Friday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

At half-time of Sunday’s game between the Chiefs and Jets at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands, New York will honor its 1968 Super Bowl championship team on the 40^th anniversary of their remarkable victory over the Baltimore Colts.

Writing the history of American sports in the 20^th Century would have to include a chapter on the Jets 16-7 victory at Miami’s Orange Bowl. It was the upstart American Football League’s crowning achievement to have finally beaten the National Football League on the championship stage. It was Joe Namath predicting a victory before the game, egged on by Colts players and others who thought the Jets had no chance; in some quarters they entered the game as 20-point underdogs.

At the time, Namath was probably the biggest name in sports. He was young, good looking, not afraid of the bright lights and he played in New York, where everything is bigger and brighter, or at least they think so. The underdog Chiefs victory the next January over the Minnesota Vikings only drove home the point that the AFL was the equal of the NFL.

The Jets got there first. Len Dawson sat in the stands at the Orange Bowl that day, attending as a guest of American Express with a bunch of their clients.

“They were all Colts fans and they were sure the Colts were going to win,” Dawson said this week. “I remember standing up in the fourth quarter and making some sort of comment about who was the best team now.”

In the first two Super Bowls between the leagues, the Green Bay Packers had beaten the Chiefs and Raiders. Smug was the best way to describe the NFL when it came to the AFL.

“They didn’t bother to look at the teams or the players, it was just AFL, oh that’s the Mickey Mouse League and they went on,” Dawson said. “I had played against the Jets. I knew how good they were. I knew how good their defense was. Nobody remembers that; they all remember Namath, but the Jets had a very good defense.”

It was led by DE Gerry Philbin, LB Larry Grantham and in the secondary was a mouthy cornerback named Johnny Sample. They gave up an average of 240 yards per game (85 rushing, 155 passing) with 43 sacks, 43 takeaways and just 26 TDs allowed. The Jets allowed only a fourth quarter TD and intercepted four Baltimore passes.

The Jets offense was the star of this game, however, and it was not even so much Namath or Hall of Fame receiver Don Maynard. It was big RB Matt Snell and the New York offensive line that controlled Bubba Smith and a very good Colts defense. Snell ran for 121 yards on 30 carries and scored on a four-yard TD run.

The Jets victory changed the football landscape in one afternoon. The leagues were already marching towards a merger that would come in another year. But the outcome of this game let everyone know that Lamar Hunt’s baby had grown up.

And nobody celebrated that victory like the AFL players.

“I bet you 200-something players from the AFL came in the (Jets) locker room,” said Chiefs Hall of Fame LB Bobby Bell. “I was there. We were like family, man. We all stuck together.”

Maynard talked several years ago about how several days after the game, he and some other Jets arrived at the AFL All-Star Game site in Jacksonville.

“Even our opponents in the other dressing room of the other division, you would have thought they won the game too,” Maynard said. “Guys would come over to you, like Buck Buchanan. I’m just a receiver. He came over and said ‘Aw,man’ and he hugged me. I barely knew the guy. They were so proud.”

Some 36 members of that team are expected on Sunday, led again by Namath.

He said this week he doesn’t often wear his Super Bowl ring, largely because he seldom wears any jewelry.

“I’ll take it out of the box every now and then, look at it and feel it,” Namath told the New York Daily News. “I can’t describe the feeling. There’s just a feeling that runs through you.”

It’s a feeling that ran through anyone who had anything to do with the American Football League.

FROM THE PAGES OF CHIEFS HISTORY

On October 24, 1965, the Chiefs lost to the Oilers 38-26 at Jeppesen Stadium in Houston. The Chiefs scored 19 points in the fourth quarter but it wasn’t enough to overcome a big Oilers lead. Hank Stram’s offense got pushed the Chiefs to an early 17-0 lead, on TD runs of 48 yards by RB Curtis McClinton and eight yards by Mack Lee Hill. Tommy Broker had a 12-yard field goal. Houston scored the next five touchdowns before QB Len Dawson threw a pair of TD passes, 40 yards to McClinton and eight yards to WR Otis Taylor. Hill finished with 132 yards on 17 carries.

On October 24, 2004, the Chiefs beat the Atlanta Falcons 56-10 in front of 78,260 fans at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs set an NFL record with eight rushing touchdowns against the Falcons. The Kansas City offense had 540 total yards and 36 first downs. RBs Priest Holmes and Derrick Blaylock each had four touchdowns runs. All of Holmes scoring plays came in the first half, when the Chiefs jumped out to a 35-3 lead. Defensively, the Chiefs limited Atlanta to 222 yards. QB Michael Vick was the Falcons leading rusher with 62 yards, but he threw a pair of interceptions, as CB Eric Warfield and S Greg Wesley grabbed the picks.

OPPONENT NEXT/NEW YORK JETS

The Jets have a couple of guys with sore craniums and other notes from New Jersey. 

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Things are not going so well for Tom Brady and his recovery from knee surgery.  I bet he curses Bernard Pollard’s name every time he must go back to the doctors. 

The NFL sent reps to Pittsburgh to talk to the Steelers about why they keep getting fined for actions in the game where they are not penalized.

In Detroit, the Lions game against Washington this Sunday will be blacked out on local TV.  Yes, there are teams that actually do this.

AROUND THE AFC WEST

LB Robert Thomas is back with the Raiders and other notes from the East Bay.

The Broncos have big expectations for rookie RB Ryan Torian who should return from injury after the bye week.

In London this weekend, the Chargers will not get to see Reggie Bush and that’s just fine with them.