SUPER BOWL III QUOTE OF THE DAY 


"We're going to win on Sunday. I guarantee it."

-Joe Willie Namath's infamous gurantee of an AFL victory over the NFL's seemingly invincible Colts.  The Jets won Super Bowl III 16-7 on January 12, 1969 at the Orange Bowl.


FROM WIKIPEDIA . . . .

Super Bowl III was the third AFL-NFL Championship Game in professional American football, but the first to officially bear the name "Super Bowl" (The two previous AFL-NFL Championship Games came to be known, retroactively, as "Super Bowls"). The game, played on January 12, 1969, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, is regarded as one of the greatest upsets in American sports history. The heavy underdog American Football League (AFL) champion New York Jets defeated the National Football League (NFL) champion Baltimore Colts by a score of 16–7.^[2] This was the first Super Bowl victory for the AFL.

Entering Super Bowl III, just like the previous two Super Bowls, many sports writers and fans believed that AFL teams did not have the same caliber of talent as NFL clubs, and thus fully expected the Colts to defeat the Jets. Baltimore posted a 13-1 record during the 1968 NFL season before defeating the Cleveland Browns, 34-0, in the 1968 NFL Championship Game. The Jets finished the 1968 AFL season at 11-3, and defeated the Oakland Raiders, 27-23, in the 1968 AFL Championship Game.

Undaunted, Jets quarterback Joe Namath made an appearance three days before the Super Bowl at the Miami Touchdown Club and brashly guaranteed a victory. His team backed up his words by controlling most of the game, and built a 16-0 lead through the fourth quarter off of a touchdown run by Matt Snell and three field goals by Jim Turner. Colts quarterback Earl Morrall threw three interceptions before being replaced by Johnny Unitas, who then led Baltimore to its only touchdown during the last few minutes of the game. Namath, who completed 17 out of 28 passes for 206 yards, was named the Super Bowl's Most Valuable Player, despite not throwing a touchdown pass in the game or any passes at all in the fourth quarter.

This was the first Super Bowl to feature famous celebrities during its ceremonies instead of just college bands. Comedian Bob Hope led a pregame ceremony honoring the Apollo astronauts, while Anita Bryant sang the national anthem.



Of course, Wildcat fans have a special place in their hearts for the 1968 Jets because one of our own, former NMU football stand-out and head coach, Billy Rademacher of Menominee was a member of the squad.

The Guarantee"
Despite the Jets' accomplishments, AFL teams were generally not regarded as having the same caliber of talent as NFL teams. However, three days before the game, an intoxicated Namath appeared at the Miami Touchdown Club and boldly predicted to the audience, "We're gonna win on Sunday. I guarantee it."^[18][19] 

Jets' head coach Weeb Ewbank, in an NFL Films segment, once joked that he "could have shot" Namath for the statement. Namath made his famous "guarantee" in response to a rowdy Colts supporter at the club, who boasted the Colts would easily defeat the Jets. Namath said he never intended to make such a public prediction, and never would have done so if he had not been confronted by the fan.^[19] Nevertheless, his comments and subsequent performance in the game itself are one of the more famous instances in NFL lore. 

Some analysts suggested that the Jets' record in the NFL might have been 9-5, which would have made them unlikely to have made the 1968 NFL playoffs altogether, let alone competitive against the dominant Colts.


Despite this, the AFL champions shared the confident feelings of their quarterback. According to Matt Snell, all of the Jets, not just Namath, were insulted and angry that they were 18-point underdogs.^[14] Most of the Jets considered the Raiders, whom they barely beat (27-23) in the AFL title game, a better team than the Colts. However, watching films of the Colts and in preparation for the game, Jets coaching staff and offensive players noted that their offense was particularly suited against the Colts defense. The Colts defensive schemes relied on frequent blitzing, which covered up weak points in pass coverage. The Jets had an automatic contingency for such blitzes by short passing to uncovered tight ends or backs.^[20]

After a film session the Wednesday prior to the game, Jets tight end Pete Lammons, a Crockett, Texas native, was heard to drawl, "Damn, y'all, we gotta stop watching these films. We gonna get overconfident."^[17]