November 27, 1994: The New York Jets are playing the Miami Dolphins, at Giants Stadium, in the Meadowlands, in East Rutherford, Bergen County, New Jersey. At the time, Bill Belichick was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, Tom Brady was in high school, the New England Patriots were 5-6, and the idea that the Pats would one day be considered the Jets' arch-rivals was ridiculous.
The Dolphins were the Jets' arch-rivals, beyond any question. While the Jets' one and only Super Bowl appearance, their win in Super Bowl III, was at the Orange Bowl, the Dolphins' former home field, the Dolphins had dominated the head-to-head matchups. Between 1970 and 1994, the Jets were a pathetic 14-28-1 against the Dolphins.
From 1983 onward, a big reason for this domination was the quarterbacking of Dan Marino. He set several NFL career passing records, most of them long since broken. He would not have set so many if he wasn't playing the Jets twice as season as an AFC Eastern Division opponent.
Marino arrived the season after the Dolphins had beaten the Jets in an AFC Championship Game, and, as the Jets' "New York Sack Exchange" defense of the early 1980s got older, and head coach Don Shula kept the Dolphins a consistent winner (although making only 1 Super Bowl themselves through Marino's 17-season tenure), Marino was able to fluff up his stats in his 2 annual contests with Gang Green.
Going into this game, the Jets were 6-5, the Dolphins 7-4 and had lost their last 2 games. A Jet win would have created a tie for the AFC East lead, and, at the rate the Dolphins were going, the Jets would have to be favored to win the Division.
The Jets led 17-0 with 12:58 left in the 3rd quarter, and extended that lead to 24-6 with 3:39 left in the quarter. But the Dolphins came back. Marino threw 3 touchdown passes to Mark Ingram, getting a 2-point conversion on one (in this 1st season in which the NFL used the 2-pointer).
It was still 24-21 Jets with 42 seconds left to play. Marino threw to Ingram, who was tackled at the Jets' 8-yard line. Everybody in the stadium, it seemed, was expecting Marino to spike the ball after the next snap, to stop the clock, to try to get a little closer, and then use the Dolphins' last time-out to get the field goal unit on the field. NBC announcer Paul Maguire said he was expecting that. And as the Dolphins hurried up to get their formation set up, Marino was motioning that he was going to spike the ball.
When the ball was snapped with 25 seconds to go, the Dolphins line barely blocked at all, as if Marino really was going to spike the ball. And he only stepped back to the 12-yard line. And then he threw the ball, into the near right corner of the end zone. Ingram was there, covered by not especially well by Aaron Glenn, and he caught it. Touchdown. The 4th Marino-to-Ingram touchdown of the game. Dolphins 28, Jets 24.
The fans went wild. Given that New York City has people from all over the world, and that television coverage in the 1970s when the Jets were bad meant that a lot of Baby Boomers became Dolphin fans (and Pittsburgh Steeler fans, and Dallas Cowboy fans, and Oakland Raider fans), it wasn't that surprising that a lot of fans inside Giants Stadium cheered wildly after the play. Some of them may even have been Jet fans, excited over seeing a great moment, before reality sunk in and they realized that they had lost. (There were still 22 seconds on the clock, but quarterback Boomer Esiason could only get the Jets to the Dolphins' 35-yard line before time ran out.)
For Marino, perhaps the best pure passer the sport has ever known, but who lost his only Super Bowl appearance (XIX, 1985, to the San Francisco 49ers), it is his most memorable moment. For the Jets, it is just one of many moments that suggest that they are, if not the worst franchise in NFL history, then, perhaps, the dumbest.
The Dolphins finished the season 10-6, and beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the Playoffs, before losing to the San Diego Chargers. The Jets didn't win another game, falling to 6-10. Team owner Leon Hess fired the head coach -- Pete Carroll, who went on to win 2 National Championships at USC and a Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks.
Hess then hired former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Rich Kotite, saying, "I'm 80 years old. I want results now!" He got them: Kotite went 3-13 in 1995, and 1-15 in 1996, quitting before he could be fired. From the fake spike to the last game of the Kotite experiment, the Jets went 4-33, as poor a stretch as the NFL has ever known.
Hess hired Bill Parcells, who had rebuilt the Giants and the Patriots, and he did the same, getting the Jets to the AFC Championship Game in 2 years. Then Hess died, with results, if incomplete ones. That's been the story of the Jets since January 12, 1969: Incomplete results.
*
November 27, 1994 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played that day:
* The New York Giants beat the Washington Redskins, 21-19 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.
* The Atlanta Falcons beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 28-21 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
* The Cleveland Browns beat the Houston Oilers, 34-10 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
* The New England Patriots beat the Indianapolis Colts, 12-10 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.
* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Minnesota Vikings, 20-17 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Michael Husted kicked a 22-yard field goal to win it in overtime.
* The Denver Broncos beat the Cincinnati Bengals 15-13 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
* The Chicago Bears beat the Arizona Cardinals, 19-16 at Sun Devil Stadium in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona. Kevin Butler kicked a 27-yard field goal with 16 seconds left in overtime.
* The San Diego Chargers beat the Los Angeles Rams, 31-17 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego.
* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Los Angeles Raiders, 21-3 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 10-9 at the Kingdome in Seattle.
* Three days earlier, on Thanksgiving, the Detroit Lions beat the Buffalo Bills, 35-21 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.
* Also on Thanksgiving, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Green Bay Packers, 42-31 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.
* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the San Francisco 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints, 35-14 at the Superdome in New Orleans.
Baseball was in the off-season. And the NHL team owners had locked the players out do, so the season didn't start until January 20, 1995. But there were 4 games played in the NBA that day:
* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Phoenix Suns, 115-110 at the American West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Golden State Warriors, 106-91 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.
* The Utah Jazz beat the Sacramento Kings, 94-89 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento.
* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Indiana pacers, 99-89 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
No comments:
Post a Comment