It was perhaps the most important game in pro football history – Super Bowl III in Miami between the AFL’s New York Jets and NFL powerhouse Baltimore Colts, and with those 2 clubs meeting on this week’s schedule, it is an obvious pick to be chosen as this week’s throwback feature. I have featured this game in other posts regarding past Super Bowls, usually during the week of the ultimate title game, but to my actual surprise, have never given it the TBT treatment. The story of this game is pro football legend today, and the reason is because of a brash young quarterback who stood the sport on it’s collective ear.
To set up the story, let’s look at the games that got the 2 teams to this contest. The Colts were an NFL behemoth in the ’68 season. They had run roughshod through the league and finished 13-1, including running off 8 consecutive wins to finish the regular season after their lone loss, 30-20, to the Cleveland Browns. After dispatching Minnesota in the divisional playoff, they found themselves facing the Browns again in the title game. This time, they dismantled Cleveland 34-0 and after the result of the AFL championship was decided, sportswriters and analysts everywhere predicted that the “Super Bowl” would be a laugher. In that AFL game, the underdog New York Jets, guided by the passing of their stellar quarterback Joe Namath, rallied in the final quarter to upset the previous year’s champs, the Oakland Raiders, 27-23. Oakland had beaten the Jets 43-32 earlier that year in the infamous “Heidi” game and were favored for a repeat trip to the Super Bowl.
So after 2 resounding victories for Vince Lombardi’s Packers, the third big game was expected to be even more of a one-sided rout, since it was a match between an NFL juggernaut and a club that wasn’t even seen as the best the AFL had to offer. This was reflected in the pre-game betting odds, with the Colts being installed as anywhere from 18 to 23 point favorites. Sportswriters and pundits spent the week ridiculing the Jets, and finally Namath, fed up with it all, stopped the sports world in it’s tracks when he boldly stated “We’re a better team than Baltimore. We’re going to win the game. I guarantee it.” Of course this set off a media feeding frenzy and the ridicule got even louder and more boisterous. Namath in particular, who at the time was disliked by the buttoned-up, conservative media for his unconventional look, (his white shoes, wearing a mink coat on the sidelines while injured, etc.) and his supposed wild lifestyle, took the brunt of the jokes and insults.
Then there was the actual game. Namath wasn’t particularly great, but he engineered a surgical attack mixing the run and the pass to befuddle the Baltimore defense. Running back Matt Snell, who was the unsung hero for the Jets, continually exposed a weakness on the Colts’ left side and scored the game’s first touchdown on a 4 yard run, and did yeoman’s work for the game with 121 yards on 30 carries. Namath used his quick release to frustrate coach Don Shula’s Baltimore defense, connecting on short and intermediate throws to his backs and to wide receiver George Sauer, who caught 8 passes for 133 yards. Namath’s favorite target, future Hall of Famer Don Maynard, did not catch a pass on the day, but Namath shrewdly used the rest of his team’s weapons to lead 3 field goal drives and build up a 16-0 lead. The Jets’ defense surprisingly shut down Colts’ MVP quarterback Earl Morrall, intercepting him 3 times, including 1 by former Colt Johnny Sample, and holding him to 6 of 17 passing for a paltry 71 yards. Shula, in a sign of desperation, eventually benched Morrall and turned to legendary John Unitas, his aging and now often injured backup. Unitas led one scoring drive but couldn’t complete the comeback, also throwing a pick.
Matt Snell, Super Bowl III’s unsung hero
When the final gun sounded, the Jets had themselves a stunning 16-7 conquest of their personal Goliath. The win sent feelings of pride throughout the other organizations in the AFL, as their league had finally shown that they were indeed an equal force to their established big brother. The next year, in the final Super Bowl played before the 2 leagues were officially merged into one, the Kansas City Chiefs, humiliated by Lombardi’s Packers in the initial title game, defeated a favored Minnesota Viking squad to end any argument that the AFL had reached parity. Incidentally, Lombardi, the smartest man in pro football at the time, was in the stands at Super Bowl III. Beforehand, he issued a warning to the Colts about Namath, saying the Colts had better not get caught up in the press clippings and underestimate him as he was “a perfect passer”.
Super Bowl III – Namath’s shining hour