Hostile
The Duke
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The two teams who will face off on Sunday both began play in 1960. The Cowboys as an NFL expansion team thrown together at the final minute starting a year earlier than planned to avoid falling behind another team starting play in Dallas.
That other team was the Texans, now the Chiefs, and they were part of an 8 team league called the American Football League or AFL. Also in that League was a team from New York, originally called the Titans.
For two years the AFL New York team operated as the Titans. Their original owner, Harry Wismer, chose that mascot name because "Titans were greater than Giants." From the start the Jets were more concerned with the Giants than anyone else.
In 1962, their 3rd year, they changed their mascot name to the Jets. Wismer sold the team to Sonny Werblin and he brought in legendary football coach Weeb Ewbank. Things began to change. In 1963 they underwent another change with their uniforms. Gone were the blue, gold and white of the Wismer Titans for the Kelly Green and white of the Jets.
Even with Ewbank at the helm the Jets continued to struggle, until 1968. In 1965 the Jets drafted a brash young QB from the University of Alabama. He was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania but once he hit New York he was forever known as "Broadway" Joe Namath.
Under Namath and Ewbank the Jets began to click and to gradually rise as a team. They reached their peak in 1968 by winning their first ever AFL Conference crown, followed by the AFL Championship and the right to go on to the Super Bowl to face the NFL Champion, Baltimore Colts.
In those days it wasn't just the Giants dominating the Jets in the public eye, the NFL as a whole was far more successful than the AFL. By 1968 the NFL had expanded from 13 teams to 16 teams and the AFL from 8 teams to 10 teams. But the Cowboys had successfully run the Texans out of Dallas and the Rams had run the Chargers out of Los Angeles. On top of this the Packers had dominated the first 2 Super Bowls and the whispers were everywhere that the AFL could not match the NFL in any way, shape, or form.
The Jets had escaped the dregs of the Polo Grounds as a home field, but at their new home Shea Stadium they played second fiddle to the Mets. They had to open seasons on the road so that the Mets could finish their year, and if the Mets made the playoffs it really complicated things.
Still 1968 was magical for the Jets. They earned the right to go to the Super Bowl to face the mighty Colts and get crushed. Then something amazing happened. Joe Namath did something that athletes just did not do. He guaranteed that the Jets were going to win the Super Bowl over the heavily favored Colts. No one took the New York playboy seriously.
When the game was over and the Jets were running off the field Namath would raise his right arm to the heavens and point his index finger straight up telling the whole world, we're number 1. The best.
The AFL winning a Super Bowl changed everything for the NFL. No longer could they look upon the AFL as a weak little sister league. There had been talks of a merger and negotiations had reached an agreement that led to the culmination of a Super Bowl. But until after the Jets won the Super Bowl there were many that didn't think the AFL measured up to the NFL in any way. All of that changed after the Jets won Super Bowl III.
That is one reason why that Super Bowl is considered so vital in football History. It wasn't the last before the merger, or even the first after the merger, but it was the one that made the merger more meaningful.
In 1973 Sonny Werblin sold the Jets to Leon Hess. Hess wanted the Jets to win more than anything in the world, but even though the Jets had a Super Bowl and the Giants did not, they could not get out of the Giants shadow.
In 1976 the Giants moved out of New York City and into Giants Stadium at East Rutherford, New Jersey. The continued to have issues with the Mets and Shea Stadium and in 1984 the Jets also moved into Giants Stadium. They hoped that the name of the stadium would be changed, but the Giants owned the rights and they refused. For 17 years the Jets had to play in a stadium named after their rival and call it home.
The Jets and Giants both moved into a new stadium in east Rutherford in 2010, but finally it was no longer the Giants home occupied by the Jets. Met Life Stadium finally has given the Jets a home not honoring an in state/city rival. The Jets hoped to be able to play the first game in the new stadium and christen it.
However, they lost a coin flip to the Giants and the Giants played the first game there on September 12th, 2010. The next night the Jets got their turn on Monday Night Football. However, the Giants dominated the woeful Panthers and the Jets lost their home opener to the Ravens by the slimmest of scores, 9-10. Still in the shadows.
The epitome of the shadows of the Giants might have come when Leon Hess worked to hire Bill Parcells as his new Head Coach. Parcells had won 2 Super Bowls with the Giants before scurrying off to New England and leading them to a berth in another. Hess felt he had finally scored a huge coup in replacing the woeful Rich Kotite with the legendary Big Tuna. Parcells took over the Jets in 1997 and turned them around almost immediately. In 1998 the Jets won their first ever AFC East Division crown, 29 years after being placed in that Division after the merger. Parcells led the team all the way to the AFC Championship, only to fall short to the John Elway repeat Champion Denver Broncos.
Still Hess finally could see his goal, his dream, his Super Bowl. 1999 was going to be his year. In May of that year he passed away. The Jets returned to mediocrity and the Jets were back for sale.
Woody Johnson of the mega product king Johnson & Johnson purchased the Jets after Hess' demise. The Jets won their 2nd and last AFC East crown in 2002 as 3 of the 4 teams in the division were 9-7 and one was 8-8. But in the last two years under the leadership of new Head Coach Rex Ryan, the Jets have made it to back to back AFC Championships. Much like his famous father Buddy Ryan, Rex has been brash and boastful in the media. His team is very much in his mold.
The fates of the two franchises who both began in 1960 couldn't be more different. The Cowboys became a perennial winner under Tom Landry and later under Jimmy Johnson. The Jets have only won two Division crowns. They've played at best, second fiddle to Miami and Baltimore for many years, then second fiddle to the 4 time Super Bowl runner up Bills for much of a decade and have finally seen the Patriots run that division for the last decade.
But many believe the Jets are the team poised to reach new heights. Their Defense is certainly respected around the NFL as they have the premier CB in all of football in Darelle Revis. As we look to this Sunday's tributary matchup on the anniversary of the fateful attacks of 9/11 all eyes will be on Revis island as he looks to shut down Air Garrett. The Cowboys WRs and the Jets CBs could be the single best matchup on the entire Sunday of football honor.
Prior to the game these players and their teammates and coaches will hold an American flag on the field while the National Anthem is sung. Prior to the game Taps will be played and a moment of silence for the real martyrs of 9/11 will be observed. Once the game starts it will no longer be individual matchups. It won't even be brother against brother or Rex Ryan's defense versus Jason Garrett's Offense.
It is going to be about two teams with high expectations and bright futures opening a season in which both believe there is a destiny awaiting. Sunday one team will be a step closer to that goal, and one will be a step further away. Win or lose, neither will be there yet, because it is only one step of many for both teams and fates can change.
The Jets and Cowboys have matched up against each other 9 times in the past. The Cowboys hold a 7-2 advantage in those games and are 5-1 against them on their home turf, a field they know quite well because of a long rivalry with the Giants. This will be the Cowboys 2nd trip to Met Life Stadium. Last year the stadium welcomed in the Jason Garrett era with a Cowboys victory over the Giants. It was quite a turnaround from the Wade Phillips swan song debacle in Green Bay.
The Jets aren't being forced to play second fiddle to the Giants this year. They were chosen to be the home team for the 9/11 anniversary. The Giants will toil their anniversary in Washington, DC one of the other target sites. I don't care about second fiddle to the Giants one bit, but I'll be the first to admit, second fiddle to the Cowboys sounds just about right for this Cowboys fan.
It will not be an easy task at all and today's injuries make it that much harder, and perhaps sweeter? For a change the other team has more hype than the Cowboys. Thank you Rex Ryan for providing that.
If the game is close I give Dallas the edge because of one thing, and one thing only. The Cowboys Offense is more dangerous right now than the Jets Offense. Both are good, but with the game on the line the advantage swings to the higher scoring tam and that is Dallas. The Jets can't allow Dallas to hang around. The Cowboys can't allow the Jets D to dictate the pace and that is what they are going to want to do against the patchwork OL in front of Tony Romo.
The Cowboys were the all time leader on Sunday Night Football until last year. They went from 10-3 to 10-6. The Colts now lead at 12-4. The Jets are 2-0 on SNF.
On the calendar date 9/11 the Cowboys are 3-0 and this is the 2nd time since that fateful day in 2001 that they have opened a season on this date. The last time they traveled to San Diego and beat the heavily favored Chargers 28-24.
That other team was the Texans, now the Chiefs, and they were part of an 8 team league called the American Football League or AFL. Also in that League was a team from New York, originally called the Titans.
For two years the AFL New York team operated as the Titans. Their original owner, Harry Wismer, chose that mascot name because "Titans were greater than Giants." From the start the Jets were more concerned with the Giants than anyone else.
In 1962, their 3rd year, they changed their mascot name to the Jets. Wismer sold the team to Sonny Werblin and he brought in legendary football coach Weeb Ewbank. Things began to change. In 1963 they underwent another change with their uniforms. Gone were the blue, gold and white of the Wismer Titans for the Kelly Green and white of the Jets.
Even with Ewbank at the helm the Jets continued to struggle, until 1968. In 1965 the Jets drafted a brash young QB from the University of Alabama. He was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania but once he hit New York he was forever known as "Broadway" Joe Namath.
Under Namath and Ewbank the Jets began to click and to gradually rise as a team. They reached their peak in 1968 by winning their first ever AFL Conference crown, followed by the AFL Championship and the right to go on to the Super Bowl to face the NFL Champion, Baltimore Colts.
In those days it wasn't just the Giants dominating the Jets in the public eye, the NFL as a whole was far more successful than the AFL. By 1968 the NFL had expanded from 13 teams to 16 teams and the AFL from 8 teams to 10 teams. But the Cowboys had successfully run the Texans out of Dallas and the Rams had run the Chargers out of Los Angeles. On top of this the Packers had dominated the first 2 Super Bowls and the whispers were everywhere that the AFL could not match the NFL in any way, shape, or form.
The Jets had escaped the dregs of the Polo Grounds as a home field, but at their new home Shea Stadium they played second fiddle to the Mets. They had to open seasons on the road so that the Mets could finish their year, and if the Mets made the playoffs it really complicated things.
Still 1968 was magical for the Jets. They earned the right to go to the Super Bowl to face the mighty Colts and get crushed. Then something amazing happened. Joe Namath did something that athletes just did not do. He guaranteed that the Jets were going to win the Super Bowl over the heavily favored Colts. No one took the New York playboy seriously.
When the game was over and the Jets were running off the field Namath would raise his right arm to the heavens and point his index finger straight up telling the whole world, we're number 1. The best.
The AFL winning a Super Bowl changed everything for the NFL. No longer could they look upon the AFL as a weak little sister league. There had been talks of a merger and negotiations had reached an agreement that led to the culmination of a Super Bowl. But until after the Jets won the Super Bowl there were many that didn't think the AFL measured up to the NFL in any way. All of that changed after the Jets won Super Bowl III.
That is one reason why that Super Bowl is considered so vital in football History. It wasn't the last before the merger, or even the first after the merger, but it was the one that made the merger more meaningful.
In 1973 Sonny Werblin sold the Jets to Leon Hess. Hess wanted the Jets to win more than anything in the world, but even though the Jets had a Super Bowl and the Giants did not, they could not get out of the Giants shadow.
In 1976 the Giants moved out of New York City and into Giants Stadium at East Rutherford, New Jersey. The continued to have issues with the Mets and Shea Stadium and in 1984 the Jets also moved into Giants Stadium. They hoped that the name of the stadium would be changed, but the Giants owned the rights and they refused. For 17 years the Jets had to play in a stadium named after their rival and call it home.
The Jets and Giants both moved into a new stadium in east Rutherford in 2010, but finally it was no longer the Giants home occupied by the Jets. Met Life Stadium finally has given the Jets a home not honoring an in state/city rival. The Jets hoped to be able to play the first game in the new stadium and christen it.
However, they lost a coin flip to the Giants and the Giants played the first game there on September 12th, 2010. The next night the Jets got their turn on Monday Night Football. However, the Giants dominated the woeful Panthers and the Jets lost their home opener to the Ravens by the slimmest of scores, 9-10. Still in the shadows.
The epitome of the shadows of the Giants might have come when Leon Hess worked to hire Bill Parcells as his new Head Coach. Parcells had won 2 Super Bowls with the Giants before scurrying off to New England and leading them to a berth in another. Hess felt he had finally scored a huge coup in replacing the woeful Rich Kotite with the legendary Big Tuna. Parcells took over the Jets in 1997 and turned them around almost immediately. In 1998 the Jets won their first ever AFC East Division crown, 29 years after being placed in that Division after the merger. Parcells led the team all the way to the AFC Championship, only to fall short to the John Elway repeat Champion Denver Broncos.
Still Hess finally could see his goal, his dream, his Super Bowl. 1999 was going to be his year. In May of that year he passed away. The Jets returned to mediocrity and the Jets were back for sale.
Woody Johnson of the mega product king Johnson & Johnson purchased the Jets after Hess' demise. The Jets won their 2nd and last AFC East crown in 2002 as 3 of the 4 teams in the division were 9-7 and one was 8-8. But in the last two years under the leadership of new Head Coach Rex Ryan, the Jets have made it to back to back AFC Championships. Much like his famous father Buddy Ryan, Rex has been brash and boastful in the media. His team is very much in his mold.
The fates of the two franchises who both began in 1960 couldn't be more different. The Cowboys became a perennial winner under Tom Landry and later under Jimmy Johnson. The Jets have only won two Division crowns. They've played at best, second fiddle to Miami and Baltimore for many years, then second fiddle to the 4 time Super Bowl runner up Bills for much of a decade and have finally seen the Patriots run that division for the last decade.
But many believe the Jets are the team poised to reach new heights. Their Defense is certainly respected around the NFL as they have the premier CB in all of football in Darelle Revis. As we look to this Sunday's tributary matchup on the anniversary of the fateful attacks of 9/11 all eyes will be on Revis island as he looks to shut down Air Garrett. The Cowboys WRs and the Jets CBs could be the single best matchup on the entire Sunday of football honor.
Prior to the game these players and their teammates and coaches will hold an American flag on the field while the National Anthem is sung. Prior to the game Taps will be played and a moment of silence for the real martyrs of 9/11 will be observed. Once the game starts it will no longer be individual matchups. It won't even be brother against brother or Rex Ryan's defense versus Jason Garrett's Offense.
It is going to be about two teams with high expectations and bright futures opening a season in which both believe there is a destiny awaiting. Sunday one team will be a step closer to that goal, and one will be a step further away. Win or lose, neither will be there yet, because it is only one step of many for both teams and fates can change.
The Jets and Cowboys have matched up against each other 9 times in the past. The Cowboys hold a 7-2 advantage in those games and are 5-1 against them on their home turf, a field they know quite well because of a long rivalry with the Giants. This will be the Cowboys 2nd trip to Met Life Stadium. Last year the stadium welcomed in the Jason Garrett era with a Cowboys victory over the Giants. It was quite a turnaround from the Wade Phillips swan song debacle in Green Bay.
The Jets aren't being forced to play second fiddle to the Giants this year. They were chosen to be the home team for the 9/11 anniversary. The Giants will toil their anniversary in Washington, DC one of the other target sites. I don't care about second fiddle to the Giants one bit, but I'll be the first to admit, second fiddle to the Cowboys sounds just about right for this Cowboys fan.
It will not be an easy task at all and today's injuries make it that much harder, and perhaps sweeter? For a change the other team has more hype than the Cowboys. Thank you Rex Ryan for providing that.
If the game is close I give Dallas the edge because of one thing, and one thing only. The Cowboys Offense is more dangerous right now than the Jets Offense. Both are good, but with the game on the line the advantage swings to the higher scoring tam and that is Dallas. The Jets can't allow Dallas to hang around. The Cowboys can't allow the Jets D to dictate the pace and that is what they are going to want to do against the patchwork OL in front of Tony Romo.
The Cowboys were the all time leader on Sunday Night Football until last year. They went from 10-3 to 10-6. The Colts now lead at 12-4. The Jets are 2-0 on SNF.
On the calendar date 9/11 the Cowboys are 3-0 and this is the 2nd time since that fateful day in 2001 that they have opened a season on this date. The last time they traveled to San Diego and beat the heavily favored Chargers 28-24.
