, Steve Towle — Steve was a linebacker, he was number 56 — and we were just talking about how tough the Jets played the Dolphins. Richard always seemed to have good games against us. I thought they had a good team — that was when Klecko was coming into his own, and they added Lyons and Gastineau. They had a really good defense there for a while, and then offensively, they always seemed to match up well against us. Joe Fields was a good center, Dan Alexander was a good guard, and they were strong in the middle. Freeman McNeil was a heck of a running back. . . . I remember them all, whether it was Wesley Walker [or] Johnny Lam Jones. I think it was because of what I talked about earlier — there were a lot of relationships between the two teams. You knew you were going to be in a war. They were tough, well-coached, had good talent — especially early on. What a lot of people remember might be the ’82 AFC Championship, but even that game was tougher than nails — that was a tough, tough game. That era was one of those special rivalries where there was a lot of respect for each other on both sides of the ball — as far as the players. When you look at Marty Lyons, you don’t see Pro Bowls, but he was really close to the Pro Bowl almost every year. He was one of the best defensive linemen in the league. They had a lot of guys like that. Buttle, when he was playing in the middle — he was tough. Their offensive line . . . that was one of the best offensive lines we played against — Marvin Powell and Joe Fields were both Pro Bowl players, and then Dan Alexander was one of those guys that to me was just a hair away from being in the Pro Bowl every year. They had a lot of talent. " + % 6 ) & [The Jets’ offensive line] were dominant — they were very, very tough. They gave us fits. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 08 &3 What I remember about the Jets the most is they had a pretty good running game, and they would set up the play action pass often off of that. You’d make sure you stopped the run and put them in a long yardage situation. We didn’t always do a good job of that. " + % 6 ) & But in our day, we didn’t have Danny Marino for some of those seasons. So from ’77 to ’83, the quarterback didn’t get the game ball all that much against the Jets. We just had an offense that was “ball control” — time of possession, pick up the first downs, control the clock type of stuff. 327
SACK EXCHANGE
# 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8 &3 Oh, it’s sweet [playing against friends on other teams]. And let me tell you, there was a time there that I had a hard time getting to Richard — Joe Fields was a hell of a center, and their two guards. I’m playing in the middle . . . it was hard. And then all of a sudden, the sacks started coming. I remember one game — I believe it was in ’83 — I sacked him three times. A lot of times, the quarterback doesn’t know who is sacking him — he’s looking down the field. I would always grab Richard by the face mask, and say, “Hey . . . it’s me, sucker!” [Laughs.] We’re still best buddies — I love the guy to death, and I wanted him to know his buddy got a sack on him. I want him to appreciate all that hard work I’d just done to get back there to him. But to me, when you know each other, you play that much harder. % " / " -& 9 " / % &3 A lot of defensive players especially would talk to you. I wouldn’t say nothing, and that would piss them off more than anything. When you’re an offensive lineman, you have to be listening to the audibles and to the snap counts, and the fans are loud. You’ve got to pretty much pay attention more on offense than you do on defense. But playing against somebody you know, hey, you’ve got to kill or be killed — it doesn’t matter. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0 / [Walt Michaels] would give us these hard-learned lessons, like, “The guys you think are you friends, aren’t.” The guys you go to speak to before the games, they pat you on the back and are telling you stories — but they’re trying to kill you in the game. " + % 6 ) & In ’77, when I first came into the league, I didn’t know anything about rivalries. But as time passed, history grew, and results took place . . . and this weekend’s game [the Jets vs. Dolphins game on November 1, 2009] seems like there’s a lot of banter going on again.
328
40
HARMONY OR DISHARMONY?
D
o the Jets players of the 1980s all get along as a team? Let’s let the players explain. . . .
8 & 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I always felt — to this day — our team, we weren’t together. That was probably why we weren’t as successful. We always preached “family,” and we had a lot of selfish guys on the team. We weren’t together as far as I was concerned. We had a lot of cliques on the team — you had even blacks hanging with blacks, white guys hanging with white guys. I remember Mike Augustyniak [saying], “I’m with guys at different parties, they were saying different stuff about blacks and the racial comments.” I think Joe Klecko had a party and Joe Walton actually made a statement one day: “Joe, you guys have a party, and you don’t invite everybody.” So there was a definite split — there would be a lot jealousies among players. There was a big jealousy factor between Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons, and Mark Gastineau. " - 50 0 / I think [the black and white players] got along fine — I never sensed that there was a problem. 8 & 4 -& : 8" -,&3 There were even black guys on the team that they had their own cliques, too. I just wasn’t a part of any one group. Bruce Harper is the godfather of my son — but we didn’t get to know each other as well. And I was just sharing that with him — I wish we had known each other. He didn’t get to know
329
SACK EXCHANGE
me, and we would have just hit it off. There were a lot of things he didn’t know about me because we were just separate — everybody did their own thing. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 & 3 One year, early in our career, at the end of summer camp, Walt Michaels wanted us to be a family — us to play together. He would always talk like that, that we were family. So they had a little function at the end of summer camp — down at Lido Beach or something like that — at a nightclub. They provided transportation. We had buses that were leaving right out of our practice. I was pretty early getting on the bus, and I remember sitting there, watching every black guy and every white guy that came out. It just happened that every black guy got on one bus, and every white guy got on another bus. So it was really divided. It was so disturbing that I got off of my bus, and I went to the other bus, and said, “Listen, one of you white guys has to get off and go on the other bus, and I’m coming on this bus.” Nobody moved. So I went back in the other bus. It wasn’t a black/white hatred kind of thing, I think it was more like one guy comes out and gets on one bus and then there’s somebody else shortly behind him, and he sees him, so he just follows. That kind of thing. You want to sit next to somebody you know. But it was just very ugly, and it was unfortunate. I wouldn’t say we had a very divided team — black/white kind of thing. But it wasn’t together. # " 3 3: # & / / & 5 5 I remember when we would go in training camp to Eastern Pennsylvania, we would scrimmage the Redskins out there. By choice, the players said, “This is the black bus” and “This is the white bus.” I thought it was a fairly healthy relation between the two. I don’t know the numbers or anything like that, but the players made light of it. I thought the two groups got along quite well. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 It’s too bad that people couldn’t put that aside and play together. I mean, it was rumored — and I knew this for a fact — where Joe Klecko and I think our center at the time, I can’t even think of the center, he went to Pittsburgh, and they could come into a place, and if [other players] weren’t talking to the right people, Joe could influence certain people not to talk to certain people. Which was wrong. I had another friend of mine, and they switched him to Joe’s position — Joe Pellegrini — and he said Joe and Marty wouldn’t even give him any help. 330
HARMONY OR DISHARMONY?
# 0 # # : + " $ , 40/ We did a lot of things off the field together — both black and white players. But initially, when we were trying to find ourselves, there were some factions: what we would call “the Klan” — and the head of the Klan was Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons, Dan Alexander, Richard Todd. And then we had what we called “the Brothers” — you obviously know who the Brothers were. Mark tried to be one of the Klan, and they didn’t accept him. So then he came over to the Brothers, and we took him in. So now, he became real close with us. Then he started kind of going off on his own, doing his sack dance. I think that was something that maybe an agent or somebody told him to do to draw attention to himself. But Mark was always cool with us — we never had a problem with him. I think there was maybe some jealousy. . . . I know Joe didn’t like him. He probably doesn’t like him to this day. But I think Joe was a little jealous because he took a little spotlight away from him — because Joe was the hard, bring your lunch in a bucket and a hardhat [type of guy], and he’d go to work. Well, Mark was more of this longhaired, pretty-boy, shave his body, going out with the movie star girl [type of guy]. I don’t think Joe liked that. In fact, I know Joe didn’t like that. And Marty didn’t like it either. But to a certain extent, when it hurt the team, none of us liked it. As a person, Mark was probably the most genuine person. " # % 6 - 4 " -" " . Everybody was on the same page. We knew the direction we were going in, we knew the type of order that we had to maintain, the precision we had to cut off in order to make it happen. Punctuality to everybody — no one being late. So the leadership was there, and the equalities of leadership was already taking place. We understood it. It was hardened in us. So each and every year, we made progress. And held together, we would have continued to make progress. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ Definitely the leaders of the Brothers back then were Abdul Salaam and Lawrence Pillers. And they were two opposites — Lawrence was the most radical guy, and like my big brother. But Abdul, he would talk philosophy — he was Muslim. He was very calm, but you didn’t want to get Abdul mad. I’ve never seen Abdul upset, and he would give you this philosophy. And he would get you fired up for a game — he would say some things — that you would be ready to run through a wall. He attributed it to like you were going to war. My part of the locker room, we called it “the ghetto,” because we were the lowest paid in the area. That was all the defensive backs: me, Darrol Ray, Jerry 331
SACK EXCHANGE
Holmes, Johnnie Lynn, and Kirk Springs. And then we had “the high rent district,” which was Chris Ward and all those big money guys. We were very close as a defensive backs unit, and we fought for each other. If you fought one of us, you had to fight all of us. Chris used to call it “little pissants.” Every day would be somebody’s day to go buy the food for lunch — we’d go get chicken or whatever the guys wanted. We would buy it for everybody in the secondary. So, Chris Ward, he’s 300-and-something pounds, he’s going to come over and just take some chicken — he’s not even going to ask. Man, you saw eight guys on top of him — we beat his butt! He never came back over there — you couldn’t pay him to come over and get a piece of chicken. But it was all in fun — we just let him know how tight we were. People respected us, and nobody else tried to do that . . . other than Joe Klecko. Joe Klecko would come and do whatever he wants. % " / " -& 9 " / % &3 I didn’t see any problems with the black and white players when I was there. I remember in the locker room, I don’t know if it was by design or what, but the black players had one corner where they all had their lockers side by side. I don’t remember if they were assigned or what, but we used to call it the ghetto. It was just a joke, and they knew it. But they had one corner there, and it was all black players. A white guy would walk through the ghetto, and everybody would say, “Hey, get out of the ghetto!” It was just a joke. But we got along great — I didn’t have any problems whatsoever. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0 / [“The Klan”] was not a racist term — it was more or less that they were the type from the South. . . . We call them “rednecks.” It’s not racist. I’m from the South. It was just a way to identify the different cliques in the group. Greg Buttle was one of the leaders of the Klan, as well [laughs]. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 Joe Walton called out Joe Klecko because Joe was one of our leaders — Greg Buttle was one of our leaders, and Marty Lyons. I remember Joe Walton got up and said, “Is it true you had this party and not everybody was invited?” And I remember Mickey Shuler . . . especially during the strikeshortened season, we used to joke around with him all the time because he would say what he felt. Even if it was a racial thing, he spoke his mind. I remember he called those guys out. Gastineau was separate — he said what he felt. We didn’t get along with what they were saying because we were supposed to be together as a team, and they didn’t even want to go on strike in the beginning. 332
HARMONY OR DISHARMONY?
But there was a segment of the population where they spoke one way and did the other. I remember Mickey Shuler called some of those guys out like that. They weren’t really being straight up, and that was a big problem. If you talk to Mike Augustyniak, I remember him telling me, “Wesley, I feel bad because I hang out with you and I hang out with the other guys, and they’re saying all these racial things.” % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": I’ve talked to a bunch of guys recently. Lam Jones, Derrick Gaffney, Wesley Walker, Lance Mehl, Marion Barber. There was no one on the team that we had problems with. There were some guys that were a little bit shy and standoffish — only in the sense that they weren’t real gregarious. But everybody was friends. I had as good a time with Joe Fields and the offensive line, as I did with Abdul Salaam, Joe Klecko, and the defensive line, or Lance Mehl, Greg Buttle, and the linebackers. It was just a real nice group of guys — it seemed like we had a real nice, close connection. # " 3 3: # & / / &55 [The black and white players] got along a lot better than they did in New Orleans, and I don’t make that statement as if there was two totally different [groups]. But I think winning, more than anything else, lets the two different “groups,” if you will — it’s easier to coexist if you win. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 We had some great guys — terrific athletes, guys that were awesome. I’ve had to deal with prejudice and racism all my life, but it was just never a part of me — my kids are interracial. I loved everybody. And when I got to being a pro, I thought it was going to be different when we were together. We had awesome athletes, but we had a segment that was split. We used to preach about being a family, but we didn’t have that really. Realistically, when you’re together, it should be unstoppable. But we weren’t like that — off the field and together. You play on the field, but that was it. I thought that if we really had that “brotherhood” type of thing, we would have been better. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 It was not what it could have been and should have been. I went to a mixed college, Kutztown, and it was not “black and white.” It was, “We’re all on the same team.” % " 3 3 0 -3 ": I keep saying this, but you can’t bring up a guy that I thought was 333
SACK EXCHANGE
a jackass. Even if they weren’t starters and just second-teamers and trying to get off the bench, they were all really good guys. ,& / 0 # 3 * & / Everybody just got along and they liked being with each other. If you have a good time together and you play well together, that’s the camaraderie that you’re looking for. That’s kind of what’s hard after you leave. After you leave football or sports and it’s been your life for so long, what are you going to do? It’s hard to find the kind of commitment, camaraderie, and friendships that you have. There’s the going out for dinner, going out for beers, going out with the families, going out to compete with each other, and going out to lay it on the line. It’s hard to duplicate that and the passion you have for that in any other kind of work. It’s really, really difficult. When it’s both a mental and physical thing and the friendships involved, it’s a lot stronger than when it’s just “going to work.” I think we did a great job of doing that. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& We used to have a lot of fun. We used to go into the training room and go into the therapy pool, and every Saturday, we’d have all our kids in the therapy pool — there were times I even brought my dog into the therapy pool! It was fun and we had a real open camp there. So when it came down to playing football, you knew every one of these guys would do whatever he needed to do to help you out on the football field. It was really a wonderful team experience we had back then. 5 & % # " / , & 3 Buttle had his place, Klecko had his place. We got to drink for free [laughs]. Things were different. There wasn’t the ESPNs — these guys get so under a microscope these days. Nowadays, it’s scary how much media there is and technology. God forbid a guy walked out a bar and was driving after a couple of drinks — not that that was a good thing, but that’s with everybody, the general public. Fortunately, they cracked down on that for the better of everybody. But it was different. Like I said, Joe had his bar over in Rockville Center, and Butts had his bar in East Meadow. It was easy when you drank for free — you go to a bar, and the guys that own them are your teammates. Take care of the bartenders — that’s all. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& After a game at Shea Stadium, we used to go to Patrick’s Pub — the owner was a big Jets fan, and ten or fifteen guys would go there. I opened 334
HARMONY OR DISHARMONY?
Buttle’s Groundfloor Café in 1980 and it changed — we all went to my place after the game, and then on Mondays, we held “Monday Club.” Eighty percent of the team would be there. Some of the married guys wouldn’t come, but we had a young team — a lot of us were not married and were single. And boy, we used to go to my bar/restaurant and party. Monday Club was the greatest — you’d have thirty guys sitting around the bar starting at noon, and we’d just rag on each other. It was a pretty close team — we were probably closer together than we were at Penn State as a bunch of teammates that would go out and party together. 4 $ 0 55% * & 3 ,*/( After Monday meetings, we used to go to Buttle’s restaurant — not just to eat. There were a few times after losses that Dan Alexander, Pat Leahy, and I would have lunch and dinner there . . . and never leave [laughs]. We started calling it “Monday Club,” where we’d go there and nurse our wounds. The next week, there would be a few more guys, and a few more guys. Pretty soon, there would be forty guys sitting there after meetings on Monday! It got a little blown out of proportion. 1 "5-& " ) : What we would do is because we were off on Tuesdays, we would go in, and watch film, and stretch out a little bit on Mondays, and then after that was over — at, like, two or three in the afternoon — we would all congregate and have some beer. And those went a long way in camaraderie because even the guys who didn’t drink or party would come, and hang out, and talk about the game, and who we were going to play next week. So I think those afternoons went a long way. Then after that, all the single guys — because I was not single at the time — they would go out and have fun [laughs]. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. We had fun, man, are you kidding me? We would go across the street to a place called Bill’s Meadowbrook, and drink beer and play a game called “Bullshit.” And if you didn’t get it right, you’d have to drink! Just hang out and bond. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 Like Joe [Namath] said, “You’ve got a lot of young guys — it’s almost un-American to not have a drink when you go out.” + 0 & , -& $ , 0 To the T, to the ultimate! [Laughs.] Yeah, we enjoyed it. 335
SACK EXCHANGE
." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I would say we were a close group. Did we party? Yeah, we partied, and we partied together. But I don’t think that it had any influence on the game. The lifestyles of the ’70s were different than the lifestyles of the ’80s, which are different from the ’90s, which are certainly different from today. We used to get on a plane after a game, and they would hand you two beers in a plastic bag. And the veterans would sit in the back of the plane, and the rookies would sit in the front of the plane. Once [I] became an established player, I would sit with Joe in the back of the plane. We flew with the same flight crew every week — they would have a box with a garbage bag inside it, and it would be loaded with beer. So until the late ’80s, beer was accepted after a game — that you would get on the plane and have a couple of beers. And then all of a sudden, you had all the problems that started to creep up on the NFL — tarnishing the image of the NFL with all the DWIs, and everybody that was getting into trouble. They said, “These players are our responsibility from the time they leave the complex to play a game to the time they get back.” So they prohibited giving beer out on the plane. The NFL came up and cleaned up their own mess. ."55 3 0 # * / 4 0 / We’d go out to parties that would go until dawn. I’m not going to lie to you — there were times that we would leave a party at dawn and go straight to practice. 1 "53:" / That was back in the day when we had a young team, and most guys weren’t from New York. You show up in New York, and you’ve got Manhattan on the corner. Yeah, we “made use of it.” Suffice to say, we didn’t shy away from a good time. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % We were definitely partiers — we had the youngest team in pro football, forever. When you’ve got a bunch of young guys and a lot of the guys were single, yeah, we used to party. We used to always go out. I remember Matt, myself, and Pat, we’d go down to Manhattan all the time. I’d say we were pretty good partiers there for three or four years [laughs]. Until we all started getting married and staying home. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0 / I can only say that we hung together as a unit. I always hung with the DBs — me, Darrol, Jerry, whoever. When we were on the road, it was a business trip — we didn’t do a whole lot of partying on the road. But in training 336
HARMONY OR DISHARMONY?
camp, when you get a day off, you’re back home, you won a game, you’re in the city — yeah, we partied. But we always partied as a team — we found out where we were going and we went as a group. It wasn’t just like a few guys would go here and there. That’s when me and Wesley got really tight. I knew I had made the team when I started hanging out with Wesley [laughs]. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 I physically made a conscious effort to not drink probably about my seventh year. Just because you could smell it in the huddle on certain days [laughs]. And it didn’t make any sense. I think sometimes as an athlete, you do things to extremes because you think your athletic ability can do a lot of things. You sometimes would think you’re bulletproof and invincible. I crossed into that arena, but I had kids — it just didn’t make sense. So I started to make sure I always went home. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 &: A bunch of us were married, so there was nothing like North Dallas Forty — that just didn’t happen. But we got together and had fun. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 I can’t speak for anybody else because I was the one who was in my room. I remember they used to come by for bed check at about eleven, to make sure you were in your room. I actually had a room to myself — I didn’t have a roommate most of the time on the road. But I remember them coming by for bed check, and they would be bothering me — they’d be waking me up to make sure that I was in there! I was getting my rest, I was getting ready to play. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 I never partied — I never was a part of it. Nobody has ever said that about me, have they? [Laughs.] But everybody thinks that, right? Ain’t that something? What is the deal there — everybody thinks that I was a partier, but nobody has ever said one time to you that I was partier, right? But it’s like, “Gastineau would be one of the ones you’d [have] thought would be staying out every night.” ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& There were times when we would curse Gastineau or Marty out on the field, but the game’s an emotional game. I think we all knew inside that it was okay to do that — as long as after the game, it’s a different issue. It really was fun — we had a bunch of good guys on that football team.
337
SACK EXCHANGE
." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I was very fortunate to play with quality people. Not many people you would say, “I don’t want anything to do with that guy once the game of football is over.” There weren’t many of those.
338
41 STEROIDS
A
lthough steroid use consistently lands in the press during the early twentyfirst century, it has been occurring in football and other professional sports for decades — including 1980s-era football. 5 * . % "7 & : From the New York Jets, I don’t remember anybody coming up to me or the head guy asking about steroids. You knew though that when someone came in as a draft choice — a college kid — and his entire back was acne’d, you knew this kid had a problem. And it wasn’t acne — he was taking something to cause it. It was there — it wasn’t as widespread. Back in those days, there wasn’t any research on any of that stuff. Years before that, it was popping pills. The San Diego Chargers used to put them out as vitamins, and that’s why that whole crew out there got fired years ago — because on the counter in the training room, they had all these uppers and bennies that the players would take. That’s all you ever heard about back then — you never heard about steroids. When the Jets won the Super Bowl in 1969, they had a Universal Gym, and they hardly ever used it. Those guys never even lifted weights! They didn’t need steroids — they were athletes. But more importantly, they loved the game of football. And they played it, and played it well. You didn’t have salaries like the way you have now. I mean, those guys would have to get a job in the off-season, except for one guy — Namath — because he was getting paid so goddamned much. But the average guy, if he was making $40,000, that was a lot back then. They all got jobs in the off-season — whether it was one guy got a job with a lumber company, auto sales, financing. So all these guys, you never heard of that stuff. 339
SACK EXCHANGE
Now, later years going on — sure. In the late ’70s, early ’80s, yeah, guys were doing it — you could tell. I mean, they come in and they’re all puffed up and during the season it slackens off because they’re not doing it as much. When they come into training camp and they’re three times the size of what they normally are, come on. You’d have to be a fucking idiot. It was never mentioned — the guys never talked about that stuff. It wasn’t part of the testing physical that they did, either. Back then, they were testing for sickle-cell anemia and a regular blood test — that was it. And if we did, an EKG. And then you went in for the orthopedic guy. Most of the time, [players] would have “zippers” on your knees, and the guy would say, “No, I never had an operation.” And you’d go, “What, are you kidding me?” “Never went under the knife, doc.” “Oh, what’s this for?” “Oh, when I was a little kid, I fell off my bike.” Yeah, right. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 1 0 6 / % I’m not sure how I can tell you how [steroid use] got started in professional football, other than in the mid- to late 1950s, the guys in the track and field events — shot put, discus, hammer throw, and so on — were clear to [use] these things. And weight-lifters had been probably ahead of them. At the time, there was no rule against it — you may have been crazy to do it, but it wasn’t illegal. So they were doing this, and saying, “Look at me. Here I am throwing a shot seventy feet instead of sixty feet. I bulked up, and it’s wonderful stuff.” They got it all from the veterinary community I think — along the lines of, “If we can beef up cattle, we can certainly beef you up.” So there you are — you say, “It’s great for shot putting. It’s true that I have terminal acne, I’m in a constant rage, and my testicles are the size of jelly beans, but it certainly has been performance enhancing.” So I would say it probably just drifted into the delivery system for a lot of your high performance sports in the States. It was the college system, so the track and field guys would do it, and then the football people probably learned it from them. And they supply all the football players to the NFL. But exactly where you would put a date, I’m not sure. I would guess by the late ’50s it was probably pretty well known. Once the International Olympic Committee brought in rules — even though we couldn’t detect it very well — it forbade the use of it, it all went underground. Up until 1968 or so, there were no rules. I think we didn’t start testing until the ’68 Olympics. But once there were rules, it all went underground, so you couldn’t really tell. And in fact, for a lot of the steroids, there weren’t a lot of 340
STEROIDS
reliable tests. All you knew was if someone got on a program, by the time they came to a competition — because there wasn’t much out at a competition testing — they’d be clean. Only the idiots got caught. And that’s why there was never an East German that tested positive for steroids — even though the entire team was probably on them. And then the same is true today — we’re much more sophisticated in terms of the testing. I assume there’s been some deterrents, but the ones that are using it are far more skillful about the use than they used to be. % 3 ( " 3: 8" %-&3 First of all, you’ve got to understand that anabolic steroids are synthetic derivatives of the male hormone, testosterone. There are a number of varieties of anabolic steroids: some are taken by mouth, but those that are, are metabolized by the liver; some are taken by injection; others are applied in gels or creams to the skin. The ones that can be taken by mouth have been associated with very serious medical disorders — particularly tumors of the liver. Both the injectable and the topical forms of anabolic steroids are associated with adverse effects, as well. You’ve got to remember the reason these drugs were developed [was] principally for the treatment of a variety of diseases and disorders — many of which are currently treated with other newer drugs. Anabolic steroids in the past were used for the treatment of advanced breast cancer, forms of anemia, and wasting disorders — to name but a few. The problem is that they have — and continued to be — abused. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 1 0 6/% There’s hypodermic, there’s oral, and then there’s an application. I’m not sure what all the brand names were — I think Dianabol was one of them. But they’d be using testosterone, if it were pure and simple, they’d have been using stanozolol — you can probably get a list of those anywhere. [Early steroids] may have been like the birth control pills — that started off being absolutely “nuclear” in strength, and then people realized that you didn’t have to do that. I don’t know whether the dosages have gone up or down compared to these German things. But there is a fair amount of literature out there — a lot of it translated — that would probably track the dosages they were giving the athletes, so you can compare them to what is going on now. 1 & 1 1 & 3 # 6 33644 You come out of the ’60s, where there were stories of open bowls of pick-me-ups and things in locker rooms and the like. Well, that was never the case in the ’70s. I think every year, there’s been increased attention to 341
SACK EXCHANGE
health and safety. You look back, and you say, “There was rampant use of steroids back then.” Yeah, because they didn’t know. And as they become more aware of the risks, everybody assumes the knowledge you have now is the knowledge that was available back then. They say, “How can you run those risks?” No one knew. I mean, no one knew the risks of smoking back then. When I joined the Jets, there were ashtrays in between the lockers at Shea Stadium! I vividly remember Chris Ward sitting at his locker — I don’t remember if it was Chris or Marvin Powell, one or the other — totting on a cigarette during halftime of a game. You sit there, and you go, “Whoa, what a different time.” Now, there’s not even smoking in the buildings. I really have no recollection of steroids back then and street drugs. Were guys getting shot up? No, I don’t recall that. I recall one of the first computer drug inventory systems — it was a dial-up time-share computer, where you stuck the receiver of the phone into a modem, and we kept track of our drug inventory. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 We had some players that played like sometimes you wondered, but when you’re a winning team — and I go way back to 1953–’54 when I was playing — there was none of it floating around. We’d go out and have some beer after practice. But when you begin to win, and things are going right, the emotions spill over into something you just can’t believe. And sometime, an emotional person can act like he’s got a quart of juice in him. But that doesn’t necessarily mean he does. I heard about Dexedrine they were using for their appetite — not necessarily the Jets, I never knew it was there if it was — but I remember the trainers talking. Because a lot of the players would get overweight. Today, if they’re not over 300, they don’t think they’re good enough. But in those days, if you got over 275, you were overweight — you were getting fined five bucks a pound. It started sneaking in through the period — I’m sure. + 0 & 8" -50 / It was foreign to me — as it was to most coaches at that time. If it was happening, I wasn’t aware of it. In the ’90s is when they really started trying to crack back on it and be aware of it. It was something that nobody ever talked about. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I went to Hazelden as a representative of the Jets for the NFL on a committee to learn about drugs. It was mostly on marijuana and things like that — I don’t know if steroids were that big then. At least I don’t remember it was. 342
STEROIDS
I can remember leaving the Denver airport, and there would be six garbage cans filled with Coors Light — after the game. You can’t do that anymore. I didn’t drink, so I’d give a player my six-pack, and someone else may have given him a six-pack. Now you can’t do that because I guess a couple of guys got in accidents [after] drinking on the plane. In those days, I worried more about them leaving training camp and seeing a change in players — I always thought, “Now they’re going and eating at McDonald’s every night, instead of eating a balanced training camp meal.” I thought it affected players because they were going into that “McDonald’s syndrome.” I may have been naive about it, but I don’t know if a lot of guys were doing that. # * -- ) " . 1 50 / I never saw anybody get injected with any steroids. The only one I saw get injected — not actually injected — was when they drew fluid from Namath’s knees, and that was before the game. That’s the only time I’d ever seen them use a needle while I was there. -" / $ & . & ) - I can remember my rookie year, seeing a thing passed around with all kinds of pills in it — I didn’t know what they were. I was kind of naive. I saw a couple of guys smoke in the locker room at halftime that year, too, and I was stunned. I had my visions of the way things were, and of course, at Penn State, we didn’t have a lot of the stuff that went on with the Jets. But the steroid use, I suspected there was a guy at Penn State that did it, too — I’m sure a couple of them. But as far as it being out in the open, in New York, nobody bragged about it or anything, but everybody knew who did it and they would talk to each other. To me, it just wasn’t that big of a deal. It was towards the end of my career where they even started testing for it. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 There was no blatant usage — there was nothing in the locker room or the weight room. Anybody that was doing them was doing them in the privacy of their own home, I guess. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. I came out of a small black college, and none of that stuff was even on my radar screen. If somebody was dropping bennies or taking steroids . . . I don’t even think I knew what steroids were back then. And quite frankly, it disappoints me just from my own personal perspective — god’s given us abilities, and we have weights, all of these programs that come out of these 343
SACK EXCHANGE
colleges, and then for somebody to want something extra, that can damage you? It’s scary to think that people want to do anything more than the weights and the scientific programs they have. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 & 3 They wanted to shoot me up with cortisone when I pulled my muscle, and I was afraid of that, so I didn’t do the needles and all of that stuff. Putting some foreign substance that I didn’t really know about — that wasn’t my style. And I minded my own business when other people were talking about it. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 &: I heard that it was rampant. There were rumors going around about different players throughout the league who were [using it] — your Lyle Alzados and people like that. It really wasn’t that big of a taboo back then. You’re always trying to gain an edge, and I wasn’t aware of the real bad downsides of steroid use, and I guess the guys that used them probably didn’t know that either, or else they wouldn’t be using or abusing them the way they did. We had some guys that got pretty big. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % Was it being done? I’d be naive to say, “It wasn’t.” If I was one of these defensive or offensive linemen and I thought the guy across from me was using it, I probably would have been on it too. I don’t know. I was a quarterback trying to lose weight [laughs]. I was always trying to stay thin, which is hard for me to do — I weigh, like, 260 now. I didn’t really have that problem. 1 "5-& " ) : There’s no question about it because at that time the average offensive lineman was probably 260 or 270 — something like that. You had players that you would see in the spring mini-camp, and they’d be 250, and then at the training camp, they’d be 290. Because at that time, they didn’t have testing per se. Later on, I think you took one test right when you came into training camp, and you were never tested again the entire year. Players knew that, and whatever they could do to get bigger/stronger/faster, they would do. There’s no secret in that — that’s pretty common knowledge. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 1 0 6 / % One of the reasons that people were using them was because they worked. Performance did increase. I think it seems to be a matter of how much you used and what the dosages were, and how often you got on the steroid programs. The side effects would affect your heart, liver, and there are certainly 344
STEROIDS
some psychological aspects. The body says to itself, “I’ve got all these steroids in me, now I can stop producing testosterone on my own.” And so that was one of the reasons that sperm counts and everything started to fall pretty dramatically. % 3 ( " 3: 8" %-&3 Some [of steroids’ effects] are physical, some are psychiatric. Some are permanent, some are not. Some affect the organs such as the liver or the heart. Depending on the particular anabolic steroid used, there may be a diminishment of sperm production, atrophy of the testicles, males may become “feminized” because some of these anabolic steroids are converted to estrogen in the body. Human Growth Hormone is not a steroid — it is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland. It is responsible for regulating growth in the body — particularly growth during teenage years. It has some anabolic effects. If abused, it essentially imitates a disease known as acromegaly. Acromegaly has been associated with a litany of very serious side effects: enlargement of the hands, the feet, the jaw, diabetes, hypertension, and carpal tunnel syndrome, to name a few. , & / 0 # 3 * & / I know people are saying it’s cheating, but the real shame of the person that’s doing it is they’re going to have to live with it and the complications the rest of their lives. Whatever you want and say and do, those are the decisions you make. It’s just awful that it might lead to something down the line when football’s all said and done. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 1 0 6/% I think it’s fairly broad now. My guess is that a lot of them get put onto it by trainers, saying, “You should try this.” And then there are people that hang around gymnasia and so on, and say, “You really want to bulk up? Here’s some stuff to take.” Others [say], “This will just help you recover faster.” There are all kinds of “neat ways” that you first get trapped. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : I don’t think our trainers would do that [offer steroids to players]. I’m not sure where guys get their stuff from — to this day, I don’t know. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 Everybody was using. . . . I wouldn’t say everybody because I wasn’t using them. But most of our team, they were using it. They started to crack down, and that’s why a lot of people became ordinary. But they had to do it to compete. I had our own weight and conditioning coach give me a book on “the positive uses of steroids.” This one guy we had, this big lineman — he was 345
SACK EXCHANGE
6' 8'', 300-something pounds. And he was telling me about it. And Marvin Powell and I were like, “Well, maybe we’ll try it when we’re thirty-six or something.” But I remember I talked to a bunch of guys about it, and they were using them. So I remember talking to the guy that was supplying, and he was like, “We’ll give you this Anavar oral, and then you’ll inject” — I forget which one you inject. And I’m like, “What do you mean, you’ll inject?” And he’s like, “Yeah, you give yourself a needle — right in the butt.” I’m like, “I don’t like needles and I can’t imagine shooting myself — no way!” People were even using it in high school when I was playing. I never once thought of injecting myself with that stuff. I thought I would maybe consider when I was older, but then they started cracking down with it. I saw so many injuries. And the same guy, I’ll never forget, we were playing in the preseason, he hurt his neck, they bring him home in a collar. He’s sitting right next to me, and he’s in pain — they’re giving him Vicodin and everything else. The next day I see him in the hospital — neck surgery. Broken neck — they had him in a halo. His career was over and gone, just like that — cut. I really believe it leads to injuries. A lot of our guys — our defensive linemen — were getting hurt. I really believe that had something to do with it. But everybody was doing it. I would definitely say late ’70s and early ’80s — no question. Even our running backs were using it — I couldn’t even believe it. I shouldn’t say everybody because I know Marvin Powell didn’t, and a couple of guys, I don’t think Chris Ward. But most of the guys on defense — they were all doing it. I won’t name names, but they did it because they had to compete. Everybody was doing it — and that’s a fact. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 I tried them, yeah. But they weren’t nothing that changed my life. When I didn’t use them, I was no different. There was never anything involved with the team [approaching Klecko to use steroids] — nobody from any football team that I know of ever approached any of us for any of that. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 It wasn’t against the law. It wasn’t illegal then. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 I forgot how many years back — six or seven years ago — there was a documentary that was done on Gastineau, and had some excerpts by people saying things about Mark Gastineau. And I remember Marty Lyons saying something about Gastineau was going to get busted for his steroid use 346
STEROIDS
— because we didn’t have a policy back then. They’d just instituted a policy — he was going to get busted for it, and that’s why he quit. And I was disappointed hearing people even alluding to steroid use because most of our players on the team — at least the big linemen — they were all using the steroids. So for anybody to criticize Mark Gastineau — when they were doing it themselves — would be totally out of line. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I wouldn’t make the assumption that there were many guys on the team that were participating [in using steroids] with the Jets. I don’t know how many people were participating in the league. # 0 # # : + " $ , 40/ But Mark, I don’t know, he didn’t really need it. This guy was a tremendous athlete already — he could run as fast as I could, just about. I didn’t think that he needed it. 1 & 1 1 & 3 # 6 33644 I’m sure you spoke to Klecko and Gastineau, saying what he did and didn’t do. Do you suspect when a guy that big runs those sub-4.5 forty [yard dashes], and all those crazy things? Do you suspect something is unnatural? Yeah, probably. But there’s nothing that could be tested for. I don’t remember when drug testing came about, but it certainly wasn’t way back then. -& / # & 3 . " / [Gastineau] is the one you wondered about — just because of the way he looked and acted, and all the things he did. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 I’m not going to get into that. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& Facetiously, I’d say everyone was doing steroids except for me and Lance Mehl. And I will tell you as a matter of fact — I have never done steroids, and neither did Lance Mehl. But we knew plenty of players that were doing steroids. All you had to do was take a look at an offensive line. I think the offensive linemen were the first ones to start doing it. You know the Steelers were doing steroids. You knew a lot of teams, the players were doing it. And I had no problem with it. I could care less. If Lyle Alzado wanted to do steroids, let him do steroids — what do I care? If any player on my team wanted to do them, what do I care? I didn’t want to do them. And just because you did them, doesn’t mean I’d take them and do them. If I look back today, I think there’s nothing 347
SACK EXCHANGE
wrong with HGH. Maybe there’s no clinical studies on what it’s going to do to your body later on, but if they want to take that chance, who cares? That’s a whole other story — the steroid issue. But there were plenty of guys doing them. The only people that have a big deal or a big say about it are the people who are not playing the sport. If you’re playing the sport, believe me, it’s about, “What can I do to be better at this?” I looked at steroids and the biggest benefit I saw was that you would heal faster. Now, maybe your tendons became a little more strained, or maybe because your muscles were bigger than your joints, maybe it put pressure on your joints and maybe you got more injuries. Like today, you see all these guys — their labrums are tearing, their chests, their pecs, their muscles. Maybe that is because of steroid use or HGH use — I don’t know — but I looked at it as, “It helped you recover faster from a game” where plenty of times guys [who] were bruised on Monday were not bruised on Wednesday. So they had to have some kind of healing effect on your body — outside of making you strong as all daylight. " + % 6 ) & I know that the doctor [for the Dolphins] prescribed some steroids to one of the guys on the team — to help him heal. So it was used as a prescription — but it was probably a different kind of steroid. I’m sure there are different kinds of steroids. And I was having some injury problems, and I actually went to the doctor and said, “Doc, I heard you gave [a player] some steroids,” and he flat-out told me, “He has an injury that steroids can help improve the situation. With your injury, they wouldn’t work.” So I guess steroids were prescribed by doctors and physicians back in those days. The person I remember clearly, his physical body never changed — he only took them for I think a few weeks during the season. It’s like if the doctor would prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs to me, he would prescribe some steroid to you. I think steroid use only works if you take it over a period of time. Like, if I’m a guy working out at the gym, and if you inject me with steroids today and next week, I don’t think you’re going to notice anything. But if you inject me this week, next week, the week after, the week after — I think that’s something that you’ve got to be part of for a long period of time. I don’t think a one-time or a two-time steroid user, or a three-month medication use of steroids makes a difference in your life. That’s just me hypothesizing — I’m probably not 100 percent right on that.
348
STEROIDS
So the guy he gave steroids to, it helped his injury, but I don’t think it improved or enhanced his performance. I don’t want you thinking that the Dolphins were cheating. I think when the doctor prescribed a steroid to you, it was the medical necessity, and it’s proven that this particular version or type of steroid will help relieve or take away the injury you have, or help the healing process of a groin injury, or whatever it was. All I know is I had some bad knees and bad shoulders, and I was trying to figure out anything I could to make them feel better. He said, “Anti-inflammatories, here’s some mild pain medication you can take. Just don’t drink with it.” The standard medical BS you hear. # " 3 3: # & / / &55 I was very naive coming from the New Orleans Saints. The sad part is maybe they didn’t use them in New Orleans, and maybe that’s why they didn’t win. When I got to New York, it became obvious to me through conversation that they were there. . "55 3 0 # * / 40/ I watched Curt Schilling on HBO last night make his comments about, “I never saw a guy eat a pill or take a shot with steroids.” And I can honestly say the same thing. I was really unaware because it wasn’t a part of my life and what I was doing as a quarterback. But I do know this — when I went to the USFL in Jacksonville with the Bulls in ’84, I do remember it was prevalent in that locker room. To the point where one of the toilets was stuffed up, and when they unplugged it, there were a couple of syringes down there. + 0 & ' & 3 ( 6 4 0/ I didn’t really see the steroid thing until the end of my career — when I was with Tampa. I know we had some players there that were doing steroids. In Buffalo, I never saw it, or ever noticed it, or thought about it. At that time, during the ’70s, there may have been some, but I was playing with some guys that were 250 pounds as offensive linemen, so if they were on steroids, they were taking the wrong ones. [With the Buccaneers, it wasn’t] out in the open, but you could tell guys were on it. We had one guy, he got hurt the second game of the year, and he was 6' 5'' and 295. By the end of the year, he was 6' 3'' and 245. And then the next year, he came back to training camp at 295. You don’t do that from eating at the table. That was my first real observation of it. But I talked with our strength coach, and he kind of knew who was and who wasn’t — even though he wasn’t supplying it.
349
SACK EXCHANGE
45 & 7 & ( 3 0 ( " / I’ve always figured the less I know, the better off I am. So I never asked a lot of questions about that stuff [laughs]. " + % 6 ) & When I look back on it, I can think of one or two guys [on the Dolphins] that might have been taking steroids. I look at them, and say, “Man, that guy was a big, strong, muscle freak . . . and now he’s just an average-looking guy.” I see a guy who might have been 265 when we played, and now, he’s like 230, and looks like a normal guy who could be the guy who works for UPS. And here I am, a guy that played at 245 to 250, and I still weigh 245 to 250. I’m not as lean as I used to be — I’m a little chunky — but I see some guys that just got small. So I would wonder. In my last couple of years in the league, we just started hearing that some teams might be using it. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8&3 The Dolphins — especially the defensive line — we were tall and thin, you could tell there wasn’t much going on on that team with steroids. The other teams, you had a feeling — whether it was teams like Pittsburgh or some of the other teams, where you had some of these guys that you knew were 6' 3'', 240 [pounds] one year, and they’re 6' 3'', 275 the next year. As far as the Dolphins were concerned, Shula was the best at that — Shula seemed to me to be really into doing the right thing for the right reason. I think he was head of the Rules Committee for head coaches. We played on a team where I think they had pretty tight reins on that kind of stuff. Obviously there weren’t as sophisticated screening systems, but I’ll tell you this, we always called them “roid heads” — we were thinking more hemorrhoids [laughs]. It was not a good thing to be a roider, as far as we were concerned. To us, it was cheating. It’s unfortunate that you have that image in the game because there are so many guys that do the right things for the right reasons, and they don’t cheat like that. But not everybody did that, and I’m not judging anybody that does. If it takes that to play the game, I can see why people would do it — whether it’s the love of the game or the money, or both. So I’m not judging anybody that does it. But it still is not a level playing field if you’re taking roids and putting on twenty, thirty pounds of muscle while the other guy is playing natural. You can’t really rationalize that and say, “It’s okay to do that,” and have some type of issue with it. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : Pretty much there was no testing, no regulations, no nothing. You 350
STEROIDS
read about the John Matuszaks and the Lyle Alzados — played against them both, and they were definitely different. They were on something — there’s no doubt about it. You could tell. You’d see it in a lot of guys’ eyes if they were on something. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 1 0 6/% The sight of Lyle not long before he died was pretty scary. [Alzado died in 1992 from a brain tumor.] But whether that is directly traceable to steroids or not, I don’t know, you’d have to get somebody qualified in the medical field to tell you. I just don’t know what caused the cancer. I have not heard that these things cause cancer, but it’s entirely possible that they do. % 3 ( " 3: 8" %-&3 I think there is no evidence to support the notion that Lyle Alzado’s brain cancer was related to the use of anabolic steroids. At the time, I checked with the National Cancer Institute, and there was nothing to suggest that steroids can produce the kind of tumor Lyle Alzado had. Likely, it had nothing to do with his drug abuse at all — it was an unfortunate individual who got brain cancer, like a lot of men of his age. 4 $ 0 55 % * & 3 , */( I never saw it personally with the Jets. I did see it my next year, in Tampa. A friend of mine, Steve Courson — who was in the headlines a little bit after we retired — he got traded from the Steelers the same year I went to Tampa. He was into it pretty heavily. Steve passed away a few years ago [in 2005]. He was into steroids real heavy in ’84, and then I retired. The next year, in ’85, he went in for opening day physicals — before the season started — and his heart rate was, like, 160. They said, “What is going on?!” That’s when he came clean. He later on testified in front of some committees regarding steroids and how rampant it got in the NFL. But we didn’t have many 300-pound guys on our teams in the ’80s. Abdul was 300, but he was a natural 300 [laughs]. Where you started just seeing these behemoths — like in the late ’80s — I think is when it got out of hand. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 The thing about it is they can make all they want out of that — the steroid issue of people dying and things like that. I know one of the Steelers, Steve Courson, had a very hard time with it. He was abusive to the steroids, and he admitted it. I don’t think there was anything that was an outrage at that time. Later on, as it became more prevalent — with the designer-type drugs they make nowadays. Back then, guys were just trying things because they wanted an edge. 351
SACK EXCHANGE
# 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0 / The Steelers’ offensive linemen, their necks didn’t separate from their shoulders! They were huge. So now, you know why they were like that. Those guys were incredible — scary-looking. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": Some of the Steelers guys had all those health problems and didn’t live a long, fruitful life. I hear rumors that they were steroid users. .* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 [The Steelers] were probably the first ones to do it as a team. Now, I have no factual knowledge on that, other than hearsay — just what I’ve heard. I know there was a coach in the NFL that mentioned it and got fined by the league, and told not to mention it again. He’s not coaching in the NFL anymore . . . but he’s still coaching somewhere. "# % 6 - 4 " -" " . We knew a lot of people in the league that were using steroids. You can easily tell by some of the unfair advantages. I would say that we were more of an up-and-coming team, so we probably weren’t “sophisticated” enough. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 1 0 6 / % I’m not sure exactly when they started testing or why. Basically, the league and the Players Association — not just in football, but in other sports — have been pretty chummy about negotiating the right to test. I would look at the bargaining agreements — hockey still has it, I don’t think they’re allowed to test. So what brought it on? It may well have been some deaths or injuries. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 The only thing that they really drug tested for was pot and maybe cocaine. And if you came up dirty, then they would have you subjected to random testing. But if you didn’t test for anything, then they couldn’t check and you were cleared. But they didn’t have it for steroid use — for a long time. And then when they started coming up with it, it scared a lot of guys. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0 / [Cocaine] was the pervasive drug out there. Marijuana was more than anything else. Everybody pretty much was smoking weed — I admit it, I smoked. And I experimented and did other stuff as well. But I was never really a guy that got off track with it. You saw it a little bit here and there. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I remember being in Studio 54 and watching people snort cocaine on the dance floor. I think it was like, back in that day, it was just kind of 352
STEROIDS
starting. I guess it was illegal, but it seemed like as long as you did recreational drugs, it was okay. I remember guys in Alabama — nobody [had] heard of drugs, and then my senior year, people smoking pot. I don’t think I’ve ever really been a “druggie.” I’ve definitely done more of the alcohol side, but I wouldn’t consider myself a druggie. . "553 0 # * / 40/ We saw it socially. But I never saw any of that stuff done in the locker room. It didn’t relate to football at all. I didn’t know guys out there using. The only thing that I knew that was going on was some of the bigger boys were eating hits of speed. But it wasn’t to get jacked up for a game, it was really to kill the pain. Nowadays if you’re hurt, if you can only go eighty-five percent, you don’t play — they bring somebody in off the inactive roster or practice squad, and they replace you. Because if you’re eighty-five percent in this league these days, you’re ineffective. Back in those days, you played through pain, you played hurt — you did everything to get on the field. You always showed up for work and you were always prepared to play — whether you were limping around or sporting a sore shoulder. So that’s the only thing when it came to drugs that I saw. But you know, we saw it out partying. But our guys weren’t really involved in actually doing what we were seeing. 5& % # " / , & 3 In ’85 or ’86, that’s when they really started checking it. And if you got caught, you were going to be suspended for a month. I forget what year they actually had you do a urine test — randomly, during the season. They did it at the beginning of the season and at the end of the season, but during the season, they said randomly they’d do it over the course of the season. Fifteen players every week had to go take a pee on Monday morning. And they literally had the guy sitting by the urinal there in a chair — you were peeing and there was no changing that fact. You’re at an open urinal and he’s watching you. So if your name popped up on this list . . . and ironically, I think I averaged four times a year, and if you do the math, sixty guys times fifteen, four times a year, comes out just right. So I don’t know how random it really was — but they started checking. Back then, that was pretty diligent when you think about it. I think before that is when it was heavy in there — they weren’t checking or anything. But I want to say it was ’86 when they started checking. If you were doing it, you were going to get in trouble. You were peeing four times a season, and then you had to pee at the beginning and the end of the season. But pre-’85ish, I guess it was a free-for-all. 353
SACK EXCHANGE
# 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0 / You would get tested when you came into mini-camp, and you’d get tested when you came into regular camp. You knew. Like, if I was smoking weed in the off-season, I knew, “Okay, I have to stop smoking because I’m going to get drug tested when I go to camp. And then, after they test me, I can go back to smoking.” Let’s say your player started playing really poorly and if you were a good player, that made you suspect. Now, they may bring you in for a surprise drug test. “Oh, you missed meetings, you’re late for meetings” — stuff like that. Then they got a reason. That’s what they did with Crutchfield — that’s how Joe Walton really destroyed his career. He wanted to make him smaller than he was. Crutchfield was naturally about 240, and that was a good weight for him. But [Walton] wanted him to lose weight all the time. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 1 0 6 /% You’ve got a whole bunch of manipulations of urine and so on [to pass a drug test]. You’ve got the Whizzinator-type thing. We’ve seen balloons that people stuff up their asses and fill with other people’s urine with a little tube that comes out. There are lots of ways to do that to avoid things. And you disappear for a couple of weeks — that’s all you need. "- 50 0 / They started testing pretty much right after I got into the league. Things changed pretty drastically after that. % " / " -& 9 " / % & 3 They made it illegal somewhere around ’87. When they made that rule, it made me happy. I said, “Man, where was this rule ten years ago?” It would have made my job a lot easier.
354
42 JOE KLECKO
O
ne of the most fearsome defenseman of all time is number 73, Joe Klecko. But why isn’t Klecko in the Hall of Fame?
1 "5 3:" / Joe Klecko was a stud. Joe Klecko was just a natural, tough, great football player — and a fun guy to be around. A good team guy. I consider myself lucky to say I played with Joe Klecko. 4 $ 0 55% * & 3 ,*/( He was one of my favorite players. I tell my boys to this day stories about Joe Klecko. He had the most unusual strength. There was a big tackle, [William] “Bubba” Paris, who was 350 pounds — Klecko was 275 — and he would look so forward to playing guys like that. Because he was strong enough and stocky enough to get underneath and get them up in the air, and do whatever he wanted. We were good friends — we were the same draft class. One of my favorite memories of Joe was when we were rookies. I didn’t know a lot of people, and we lived in Point Lookout. So I took my fishing pole and was fishing. Joe walks up with his little son, Michael, and says, “How are you doing?” And being from the Midwest, I knew nothing about ocean fishing. I said, “I caught a couple of fish, a stingray, and a big blue crab.” He said, “Watch Michael, I’ll be right back!” He runs to the tackle shop, brings back three traps for crabs. We threw them out there, caught a bushel-basket full of crabs, and took them home to Joe’s house. That was my first taste of blue crabs [laughs]. % " 3 3 0 -3 ": Tough, tough individual. A really extremely good football player. 355
SACK EXCHANGE
I don’t know if I’ve played with a better defensive lineman than Joe Klecko. He was the kind of guy that you’d love to see in the huddle every time he came up there because he was so understated and so undemonstrative. He was so easygoing. But when you got to know Joe a little bit better, you realized that he was a really fun individual. Just one of those rock-ribbed American type of guys — truck driver. Just a good ol’ boy. If he’d have been from Oklahoma, he’d have just been another good ol’ redneck. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 He was from my area. He grew up in Chester, [Pennsylvania] and I went to college in Chester. So we knew some of the same people. Throughout both our careers, we played against each other in practice. So we had a healthy respect for each other, and we even roomed together later on. A good, tough, really hard player. A really tough guy. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& Klecko I’d played against at Temple, and he made every tackle from sideline to sideline. I knew he was a good football player. Joe and I came in and became roommates, and got to become very good friends. We remained roommates on the road for all of our road trips and games. Joe was married — that would be the only difference. Joe got married when he was twelve, I think. It was funny, we saw his first two kids grow up, and one of them is Danny who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles — and he was uncontrollable. Here’s Klecko — who’s a beast — who can’t even control his three-year-old kid! - & / # & 3 . " / Klecko — in an affectionate way — was nuts. You just pictured him putting his head down and bowling over anybody. I think he was really “the lunch pail guy.” And I’m sure Klecko resented Gastineau and his showboating. But Klecko was the ultimate “lunch pail New York hero.” At the time, he was Lenny Dykstra-esque — that kind of player. Hopefully cleaner [laughs]. A guy that would butt his head against the wall and the fans just loved him. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : Joe was probably one of the best teammates I’ve ever played with. If the tight end came to his side and the formation was to his side, all I had to do was come in and make the tackle — for the most part. I never got touched. He was a total complete player. If he had to pass-rush, he did. He was one of those guys that you could always count on to do his job — correctly — each and every play. It was a pleasure working with him. 356
JOE KLECKO
4 5& 7 & ( 3 0 ( " / Everybody talks about Mark Gastineau, and he was a very good player. But in our minds, we had to figure out where Joe Klecko was at all times. He gave us fits. He was so quick off the ball that he’d get in the gap between the center and the guard. He would be off on the snap, and if we didn’t have two guys getting a hand on him, he could cause havoc. He didn’t get all the publicity that Gastineau did, because of Gastineau’s sack dance. But I think in our minds, Joe Klecko was the better defensive player — between the two of them. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 %% Joe was just a tremendous leader. I’d say if we had a leader on defense, it was definitely Joe. And if you had one of the leaders for the whole team, it was probably Joe. Everybody loved Joe — just a down-to-earth guy, a family guy. Always positive and always smiling. He was just everybody’s friend. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1&3 You better come ready, boy — that guy was something. He’s the strongest man I ever knew. Character — he’d give you the shirt off his back. Klecko was really the best. 4 $ 0 55 % * & 3 ,*/( Klecko, I’d see him eat . . . he called them “desiccated liver pills” — which was like natural liver compressed into pills. He would eat a handful of these things that just smelled awful. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4&: Too strong to be human. In fact, it was a running joke among a bunch of us on the team that played with Joe . . . you can’t even get the full question out. If you asked Pat Ryan, “Who do you think the meanest and fastest —” and by the time I’d get there, he’d go, “Joe Klecko!” You don’t even get to the finish the question with a lot of guys. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 Loved him, loved him, loved him. If I were to pick a “most valuable player,” or if they were to say, “Who was the best player to ever play on that team,” he’s my choice. That guy could play any position — strong. Nobody could handle him one-on-one. I don’t know how he developed this “side cock” on either side. There’s just no way you could play one-on-one with him. Just devastating — he would wreak havoc. It was fun to watch him play — he was just phenomenal. Gastineau had more speed and it was two different styles, but I would rate them as a tie. There was nobody better.
357
SACK EXCHANGE
% " 3 3 0 - 3 ": That stance, when he would cock himself sideways, and just compound the heck out of . . . I don’t know how he rushed with his body turned completely sideways like that. But he was so quick for three or four steps, and was so darn strong, that he reinvented the way a lot of people play defensive line. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 When you think of Joe, I’m thinking him doing over forty reps of 225 pounds. One of the strongest guys I’ve ever seen in my life. You could see it on the field — he dominated and moved guys. He was a good guy — easy to get along with. We had a great bunch of guys as far as character — a little egos, but Joe was a down-to-earth guy. For Klecko to get out there and make it to the Pro Bowl, it was great to see those things happen for him. .* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 Joe was probably one of the strongest guys I ever was around. Not just weight strength, but strength of being able to grab a hold of somebody. We would goof around, and in our locker room, there was this big walk-in hot tub about chest-deep. I had done something to him — I can’t remember what I did — but he wasn’t happy about it. He told me he would get me, but he could never catch me — so it wasn’t a big deal. So he trapped me in the friggin’ hot tub. He grabs a hold of me and just puts me under the water. I’m like, “Okay, big deal. You’re bigger than I am, you’re going to hold me under the water. I’m not even going to fight you.” Well, he holds me underneath there until I swallow water — I had to fight him because I thought I was going to drown! I remember seeing him pick people up by their belt and their shirt — and haul them over his head. If you fought him, you could get hurt. Your best thing was to take the ride, and wait until it was over. "+%6)& Joe Klecko was phenomenal. He was probably one of the toughest guys to block. I didn’t have to block him, but just watching what our offensive linemen had to deal with, and knowing that the preparation we went through each time we played them — on scheming to block him. . . . Joe was one of the first known “iron men” of the game. Back in our days, we worked out and trained, we got in shape. But I think he was one the first guys that really pushed the steel — really took advantage of it. It made him so strong and so powerful that he was a wrecking crew. And he was well respected. Joe played the game as hard as you can possibly play it — but within the rules. I don’t think anybody 358
JOE KLECKO
would ever say anything bad about Joe Klecko as a player or as a human being. He was well respected and a well-accomplished player. -"83 & / $ & 1*--&34 When you’re playing side by side, when one person has a little weakness in something, the other person just automatically [exposes] that weakness. Klecko was one of those individuals. 5& % # " / , & 3 Fortunately, he was on my team and I didn’t have to block him [laughs]. People always ask me, “Who was the best defensive lineman you ever played?” And I say, “There’s Bruce Smith, Reggie White, Howie Long. But fortunately, I think the best one was on my team — Joe Klecko. And I didn’t have to play him on Sundays — I got him in practice.” Joe gave me more of an education in practice than anybody ever has. He really schooled me in my stance and tipping off a run. I used to go up to the line, and he’d go, “Ted, you’re pulling right.” I’m like, “How the hell do you know I’m pulling right?” He’d go, “Your foot, your hand. Look at the pressure on your one finger.” I’m like, “What?!” He really taught me. After a couple of years of Joe telling me things, I got my stance so good that I made sure that if he couldn’t tell I was pulling pass blocking or run blocking, I knew nobody else on any other team could. Because he was that good. He was scary — the strength that man possessed. I’m just really glad I never had to play him in a game. When he wanted to do it in practice, he was scary. He was a scary football player. # * -- ) " . 1 50/ He never got the recognition he deserved. # " 3 3: # & / / &55 He was such a regular old guy. As good as he was, he didn’t like the glamour — he wanted to be a regular guy. , & / 0 # 3 * & / He was a real gentleman. He was the old storied veteran when I came in, who was All-Pro and the strongest guy that you’d ever meet in your life. Just a really good mentor. He went out of his way to give rookies — like myself — a hard time, but then let you know at the same time that it was just a routine. It was seeing how you fit in and reacted. I consider Joe a real good friend and obviously, one of the best football players to ever play the game. I remember talking to a couple of the Pro Bowlers that played against him — Dwight Stephenson who played for the Dolphins, and he’d say, “It’s unbelievable. 359
ap photo ⁄ nfl photo
SACK EXCHANGE
A quarterback’s worst nightmare: Joe Klecko on the loose
He’d pick me up and throw me around like a rag doll. I mean, a grown man — he’d pick me up and throw me.” Not only strong, but quick, smart, and played really hard. He was always a clean, good, stand-up player, and I think that reputation was just Joe. Every day the way he presented himself was the reputation he had. Very, very happy he was on our side. % " / " -& 9 " / % & 3 Joe Klecko was probably the best defensive lineman that I’ve ever seen in the NFL. He was a tough guy, and he got hurt a lot — knee surgeries. That’s a shame because he was a force. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 When you play football — especially at the big league level — you always have to play. I just thought it was knock against you if you didn’t play — unless you couldn’t walk. If I wasn’t on a stretcher, I could play — that’s the way I looked at it. "# % 6 - 4 " -" " . He had the same determination [as Gastineau], but Joe was a different personality. He has an analytical personality. So he wasn’t like Mark, 360
JOE KLECKO
who’s strictly a performer. [Klecko] would analyze the situation. But the determination — the enthusiasm — was still the same. You can say they were opposites sides of the same coin. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 Joe and I never really . . . we were from two different places. He never did anything negative to me, but we have a much better relationship now than we’ve ever had. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I loved him — I’m not sure he felt the same way about me. Someone said he knocked me in his book [1989’s Nose to Nose: Survival in the Trenches of the NFL, co-written with Joe Fields]. But players are kind of vain. When I took over as defensive coordinator, all the players were like, “Oh Joe — we love you! We hated the guy before you.” And then when I left, they loved the guy that took over for me. So it’s typical. Players are trying to survive. As long as they survive — that’s all that they care about. That’s fine. Joe was just entirely different. The thing that I remember about Joe was Joe liked to go offside — even at nose guard, which is hard to do because you’re right over the ball. I noticed his quickness. I never played him on special teams, and now, we’re playing my buddy that I coached with at Maryland, and he’s the special teams coach with the Baltimore Colts. I said to Walt, “They’re trying to use a center to block on punts,” which we didn’t do in those days. Today we do it. I said, “What if I put Klecko in — on the center?” Bam! He blocks the punt — we win the game with the blocked punt. He’s the only player that ever gave the coach credit. I’ll never forget that — Joe credited me with putting in the rush, and he just beat the center like a drum. Joe was an ultimate team player. , & / 0 # 3 * & / Tell me somebody that was better than him. He moved around — he was a nose tackle, defensive tackle, and defensive end, and went to the Pro Bowl at all three of those positions. He would give a lot of guys trouble. When you were playing the Jets, who do you account for? I think Joe would be the one that they would concern themselves with all the time. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 I don’t think it was anything special [making the Pro Bowl at three different positions]. I really don’t — because somebody did it on offense: Bruce Matthews played tackle, guard, and center. I just think it shows the ability of the person — you can adapt to it and do well. There are other players that played 361
SACK EXCHANGE
along the line that weren’t awarded those actual accolades at three different positions. But Howie Long played along the line in different places, and so did Reggie White. I just feel that playing the end and moving in and out was a little tougher. Going to the Pro Bowl was always a great accolade. You were voted on by your peers — it was a great accomplishment. I never thought too much of it except that I was [grateful] for it. 1&11&3#633644 I’m a staunch supporter of Klecko going to the Hall of Fame. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 & 3 He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. He really does. + 0 & 8" -50 / Until he hurt his knee, he was probably the best defensive lineman — I think he should be in the Hall of Fame. He could do everything. He was great against the run, he was a great pass-rusher, he was very strong, played hard every week. He has my vote for the Hall of Fame — I think he was that good. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 Joe belongs in Canton — that’s simple. Who’s kidding who? I’ve already accused some of them. I said, “If you’re not voting for him, there’s something wrong.” ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / & "6 He should really already be in the Hall of Fame. I think he’s just one step away from it because [the Jets] retired his jersey [in 2004]. When a team does that, that says it all. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 Unbelievable — I never expected it [getting the number retired by the Jets]. I thought it was fantastic. Especially it being a new regime — from Woody Johnson’s era — I think it was tremendous that they did that for me. - " / $ & . & ) - He should be a Hall of Famer. He was by far the strongest person I’ve ever been around. The most knowledgeable. When Bud Carson came in, we went from having maybe fifteen different defenses a game to over 100 different combinations we could run. Different fronts, coverages, and everything. I had to know all that because I made all the audible calls. So I’d change the coverages if a player on the offense moved. I had to make that call, but I didn’t have to worry about the line because Klek would make all those calls. He was intelligent and he was “football smart.” You never had to tell him more than once. I can remember 362
JOE KLECKO
playing in games, and a guard or somebody would get out and he’d cut me off. I’d go, “Klek!” And he’d look back and go, “I know, I know — it won’t happen again.” And he would take up two linemen, so that I could flow across and make the play. All I had to say was “Joe,” and he knew what I was talking about. Just the speed with which he came off the end — I saw him pick up an offensive tackle pretty much by the armpits, throw him in, and hit a quarterback. He just had the strongest leverage. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 I don’t know about Canton. Canton is a real special place. I actually think some people that are getting in there now don’t deserve to be in there. I don’t know what it takes for somebody to be in there. Look at the stature of one of my coaches, Jim Ringo — ten Pro Bowls, championships. Yeah, that kind of person belongs in Canton. Maybe it just takes time, and maybe we’re just not old enough yet. I don’t know. Joe [Klecko] was the premier defensive end and nose tackle at the time. There’s no question about it. He had strength. He had quickness. He had all the above — by his sack totals and everything else. Probably if he never hurt his knee, he would have been a lot better and played more years, even. It was a horrible injury — tearing that patella the way he did. Something like that is really tough — and he came back from it. Canton . . . I don’t know if anybody belongs in Canton [laughs]. That’s kind of a real special place. I wouldn’t want to be the one saying yes or no on somebody — that’s not up to me. 1 "5 3:" / Joe Fields was Klecko’s best friend — they were a lot alike. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 I haven’t seen Joe . . . it’s got to be fifteen years or more. Just drifted apart. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 - &3 I’m surprised that Joe Klecko hasn’t been in it yet — and I think it’s partially [because] we didn’t win a Super Bowl. He played three positions, and look who he played against. Look at the things he did. I don’t know how they pick this stuff. When I played as a tight end, you had Kellen Winslow, Ozzie Newsome, myself, Russ Francis, Todd Christensen — all of us fighting for two spots in the AFC Pro Bowl. Ozzie and Kellen are in the Hall [of Fame] already. I always thought I was as good as they were — or better. They just got a few more passes than I did. I don’t know, I think I blocked a whole lot better than 363
SACK EXCHANGE
both of them. And we didn’t throw the ball as much as they did. I’m not sure how many games they won out there in San Diego — they threw a lot of passes and got a lot of numbers . . . but so what? I don’t know how they pick that Hall of Fame stuff because there are players that are in the Hall of Fame — not that none of them deserve it, but there are a whole lot of other guys that deserve it, too. It’s probably because we didn’t win championships. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8 &3 I don’t know what is the criteria for getting into the Hall of Fame because it seems to be different sometimes — year to year, player to player. And I’m not knocking [San Diego Chargers/San Francisco 49ers defensive end] Fred Dean, but if Fred Dean is in there, Klecko ought to be in there. Fred Dean was in four Pro Bowls and was known for being a good pass-rusher. Well, Klecko could do it all. Klecko was hell on the run, tough in the middle, could play outside. I’m probably prejudiced because I know Joe, but he’s one of those guys that was a player’s player. I can remember the Dolphins’ offensive line talking about playing against Joe Klecko, and they did not like playing against Joe Klecko [laughs]. That says it all right there. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 I would love to see it for my children. Three of them have never seen me play. It would be great for my family. But all the people that I played against know what they know. They know how they had to play against me, they know what I was. And when I go to Dunkin’ Donuts tomorrow morning, if I’m in Canton, Ohio, or not, it’s still going to cost me $2.25 for a coffee. It would be a wonderful, gracious accolade that I could get. But I don’t lose no sleep over it.
364
MARK GASTINEAU
A
nother one of the most fearsome — yet controversial — defenseman of all time is number 99, Mark Gastineau. But bad decisions derail what seemed to be a most-certain path to the Hall of Fame. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 Gastineau we gave one responsibility: make sure you get to the quarterback. And he did [laughs]. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % Mark Gastineau was one of a kind. Mark was a tremendous athlete. Mark was probably pound-for-pound, for a man over 280 pounds, the best athlete I’ve ever seen. He could run. He was certainly the fastest. +0 & , -& $ , 0 Awesome, just absolutely unstoppable if he didn’t want to be stopped. He was a phenomenal player. It goes to show, when we were in the Pro Bowl together, how much of a difference he made. - & / #& 3 . " / He was very approachable and loved to talk. I think the more he talked, the less Klecko would talk. % " / " -& 9 " / % &3 Gastineau was one of the best pass-rushing defensive linemen I’ve ever seen. Same category as Klecko — as far as rushing the passer — but Klecko was a complete player. Gastineau didn’t care much about the run — he just would pass-rush. And Klecko was a team player [whereas] Gastineau was kind of “his own type of player.” He wasn’t a real team player. But he was awfully good. 365
SACK EXCHANGE
# * -- ) " . 1 50 / He marched to the beat of a different drummer. But the players had to respect him — for all the sacks he got. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": There were not those many people with other agendas [on the Jets]. The only other person that you’re going to hear about that had kind of his own agenda was Mark Gastineau. Things just got away from him a little bit. 1 "53:" / Great talent, weird guy. Mark was for Mark — Mark didn’t care about the Jets, and he didn’t care about me or anybody else. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I do a lot of motivational speaking and lecturing, and I’ll go to speak with teams, and say, “Do you have to get along to win? Do you have to love each other? Bull. I coached on a team that hated each other, and we won — we were that good.” There was so much kindergarten-jealousy stuff over Gastineau, and he was in another world. I’ll never forget, he drove to practice one day in a limo. And I said, “Mark, let’s talk. I don’t drink, so I’m not ‘one of the boys’ with the coaches. And I sometimes try to be too cute and smart, and I tick them off. Let’s you and I make a pact — that we’re one of the guys, and we’re going to make an effort to change.” Well, the next day, he drove up with a racing boat. So, it really paid off for me to talk to him. I don’t know what you’ve heard about Mark — he wasn’t a bad kid. He’s just not very smart — he didn’t have common sense. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / Didn’t always listen to advice like he should have. He didn’t have a bad bone in his body — but if you advised him on how to handle a situation, he would listen to the last guy that spoke to him. 5 *. % "7 & : Well, I’ll give you a hint. The players called him “Scarecrow.” If you know the Wizard of Oz story, it tells you that the guy didn’t have a brain. He was a hell of an athlete, but he was also in love with himself. They loved him when he performed his thing — sacks and played well. Did not like him when he did his own thing on the field, and I don’t mean dancing, I mean “stunting” — he would not like to go inside. When Mark was supposed to go inside on a stunt and Klecko was supposed to go on the outside of him and it didn’t go out that way, there was usually a rift between them. Several times, they were brought into Walt’s office and ripped a new asshole. But then again, Mark was his own guy. He did his own thing. 366
MARK GASTINEAU
Some players hated him, some players loved him. They all loved him when he was doing his thing — sacking the quarterback and making tackles. Because most of the time, you won when he did his thing. But you could bring him into your office and tell him something and talk to him for a half an hour, and say, “Okay, you’re going to do this, you’re going to do that, you’re not going to say anything to the press about this, about that.” And then five minutes later, he’s surrounded by the press, and he’s telling them everything that you just told him not to tell. They didn’t run him out of the locker room, but there were guys that just never talked to him, either. I don’t think he could understand or comprehend why they wouldn’t. You know, “Why am I such a bad guy?” If you were associated with the Jets and working for the Jets — you knew what was going on. I’m not going to deny it at all. Like I said, there were some guys that hated him, there were some guys who loved him — it all depended on who and when. -"83 & / $ & 1 *--&34 We had given him a nickname — the Scarecrow — because he didn’t think that much, he just came off the ball. I think that year when he came [to the Jets], he was always quick on the ball, but he wasn’t thinking. But the following year, he came back and he had buffed up and was thinking more of the responsibility of a football player on the defensive line. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 That was the first year that they allowed that number [99], so they gave it to me. Marty had 93, so 99 was mine. I didn’t even know it until I had come to the Jets that I had 99. They just gave it to me. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4&: Mark was a good buddy of mine. We spent quite a bunch of time together. Just watching him in practice, and the way that he matured when he first came in . . . when he first came in, he was chiseled like Hercules. But what I remember the most was his rookie year — and maybe his second year, too — he and Marvin Powell would go at it at practice. And Mark was the type that would always want to go full-speed — even during three-quarter-type run-throughs. I think Marvin Powell helped make Mark a much, much better ball player because when Mark came in, he was just raw talent. He didn’t have a lot of technique, like Marty Lyons, because he didn’t have the kind of coaching that Marty Lyons had at Alabama. It was comical sometimes, to see how Marvin Powell — an All-Pro right tackle — would toy with Mark. Mark coming at him full-speed, and Marvin using his techniques to just toy with Mark. That would 367
SACK EXCHANGE
really tick Mark off, and Mark would try harder and harder. Just watching those two go at it, and then, the respect they gained for one another — once Mark really started catching on to what he had to do to raise his level of play. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 I don’t think it was the team not trying to get along with him. I think he was a little naive when he first got there. He got some notoriety, and he maybe lost focus on what he was there to do, and he became more about “Mark,” instead of “Mark in the confines of the team.” (3 & ( # 6 55-& To this day, I still think that Mark Gastineau was the greatest single pass-rusher in the history of the game — and that says a lot. I’ve seen him do a lot of things. I’ve never seen anyone that fast and that quick. He had a lot of power, and he got to the passer better than anybody else would have — other than maybe Lawrence Taylor. But Lawrence Taylor wasn’t a defensive end. He — to this day — I would say still is. And that says a lot, because there are a lot of players out there that have done it great. Yet, he was a nonconformist, and whether he perceived himself to be better or bigger than he was, I can’t tell you. But his actions made that perception like that. Whether he wore a fur coat, or whether he looked at the cameras on the field when he took his helmet off, so people could see him — it was all about him. And a lot of players disliked that about him. Me, I really did not care. As a captain and defensive caller of the signals, I had to deal with what it was. I also knew one thing else, I don’t want any other defensive end on my team — outside of Klecko — because Gastineau is going to make sacks and change the game for us. So I didn’t care what he did — I didn’t hold a grudge, although maybe Klecko and Marty did. It was against Abdul Salaam’s constitution to do it, and he and I would laugh about certain things, and say, “That’s just Mark.” But it didn’t hurt our team in play. Listen, did everyone love Reggie Jackson? I don’t think so. But when you hit three home runs in a World Series [game] . . . all right, I’ll take you! So Gastineau was one of those game-changing type of players that I would love to have on my team. I don’t care if he wants to dance with camels later — just play the game on Sunday. I think that’s part of what Walt Michaels used to preach — “If you play on Sunday, that’s all that I care about.” And he did. There was nobody that said he didn’t. He brought it every single game. And when you have a player bringing it every single game, you’ve got to love him. Now that doesn’t mean that he was going to play the run the way you wanted him to play 368
MARK GASTINEAU
the run, or on a blitz he wasn’t going to screw up the blitz. But he was bringing it. And I’ll take a guy that is bringing it 100 percent every game. 1 & 1 1 & 3 # 6 3 3644 Gastineau was a freak of nature. His speed was countered by Klecko’s strength. For Joe to do these crazy numbers of bench presses . . . we would do what we called “dips and chins” — where we would do dips, chinups, and bench-press tests at 200 or 250 pounds. Joe would do these unbelievable numbers because he was just unbelievably strong in his upper body. Whereas Gastineau was . . . I don’t know whether to say quick or fast — I think he might have been both. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 I would work about an hour and a half on my stomach. I wrote a book [in 1985]. It was called The Body You Want. It was years ahead of its time. And now, they talk about core instead of stomach. They talk about the core being the center of the gravity, and everything comes from your stomach. Basically, when you think about it, it does. Because when you throw a ball, you put your legs into it, and when you throw, the power comes from the stomach. You’re only as strong as your weakest link. To get your leg power distributed up into your upper body, you would lose it if you had a weak stomach. Because to get that up there where you can make different moves and stuff, you have to have that strong core — as they say now. That was what we were working on, and that’s what really made me just above the average player — I was working with the weights and stuff. A lot of my sacks came from inside moves and stuff like that. It was something that I wouldn’t play half as good if I wouldn’t have done a regimented program — as far as lifting and stuff. I would do my own thing [training in the off-season]. The first year I came in, I was ten or fifteen pounds too heavy, so I had to get rid of some of that weight. You just throw yourself around and finally, you get in a groove and find out what works for you. 1 "5 -& " ) : I thought, in a positive way, Mark was probably one of the greatest one-dimensional players to ever play the game. Mark could pin his ears back and rush the quarterback. That helped us win some football games — there’s no question about it. But Mark also knew where the glory came from, and that was getting sacks. He and I got along very well because I understood what he was doing, and I wasn’t part of the defense. He and I were friends — we didn’t go 369
SACK EXCHANGE
out or anything, I was not in the “star category” of him. But I think after a year or two, it wore out his defensive teammates — that this was about sacks and his sack dance. Some of his defensive teammates didn’t appreciate all of his antics. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : Mark was probably one of the best pass-rushers I’ve ever seen. But I’ll stop short of saying he was a great run-support guy — he wasn’t. So a lot of times, if the strength was to Mark’s side, myself and Greg Buttle had to be really aware of what Mark might be doing. Because a lot of times, he didn’t play the correct defense. But that is what it is — and that’s just the way Mark was. So we knew. When I was on Joe Klecko’s side of the formation, it was a totally different story. So I had to know who the personnel was in the game at the time, and who I was dealing with. But other than that, Mark Gastineau was one hell of a good pass-rusher — I can give him that. .* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 He had Lance Mehl and Greg Buttle taking care of all of the things that allowed him to just rush the passer — from lining him up to whatever. He hung Lance and Greg out to dry. Because when you rush upfield like that, you create a seam that’s very easy to go through — and it’s a lot of area for a linebacker to have to cover. - " / $ & . & ) - I can remember playing the opening game of 1981: we played Buffalo, where we got beat 31–0. I’m just getting killed because I’m playing for Buttle, and I’m behind Mark. Mark wasn’t the best run-defender in the world — they were killing us, and he’s still playing the pass-rush! I’m getting blasted all over the place. I’m still making a lot of tackles, but they’re five or ten yards downfield. And the last one — this is the fourth quarter with maybe a couple of minutes left — I tell Mark to come down tight because they’re going to run the ball and they’re going to run the clock out. The last play — it must have been three plays in a row — I make the tackle, and I’m laying on the ground, right by Walt Michaels’ feet. Walt looks down at me, “Get out.” I look up at him, and I go, “But coach, I’m trying!” And he just goes, “I know, I know — I’m just getting you out of there.” He took me out — I guess he saw me getting beat up enough. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 Mark Gastineau kind of revolutionized how a defensive end should play. Once he matured and mastered the techniques, no one could block him. And the sack dance was the first time defensive linemen and defensive 370
MARK GASTINEAU
players ever really celebrated a sack. Before he did it, it was taboo to show off another lineman you beat — because somebody might clip you or hit you from behind. But he was the first one to really create a sack dance. I remember that players would threaten him — “If you do this again, we’re going to take you out.” I remember Mark coming to me once, and saying, “What do you think?” And I said, “The only reason that they’re taking shots at you is because you’re whipping them. If you weren’t whipping them, they wouldn’t take any shots at you. So keep doing it, keep dancing. Every time you dance, I know it’s a plus for us.” 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / Mark became a huge fan favorite obviously, because of the sack dance. Enjoyed the limelight, whereas I don’t think the other guys enjoyed it as much. He was more flashy, more flamboyant. The fans took to him — that whole sack dance thing took on a life of itself. -& / # & 3 . " / The Gastineau sack dance was just silly. But it was attention-getting. 1 "5 3:" / It was kind of entertaining the first time, kind of funny the second time, and the rest of it was just for show. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 It was really tough to get back to the quarterback — even in college. I did [the sack dance] all the way back then. No one ever said anything about it, but then I came into New York, and when I first did a dance down in Houston I think it was, the papers started [making a big deal about it]. It wasn’t something that I had planned. I was so excited about getting the quarterback that I just did a dance, and that was the way it was. So then they thought, “It’s a predetermined move. You can’t predetermine your move after your sack.” So I would have to predetermine not to dance after the sack. I would have to make myself aware that I couldn’t do any celebrations. % " / " -& 9 " / %&3 We didn’t like it. When he first started doing it, the crowd got into it a lot. We didn’t realize it was going to get out of hand like that. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : It hurt me, and I’ll tell you why — you’re showing up the person you just beat. The offensive linemen absolutely despised it. They would come at me, and Mark would do his pass-rush arch again, and they would run in his gap — where he was supposed to be — and then me and Greg Buttle would have 371
SACK EXCHANGE
to take on pulling guards and leading fullbacks. That didn’t sit right with me because, normally, those guards were especially ticked off — especially if it was a guard or a tackle who Mark just beat the previous play. So for my own psyche, I didn’t like it. But you know what? It was part of the game. It was great — it sold tickets. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 &: I liked it when he did it at Shea. He did at times when he shouldn’t have done it, and he did it at places he shouldn’t have done it. I think he learned after a while when to do it and when not to do it. It was good when we needed a pick-me-up in Shea Stadium sometimes. I just remember one or two sack dances brought the fans back into it. I think it helped us at times. 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , * / ( I was just like everybody else at Shea Stadium — watching it in awe. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. I used to be a personal cheerleader for Mark Gastineau. I had a special whistle, when it was third and long, and I would whistle like a bird — he knew it was me because he’d be shaking his head. And this guy could just turn it up. I had that whistle for him and Bruce Harper. The chemistry was so unique and so good — it was just like I was Gastineau and Bruce’s personal cheerleader. I actually got that whistle from a coach in high school — there was one coach and he would have that bird whistle, and that meant, “Turn it up.” I don’t know how Gastineau knew I was whistling for him, but you could see him shaking his head on third down. And he was a hell of a specimen of a man — he was fast, strong. We all had egos, so any attention that you could give him, even though there are 60,000 to 70,000 people in the stands, to get it from one of his teammates meant a lot to him. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 Mark Gastineau was a great player — even with his antics. A lot of people didn’t like his antics. My feeling was, “Okay, let him have fun. It’s not my style, but let him do his thing.” So he did his thing. And then one game, he sacked [the] quarterback, and it caused the quarterback to fumble — I think we were in Kansas City. The quarterback fumbled the ball, and he jumped up and was doing his sack dance — the ball is laying right there! He got up so fast to do his dance that he didn’t see that he caused a fumble. So at that point, that’s when I said, “Okay, enough is enough.” And I love Mark — he had some issues, but 372
MARK GASTINEAU
Mark is a good dude. But at that point, I said, “Enough is enough — we need to get back to basics.” I just said it to myself. These guys are pro athletes and they’re grown men. Marty Lyons was a great cheerleader and a leader — he’s one that could have said something to Mark. Klecko is one [who could have spoke to Mark]. Any one of those guys could have said something. But I was one not to talk very much — I wasn’t that “rah rah” kind of guy. I felt it and said it to myself, I probably even shook my head in disappointment — but I never said anything anybody. How are we going to tell another grown man — a professional football player — what he should and shouldn’t do? , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : I don’t know about the other players, but I personally told him many times. But who am I to tell Mark Gastineau what he should be doing? I mean, just rush the passer, and I was a happy camper [laughs]. It pretty much just went in one ear and out the other. " # % 6 -4 " -" ". Mark is a good promoter — he promoted himself by doing it. But at the same time, when it turns in a negative fashion, he has to deal with that, too. He knew the full scope of it. His excitement though . . . you’ve got to understand, he was trying to please the fans. The fans loved that enthusiasm about it. He had a tunnel vision about that. That was the competition and the challenge made to us — not just by Walt or the fans, but by the media. And so that’s where most of the heat came from. It was ferocious, and Mark’s sack dance was nothing more than what was demanded of him. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 I think that when you get as many as what I got, it does take away from . . . and then you do your ditty afterwards — your dance — it upset a lot of people. I’m sure that nobody’s said that they didn’t . . . well, they might have said they didn’t like it. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 I hated it. Everybody knows I hated it. I think Mark today — if he had to do it over — wouldn’t have done it. But when you’re young and you feel this could bring you more than you ever expected, I guess he had to do it. But for me, I couldn’t stand it. I always played the game with the premise, “Do unto others.” I kind of liked that somebody actually would stand up against him — he got into a fight with Jackie Slater and the Rams [on September 25, 1983]. 373
SACK EXCHANGE
." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 There was a big fight against the Rams, when Jackie Slater hit him. I came from behind and hit Jackie Slater. We accepted it because it was Mark. Did it come to a point where we disliked it? It comes to a point where it’s still a team sport. But we defended it. I got fined for fighting that day — I didn’t have to do that, but he was a teammate of mine. For somebody to hit a teammate and you not defend a teammate, then you’re pretty much isolating yourself, and saying, “I don’t want anything to do with you.” No — when it came time to work, there was respect. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % Being a quarterback, when you get sacked, nobody likes to see anybody jump up and down. So I wasn’t a big fan of what Mark did. I think it got him a lot of attention, and it drove the New York fans crazy. They sort of loved it. A lot of the people on our team didn’t appreciate him doing it, either. I think the New York people are the only people who enjoyed it. None of the other fans liked it in any other town we went into, and you can’t really blame them. You’re showing up the guy blocking you, you’re showing up the quarterback. It’s “Look at me.” + 0 & ' & 3 ( 6 4 0 / Nobody liked it. You get paid a lot of money to go do your job, and you’re supposed to get sacks — you don’t need to be running down the field and showing off. I still don’t care for it, but it’s been accepted as part of the game now. That was the first start of it — right there. The thing is, he got away with it — the league did nothing about it to try to stop it. Even though they didn’t express their gratitude for it, they didn’t do anything to stop it at that point. They’re trying to now, but they see that the fans like it — so they can’t totally stop it. - "8 3 & / $ & 1 * --&34 Every individual has their own way of celebrating — whether it’s inside, outside, or whatever. And he was one of the pioneers of “the celebration dance.” 45 & 7 & ( 3 0 ( " / I don’t know if that was the instigator [for many modern-day NFL players to over-celebrate after big plays] — in general, there were a couple of other guys that started doing that kind of thing, both offensively and defensively. But he was definitely in on the initial “movement.” ,& / 0 # 3 * & / He’s the one who brought on all this stuff that we’re seeing 374
ap photo ⁄ nfl photo
Forget the moonwalk . . . do the sack dance!: Mark Gastineau does his thing
SACK EXCHANGE
nowadays that everybody does when they get a first down. Well now, here we are, twenty-five or thirty years later, and they’re mimicking him. He should have patented it at the time — he would have been well off every time somebody did a little jig after they did something good! 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 644&/ Wait a minute . . . that’s part of the game now — the NFL encourages that now! They want all this wacky dance, spinning the ball, and all this other stuff. I like it when Matt Snell goes in the end zone, flips the ball to the referee, and we move on. I don’t like this new era of “the celebration,” and all this other funky stuff that goes on. My point is, there are eleven guys out there, and ten of them helped you make that play, okay? Without the other ten, you don’t do what you just did. It just seems to me, “Hey, look at me. Look at what I did.” You didn’t do that — there are eleven guys that did that, and there are five coaches on the sidelines that helped you do that. In my opinion, it’s like you’re trying to attract attention to yourself. It’s a team sport. But Mark is an enthusiastic guy, and would get caught in the moment — so it happens. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I had nothing to do with Gastineau’s sack dance, but I friggin’ loved it. I wanted them to practice with enthusiasm and intensity — which they didn’t do previously. It was embarrassing the way we practiced, until I made them practice with some enthusiasm. And then, there started to be “wars” between Marvin Powell and [Mark] Gastineau, between John Roman and [Joe] Klecko. It was a war every day at practice. And we played like we practiced. I got the blame for creating the monster of the Gastineau dance, but I had nothing to do with it. I knew one thing, somebody said to him during a meeting, “That’s that All-Hempstead shit, Mark. What are you trying to do?” I shut the projector off, and I said, “Don’t you ever tell any of my players not to show enthusiasm and intensity in practice.” And that player probably never liked it — in essence, I put him down in front of the whole defense. The competition between Klecko and Gastineau became fierce. If one got two sacks, the other got three the next week. And I’ll never forget, Greg Buttle once said to me, “Coach, Gastineau doesn’t know what he’s doing.” And I said, “I don’t care. You got 1,400 in the SATs. You figure out what he’s going to do — and you do the opposite.” Buttle got pissed at me, but I said, “That’s what I want you to do. Get this straight — no one can rush the passer like him.” And I really believed that. I clocked Gastineau at 4/4/5 — at 290 pounds. And Walt 376
MARK GASTINEAU
didn’t want me to tell anybody. Think of that — 6' 4'', 290. Back in those days, a 4/4/5! And I could time — I was legitimate. I saw [Gastineau] beat Cleveland — he made the last three sacks in the game. If he made three sacks to win the game, how do you place a value on that? Whether he could play the run or not is another thing — the guy could rush the passer. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ I never had any problems with him, other than telling Mark, “When you do that sack dance, you have to get back in the huddle, so you can get the call.” Because he’d always get in there, and be like, “What’s the defense?” I was like, “If you’d get in the huddle, you’d know!” -" / $ & . & ) - The first couple of times, I’d tell him to get in the huddle, and then after that, it wasn’t even worth it. I’d just wait for him, he’d come, look up at me after the huddle was done, and say, “Lance, what are we doing?” ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& I called all the defensive signals, so I’m the guy that’s trying to make sure everything is done right — one way or another. But Gastineau, he was funny — he wouldn’t get in the huddle. And a lot of the guys playing used to get upset that he wasn’t in the huddle. The first time he wasn’t in the huddle, I was mad, too. I go, “Come on, get in the huddle! We have to talk about what’s going on here.” And the longer I played behind Mark — because he was left end and I was left linebacker — the more it didn’t matter that he wasn’t in the huddle. I could care less if he was in the huddle. There were plenty of times on time-outs that he’d have his helmet off, looking at the cameras on the sidelines, but I used to laugh — I thought it was funny. I didn’t take it as a personal swipe at me — or the team. It didn’t matter that he wasn’t in the huddle because when he’d come back and he’d say, “What’s the defense?” I’d just say, “Rush the passer.” What do I care? I want you to get the passer. I’ll cover for whatever it’s going to be, and that’s basically what happened. So we really had a hard time blitzing. If you went to go blitz, and Gastineau felt like he was going to go inside, he didn’t care that I was blitzing inside him — or outside. We didn’t really blitz that much as a football team because first of all, you had the four horses in the front, and second of all, it was almost like you didn’t know where to blitz. You’d almost have to have a delayed blitz, let Gastineau go where he wants, and then I’d just go into the next hole. But we had a bunch of smart players on that team. I’d say we had more smarts than we had physical ability. 377
SACK EXCHANGE
- " / $ & . & ) - He couldn’t make it all the way back to the huddle, so he’d just slowly walk back with his hands on his hips and his head down. He’d just expended more energy while he did the sack dance than I used to make the tackle! I can make two or three tackles and get back to the huddle and expend less energy than he did with those sack dances. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ Mark alienated some people. Mark was very young and a flamboyant kind of guy. He wanted to be like Joe Namath and have the lifestyle — the mink coats, the boats, and all that. And people treated him that way. They attributed it to him being this perceived selfish guy. But let me tell you, Mark is one of the best friends I’ve ever had. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 I really liked Mark, but he got to a point where he came off being very selfish at times, and you just never knew where he was coming from. Sometimes, he could be like your best friend, and at other times, he wouldn’t even say anything to you. He got caught up in the money, and his wife, and everything else, and it just went to his head. But it’s still not for me to judge a person because deep down, Mark was a really good guy. We all have our shortcomings, and that was the bottom line. 5 & % # " / , & 3 He did his own thing. Sometimes I felt sorry for him for that reason. Let me tell you, every year his best friend was a rookie — I’ll just leave it at that. He was a sweetheart. . . . Mark sometimes didn’t do the right thing. But I think everybody knew that anyway, and we all just dealt with it. I would actually catch a cab with him — going to road games and to the stadium with him. We wouldn’t get on the bus, we’d get a cab together. And I felt sometimes, “Man, this guy doesn’t have many friends.” I would feel for him. Because inside, he was really a nice guy. But I think sometimes outside forces got the best of him. # " 3 3: # & / / & 55 He kind of took me under his wing a little bit because Klecko and Lyons were really good buddies, and for whatever reason, Mark wasn’t in there. He was very good to me. We wore the same sized shoes, the same sized pants, and he gave me stuff. He took me for rides in his Rolls-Royce. He helped us get tickets to the Radio City Music Hall. Mark was real good to me. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ The guy would give you the shirt off his back. He gave me 378
MARK GASTINEAU
his car so I could drive up to a game. He went out to Arizona, and Mark has Native American heritage — like I do, I’m Cherokee Indian. He went out to the reservation, and there was this Indian named Robert Yellowhair, he would find silver and pound it out by hand. He’d make all this jewelry by hand. And he made this beautiful belt buckle — like the cowboys wear, with all turquoise stones around it — and it had his name in gold. I was like, “Man, that’s really nice, I like that. Who made that?” Don’t you know, the next year he had one for me. To my knowledge, there’s only two of them — he got one and I got one. I actually gave it to my son — my son wears it. Things like that. And his dad, we called him “Big Ern” — he’d come hang out with us. He was just like one of the guys. I could see where Mark got his “free spirit” from — from his dad. I was like, “Damn, Mrs. Gastineau isn’t worried about where her husband is at?” He was hanging out with us most of the time — partying. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 I really think Mark’s a good guy. I think some things happened that maybe he didn’t handle as well as he should have, and maybe we didn’t either. It was awkward. And he didn’t make it any less awkward by trying to be one of the guys — he kept himself different. I pity the guy because he had a lot of ability. He was probably the first guy that could run and be as big as he was. Maybe when some of the rules changed — when you couldn’t do certain things — that hurt him. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 Abdul, I’d say [was one of my best friends on the Jets]. And Barry Bennett — he was really close. I’d go hunting with Mickey Shuler. During the season, we’d go on our day off, and go upstate, and go hunting. And Bruce Harper was good, too. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 - &3 I took him hunting. . . . We’re upstate at Joel Youngblood’s — the baseball player [for the Mets from 1977–1982] — we’re going to go hunting on his property in upstate New York. Mark has to go in his Rolls-Royce because he’s got a phone in that Rolls-Royce. I like to hunt and fish — that’s what I did on my days off. First, before we go there, he says, “Can you shoot a pheasant?” Because there were pheasants around Hofstra back then. I said, “Yeah, I can shoot one of those pheasants.” So he has me in his Rolls-Royce, driving around the Hofstra campus — there were concrete runways in the back — you could always see a couple of pheasants hanging out back there. So I shoot at the pheasant. Then we go hunting. 379
SACK EXCHANGE
I figure his wife is going to go along, so we can sleep on the way back. Well, no — whatever she did, she wasn’t able to drive home after the hunt. During the hunt, I give him the morning stand, where they had the most activity for the morning hunt — this is archery. Mark uses all six arrows — he didn’t practice much before he went. So I get the best stand in the evening hunt, and just when it’s starting to get prime time — when the deer are going to start moving — I hear him hollering my name. I go, “Oh my god . . . I’m going to kill you.” I don’t answer him because I don’t want him to find me, but he wanders around and comes within bow range, and I’m at full draw. I’m like, “You need to immediately turn around and go back to your tree. I don’t care if you’re getting cramps or what’s happened to you — sit at your tree and I’ll get you when I’m finished hunting . . . or I’m going to shoot you!” That was the last time I took him hunting. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8 &3 I got to know Mark a little bit in the Pro Bowl. To me, Mark was a nice guy, but he wanted a whole lot of attention. Mark wanted to be loved [laughs]. I think he was just a big kid that enjoyed doing something well, and wanted everybody to know when he did do something well. With a lot of guys, that’s a problem — especially back then. You didn’t see a lot of that. And the other thing is Mark married a girl from Alabama, she went to the University of Alabama — Lisa. So I knew him a little bit that way, as well. I always thought he was a nice guy, but was one of those guys that wanted a whole lot of attention. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I didn’t care what any player does — I loved Gastineau. I used to see things that certain players would do to Mark Gastineau that were despicable — and they’re not being a teammate. Nobody should shun certain teammates or affect certain teammates to be a certain way because they don’t like another player. A lot of that went on. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ That was more publicity for the Jets [when Mark dated Brigitte Nielsen]. That’s Frank Ramos — they ate that stuff up. That was more press for them, so they were cool with it. I think they helped alienate Mark from the rest of the team by what they did. For instance, we always used to have the Thanksgiving dinner at the Marriott. And at this particular Thanksgiving dinner, you’ve got the whole team there and our families, and the PR guy gets up and says, “Mark Gastineau will be available for autographs.” Not the team — just Mark. We were like, “Well . . . then what the hell are we doing here?” That was a 380
MARK GASTINEAU
PR mistake — Mark didn’t do that. They did that. So they attributed to some of his downfall and alienation from the team. 1 "5 3:" / Mark was by himself, but he put himself there. And he wanted to be there. The Sack Exchange was the Sack Exchange, but as far as Mark was concerned, it was “The Gastineau Sack Exchange.” + 0 & ( " 3 % * The Mark Gastineau situation I think personally hurt the Jets. At times, it was like coaching a kindergarten team. That’s the only thing that makes me sad — if we didn’t have that petty stuff, god knows what that team could have done. -" / $ & . & ) - I think Marty and Joe and Abdul put up with it. They didn’t hang out, but hell, there are a lot of guys that didn’t hang out with each other there. But Mark did stupid things too, to irk them — that we didn’t know about, I found out about later. I seemed to be the one that he would talk to more, I guess because I would listen to him. But Mark was unique — I didn’t know if he had a lot of great friends on the team, but I don’t think anybody truly hated him. He was just a different character. He was more of a loner, too. He had his own agenda. He always wanted to do certain things. When he was younger, it wasn’t that way — I think as he got more famous, he became more of a loner. I’m not sure that if his girlfriend habits and stuff after he and Lisa split up . . . who knows? That whole mess was “interesting.” 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / Not a lot of great stuff going on there [Mark Gastineau and Joe Klecko’s relationship]. They were just very, very different people — very different backgrounds. Once again, Joe was a Pennsylvania guy. Old-school, worked hard — just a real respected guy. Mark came from this small town in Oklahoma. He had this amazing talent, and didn’t really have much exposure on what was going to happen on the big stage of New York. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I’m not too sure if Joe had as much of a problem with Gastineau as someone else on the D-line did. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I remember one of the players put a big, nasty wad of Skoal in his McDonald’s Coke. Players were going around just watching him, if he was 381
SACK EXCHANGE
going to drink this crap. I don’t know, they just weren’t very nice. And they still fight about it. I remember Marty and Gastineau — when I was doing the TV/ radio stuff [for the Jets circa the late ’90s] — we were out in Chicago, and sometimes you do these appearances on behalf of the Jets. There was an appearance thing where Marty was speaking, and he said something in reference to Mark — he said he didn’t mean it in a negative light, but Mark took it like that — and they were ready to fight back then. They had to break them up. Over the years, I think Joe Klecko and Mark really speak only when they have to — maybe. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I think all of us, we’re mature enough to know that you don’t have to socialize with somebody to understand you have to play with somebody. Were we buddy-buddies? I’d be lying to you to say that we were. But when we were out there at practice, it was a time to go to work. You didn’t sit there and isolate yourself from him. But when practice was over, it wasn’t like Pat Leahy, where you’d say, “Hey Pat, let’s go have a beer today.” Work was done, and then you waited for work tomorrow, and you were sociable. You respected his ability. We needed Mark to play at his high level, and play at his intensity because he was an integral part to say if we were going to win or lose. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6 . A lot of the guys didn’t understand Gastineau, and I understood him. I’m not saying that I’m better than anybody — I just took him for who he was. He was a kid coming into the league that was egotistical as hell — as all of us were. But he had a huge ego. A hell of an athlete. I think a lot of players were jealous. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0 / Mark, underneath, he’s a very fragile guy. And you saw that later on, when he started making the wrong decisions — by quitting football too early, and with Brigitte. And then trying to get back in, and going to jail. To this day, he’s still not the same guy. I know something happened in his life — whether it was him leaving ball — and [he] couldn’t get back to where he was. Whatever it was, something happened devastating in his life, that he went off the deep end. But we never turned our back on him — we always supported him, even when he was in Rikers, and he was living at other people’s houses, or living on the street, or whatever. I’d be out trying to find him and help him — as opposed to saying how bad he was doing.
382
MARK GASTINEAU
+ 0 & ( " 3 % * The last time I saw Mark, [Bill] Parcells was the head coach of the Jets. I was having lunch at the University Club, which was right by the Jets’ old practice field. One of my coaches went over to watch the Jets practice, and said, “You ought to go over — somebody’s asking for you.” I say, “Who?” And they say, “Mark Gastineau.” I went in, and the security guard stopped me — didn’t know who I was. I went in, and Mark didn’t recognize me. He finally said, “Oh, coach!” And gave me a big hug. I haven’t seen him since then. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": Before Mark became “The Icon of New York,” he was a good enough guy. He was a regular Okie. What I think happened is that, like a guy named Brian Bosworth, you start becoming a caricature of yourself and your football persona starts becoming your life persona, and it’s not necessarily true, but people like to run with certain things. I think they liked to see Mark become a dancing bear, y’know, goober that was just hopping around. But the fact was, he was a tremendous physical specimen. I think that he probably wishes he had not left the NFL for his girlfriend, and not turned down $800,000 to go do whatever he was going to do, and just stayed in football, taken about twenty deep breaths, relaxed, and become one hellacious football player — rather than an all-around/do-everything type of guy. Which was going to be “Mr. Movies/Mr. Commercials/Mr. Book Writer.” Because lord knows, you don’t get many chances to become a premier, stud football player. And he had it right there at his fingertips. I don’t speak for Mark — I haven’t spoken to Mark in over twenty years — but the chances that he had were so evident and easy to see. Right there in front of him. If I could have counseled him, I’d have told him to put all non-football matters in second or third place, and put football in first place — right after your family. By then, you’ll have a ten-, twelve-year career, and you might be heading to Canton. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 I would say that yeah, maybe [I have a shot at the Hall of Fame]. But that would be a surprise. When you have twenty sack seasons back to back, and the only player to ever do that — like Michael Strahan said, “How did you do that?” It was really tough. I think the stuff off the field probably will hinder it, but still, is it what you do on the field, or what you do off the field? And half of the stuff that they said wasn’t true, anyway. # * -- ) " . 1 50/ He led the league in sacks all that time, and the sack record 383
SACK EXCHANGE
was broken by that guy with the Giants [Michael Strahan, on January 6, 2002, at Giants Stadium] when he had that “falsified” sack he made on Brett Favre. It wasn’t a sack, but he broke Gastineau’s record. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 I just went over and gave [Strahan] a hug. I was going to give him a hug no matter what. A friend of mine from Times Square Church was with me — Jimmy Mackery — and he’s legally blind, so he was by my side. Anyway, I went over, and said, “Jimmy, if he gets the record, I’m going to give him a hug, and if he doesn’t get the record, I’m going to give him the same hug.” So I went over and gave him a hug. Whatever happened didn’t affect me at all. I know there are people that have said things about the record — it’s not for me to worry about. 1 & 1 1 & 3 # 6 3 3644 Interestingly, if you talk about things coming full circle, I was on the field when Gastineau’s sack record was broke by Strahan. [Editor’s Note: Burruss is now the Packers’ trainer]. I got to give Mark a big hug. And when that “sack” — wink, wink, wink — of Favre and Strahan took place, Favre came off to the sideline, and I looked at him, and said, “You just had to do that, didn’t you?” And he looked, and he said, “Why?” And I said, “You broke my boy’s record!” Meaning Gastineau. After the game, I saw Mark — who I hadn’t seen in ages. Gave him a hug, and life goes on. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 There’s one record that’s never going to be broken that I’ve got, and that’s the Lamb’s Book of Record. And if you’re in the Lamb’s Book of Record, you don’t even worry about a sack record. That’s the least that you worry about. But if you’re not on the Lamb’s Book of Record . . . do you know what that is? You look that up — you’ll learn exactly what something means to me as far as a record. That is the only record that will mean anything to me. If you’re on that list, you’re all right — you’re going to make it. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 I was involved in the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and had a young man who wasn’t doing well, and his wish was to spend a day with Mark Gastineau. I asked Mark if he would do it, and without hesitation and no problem at all, he did it, and gave that kid just a wonderful day. And two weeks later, [the young man] passed away. I’ll never say anything bad about Mark Gastineau because the only thing I ever asked him to do, he did it. And he didn’t complain about 384
MARK GASTINEAU
it. It was a wonderful thing he did for that kid. Do I like his sack dance? No. But there’s a lot of things I don’t like [laughs]. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": Looking back on it, he probably wishes he could have changed a couple of things. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* /&"6 My career, nothing really [would I do differently]. Maybe the strike . . . but I would have did the same.
385
44 LEON HESS
L
ongtime Jets owner Leon Hess is remembered by the players and personnel who knew him best.
%" / " -& 9 " / % & 3 You probably couldn’t have a better owner than Leon Hess. He would come to training camp and talk to us, give a little motivational speech every year. It didn’t necessarily motivate us, but we enjoyed listening to him. And he always paid well — we had some pretty good contracts on the Jets back in the ’80s. Leon would hire a coach and let them coach, and he would stay out of it pretty much. In thirteen years, we only had two head coaches. 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , */( Pretty much the opening day of training camp, he would start his speech about two feet away from the microphone, and as his talk went on, he got closer and closer. By the end, it was damn near down his throat, and he was screaming [laughs]. He was very “hands-off ” once the season started — which is nice, when you see a guy like down in Dallas now [Jerry Jones]. That’s a little too “hands-on” for me. Mr. Hess seemed to let the coaches and the front office do things the way they wanted. #* -- ) " . 1 50 / Wonderful owner. He was instrumental in the group that bought the Jets, and carried on the tradition forward with the Jets. 30 / $ 0 ) & / To this day, I’ve never seen an executive — or even a person — as respected or revered as much as Mr. Hess. I mean, when he walked in and 386
LEON HESS
had something to say . . . he wasn’t a talker, but when he did talk, it was really important. He had such a presence — he wasn’t a physically imposing figure, but boy, did he have presence. And respect. He was incredibly loyal to people. He cared about the players and cared about the fans. At that time, he was one of few owners that — just on a business basis — we never put the preseason games on the season ticket package for the fans because Mr. Hess thought it was the wrong thing to do, to force people to buy that at that time. But he cared more about winning than I think most people on the outside will ever realize. I just remember whether it was the players, the coaches, the front office staff — [they all had] just a massive respect for this man. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 ,6. Leon Hess was a man that I always emulated. He was a businessman to the core. He was so intimidating, yet underneath, he was a gracious man. I’ve dabbled in a few business opportunities, and I would think about the things he said — “Wear a black suit, not a fancy tie, no fancy shoes, when you go on a business deal.” And that stayed with me. But when he would pull up in that limousine with that cigar, and I’m out there getting the shit knocked out of me and sweating in that heat, I’m going, “I’d rather be like him.” [Laughs.] He was the kind of guy that was very passionate about us. He would always bring us in as a family for Thanksgiving [and] Christmas dinner. And he was Jewish, but at the same time, he respected the fact that most of us were Christians or worshipped Christmas. He did that for us, and would give out Hess trucks, and have a big spread. It was one day that we all came together as a family. He tried to be fair. He was “salt of the earth” — a very good man. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 He loved the team. He took to certain players — I knew how much he loved Freeman. A lot of things people don’t know about him was that he had relationships with players outside the team. I remember after I broke my leg in 1980, I was lying in bed at Lenox Hill Hospital — this has to be, like, nine at night. And this figure comes into my room — it’s Leon. He has a short-band radio for me. He sits down, and he told me what he thought about me as a player, and he’s here because he respects my opinion about questions he wants to propose to me. The first question he asks me is what did I think of the job Walt Michaels was doing, and whether or not he should fire him. I remember what I said to Leon that night: “Sure, you can blame the coach. But the coach doesn’t play on the field. It’s the players who play, and the players should be held 387
SACK EXCHANGE
as much responsible for what happens on the field and the win/loss categories as much as the coach. When you’re assessing as to who you keep and who you don’t keep, you’ve got to keep that in mind.” .* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 I think he was a great owner. If he would have spent more time running us like he ran Hess Oil, we probably would have been Super Bowl champs. Just a quick side note: when I got hurt, he walked to the hospital and brought me a present. Here’s a quote from him: “You chose this profession” — and a couple other words — “You better dog-gone well do your job because it’s expected.” He wanted a Super Bowl. You can see, he got a little more involved as time went on — taking complete ownership of the team and doing things. I guess because he was getting older, he never really finished what he started. I think he regretted not having a Super Bowl champion. [Hess did part-own the Jets during their 1969 Super Bowl win.] Again, I think it was because he was taking some guidance maybe from other sources — I don’t know. I loved the guy, and I only had brief encounters with him. He knew who the players were that played, and he made it a point to come and see you. After every game, he came to see me, and I appreciated it. I just felt bad that we never won one for him. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 He never knew my name [laughs]. I think I was captain eight or nine years, and Leon never knew my name. So he wasn’t my fondest of owners. Other than to say “Hello” to Mr. Hess, that was about my only contact ever with him. I know in the locker room, he would bring Frank Purdue in there, he brought the shah of Iran, the emperor of Japan. I got to meet all those people, which was kind of cool. But Leon didn’t really know that I existed — it was a different relationship. ,& / 0 # 3 * & / He was always a gentleman, and he wanted to win. He was really proud and happy when things went well — he was very loyal to his people. He wanted to run it like the way he ran his business — put a real good, solid product out there. And he did. He was a class man all the way through. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 He never, ever was late on a paycheck, and he always did what he said he was going to do. He was a good man. I really loved that man.
388
45
TOUGHEST OPPONENTS: TEAMS
W
ho are the toughest teams the 1980s Jets faced? Let’s let the players explain. . . .
8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 If you’re going to be successful, you don’t ever bring that up [laughs]. I learned a long time ago — when I was going to go play somebody, I didn’t want anybody telling me how good my opponent was or who was the toughest. Because sometimes, it will rub off on the player, and if things don’t go absolutely right, he’s going to come back to you and say, “Well, coach, that guy was too tough for me.” No. You’re my toughest. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& The toughest teams for us were always our division rivals. You played them twice, and although you wanted to beat them twice, sometimes you lost seven in a row, sometimes you won seven in a row. Miami and New England were always competitive for us. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 In the early ’80s, in our division, we had some really powerful rivalries. The one thing that you do is you draft and get your players to make sure you can beat the players in your own division because if you can’t win those games in your division, you’re never going to go anywhere. Miami was always one of our toughest teams to play against. We knew each other so well. We measured ourselves against Miami — as Miami measured themselves against us. Our players had to be able to take their players for us to win, and Miami’s guys had to be able to take us for them to win. It was an outstanding rivalry — but so was Buffalo, 389
SACK EXCHANGE
so was New England. The AFC East was really a bitch back then. The Colts were still in there. We had quite a group. 5 & % # " / , & 3 We seemed to split with Miami all the time. We seemed to split with the Patriots much of the time, and sometimes, we beat Buffalo two times a year. That was before ’86 — before Buffalo started getting good. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 The Patriots for us were tough [and] of course the Dolphins. Our division was murderous. Buffalo during that era went to the Super Bowl four times, and then the Patriots went to the Super Bowl and Miami went to the Super Bowl. We were the only team that really didn’t. So those teams in that division — except for Baltimore at that time — were out biggest rivalries. %" 3 3 0 -3 ": The AFC East, I don’t think there’s anybody that just “laid down.” Everybody was good. "-50 0 / The “gunslinging games” were always with Miami — it always seemed like we were pushing it towards the end. It was pedal to the metal with those guys. ,& / 0 # 3 * & / The Dolphins, you’re playing them two times and you know what you’ve got, you just had to come out and play, and those were usually exciting games. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 I think the toughest team was always Miami because you had to play them twice. There was a period of time where I think we won, like, eight in a row, and then all of a sudden, it would flip and they would win eight in a row. They had Don Shula, Dan Marino, and the Killer B’s on defense. But with all the transplant fans that are in Miami, you always felt like, “Okay, let’s go down there.” But it was always a difficult place to play. It always seemed like it was going to be on prime time — you were always going to play on a Monday night or an early September day. It was going to be nationally televised. And whenever you looked over and saw a Don Shula–coached team, you knew they were going to be well-prepared and well-coached. %" 3 3 0 -3 ": The Dolphins were always extremely solid because of their coach and the way they went about their business. 390
TOUGHEST OPPONENTS: TEAMS
" # % 6 - 4 " -" ". Miami was more of a “finesse” [team] — with Shula. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. &4 Back then, with Marino throwing the ball, and they had [Mark] Duper and [Mark] Clayton — little fast receivers — I was challenged by that. # " 3 3: # & / / &55 Mark “Super Duper” beat us one of those years in Miami. We had a five- or six-point lead, and one of our defensive backs drops an interception that hits him in the stomach. One or two plays later [Miami went ahead and won] . . . and I don’t even think it’s Marino at this point, it was probably that kid from LSU [David Woodley]. Those six years I played there, Miami had our number pretty good. When I was in New Orleans, it was Atlanta, and when I was with New York, Miami was a very tough team to beat. 8" -5 . * $ ) " &-4 If you noticed, we had the winning record against Miami. [Shula] had the most wins, but we had the better team — and he didn’t beat us. If you’re going to be the winner in football, you have to beat the winning teams. And that’s the way I approached the game, and that’s how I approach life. " # % 6 - 4 " -" ". New England with [John] Hannah — that was always hard. 4 $ 0 55 % * & 3 , */( The Patriots with Steve Grogan. There was one year they scored 56 against us [in 1979], and 55 [in 1978]. Don’t know why, it’s just one of those things — you trip coming out of the gate, and you never get back on your feet. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % The team that I hated to play more than any other — especially my first couple of years — was the New England Patriots. They beat us like drums. I remember we went up there and got beat 56–3. It was probably the worst drumming I ever had as an athlete. " + % 6 ) & I always thought the Patriots gave the Dolphins fits. They had a great offensive line. They had John Hannah, Bill Lenkaitis, Sam Cunningham, Steve Grogan. Grogan I thought was a very methodical quarterback who really did as much as he could with this talent. , & / 0 # 3 * & / The Patriots were always a battle back and forth — they had some great players, with Andre Tippett, Steve Nelson. 391
SACK EXCHANGE
$) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 &: I really enjoyed playing against the Patriots because they drafted me, and when I didn’t sign with them, I got threatening letters from fans. Here I was, a college kid, and I got a letter from someone in the front office, informing me that I was going to be held “personally responsible” for all the expense and troubles that they had to go through to find a punter! That scared the crap out of me. I’m thinking, “Can they do that?” But I didn’t like playing New England in New England — I liked playing them in Shea or at home. It was always a dogfight, but we always seemed to pull it out. Up there, we’d just get our lunch handed to us. #3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 Absolutely, New England was tough. Very physical. #0 # # : + " $ , 4 0 / I think Buffalo — we always had tough games against Buffalo. Buffalo was one of those teams that you had to strap it on and play sixty minutes. " + % 6 ) & The Bills — with Joe Ferguson and Joe Cribbs. . " 3 * 0 / # " 3 # & 3 It was always tough going up to Buffalo. During those early ’80s, they were probably a .500 team. But that was always a team too that we had to beat. "# % 6 - 4 " -" " . If you take Buffalo, they had an offensive line that was dirty and mean — it was hard. That was tough. They loved to run the ball at you. They would come out and hit you — it was a bloody nose–type game. That was fun. ,& / 0 # 3 * & / I think when the Bills got hot with Bruce Smith playing, he had a lot of success against us, and you’re playing up there in Buffalo, and they’re running that spread or that K-Gun, and they’re putting a lot of points up on the board — they were real tough. 3* $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I remember my rookie year, the Baltimore Colts with Bert Jones — they had a fabulous defense back then. I think I played late in the game — Joe was the starter. Those guys were pretty impressive. And then of course, the Raiders were a bugbear for everybody. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & - 4 When you’re coaching against Oakland at the time — in all 392
TOUGHEST OPPONENTS: TEAMS
fairness to Al Davis, he had everybody in the organization ready to beat you. Well, that’s what I wanted — everybody in the organization, everybody on the field. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 .644&/ In the late ’60s, it was the Oakland Raiders. That was a battle. It was fun though. As I always said, “You walk on the field against the Raiders, and you knew one thing — you were going to hurt when you came off.” You knew that — it was a given. It was a physically challenging game, but there was a lot of emotion. It started from the top — Weeb [Ewbank] and Al Davis. We were practicing at Shea Stadium before one of the Raiders games, and there was a guy way up in the upper deck. Weeb sent Bill Hampton, and said, “Al’s got one of his spies up there.” Bill goes up there, and it was a guy that was cleaning the stadium! And what was really strange was it was my understanding — and I have nothing other than hearsay to base this on — but Al and Weeb, they’d talk to each other on almost a daily basis on the phone. Each one of them I guess was trying to figure out what the other one was doing — which added to the intrigue of the game itself. There are always tough teams to play. We had a stretch there in the late ’70s where we couldn’t touch the New England Patriots. Grogan would wait for the Jets to come, and then just bomb us out when he came in. But I say the most memorable ones for me were the Oakland Raiders rivalries in ’68, ’69, ’70. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1&3 The Raiders were dirty. I remember getting beat up — we may have won the game, but I felt like we lost, physically. The Raiders were a very physical team. It was almost intimidating walking into their stadium. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& The Oakland Raiders. I remember playing them my rookie year and they had a wonderful team — beat you any particular way they wanted. That was one of the few teams that could throw their pads on the field and beat you. They were out all night drinking the night before and still beat you. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 - &3 The steroid-riddled Steelers! $ -" 3 , ( " * / &4 The toughest team was the Steelers. That was during their Super Bowl heyday. Blocking Jack Ham and Jack Lambert was a little bit difficult [laughs]. They probably were the toughest. 393
SACK EXCHANGE
." 3 , ( " 4 5* / & "6 In the early ’80s, Pittsburgh was always tough — they had Mike Webster. % " 3 3 0 -3 ": Pittsburgh Steelers — there was nothing easy about playing them. I may be mistaken, but they only had eight Hall of Famers on the field at one time. How awesome is that? 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 I look at the defense backs as a team. The best team was Pittsburgh. I think we beat them one time in my career. It was just a horror — always just whupped on us. Mel Blount was big, tough, and he could run. They had All-Pros at virtually every position. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& The Steelers, man, they were tough to play because you’d go out there and play like crazy, and they’d find a way to beat you. That’s what good teams do — find a way to beat teams that aren’t as good as they are. And to this day, it still holds true. It doesn’t matter what you think about parity, it’s the same old way — the teams that find a way win, and that’s why they’re good. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6 . The Pittsburgh Steelers. They used to have a receivers coach, Lionel Taylor, and he used to coach and attended college in the same small black division that I did, Texas Southern University. He would come up and holler at [Richard] Caster and I — “Well, we came over here to kick your ass and go back home!” And they did — it’s not that we laid down and we weren’t trying. It’s just that Pittsburgh was a powerhouse. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": The Steelers started to decline because some of their Hall of Famers were getting ready for their induction speeches — that was probably the only reason [laughs]. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8 &3 The toughest team I played against was Pittsburgh. In ’79, the Dolphins had a good year and we played them in the playoffs, and they just did a number on us. I was playing against [Mike] Webster — I was thinking that I couldn’t be blocked, and Webbie did a good job kicking my butt. I had to go back to the drawing board — he gave me a new reason to try and get better. They were a tough team and a well-coached team — offensively and defensively. The
394
TOUGHEST OPPONENTS: TEAMS
Jets always played us really tough, and the Raiders always played us really tough. Those three teams to me were the toughest, most physical teams that we played. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : Early ’80s, at that time, you had the Pittsburgh Steelers, who had that unbelievable team. San Francisco always had a great team — Joe Montana was there at the time. % " 3 3 0 -3 ": I think I remember Joe Montana’s first start — Steve DeBerg went out, and this little skinny guy came in. I’m thinking it was Montana. He played the rest of that game, and he had just a real nice touch to the ball. The 49ers became really good, really quick in the ’80s. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I remember we played San Francisco, and I guess that’s when I set that NFL record with 42 out of 60. I think we were down 21–0. Steve DeBerg was the quarterback — I think he had laryngitis — and I remember Joe Montana came in. I remember thinking Joe Montana had a very average arm. He looked very average . . . wound up being one of the best quarterbacks that ever played [laughs]. But he played a great system — they had great players, too. 4 $ 0 55 % * & 3 ,*/( For us, it was the Seahawks, believe it or not. Those guys would be 0–5, they’d come into our place, and we could just never beat them. It was just one of those things — they were a team we didn’t play well against. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 &: Probably Seattle. They stressed coming after punts. I’m looking at a picture right now hanging on my wall, where I’m following through punting, and there is a Seattle Seahawk that is parallel to the ground about my shoulder height — how he missed blocking it, I don’t know. But every time we played Seattle, they came at us. I had to get it off quick. And there were a couple of other teams like that — the Falcons. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : And then you had the Cincinnati Bengals, who were always up there somewhere. . " 3 * 0 / # " 3 #&3 But then, I would say the Giants. They weren’t always on our regular season schedule, but we faced them always during the preseason.
395
SACK EXCHANGE
$ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % And the Chicago Bears — I remember playing against some great Chicago teams. "# % 6 - 4 " -" " . Back then, football was hard because you had the chop block, but at the same time, you could head slap. So you really had to have your head on a swivel and be ready. The quarterback I think had the hardest time then — that’s why they have them so well-protected now. At least that’s what the New York Sack Exchange did — made them protect the quarterback.
396
TOUGHEST OPPONENTS: PLAYERS
W
ho are the toughest individuals the 1980s Jets faced? Let’s let the players explain. . . .
3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I remember we played the Redskins down there, and that’s when they brought in all those old defensive linemen. They had Diron Talbert, Dave Butz, and those are guys that broke my collarbone [in 1978]. But you look over there, and they have Talbert, and he had a “Pat Leahy helmet” — like, one bar. He looked like his helmet was way too small — his face was sticking out of the helmet. He looked so old. It looked like you were playing your father or something! I mainly think about defensive linemen. Mike Haynes — he was probably the best defensive back. Lester Hayes. Linebacker-wise, you had all those linebackers from Pittsburgh. 1 "53:" / The toughest guy I ever played against was Lawrence Taylor. He was just that good. He is the only defensive guy that I ever played against that I felt could take over the game on the defensive side. , & / 0 # 3 * & / Andre Tippett was one of the toughest guys, and Bruce Smith. Reggie White was a great player. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 Lucius Sanford — an outside linebacker for Buffalo. He was always quick, he could run, but he was a very smart guy. He could get inside
397
SACK EXCHANGE
your head — and very few could do that. Lucius Sanford and Stan White of the Baltimore Colts were very much that way. 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , * /( My rookie year we played against the Steelers, and that famous defense with Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, Mel Blount, and “Mean Joe” Greene. I remember during a time-out, just staring at these guys, after having watched these guys for years. We never beat them. ." 3 * 0 / # " 3 # &3 Andre Tippett stands out for me, and that linebacker crew with the New England Patriots — Don Blackmon. They always had great special teams, as well. I didn’t mention them as one of the tough teams to play against, but they had really good units. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. A guy for me would be Robert James — he played with the Buffalo Bills. He blew his knee out, but this guy was one hell of a cornerback. And those Steelers linebackers — those safeties — they would knock you into the middle of nowhere. They were hitters. The Raiders thought they were, but the Raiders didn’t phase me too much. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 One of the strong safeties, Kenny Easley [from the Seattle Seahawks]. The corners, probably my guys in practice were the best — Bobby Jackson prepared me very well. Frank Minnifield and Thom Darden in Cleveland were really good. Mike Haynes in New England was good, [and] Lester Hayes. There’s so many of them. If I had one guy — but we didn’t play the NFC — was Darrell Green. He would be the guy that would turn my head because he could recover and he was fast. I was pretty fast — one day, I beat him badly, and he recovered. I was like, “Whoa — I have to think about this guy. I’m not just going to run by him.” "- 50 0 / Probably the toughest defensive back I played against was Albert Lewis. You don’t hear much about him, but he was a great player. He played a long time, and ended up with the Raiders for a while. The Browns had a couple of defensive backs — I don’t recall their names at this point — that were very good. They were always tough to play against. .* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 I had a tough time because I got to play against all the best 398
T O U G H E S T O P P O N E N T S : P L AY E R S
linebackers that played the game, at least in that era — Andre Tippett, Don Blackmon, Carl Banks, Lawrence Taylor, Clay Matthews. And half of those guys, twice a year. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 I was fortunate — or unfortunate — to have two Pro Bowl nose guards in our division: Fred Smerlas with Buffalo and Bob Baumhower with Miami. They were tough guys — as their records show. There were a lot of tough guys, and I happened to have four games a year against the two Pro Bowl nose tackles. It was tough. It was a good competition. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 644&/ Besides Klecko? There’s no doubt who the toughest was — Klecko. After that, I would have to say . . . I got to play against Bob Lilly a couple of times, and that was in ’68 and ’69. He was at the height of his career at that point. He was difficult. . . . Oh no, wait a minute — the Steel Curtain. My goodness, you couldn’t do anything against the Steel Curtain. We tried every blocking scheme we had, and that front-four played together so well. Ernie Holmes was on my side, you had Joe Greene, you had L. C. Greenwood [and Dwight White]. It was frustrating as hell because you would think you could do this, you would think you would do that, but you know what? They never adjusted. They didn’t make adjustments — they came and played their defense and just said, “Dammit, if you’re going to beat us, you’re going to beat our defense. We’re not going to adjust for you.” It was frustrating, and a lot of their defense, they talk about Jack Lambert, their middle linebacker, and their two outside linebackers. And they were good. But those front-four, they kept five offensive linemen tied up all the time. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % From that era, Sherman White, [and] I remember Julius Adams, Lyle Alzado. I remember Fred Dean from San Francisco — he was 245 pounds, but he could come on the quarterback. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 Because I played at three different positions, I’d say Anthony Muñoz at tackle, John Hannah at guard, and Dwight Stephenson and Mike Webster at center. ."35:-:0/4 In the early ’80s, I would say the toughest players for me would be lining up against John Hannah up there in New England, Mike Webster from Pittsburgh. Both outstanding players — very clean ball players. But they were 399
SACK EXCHANGE
tough. Dwight Stephenson was the same way down there in Miami. You had the big offensive tackle up there in Buffalo — Joe Devlin. Another tough guy that you would see twice a year. "# % 6 -4 " -" " . Jim Langer — the center with Miami. John Hannah with New England. Reggie McKenzie with Buffalo, Conrad Dobler. There were a lot of them, but they all had different styles, and style is what makes the player. . " 3 , ( " 4 5* / & "6 Earl Campbell — it’s a shame to see him now. Cody Risien from the Browns was good. Larry Brown from the Steelers was always tough on me, and then Mike Webster — he was really tough. And John Hannah. ,& / 4 $ ) 3 0 : The hardest guy I think I ever had to tackle was Earl Campbell. He had tree trunks for legs, and was just one big, massive back. Franco Harris would run out of bounds on you. I had the opportunity of playing against Walter Payton. I played against some of the greatest running backs in history. It’s kind of neat that I came in during an era where there were so many great players. " + % 6 ) & John Hannah — I didn’t really like lining up against him. Leon Gray was also on that team [the New England Patriots]. And then again, Chris Ward was a very dominant offensive lineman that gave you everything you wanted. Joe Devlin, who played for the Bills, was a very challenging and tough offensive lineman. Running backs were Earl Campbell, Tony Dorsett, Marcus Allen, Freeman McNeil — those are guys that would challenge you, in terms of being in control and being powerful. They’d run you over, some of them. #0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8&3 Webster was tough. Joe Fields was tough. I remember when I first came into the league, the Jets had Randy Rasmussen, who was not a real big guy, but I was really impressed with him. He was a really good guard. It was funny because sometimes players that were Pro Bowl players, you didn’t have a problem with them. Doug Wilkerson and Ed White — that whole offensive line from San Diego was pretty good. (3 & ( # 6 55-& I think the best offensive lineman I played against was Bruce Matthews. Mike Munchak from the Houston Oilers. You played against John Hannah
400
T O U G H E S T O P P O N E N T S : P L AY E R S
in New England, and the Miami offensive line with Bob Kuechenberg. Joe DeLamielleure in Buffalo. The Pittsburgh Steelers offensive line was very good. -"83 & / $ & 1 *--&34 Jackie Slater was one. Marvin Powell in practice was one. Some of the guys with the Washington Redskins. Walter Payton was a great athlete. Joe Namath . . . all of them during that era were fantastic. -" / $ & . & ) - Linemen, you have to look at John Hannah. Mike Munchak — who was a teammate of mine at Penn State — when he played for Houston. Both were like tree trunks — just solid. I think we were all happy when Hannah retired because he was just a brute. I think my jaw still cracks to this day from a shot he put on me in one of those games. % " / " -& 9 " / %&3 I can remember Bruce Smith from Buffalo, Howie Long from the Raiders. I played against Joe Greene when he was on his way out, and I was just coming in. Bob Baumhower of the Dolphins. Lawrence Taylor was tough — he was so fast. Fred Smerlas from Buffalo was a good nose guard. Steve Nelson was a top linebacker for the Patriots. + 0 & ( " 3 % * They once asked me at an ESPN show, “Who would you want if you were starting a franchise? Which one of those Sack Exchange guys would you want?” I said, “None of them. Howie Long!” Because Howie Long could do everything. And trust me, I loved my Sack Exchange, but Howie was that allaround player. # " 3 3: # & / / &55 I played against John Hannah a little bit towards the end of his career. Occasionally, I would line up on the tackle, and when I lined up against Anthony Muñoz, his arms were too long and he was so tall, I couldn’t see around him, but he was way bigger than me, and probably a little bit quicker than me. He was a very good offensive tackle. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. &4 Playing against Kansas City, I had Christian Okoye one time, and he broke one of my ribs — I always remember that! # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ Earl Campbell. The Dolphins’ receivers — Nat Moore was a great receiver. Stanley Morgan, Harold Jackson — all those guys really taught 401
SACK EXCHANGE
me the game. I didn’t play much against the Steelers, but Lynn Swann and John Stallworth. But more than them, it was Stanley Morgan and Harold Jackson — they really taught me how to play in the NFL. - "8 3 & / $ & 1 * --&34 All of them were tough during my years that I played because the majority of us played for the love of the game. When you’re playing for the love of the game, you’re not playing for the bucks. One of my mottos was when I played professional football, hopefully I can influence some young kid to be the way I was.
402
47
LOOKING BACK ON ’80S JETS
L
ooking back, how do the 1980s New York Jets teams stand up over the course of time?
-& / # & 3 . " / The more you talk about these guys, the more you realize if they had won, they would be one of these legendary teams. Because of these “characters.” " - 50 0 / With the players that we had — the Marvin Powellses, the Marty Lyonses, the Joe Kleckos, the Mark Gastineaus, the Kenny O’Briens, the Wesley Walkers, the Freeman McNeils, myself — we were all there at the same time. When we were playing well, we were a great team. It was just getting us all healthy and playing well at the same time. There were times we did, which was evident when we had the season we won ten in a row. On paper, clearly, we had the ability to do that. We just fell short for whatever reason. We physically — from a talent standpoint — could compare it to many of the successful Jets teams in the past and the present. % " / " -& 9 " / % &3 Talent-wise, I think we could compete with anybody in the NFL, and we did. But we had a lot of injuries that set us back. When we were at full strength, those two particular years [1982 and 1986], we were hard to stop. I think injuries hurt us more than anything. Everybody has those, but we had quite a few.
403
SACK EXCHANGE
,& / 0 # 3 * & / It’s easy to say woulda/shoulda/coulda — looking back. But I think there was ability there. If we could have taken advantage of certain things more, sure we could have [gone to the Super Bowl]. But the truth is it is what it is. There were a couple of years we were getting close. I think the main thing that distracted us at the time were injuries. If you had a healthy Joe Klecko and a healthy Lance Mehl . . . it’s tough to lose Pro Bowl–caliber guys and keep going, and that’s what happened one year. At one time, you’re unstoppable, and then if you bog down, how do you get it right? Instead of panicking, let’s take a step back and look — we’re the same guys that did well, so let’s figure it out. It’s a combination. If you look back now, would you do things differently? Sure you would — but you’re living in the moment and you’re doing it. Sometimes going 100 miles an hour and banging your head against the wall isn’t the best way to answer the bell all the time. Maybe it’s better to take a step back, look at it, and analyze it. The main thing is confidence — how do you get that level of confidence, that you’re doing the right thing all the time and that you’re looking forward to it. + 0& , -& $ , 0 Yeah, I am [surprised the Jets didn’t get to the Super Bowl in the ’80s]. We had a great team. We had great specialists. We had Wesley Walker and then we added later Al Toon, as great receivers. Mickey Shuler was a great tight end. Jerome Barkum. Those kind of guys we had were real good players. Y’know, Clark Gaines set a record at one time receiving — in ’80 against San Francisco. What a great fullback and a guy that can catch the ball out of the backfield. Freeman. Goes without saying how great he was. And then of course, defensively, we had a lot of great guys that played back there. To say why we couldn’t get there is hard to put your finger on it. But I think we had the talent all over the place to get there. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 Unfortunately, when we lost in ’82 in the AFC Championship Game, that team was dismantled — including the head coach. I’m a firm believer to this day that if they left Walt Michaels in that position, and had given that team another one or two years together, we might have won a Super Bowl. You understand at an early age, there’s no four-year scholarship — it is a business. You had to treat it as a business. You were now getting paid to play a game that you love, and win or lose, you had to get ready to play the next week.
404
LOOKING BACK ON ’80S JETS
+ & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. Again, I think if Walt Michaels hadn’t been cut short of his coaching career, you would have seen a Super Bowl Jets team somewhere in the ’80s — I really do. We had the right chemistry and the right nucleus to make it happen. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % I’m very surprised we didn’t [win a Super Bowl]. Like I said, had management decided to just keep what we had without any drastic changes, we would have been perennially be in the Super Bowl — I really believe that. We had the foundation. When they got rid of Walt Michaels . . . Walt put that team together, and when he wasn’t there anymore, it just didn’t operate the same. The players responded to him because he was their head coach when they came in — he was responsible for drafting them. I think with the changes that took place over the six or seven years that I was there, one of the changes that took place ruined the chemistry. If the chemistry would have stayed the same, we would have perennially been in the Super Bowl. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 ##"w$"3640 If you kept Walt Michaels there, I think we would have won a championship. Once he would have got a hold of a guy like Al Toon to put with Todd’s cannon arm, it would have worked. 8" -5 . * $ ) " &-4 How do you predict something that’s gone? I don’t like to do that. But the path was set. Everything was set for it to reach the peak. And the peak — providing they stayed healthy and they were at the positions that we trained them for — yes, we were on the rise. We were not an old team. I don’t know if we had anybody in their thirties yet. We had it all prepared, ready to go. Only the lord may know if we were totally prepared properly — but I thought we were. And they think so too — if you’ve got the players thinking the way you’re thinking, you’ve got a chance to win it all. They were ready to go, and they were all ready to win. And I can sleep on that — without worrying about, “I did this,” or “I did that,” or “I did something wrong.” $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4&: We just “let down” at the most inopportune times. There was no rhyme or reason for it — I can’t put my finger on it, but like I said before, we’d wear out the teams that we shouldn’t beat, and then we’d turn around and lay an egg the next week. Who knows what would have happened if we played Washington [in Super Bowl XVII], and somehow pulled that out at Miami?
405
SACK EXCHANGE
- " / $ & . & ) - Everything just has to be perfect. Eighty-one I think we were just finding ourselves. Eighty-two I think was going to be our year — I really do. If it doesn’t rain in Miami that year, who knows what happens then. I think that’s the year. Of course, the strike affected everything. And then in ’86, that’s when we all started getting hurt. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 -& 3 I’m surprised we never won a Super Bowl. It kind of sucks [laughs]. I really look at my career as . . . I think I had pretty good numbers. Had I not got released and sent to the Eagles [in 1990], I think I would have had numbers that would have given me a shot at the Hall of Fame. I think not getting to a Super Bowl would keep me out of it. " + % 6 ) & The Jets/Dolphins rivalry probably did start in the early ’80s. The Sack Exchange created a new kind of hype and mythical kind of impression of what the New York Jets were all about. Because they were basically a defensive juggernaut — with that group up front. Their offense was good, but their defense was getting all the hype. It was almost like, “The offense just has to do so much to win because our defense is good enough to beat the other team.” That was kind of the composition of that team. #0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8&3 They always played us so tough, and they had good talent. There were a lot of years there in the late ’70s where it seemed like they had our number. When you see that, you wonder, “Why aren’t they in the Super Bowl?” Because [the Dolphins] got in the playoffs two or three out of those four or five years. But teams match up different with different teams. "+ % 6 ) & I’m not going to say I’m surprised. Our team expected to make it to the playoffs every year and make the Super Bowl. That’s what you go to work for — that’s why you show up every summer at training camp. We didn’t show up at training camp going, “Oh man, the Jets are going to win it this year — we’re second fiddle.” We always showed up to work, and who’s going to come to our house and beat us? We used to look at it as, “We’re going to win our division, we’re going to win home field advantage, and we’re going to control our own destiny to go to the Super Bowl.” That’s the way we approached every season. That’s the attitude we had — I would think they had that same attitude and approach. If not, maybe that’s why they came up short every year. 406
LOOKING BACK ON ’80S JETS
+ 0 & ' & 3 ( 6 4 0/ I’m surprised that they haven’t from the type of players they’ve had over the years. It’s tough to do that — that’s one of the hardest things. Like Buffalo, when they went to the Super Bowl four years in a row [1991–1994] — that was hard. They didn’t win one, but it was just hard to do that. But yes, I’m surprised they didn’t because they’ve had players to do that. I think every team over a period of time has had players to do that. But whether they’ve had injuries or turnovers at the wrong time — all those things come into play, even if you’re a good football team. 4 5& 7 & ( 3 0 ( "/ They had some decent players, they just didn’t seem to get over the hump. And I can’t explain why. # 0 # # : + " $ , 40/ To this day, [Lawrence Pillers and I] still speak — he ended up winning two Super Bowls with San Francisco. -"83 & / $ & 1 *--&34 When I made it to the 49ers, Joe Montana wasn’t the starter — he was a backup. Steve DeBerg was the starting quarterback. And DeBerg caught laryngitis somewhere right in there, and Joe started. We just started gelling. Joe Montana threw the big pass to Dwight Clark in the end zone [in the 1981 NFC Championship Game], which they called “The Catch.” But the Cowboys had some time left on the clock. Danny White was marching down the field, and Rafael Septien was a great field goal kicker. They were marching down and they threw a couple of good passes. They were getting right in Septien’s field goal range. I remember the pass-rush, and somewhere, I got up on their offensive guard — I was playing tackle. I got up under him and almost grabbed both his hands when I came off the ball and pushed him back towards the quarterback. I hit Danny, made him fumble, and Jim Stuckey recovered the fumble. After that, our goal line stand in the Super Bowl against Big Pete Johnson [in Super Bowl XVI] — he was a hell of a running back. That was one of my most memorable moments. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % Looking back — especially that strike year — I thought we had as good a chance to beat anybody. I thought everything was lined up for us to win — it just didn’t happen. When you go to the AFC Championship, there are only four teams left. When you’ve got the four best teams in pro football, anybody can beat anybody — it’s just a matter of getting there. Miami played Washington, and they were more of a running team than Miami was. They just 407
SACK EXCHANGE
couldn’t run against Washington. Well, I think we probably could have had some success throwing the ball against them, maybe. They ran all over Miami. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / It’s frustrating because that ’82 team was built to win. When you look at the playoff games we had against the Bengals and the Raiders — because the Raiders were the top seed that year — just the way we physically matched up and played great defense, and the offense made big plays. There was no doubt that on a normal surface that we were going to beat Miami. And I truly think that just based on how we were able to stop the run, that there was no way John Riggins would have run on our defense the way he did on Miami’s that weekend. There’s no doubt we would have won the Super Bowl that year. ’86 we were banged up. We had gone 10–1, and then the defensive line and everybody got injured. We lost Lance Mehl. But ’82, Klecko had just come back for the playoff run — he wasn’t 100 percent Klecko, but Klecko at seventy percent was better than just about anybody else in the league. In ’86, I think if we had beaten Cleveland, we would have played the Giants [in Super Bowl XXI] — I don’t know how we would have done in that game. They were pretty good that year — the Giants had a great defense. ’86 the team wasn’t as healthy as ’82. 5 & % # " / , & 3 It’s a shame — we really had the talent. I wasn’t there for ’82, but ’86, we had it going on when we went on that roll. It was scary. It looked like a [Jets/Giants Super Bowl in ’86] for a while . . . but we didn’t get there. God, it seems like we couldn’t win in December in those years. But on the other hand, I know we were beat up too. Your body gets beat down, and I think they learned from that because they don’t practice anything like that anymore. They know these guys have to make a sixteen- or seventeen-game schedule, and they want them healthy in game fourteen, fifteen. It makes sense. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. & 4 Being a young team, when you go to the playoffs and do well, you think, “We’ll win it next year.” But then we had those drastic changes and guys leaving. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& History tells you how you compete. History doesn’t tell you how much fun you had at it, or how terrible it was. Your record is your record. We had some good players, some good friends. “Almost” is a word that losers use all the time, or it’s a cliché that you can attach to losers — “Well, we almost 408
LOOKING BACK ON ’80S JETS
were there.” But I will tell you something, I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything. I had a wonderful time at Penn State, and I had a great time playing in New York. Met a lot of great players and friends, and my businesses are up here in New York now — my family, the whole nine yards. So I wouldn’t look back on it and say, “Geez, I’d change all of it.” I might want to change a couple of things, like maybe make sure that Walt Michaels didn’t get fired, and Joe Walton wasn’t hired. I think that was a watershed moment in Jets history. But other than that, it’s a great place to play. When you win, it’s very good. When you lose, it’s just terrible. The media in New York, it’s not that it’s bad or good — there’s just so much of it. And the competition in the media — to have the story . . . when you lost the game, you lost it five times. That’s the problem. In Green Bay, you lose the game, you lose it once. The proverbial “dead horse” must have been invented in New York. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 .644&/ There were similarities [between the late ’60s Jets and the early ’80s Jets]. The one big similarity is the fact that what gets lost of the ’68 team is we had the number one defense in the American Football League. And the early ’80s team had one of the best defenses in the AFC. That’s what you’ve got to have. It’s hard to out-score an opponent — it’s much easier to hold a score down and get the points when you need them and win games that way. We had a lot of good football players in ’68 — including a good offensive line. A good, well-rounded team, and that’s what you kind of saw happening in the early ’80s. In the early ’80s, it became a well-rounded team with an excellent defense, a real good offensive line with good receivers and good running backs. No weak spots — you just can’t have a weak spot because that gets exposed in football and people jump on it. And that’s what was really happening in ’81 and ’82 — this team was becoming a team that could run, could pass, could defend against the pass. You had the Sack Exchange, which was your real differencemaker: that pass-rush. You can find similarities on any team that wins a Super Bowl — they’re well-rounded, solid teams with no obvious weakness anyplace. You can’t cover a weakness in the NFL because people will find it and they’ll jump all over it. I still say if that stupid strike hadn’t of happened in 1982, I think that team would probably have been the next Super Bowl team for the Jets. # * -- ) " . 1 50 / The early teams in the ’60s, they were tougher guys and they didn’t make a lot of money — and they worked their tail off during the season 409
SACK EXCHANGE
because at the end of the season if they didn’t make the playoffs for extra money, they all had to go to work. Whereas the other teams after that, the money got better and they didn’t have to do that. Of course, they didn’t have these offseason conditioning programs — which they have now. As time went on, they had those weight-lifting things, and the players got stronger and better. 8" -5. * $ ) " & -4 As far as the team is concerned, it would be interesting if you started matching up positions. Whenever you’re going to match up against an offense that Joe Namath is going to lead, you’ve got a problem. He can perform that way. I put maybe ten quarterbacks in that situation — Y. A. Tittle when he got to the Giants could do certain things that were just different that he couldn’t do with San Francisco. Or you had Norm Van Brocklin, who did it in Philadelphia, and couldn’t get it done out in Los Angeles. When you start putting them all together, the ideas fit in those pieces in the puzzle as perfect as you can fit them for that particular season — whether you’re playing twelve or sixteen games. And then you’ve got to do the most important thing of all: make sure you keep them healthy. Do the thing that keeps them physically ready to play. And if you get them throwing their bodies around, you’re going to see a lot of excitement . . . but you’re going to see a lot of people in training rooms. + 0 ) / / : i # 6 # # "w$"3640 The Jets of the late ’60s, I couldn’t really say. All I know about them is what I see on film. I was a little kid. The Sack Exchange team was as good as any Jets team — ever. Granted, they didn’t win the championship, but those guys were a crew of killers. Walt Michaels had it right — believe me, he had it right. [Richard] Todd was doing his efficient thing. You had Wesley Walker, Jerome Barkum, Lance Mehl. You had a lot of weapons, and he made it work. They didn’t give up. In 1981, they started 0–3–1, and then they went 10–2 down the stretch. Those guys played hard. The Sack Exchange crew, I would put them up against anybody. '3 " / , 3 " . 0 4 During the ’80s, they had several good seasons and ended up coming up short. And it’s been a history since — the Jets have come close but they haven’t been able to get over the hump since the Super Bowl. It’s hard to compare eras all the time. The Jets during the ’80s had one of the best records in football over a five- or six-year period. They’ve had a very good record in parts of the ’90s, but haven’t been able to get “the golden ring.” 410
LOOKING BACK ON ’80S JETS
-& / # & 3 . " / The Jets of the Parcells era, he brought in some talent. [The ’80s Jets] didn’t have a Curtis Martin and a Kevin Mawae. Certainly, the Jets of the late ’60s — other than Namath — weren’t known as a team of superstars. Compared to the Parcells teams, maybe the Jets of the early ’80s were a little bit more limited. I didn’t think they were a super team. If they were, they would have been back year after year after year — and they weren’t. They had a good run, but if you had to stack teams against each other, I think the Parcells teams were pretty good. They stack up nicely — even with the Championship Team. They put a hell of a team together. # 0 # # : + " $ , 40/ I think outside of the team that won it all, we were as good as any team you could point to. The Parcells’ teams, they got as far as we got — the AFC Championship Game — and lost [in 1999]. We’re just as good as any team in history — other than the ’69 Super Bowl team. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1&3 If you look at the four-decade team, most of the guys came from our era. I think we could be considered the best era in Jets history. I’m not that familiar with the Super Bowl — I was a little guy — but from what I’ve seen in our time, we were good. I think you take our best and play it against anybody else in our history, and we’re right up there at the top. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 We matched up real well a couple of years, and we never even got to the big game. Very sad because there’s no reason why all of us shouldn’t be wearing a ring today. I think that team of, call it ’78 to ’84, was probably the best teams the Jets ever had — even better than the Super Bowl team. And I’ll probably catch a lot of flak for that, but I believe definitely we had the most talent. Unfortunately, we never got there. We just never put it all together. I think we were the best team ever of the Jets — call it the whole decade, ’75 to ’85. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : It’s so difficult to even get to a Super Bowl, so it doesn’t surprise me that we didn’t. Everybody’s goal — I don’t care who you’re looking at — is to get the best players you can possibly get, and hopefully, they mix good together and play good together. Sometimes, it doesn’t happen that way, so you have to change things around. It’s like a chess game, and once you get those players that work together and it’s actually what you want — that’s when you go all the way.
411
SACK EXCHANGE
We had some of those teams that I thought were a good mix of each other, and unfortunately, that’s when you have to worry about breaks or weather — field conditions — which can really change things. And that’s what exactly happened to us. And I think there are a lot of teams — probably ten teams that can always go to the top. It just depends how injuries affect you, game planning, and how you match up with a team. I think we could have in the ’80s — we had some great teams — but things just didn’t go right for us sometimes. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 Unfortunately for the fans and for the players of the ’80s, we got close, but we didn’t finish the job. That’s the nature of the game. Having that Super Bowl ring would have meant a great deal to all the players, it would have made a great deal to all the fans. But I don’t think it should diminish the players and what we tried to do in the ’80s. Hopefully what we did in the ’80s helped the teams in the ’90s, what the teams in the ’90s did I certainly hope helped the teams in the next century. You can come close, but if you don’t win it all, you always get that pat on the ass, saying, “Hey, maybe next year.” For some of us, that year never came. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 % % I know I wasn’t that well liked in New York, but I always thought of myself as a Jet. A lot of people don’t think I enjoyed playing up there, but I actually did. I’m not saying it was all fun, but I remember it was just fun growing up with the team. We were all young and we all grew up together. We had the good times together and the bad times together. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 I didn’t know the inner workings of what went on with management and Walt Michaels at the time. A lot of stuff that I even hear now — after the fact — I was speaking to Tim Davey, and he was telling me some stories. You don’t know what the truth is. I know as players, we were just trying to do the best we could. I just wish we were more together as a unit. Because a lot of guys were separate. They had their own little cliques. If there was any one thing being in the Jet family, we weren’t really together. I always felt we weren’t together the way we should be — to be this real cohesive team. And that’s what kept us from being really successful. .* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -& 3 Our management hurt us while I was playing there more than it helped us. Just the style of our management — not our coaching staff 412
LOOKING BACK ON ’80S JETS
— but our player selection, not taking free agents, and not making trades for players. Doing things that made football sense. Except for Leon Hess and Helen Dillon, it seemed like our management was happy to be 8–8. Where I think the players, the coaches, and the people in the front office — as far as like secretaries and the grunt workers — they wanted us to win. But I don’t know that all of the people that were out there . . . because a lot of them weren’t “football people” — Steve Gutman, Jim Kensil — he came from the front office. I think his son, Mike, was more of a football guy than his dad was. But I think Steve Gutman was sort of in charge a lot in some of those decisions, and for whatever reason, it just didn’t seem — at least to me as a player — that they really, really wanted to win it all. They were happy to always be in transition. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 The Jets — believe it or not — just do not know how to operate and do things on a . . . it is a business. And one time, I know you’re going to have to leave this game. But they just don’t know how to do it properly. Ken O’Brien is a typical example. This guy was one of the best the Jets ever had, and they didn’t do the right thing. Chad Pennington — the same thing. The way they go about doing it, and you don’t have any respect when you leave. They did the same thing to Walt Michaels. They did it to a lot players — you sometimes don’t leave with dignity. And that’s what you’ve got to know — it’s a business. There are a lot of angry people. Even myself — I can be bitter about it, but that’s just the way it is. You don’t have control over certain things. But you wish there is a way they would do it. It was disheartening, when I’m arguing with the president of the team — with my trainer, who knows I’ve been hurt, he’s taping my injury — and they say something like, “This may not be football related.” I’ve been playing football all my life. You’re fighting for some benefit, and they know you’re going to get this benefit, but somebody you work with is insulting you. You give your all — this is your life. This is something that you love. And the Jets — for some reason — just don’t know how to go about it sometimes with people. I’ve seen it with a lot of players. Joe Klecko. Everybody’s gone through it — and they go someplace else, and it doesn’t materialize. But they just don’t go about it in the right way. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": I played a couple of really large, memorable games in college. So some of those games rank right up there, but playing that game when the stadium was moving, making those wins on the road, coming back to New York 413
SACK EXCHANGE
at one in the morning and there’s 500 people sitting at the airport, and airport workers are chanting your name for you — certain things about winning in New York were just so, so special. And the talent would have just taken us and gave us that big parade down Broadway if we would have won. We played second fiddle to the Giants, and everyone understands the dynamics of the older team — the bigger stadium and all that. But we had our chances and we were close. If we would have taken care of business, we’d be forever remembered in New York City — I could probably go there now and get a slice of pizza bought for me, or a bagel [laughs]. 1 "5 -& " ) : If you could create an equal playing field and put us out there against some of the teams now, I think we’d do pretty good because we had good offensive lines and defensive lines. 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , * /( It’s so different then than it is now. If you were to look in the parking lot my rookie year, we didn’t make enough money to be able to go out and buy a brand new car. I bought a four-year-old car with part of my bonus. We were more of a lunchbox group of football players. Now, if a guy is a fourth round running back, he can be set for the rest of his life — if he invests it correctly. Some of us still would do part-time jobs in the off-season. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 0 8&3 I know we played for the love of the game. I think because money is so big these days . . . in the ’80s, with the USFL and salaries really started moving up — people were talking in the mid-’80s the way people are talking now. But when some of those million dollar contracts started coming around in the ’80s, people were saying, “They don’t care anymore — it’s all about the money.” I don’t think that’s really true in the majority of the cases. I will tell you that I think players played hurt more back then, and weren’t as smart back then as they are today — as far as taking care of themselves. Because money is so big, you want to play as long as you can making this kind of money, [and] you have to be smart about it. 8& 4 -& : 8" -, & 3 I’m not a big fan of sports — I used to do TV/radio stuff for the Jets, but I don’t follow sports. I’m not really a spectator. There’s a big part of it that is not real pleasant, so that’s the reason why I’ve gotten away from it. The
414
LOOKING BACK ON ’80S JETS
game of football in the NFL is not a game anymore — it’s a business. There’s some inner workings going on there that keeps it from being as fun as it could be. 8" -5 . * $ ) " &-4 Football is advancing. We’re getting better, but I think if we don’t watch ourselves . . . especially because when we got into the Super Bowl, we had under forty on a team, and we win Super Bowl III. Then, there were only ten or twelve teams in the American Football League at the time. There were only, let’s say, twenty-four legitimate teams playing professional football. As a result, now you have thirty-two, you’ve got watered down talent, you’ve got them keeping fifty and fifty-five guys around. And a lot of players that would make it somewhere else are being taken care of — if you tell them financially, he’s going to get so much for being here, he’ll stay on the taxi squad, thinking, “This team is the one that’s going to go,” so he won’t go to you. The biggest thing now is more people are getting the opportunity. And the biggest change is they’re starting to do more crazy formations, shotguns. Going back to the Jets, when the season was over — let’s assume when you cleaned out your locker and everything, it was the first or second week of January. We didn’t even come back — and I knew I never came back to Cleveland for an off-season program of any kind. We went back the next July Fourth. We’d have to go to work in the off-season to make a dollar. Today, they’ve got you all the time. They let you go home for three weeks, and here come the guys they’ve hired — the health buffs — telling you, “We’re going to get on this program.” Well, I’m not sure what programs they’re getting on — are they on another health/build-your-body program, or are they on a program to increase the football knowledge, so we become a better team? And use all these other formations — because now, you’re paying a player in the off-season. You pay him in the offseason, you have control of him — he’s happy. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 There were some guys asking about, “How do you compare to the guys now if you had the in-season programs?” We would be just as good, if not better. I think we did not stay healthy because we were doing our own thing during the off-season. We didn’t have programs and in-house programs. Where you’re here on the off-season, it’s just a different type of era. It makes a big difference. Guys are also a little bigger and stronger — whether they’re doing it through steroids or non-steroid use — but they just have so much more.
415
SACK EXCHANGE
You look at the facilities they have . . . I had to run down to get a lunch — half-dressed with my cleats and my pads on! Run down to the deli to get a sandwich before our meetings. And now they get catered to. They have their own in-house cafeteria. After I left, they got everything — their weight room was extended. I went to Florham Park [the site of the Jets’ new training facility] just two weeks ago, and I’ve never seen anything like it — just state-of-the-art. Even after I left, you’d go to Hofstra, and they had a bubble, two different fields. A lot more money, and just cater to the players. A whole different era. We missed the boat. A lot of it is marketing, too. When I used to go to Hofstra, and even when you go to Florham Park, they have all this advertising — it’s all marketing. It’s a whole different game, and it kind of lost its luster, as far as being the game itself. You’re out to promote — to get fans. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 Today’s players I think are faster, they’re stronger, they get compensated better. Whereas when I first came in the league, my contract was $60,000. I did a lot of speaking engagements and appearances in the off-season, where you could almost make as much money in the off-season than as you did playing the game. Today with what the players are making, it’s twelve months a year. If you see the Jets’ new facility, I think their new weight room can maybe be 10,000 square feet — it’s massive. When I first came in the league, we had a two-car garage. Universal machines, you might have had one set of free weights. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 The guy now can have a career who ordinarily might be released in training camp. Because now, you’ve got thirty-two teams with fiftyfive and sixty sitting around — not counting all the cheating that might be going on. What are you going to do? You’ve got a whole different ball game. Our guys from Super Bowl III would go home. Namath would make all kinds of appearances — he had a different kind of situation. But you take Gerry Philbin, and Verlon Biggs, and those guys, they would do different things in the off-season: some of them would go teach school, some would help out in the playground. They’d get off-season jobs. But for six months out of the year, a lot of people don’t want to hire you. That’s the problem with comparing what you have now to what you had then. 1 "5 -& " ) : I was with them for eighteen seasons. I think anybody that plays a long time, it’s just a tribute to their consistency. Free agency, money, and all 416
LOOKING BACK ON ’80S JETS
that are out there now. We didn’t have a choice at that time. There was no free agency, and players didn’t get traded — they got cut [laughs]. 8" -5 .* $ ) " & -4 Now, you’re going to have troubles with this licensing [fees]. I can’t afford it — I wish I could be making the money that the head coaches are making today. I didn’t make one tenth of that. +0)//:i#6##"w $"3640 I don’t answer to anybody — that’s what it is. It’s not like I have a career in broadcasting and I’m going to get shot down by your book. I’m not going to be frowned upon in certain circles. In their minds, I’m just a fan. Nowadays, the players kind of look down on us. It’s like, “I’m a millionaire. What do you do? Going back to Mickey D’s for nine to five?” It seems like a lot of those guys have that attitude. They don’t have the respect for the fans. And I’ll tell you this — these guys, they better fucking realize the fans are where it’s at. If people stop watching these games, who gives a shit what [Chad] Ochocinco does after he catches the ball? Big fucking deal — this guy, he was supposed to catch the ball. . . . It was thrown right at him. I can’t stand the showboating. You’ve got to do what Mike Ditka said: “Act like you’ve been there before.” You’ve got to show class — the Barry Sanders way. Nice. Sanders was electric. Walter Payton — these guys were great, and when they scored, there was no boogie-woogie shit in the end zone. None of this garbage — maybe at best, you’d get a spiked ball. Curtis Martin was the same way. Mark Bavaro — drop to a knee and bless yourself, I hear you. Thank god, thank somebody. You didn’t do it all by yourself, you know? And look at T.O. [Terrell Owens] — he’s already causing havoc up in Buffalo. What happens when it starts snowing, Terrell? What are you going to do? It’s Buffalo. What did you think, the sun was going to shine? That guy is a living, breathing idiot — almost as dumb as Plaxico [Burress]. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate these guys — I don’t know them. So personally, one way or the other, it doesn’t really matter what I think as “Joe Fan.” As a fan, all I can ask from a player is play hard. Even if you suck, if you played hard, you’re all right in our world. And I think most fans would agree with that. And chances are, if you don’t hustle in football, you’re going to get hurt. You’re going to get clobbered. -& / # & 3 . " / I hate to paint a broad-brush because the knee-jerk reaction 417
SACK EXCHANGE
would be to say, “They were more teamlike.” And it stands out as maybe they were. But when you take the winning teams of today, you can’t accuse the Giants or the Steelers of being un-teamlike. And they have their quirky people that stand out in a team concept — look at what happened to [Plaxico] Burress and the Giants. But your general feeling about all sports of the ’80s is that the fundamentals were better and they were more teamlike. And there weren’t the huge, huge dollars there are now. So I think that’s maybe what spurred the kind of thing — “We’re all in this together.” But listen, you call Joe Klecko “a lunch pail guy,” how can you not call David Diehl of the Giants “a lunch pail guy”? 8" -5 . * $ ) " & - 4 If we would have won just one division title — or let’s get really optimistic, if we had won a Super Bowl — guys like Wesley Walker, Klecko, Gastineau, and a few others were Canton material. Without a doubt they were that. But in order to get there, you have to be on that championship team. I’ve got a championship picture from the Cleveland Browns [from the early ’50s] — thirteen of forty on one of the pictures is in the Hall of Fame. So, tell me why we won? [Laughs.] It all goes with winning. Wesley, under the right circumstances, winning the season, would already be voted in, or been up and down a couple of times in the voting to go into Canton. Now, was Wesley Walker going to go and block everybody? No. But neither was Don Maynard, who’s there. Don could play and he was a playmaker — he was a break-them-up defensive guy. Wesley was a lot like that. A lot of people say, “Well, he couldn’t see.” Well, that’s baloney — he knew where the ball was. Did you ever see him drop very many? % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": “Sideline Sammy” [laughs]. One thing about Wesley, if you rode to the airport with him, he was going to scare the absolute daylights out of you because he had to look with his good eye over his back shoulder! I’m saying this with a big huge smile on my face. He was one of the best receivers that you’re ever going to see. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4 & : We had a play that we ran quite often, and if I ever heard it called on the sideline, I’d get excited. It was a little flea-flicker: we’d hand the ball off to Mike Augustyniak or somebody, and he’d turn around and throw it back to Richard, and Wesley would be wide open downfield. That was just the prettiest connection — Todd to Walker.
418
LOOKING BACK ON ’80S JETS
" -50 0 / If I stayed healthy and continued to progress as a player in the system — and my style worked within the system I was playing under — I think I had a tremendous opportunity to have a more stellar statistical career. And by the way, I haven’t written myself off the Hall of Fame, either. I wouldn’t say that I don’t deserve to be in there. That’s in the opinions of people who vote on it. I didn’t say I belong in the Hall of Fame, I said that I’m not writing myself off of being in the Hall of Fame. Again, that’s the decision of the decision makers. I played eight years, and statistically, did very well those eight years. I don’t need to pat myself on the back — if someone else wants to do it, that’s just fine [laughs]. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 I was the all-purpose yards leader. They still have some records, as far as kick return or punt return. It feels great. Leon Washington broke my record, and that’s phenomenal — that was a thirty-year-old record I had. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 You look at some of the Super Bowl winners over the years, and you virtually have Pro Bowl type of players at every position. We just didn’t have enough of those at any one time period. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % We had enough talent and a running game that was dominating — to control the ball. Do you know how to stop an opposing team’s offense? You run the ball. Peyton Manning can’t throw touchdowns if he’s on the sideline biting his nails. And we kept a lot of good quarterbacks on the sideline biting their nails. They would not have been able to contain our running game. I really believe we were on our way. + 0 & ( " 3 % * They weren’t talking for many years — the whole Sack Exchange . . . except Abdul, he was off in his own world. But the other three, it was embarrassing. They started signing posters and making a lot of money — that got them together [laughs]. I wanted so bad to get them together because I coached them and loved them dearly. To one of them, I said, “Why don’t you come and we’ll do a ‘Sack Exchange Night’ at Hofstra?” And they said, “You’ll have to call our agent — it will cost you $10,000.” I went, “Wait a minute. No one knows who you are anymore! I’m just trying to get you all together.” We never did it, but that’s typical. Again, I loved them dearly. I got too much credit for them . . . and I probably didn’t get enough. That’s the way it is — who cares, as long as we were winning.
419
SACK EXCHANGE
.* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -& 3 That’s all I ever wanted to do [win the Super Bowl]. I made a poster — I used to raise money for charity, and I put a lot of the stuff I accomplished in color, and the stuff I wanted to accomplish in gray. A Super Bowl Trophy was in gray [laughs]. I never got it, but shit happens. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0 / I lived my whole professional career to get a ring. I’ll even wake up now — I’m fifty-two years old, and I retired when I was twenty-eight — [and] I still have dreams like I’m playing and we won. It will be so real. And that I went to the Pro Bowl — all these things that I was denied. In my dream, all these things happened. But when I wake up — I’m not in Hawaii, and we didn’t win the Super Bowl. I have two boys, and I tell them, “It just wasn’t my destiny to get it as a player.” Hopefully, one of them will get into coaching and get a ring as a coach. Or either Jerry Holmes, Johnnie Lynn, or some of the guys that I played with that are now coaching in the NFL will hire me to be on their staff, and I’ll get a ring that way. I still have hopes that it will happen for me. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / The front office staffs back then were really small. They aren’t like they are now. So the other difference was you had a real closeness between everybody in the organization. We were all about the same age. It was just highly emotional times. Quite honestly, I look back with frustration. It was the most incredible experiences of my life — to be on the inside of that, and to work day in and day out with those people. Both the staff and the players. We really deserve better than what we got. It’s remarkable that the team hasn’t been to a Super Bowl since ’69. But back then, just so many good people. The players were good guys — there’s still a connection between people that have experienced that on those teams. There’s a bond there that will always be there, and I think it’s different than any other business that you’re in because you’re together day to day — in a highly emotional environment. 1 & 1 1 & 3 # 6 3 3644 Those friendships — every single player that retires and leaves this game will tell you that they miss the camaraderie of the locker room. None of them miss training camp, none of them miss the hours — but they miss the ball-busting. There’s nothing like a locker room, and then you find out it’s pretty much the same at a military station, a police station, a fire station. Where there’s a fraternal group, there’s a bond in closeness that goes from sharing when
420
LOOKING BACK ON ’80S JETS
somebody’s kid is sick to busting somebody’s chops about their girlfriend to whatever. That fraternal bonding is something that sticks with you for a long, long time. -& / # & 3 . " / You cover sports here, and you get a lot of teams that come close — it happens a lot. Look at the Mets of the mid-’80s — the fact that they only won one World Series, and that they never got back to the World Series with all those players. You just see it happen all the time. It’s a narrow pyramid at the top. And look at it now, other than Pittsburgh the last few years, you always have a different team out there. No, I’m not that surprised, but they came close. The sports landscape is littered with teams that come close, and only one team wins it, and only two teams get there. So I’m not shocked. But obviously, it was disappointing. . * $ , & : 4 ) 6 - &3 I played in Philly for two years, but I’m not an Eagle. I’m a Jet. I think if management would have given us the same loyalty that the players felt, it would have gone a long way to creating a winning atmosphere — much like New England has. 8" -5. * $ ) " &-4 I look back at it now and I have a lot of fun — just talking and I enjoy the players. I just feel sorry they don’t have a Super Bowl win. That’s my toughest and biggest disappointment. . " 3 5: -: 0 / 4 It was special for me. I can look back, and hopefully have the respect of my teammates because I was a hard player — played hurt, was competitive. And I think when you leave the game, if you don’t have a Super Bowl ring, that’s all you can ask for: the respect of your teammates, to say, “Remember when.” As long as people start off the sentence with “Remember when,” it’s either going to be something good or something funny. And if it makes you laugh, then it was both. + 0 & ( " 3 % * I get upset sometimes — I listen to the FAN. I’ve never met him, but this Joe Benigno, he’s been a Jets fan for years, and no one mentions the ’81 and ’82 teams. I get upset because it’s like we never existed. And I’ll tell you . . . we were pretty good.
421
48 TODAY
W
hat are all of the people interviewed for this book up to today?
- " / $ & . & ) - Today, I work with juvenile delinquents. I’ve been doing it for about fourteen years. The majority of the kids are from broken homes. They only have one parent, very little guidance or structure. They’re already in trouble with the law. Trying to keep them out of jail, and trying to get them straightened back up, so they can go to school and graduate. I work for the Belmont County Juvenile Court — I’m in Belmont County, Ohio. Most of them know by now [that I used to play football with the Jets] — they find out from the kids that are there for longer times. I very seldom ever talk about it. Every once in a while, they might bring something up. The kid may be in there for three, four, five, six months before he finds out that I actually played football. There was a little clip on YouTube a while ago, and the kids were asking me. One of the other staff members said, “Lance is on YouTube.” They said, “Nah” — we brought it up and showed it to them. They got a kick out of it. It said, “Mehl Seals It” [a clip of the final interception of the playoff game vs. the Raiders]. % " 3 3 0 - 3 ": I’m in the restaurant business. I have a restaurant called Ray’s Smokehouse BBQ, in Norman, Oklahoma. We’ve been opened almost a year. I’ve had other restaurants and a couple other businesses. We’re coming up on our one year anniversary. Everything’s going well for us. Every time the Jets are on TV, I watch them. I never miss them when they’re 422
T O D AY
on national TV. It’s just fun to see those green and white uniforms. Every time I see the uniforms, there’s nothing you can do to that kelly green and white to make it look real fresh, funky, or cool — but it looks so us. I’ve still got some of my old jerseys framed, and it’s such a different and recognizable color. If you see that color, immediately, you think “Jets.” Some of the other teams are starting to blend in a little bit — “Is that Tampa Bay or is that San Francisco? Is that the Titans or is that the Dolphins?” When you see that kelly green and white, you know it’s the Jets — no one else in the league has anything that resembles that. 3 * $ ) " 3 % 50 %% I’ve been with Bear Stearns for twenty-four years — now we’re a division of J. P. Morgan. I’ve been with the same firm ever since I got out of football. I ran our Institutional Fixed Income Department for probably twelve years here in the South — I was a producing manager, you cover pitch-a-thons, insurance companies, and banks. And now, I am more retail-oriented. I still have several of my institutional customers, and I’m building the retail base. I fly when I get a chance — I don’t fly as much as I used to. [Todd has a pilot’s license.] But yeah, I love to fly. When I was with the Jets, I was just learning to fly. When I started at Bear Stearns is when I would be flying between Atlanta and Florence because we still had a house in Florence, Alabama, and that’s where the kids are. My oldest just graduated from Alabama — he was on golf scholarship down there. And I’ve got an eighteen-year-old girl that just started at Alabama this year, and I’ve got a fourteen-year-old son — I go back and see him on the weekends. But I spend a lot more time at home than I used to. I’m in Atlanta right now — I spend about half the time in Florence. [I watch Jets games] when they’re on TV. Down here in the South, the only thing you see is the Titans, the Dolphins, the Falcons, and the Saints. You get all the regional. Sometimes, there will be a national game on, and I’ll definitely watch the Jets. I’ve done that quite a bit [going to Jets games]. When I was up in New York for Bear Stearns, I’d go to a lot of games and take customers. 8 & 4 -& : 8" -,&3 The year I retired, I got my master’s, and I started teaching. I just happened to really like it. I started in special ed — in the classroom. Didn’t know what I was doing, but always wanted to teach, and maybe coach — because my kids are all in sports. I finally got all my certifications, and got a position in the Kings Park district [in New York], and I’ve been there the last 423
SACK EXCHANGE
twelve years. I’m at an elementary school right now — Park View Elementary — teaching phys ed. I was coaching and doing some radio/TV with the Jets, and it got to be where I was doing that on the weekends, and sometimes I’d miss my kids’ stuff. My two boys play lacrosse — one graduated from West Point, one just finished up at Hopkins. And my daughter is a dancer — she went to Towson. They all have done well. One son is now coaching in Virginia, and my one that was playing lacrosse at Hopkins, he has one more semester to finish up. My daughter was dancing for the New Jersey Nets and is working on her master’s at Hofstra. She’s hopefully going to be teaching, but she’s also really good at the dancing thing. She’s got an agent. She’s going to be dancing September 13 at the MTV Awards. On Taylor Swift’s segment, she’ll be one of the dancers. She’s also going to be doing some sideline reporting for some of the local high school games for Madison Square Garden. I’m a movie buff — I just love watching movies. My girlfriend’s brother-inlaw — who’s a Giants fan — texted me during a Jets/Giants game, “Go Giants!” I was like, “Oh shit, the game’s on!” I was sitting there watching a movie. I really don’t watch football — I’m not a spectator. I love playing sports, but I’m not a spectator. 1 "5 -& " ) : I’m kind of semi-retired. I was a partner in a men’s haircutting concept here in St. Louis. I’m in the process of getting out of that. I’m moving on to find something else — I’m not quite old enough to quit everything, but I’m getting there. I’m fifty-eight now. $ ) 3 * 4 8" 3 % I am an apostle and a founder of Ward International Ministries and Ward International Foundation, which is a youth evangelistic organization that works with developing young ministers around the world. We have Bible study programs that are expanding at the speed of light. We deal with ministries on every continent. It’s a worldwide evangelistic association — similar to some of the others that have gone before me. ." 3 , ( " 4 5* / &"6 Right now, I am writing a book — Defending the Record. Writing a book is really hard — I respect what you’re doing [laughs]. But the number one thing is my relationship with the lord. My wife is saved, and we both attend Times Square Church in Manhattan. We do things like the VBS [Vacation 424
T O D AY
Bible School] and different things like that — for local churches around here. So that keeps us busy. My wife has been the biggest support for me after football that I’ve ever had. We both got saved — she got baptized — and we’re really going in the same direction, as far as living our lives for the lord. I’m not really now focused on “the Mark Gastineau of old” — there’s lesser of me and more of Christ. In fact, I’ve stopped living on my name, and tried to just live through the church and what I know about what the lord has done for me. You can never put a price on it. + 0 & , -& $ , 0 I’m a factory rep — I represent people in the construction business. I represent American Stair, JDC Power, JTR Rozelle Lighting, Trinity Solar. I represent these companies in a position for construction. My son, Dan, just got released by the Philadelphia Eagles, and it’s heartbreaking for us because we think he’s too good to be cut. He’s sitting at home right now waiting on a phone call — hopefully he’ll get it. And my son, Michael, who’s my oldest — he’s thirtythree now — he played in college, and now he’s married and lives a normal life. I have a new one coming up — he’s fourteen years old. He’s a freshman in high school and he’s a defensive end and an offensive lineman. He’s doing pretty good. " - 50 0 / I live outside of Madison, Wisconsin, and I’m a real estate investor. A kind of entrepreneurial type — I invest in businesses and real estate. I have four kids — two of which are at the University of Wisconsin. My son, Nick, is a starting receiver for the Badgers, and my oldest daughter, Kirby, is a freshman, and she’s a starting right-side volleyball player. My next daughter, Molly, is a senior in high school, and she’s also a volleyball player, and attending Michigan University on a volleyball scholarship next year. And then I have a ninth-grader, Sydney, my youngest girl, and she’s doing great. And my wife Jane and I have been married nearly twenty-four years now. I also started a bank with eight other guys in town, Capitol Bank, in ’95. We have a couple of branches here in the area, and that’s doing real well. I’m on the board of directors of the Packers — I’m newly appointed. + & 3 3: ) 0 -. &4 They fired me at Hampton University after my first year as a head coach [in 2009] — we finished 6–5. They released me for going to the Senior Bowl — I’ve been going to the Senior Bowl for years. So right now, I’ve got some real estate and some properties, and I’m living off that. I’m doing real well — I’ve 425
SACK EXCHANGE
been fortunate. You get a chance to coach back at West Virginia, coach in the league for five years . . . I’m feeling pretty good. + & 3 0 . & # " 3 , 6. I’m a business banker/community relations banker with JPMorgan Chase. One of my biggest allies with Chase is Jamie Dimon — who is a CEO. .* $ , & : 4 ) 6 -&3 [My son] Mickey is our baby and I have three daughters. They all graduated from Penn State and are all working. My wife graduated from Penn State, and Mickey’s the last one — he’ll graduate in the fall. I’ve always wanted to coach, and I keep trying to find out what I need to do. I went to the Combine last year to check it out and reacquaint myself with some people that I still know who are in the league, and try to get an idea of what you need to do to get back into coaching. I think realistically, I’d probably rather coach at a college than the NFL, but I’m not afraid to coach in the NFL. But I haven’t been able to make the commitment that you need — I made a conscious choice to leave football when I retired, so I could raise my kids and be with my kids. Because my dad was a coach and I know how little [I] got to see him. I wanted to be at everything my kids did and raise my kids. So I got into business and worked for myself — doing different real estate investments, car washes, and things like that. As time went on and my kids started to graduate college, I started to coach a little bit at high school football and I went to summer camps at Penn State. I liked the college atmosphere of watching my son play the last four years, so I might like to do that. He’d like to be a Jet, but it’s tough — he hasn’t had it easy going to Penn State. That’s where I was at, but he’s done a real good job — I think he’s going to get a shot at the next level, hopefully like Danny Klecko, who got three Super Bowl rings! It’s so much fun watching other guys’ kids play — not just in the NFL but in college. Al Toon’s son is playing up in Wisconsin, Scott Dierking has a son playing at Purdue, Marion Barber had two sons who played at Minnesota and are playing in the NFL, Derrick Gaffney had a son playing, and there’s more. $ ) 6 $ , 3 " . 4&: I’ve got a recruiting business — Next Level Prep [nextlevelprep.com]. I recruit high school athletes, male and female — girls’ softball, football, and everything else — and I do it basically for Division II schools. I live here in the shade of the University of Tennessee, and there’s a lot of kids 426
T O D AY
going to the University of Tennessee that could be playing on a scholarship at a smaller school, but they don’t know how to do that. They don’t know the recruiting process. Y’know, there are kids working at the Gap here that could be playing third base at a Division II school. There are not many Division II schools here in Tennessee, but North Carolina and South Carolina are full of them. So I place a lot of kids over there. And then I have kicking camps and I work individually with high school and college kickers. Chad Pennington and I have a threeday camp every July — it’s an eighteen-hour camp, six hours a day, and we bring in kids from Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio. Chad does the quarterback/receiver section of the camp, and I do the punter/placekicker/holder. " + % 6 ) & I work for Harrah’s Entertainment. I’m the regional marketing director here — it’s called Harrah’s Marketing Services. It’s kind of an arm of Harrah’s Entertainment, working in the gaming and resort business. I’ve been doing this for them almost six years — I’ve been in the business almost twenty years. But it’s dealing with gaming customers, people who are looking for that resort getaway to a gaming destination: Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Atlantic City, New Orleans. We have casinos all over. # 0 # # " 6 . ) 08 &3 I’m in the hospitality business. We did Bachelors III, and that got me started in the hospitality business. I think a lot of football players and athletes get into it because it’s fun to watch people have fun. I like working the room as far as the dining room. I started off up here in 1981, doing chicken wings, and those restaurants have evolved into full-service restaurants where we serve steaks, and this and that. Go to Biminibobs.com — that’s a real nice waterfront restaurant. I have some webcams on there, so you can see some real pretty sunsets on Mobile Bay. But we’ve got nine restaurants around the state of Alabama — from Huntsville down to the Gulf Coast, and every place in between. I’ve got four kids under seventeen, living in South Alabama. We call it “L.A.” — Lower Alabama, the home of Kenny Stabler and Jimmy Buffett. 4 5& 7 & ( 3 0 ( "/ I own and run a sporting goods business [Grogan-Marciano Sporting Goods, groganmarciano.com]. We sell equipment and uniforms to colleges, schools, and leagues in southern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. + 0 & ' & 3 ( 6 4 0/ I am working in the real estate business in northwest Arkansas 427
The Sack Exchange return to the Stock Exchange, 2007
— which is the Fayetteville-Rogers-Bentonville area. I enjoy doing that because it gives me free time. Of course, I’m not working too hard because the real estate market isn’t too good right now [laughs]. But that’s what I’m doing now. I had a couple of bouts with cancer that I’ve been through the last five years, and I’m rehabbing from that a little bit now. But other than that, we’re doing real good. + 0 & ( " 3 % * You go from so many jobs, and I didn’t move in thirty-two years — which is a miracle in coaching. I’ve been living here in Sayville, Long Island, for thirty-two years. To pay off your mortgage is like a miracle in coaching. But I have only good memories about coaching the Jets. I have good memories about my high school and Hofstra. [Gardi was the head coach of the Hofstra football team from 1990 to 2005.] But yet, I understand, you go onto the next thing. And my next thing is I am now an observer — they call it a “technical assistant” — for three football conferences with officials. Because that’s what I did when I went to Hofstra: I was working in the NFL as an assistant supervisor of officials for five years when I left the Jets. I couldn’t get another coaching job when I left the Jets, and I think the reason was I was there too long. 428
al pereira ⁄ wire image
SACK EXCHANGE
T O D AY
You don’t stay in pro ball at anyplace for more than a few years, and I was there ten years. Here I am, supposedly one of the best defensive coordinators in the league, and my head coach is firing me — Joe Walton. So where the heck are you going to go? But life goes on. I am now into the officiating — I’m a bird dog for the NFL, which means I look for officials for them, too. And I’m a grandpa! I pick up the kids every day — I’m seventy years old. Not all of us are [Bob] Bowden and [Joe] Paterno — I put forty-eight years in and got burnt out. But I love what I’m doing now, and only have great memories about high school, college, and the Jets. But life goes on. I don’t mean to sound cold — they’re all great experiences. But it’s over. [Gardi passed away on June 3, 2010.] + 0 & 8" -50 / I’ve been the head coach of Robert Morris University. It’s a small college outside of Pittsburgh. This is my sixteenth football season. The first year, we didn’t play because we started the program brand new. We had to recruit players, get equipment, and do all the things that have to be in preparation to start a brand new team. My first year was ’93, and the first year we started was ’94. I’ve been here ever since. 8" -5 . * $ ) " & -4 I was yesterday at a political rally for Pat Toomey, who is going to run for senator of Pennsylvania. I make some appearances — because of my cane, I’m limited. I went to the first game in Cleveland because I wanted to see Brett Favre with Minnesota — but Cleveland didn’t give them a test at all [the Browns lost 34–20, on September 13, 2009]. I get a lot of calls from different people, and I enjoy rehashing old stories. The quotes that bother me are when they come from people who never played, or have not been involved — let’s put it that way. I need qualifications — I have an opinion about the politicians, but I don’t try and tell them how to become one. I enjoy listening to Jerry Jones — just listening [laughs]. 1 "53:" / I am a contractor — I build homes. I do some radio and TV work for Tennessee. I’m just building houses and doing some radio work. I have a son that plays at Austin Peay University. 3 " / % : 3 " 4 . 644&/ I’ve got a few months to go, and then I have twenty years in the insurance business up here in Riverside, Connecticut. I live up in Wilton. I have a twelve-year-old son, and I’m coaching his football team, so I’m running 429
SACK EXCHANGE
home three nights a week by 5:30, so we can try and get our guys cranked up. And that is really fun — it’s cool working with kids. This is my fourth year, and I really enjoy that. Love to play golf — probably play too much of it. I’m a big runner — five mornings a week I run anywhere from three to five miles. I ski in the wintertime, and that’s what I do. ( 3 & ( # 6 55-& I have my own businesses. I’m in the parking lot business at the airports, I have nightclubs, I’ve got a promotional event marketing business, and I do my media. Right now I have a show on ESPN radio weeknights from seven to eight and Saturdays from ten to noon. I do a Jets show for SNY every week [Jets Game Plan]. I’m pretty much on Jets football — pre- and post-game on the radio. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 Right now, I’m the senior VP of operations for a company called LandTek [landtekgroup.com]. We’re here in Amityville — we build and design athletic stadiums and fields. We’re the distributor for synthetic grass, called FieldTurf. I spent ten years as the cohost for the Jets Journal TV show — an inhouse TV show for the New York Jets — and I’m on my eighth season of doing broadcasting on radio. So I’m fortunate to travel with the team every week — be around the organization. I’ve worked with all the coaches from Walt Michaels to Joe Walton, Bill Parcells, Herman Edwards — I think there were ten coaches in the last thirty years that have come through the doors with the Jets. And now, I’m working with Rex Ryan. So I’ve seen firsthand the commitment by two unbelievable owners — Leon Hess and Woody Johnson. I’ve seen the organization and the franchise grow from a small facility to an unbelievable facility in New Jersey. And I’ve seen the commitment that the franchise has made from Mike Tannenbaum the GM to the fans, in the last thirty years. Just very fortunate and blessed to still be affiliated with the organization. ."55 3 0 # * / 4 0/ I have a partner — a friend of eighteen years — and we have a residential and commercial funding company that is nationwide and international on the commercial side. And we have sixteen athletes who work in our marketing department: Phil Esposito, Kevin Butler, Bill Bates, Billy Kratzert, Everson Walls, Jan Stephenson, Brian Mogg, Gary Rosenberger, Chris Parrish — and these guys are all owners in our company, and fully engaged in our company and our marketing company. Our company is called Home Team Equity, and our website is Hometeamequity.com. We put together a pretty cool deal when 430
T O D AY
it comes to giving retired athletes an opportunity to make money and an ownership position in our company. , & / 4 $ ) 3 0 : I work for a company called American Recreational Products [americanrecreational.com]. I design and install playgrounds for elementary schools and big playgrounds that you see in different county parks and state parks. I like to build things, and playgrounds and doing things for kids is right up my alley. " # % 6 -4 " -" " . Mostly I just work with the kids in the neighborhood, and do a little coaching. I coach track, football, wrestling, and try to build kids’ character. And teach them about leadership. A lot of that you never lose. Once you learn how to win, you don’t lose it, but you’re responsible to try and give it back. I went back to my old high school — Woodward High School in Ohio. % " / " -& 9 " / %&3 I’m living in Plaquemine, Louisiana — it’s just outside of Bâton Rouge. I own a sports bar — I’ve owned it for twenty years — and I still run it. It’s called Nick’s Lounge. $ -" 3 , ( " * / & 4 I work for the NFL Players Association — for the past twentyfour years. Came here in 1986 with Upshaw, and we built the organization to where it is. Gene passed last year, and we have a new executive director, DeMaurice Smith. 5* . % "7 & : I am the director of game operations for the National Football League. I’m in charge of the running of all the games. Instead of one team, you have thirty-two that you’ve got to oversee. Whether it’s having the field done properly, lighting, scoreboards, referees’ mics, coaches’ phones — all the running of the behind the scenes stuff of a game is through me. And making sure there is an equality between the home team and the visiting team — what the home team has, they have to offer the visiting team. [Davey passed away on January 7, 2010.] ' 3 " / , 3 " . 04 I’m retired. I worked for the past six years as a communicator for the NFL, but I’m not working this season. I live in New York and in Miami — I go back and forth between the two — and [I’m] enjoying life. 431
SACK EXCHANGE
# * -- ) " . 1 50 / I’m taking it easy in Jacksonville, Florida. I enjoy the home games for the Jaguars because my son is the equipment manager, and fortunately, he gave me the job on Sundays to take care of the officials. 1 & 1 1 & 3 # 6 3 3 644 I’m into my seventeenth year as the head athletic trainer with the Packers. My job is basically running the training room. I was amongst a staff of two that grew to a staff of three with the Jets, and now, we’re a staff of four with two interns here. And I have a Super Bowl ring that will one day belong to my son, and a championship ring that will belong to my daughter. 3 0 / $ 0 ) & / I run the Marketing and Promotions Department for the Universal Studios Theme Parks — which is basically the Orlando property and the Hollywood property. And I coordinate all of the marketing and promotional activity. I’ve been here since about 1997. - & / # & 3 . " / I currently have a website [thatssports.com] — I send out a daily top-five email, which is my off beat look at sports. My fourth book came out, which is my is third kids’ book, called The Greatest Moments in Sports, and it includes a CD of some of those great audio moments. And I have a book the following October [2010], The 25 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time, which will raise an argument because Koufax didn’t make it, and A-Rod did. I had a blue-ribbon panel help me decide who would be the greatest players. + 0 & ' * & -% 4 Currently, I work as director of contractor services for EP Henry Corp. - "8 3 & / $ & 1 * - -&34 I’m in Quincy, Florida. I have my own company, Pillers of Strength. I work with developmental disability. 4$ 0 55 % * & 3 , */( I’ve been a mechanical contractor in Chicago for Hill Mechanical Group for twenty-two years. Pretty much since I’ve retired from football. # 0 # # : + " $ , 4 0/ I’ve been working for Modell’s Sporting Goods — I’m a regional marketing manager for them. I’ve been with them almost eleven years. My son is a coach at his alma mater, Walt Whitman High School, where he 432
T O D AY
played. He just started coaching — defensive backs. He played at Tuskegee University — he’s a two-time champion there, but he played wide receiver and punt returns. As a matter of fact, Emerson Boozer is the running backs coach at the same school. . " 3 * 0 / # " 3#&3 I was a social worker — I just retired this past summer. We started a foundation here in Minnesota, that we do football camps annually. As a matter of fact, this was our second year. It’s the Barber Foundation — we do this on the northside of Minneapolis. We just try to do this for kids that may not have the opportunity to do football camps. We’ve partnered with the University of Minnesota and some other local agencies around the city. And we get some guys that are both current and former NFL players to come out and help as well. But I was a social worker — I worked for Hennepin County here in Minnesota and in Minneapolis for about eight years. I just recently retired from the food service industry. I worked for one of the large food distribution companies here in Minnesota. We are really blessed. We have three sons — Marion, who is with the Dallas Cowboys. This is his fifth year. He has experienced some success and loves Dallas. Down there, they call him “Marion the Barbarian.” I was nowhere near the player he is today. He plays running back. Matter of fact, I have told people that he surpassed all of my touchdowns and rushing yards his rookie year. But it has been great watching him. And there’s Dominique — he’s with the Houston Texans. It looks like he got the nod to start. He plays safety, and this is his second year down there. As big as Texas is, they’re relatively close — it’s about 300 miles between the two cities. It’s easy for us to hit one and then hit the other one within the same week. And we have a young son, Thomas, who will be twelve this month. He and I got to go down and spend four days in the Houston training camp. Then the Cowboys, they train in San Antonio, we had the opportunity to go over there for four days. But it’s been fun watching them play. It really warms our hearts — my wife Karen and I — to hear that when people have met them, and they tell us they’re such nice kids. That’s just a beautiful thing. # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1&3 I’ve done a few different things. I have my real estate license, which I don’t do anything with anymore. The other thing was I was the director of parks and recreation in Englewood. I lost my job about a year ago — I was in business development for a computer company. But all along, for the last twelve years, I have my own not-for-profit organization, called Heroes & Cool 433
SACK EXCHANGE
Kids [Heroesandcoolkids.org]. It’s a mentoring program — we have former pro athletes and former college athletes, and we go to the high schools. We ask them to select an average of thirty kids that would make good role models, and we train them to be mentors to fifth- and sixth-grade kids. Now, everyone asks if I ever met Fireman Ed [who wears Harper’s number 42 jersey at Jets games]. The truth is, did Ed ever meet me! I’m only kidding — I had the pleasure of meeting him. I love the fact that he wears my jersey. I didn’t know it, but he was wearing it when I was playing, and still is, after all of this time. It makes me feel good and makes my kids feel good. People ask me about it — it keeps my name in the loop a little bit. ,& / 0 # 3 * & / I’m back home in California. I’m working with a commercial real estate group — AMC Investments [AMCinvestments.com] — we buy real estate. We have investors and the whole nine yards with a real estate firm. It’s fun. I’m down in Southern California, watching the kids. I have one more in high school, and then they’ll all four be out of high school, and it will be the “twilight years of my life,” just hanging out. # " 3 3: # & / / & 5 5 It took me a couple of years to decide that I wanted to teach school, and then it took me a couple of years to get a job. In the fall of ’92 I moved back to my boyhood hometown — which is about two hours northwest of Minneapolis — a town of about 3,350 people. I’ve been teaching physical education since then. I live just a couple of miles outside of town on sixty acres. We’ve got about sixty sheep, 100 lambs born every year, chickens, ducks, dogs, cats, and turkeys — everything. We hunt deer out in the woods — right out the back door. I live a very, very different lifestyle than when I did at that time, and probably than most of my teammates do. 5 & % # " / , & 3 I’m beat up. I just had three back surgeries — a couple of rods put in my back. I’m recovering from the third back surgery. It’s bad. I’ve had nine surgeries since I’ve retired. Nine. And it was all injuries I had while playing. My career ended with an injury. But since then, I’ve had nine surgeries, and my body is falling apart — to be quite honest. When you go beat on it like we did, the body’s not meant to take it. And now, the guys being even bigger, those results haven’t been seen yet — our results are just coming out, from our era. I’m almost forty-nine, and pretty much destroyed physically. When these guys come 434
T O D AY
out — with the even more size and girth of these guys, the speed and the mass, when they collide those many times a game — the wear and tear it does and the injuries it does to the human body doesn’t always surface at that time. But all my surgeries are from injuries I had while playing — it’s just that they have gotten worse. Getting injected to cover them up, and then you go out and play, and you’re making it ten times worse. You’re just masking an injury. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 Lance Mehl can hardly even walk now. A lot of guys you didn’t even know were playing hurt at that time. 4 5& 7 & ( 3 0 ( "/ After sixteen years of getting my bell rung, everything kind of runs together [laughs]. 8& 4 -& : 8" -,&3 I had a very serious neck condition, and a lot of people didn’t know. I had gotten hurt in training camp — I think it was in ’86, when I had my first episode, and I was almost paralyzed. I couldn’t even move. I had a collision with Jerry Holmes in practice, and they flew me out to Buffalo to see a specialist. I went to all these people, and it was up to me whether I wanted to play again. But they said if this ever happens again, then I would probably have to retire. And I had another episode, where I went in on a crackback block in San Diego. I had hit this guy, and the same thing happened. I’m walking off the field in slow motion, and people are high-fiving me. Meanwhile, I can hardly walk. I hurt from head to toe. It’s just now — two years ago — that I had to get the surgery. I had spinal stenosis. I would get this tingling and numbness. I haven’t felt my feet in, like, twenty years, and I had all this atrophy. I had to get this surgery, where they went in from the front and the back, and I had a plate put in, and fourteen screws. You think about all the times you played this game and all the hits you took, and I’m a little receiver. I’ve had several neck injuries — I just don’t know which is the one that did the damage. Ultimately, I’m still paying the price for it. Now, they’re really doing studies with concussions, and I’ve seen Al Toon go through his bout with the concussion thing, and hopefully they’ll get better. It’s a violent sport if you look at it, and it’s the chance you take when you play this game. I never thought I’d be in the condition I’m in now. I’m very lucky, and thank god that I didn’t end up paralyzed. I’ve been in chronic pain since ’86, and I probably waited too late to have [the surgery], but my doctor was afraid that if I got 435
SACK EXCHANGE
bumped in the car, I could push that bone through, and I could end up paralyzed. So I had to get the surgery. But I can’t say that if I could do it over again, that I would have the surgery, with all the stuff I’m going through. Even now, with all the weather, I’m in excruciating pain — constantly. I have all these things that are happening to my body that I can’t even explain. During the time I was playing, and they’d send you to the specialist, I had all this stuff going on, and I was even debating whether I should play. I probably should have retired three years prior to that, but hey, you love the game. People just don’t understand that. I did love the game, and that’s why you play it, ultimately. ." 3 5: -: 0 / 4 Back in the ’81 season — it might have even been back in the ’80 season — I used to do a lot of work with the Long Island Leukemia Society. We would throw the holiday party. There would be about six or eight of us that would go over every year — Kenny Schroy, Pat Leahy — and we would have a Christmas party where the Jets would show up. We would hand out gifts to the kids, and one of us would dress up as Santa Claus. I remember this little boy being there — his name was Keith. He never really opened up — he always stood behind his mom. I didn’t have any children of my own at the time, so I took it upon myself — it was a challenge to get this little boy to open up. At the end of the party, I remember he came up, gave me a hug, and said, “I love you.” For me, that was like an everlasting bond. So for the next couple of years, whenever Keith needed to get treatments, or he went to the hospital, his mom would call me up — I would go meet him at the hospital, and watch them put an IV in this little boy’s arm. He would start crying, and a lot of times, if his veins weren’t strong enough, they would pop. So they’d have to find another vein. In ’82, my oldest son, Rocky, was born on March 4, and then my dad died on March 8 of a heart attack, and Keith died at the age of six on March 10. It was a period of time where you just come from the playoffs, your son is born . . . then you lose your dad and you lose Keith. It was one of those challenges in life where I had a very difficult time accepting it. When you kind of blame yourself, like, “What am I doing wrong in life, that god would challenge me with this?” I think it was at that point in my life that I realized there’s a certain obligation that each NFL player has. It’s a privilege to play in the game, but now, you’re on a platform — the biggest stage. Do something with the notoriety that you have. So I started a foundation in memory of my father and Keith — the Marty Lyons 436
T O D AY
Foundation [Martylyonsfoundation.org] — to help terminally ill children and children with a chronic life-threatening illness, to take their greatest wish in life and make it become a reality. We’ve been operating that now for twenty-seven years — it’s one of those foundations where I’m very fortunate that I’ve been surrounded by very good people. Kenny Schroy helped me start it — he’s been with me now for twentyseven years. We now have eleven chapters in nine states, and we’ve helped close to 5,500 kids. And it all stems back to six days in 1982. We’re not a foundation that will be flashing our name in neon lights. The work that we do with these families, we do it because number one, we want to do it, and we want to improve the quality of life. Number two, we want to create hope for a family when they struggle to find an answer because it really is a devastating moment when you go to take your child for a checkup, and they say, “Well, I’m sorry, your son or daughter has a brain tumor.” What do you do? The first child we ever worked with — his name was Steven — he stood up and talked about the foundation. He passed away. I still remember the conversation I had with his father, he said, “The work you do is very special. But it doesn’t always have to be publicized.” # 3 6 $ & ) " 3 1 &3 I always felt like it was my privilege to be able to play. I’m happy that I had the experience, and I’ll never forget it. I love my old teammates.
437
ap photo⁄nfl photo
J-E-T-S! JETS! JETS! JETS! Comprised of exclusive interviews with Jets players, coaches, and other figures surrounding the organization, Sack Exchange: The Definitive Oral History of the 1980s New York Jets is an eye-opening account of a memorable era in one team’s history, which also takes a step back and looks at the state of the National Football League as a whole during the 1980s. From the events that shaped the 1980s Jets, such as the legacy of Joe Namath, to their multiple playoff appearances during the decade, each triumph and disappointment is chronicled and supplemented with insider information. Other highlights include examinations of the beginning of the Jets’ rivalry with the Miami Dolphins; the controversial firing of head coach Walt Michaels; the defensive line, given the nickname “The New York Sack Exchange”; and steroid use by certain players and throughout the NFL. Featured are original interviews with Joe Klecko, Mark Gastineau, Marty Lyons, Abdul Salaam, Wesley Walker, Al Toon, Ken O’Brien, Richard Todd, Pat Leahy, Walt Michaels, and Joe Walton, among many others.
GREG PRATO is a writer who contributes regularly to Rolling Stone, All Music Guide, and Classic Rock magazine. He is the author of MTV Ruled the World, The Eric Carr Story, Grunge Is Dead, No Schlock . . . Just Rock, Touched by Magic, and A Devil on One Shoulder. He lives on Long Island, New York.
ISBN 978-1-77041-003-9
ecwpress.com
$19.95 US / $22.95 CDN
