Editing Joe Namath (section)

===New York Jets===
In Namath's rookie season the 1965 [[1965 New York Jets season|Jets]] were winless in their first six games with him splitting time with second-year quarterback [[Mike Taliaferro]].<ref name=mapbpdb/> With Namath starting full-time they won five of the last eight of a fourteen-game season and Namath was named the [[American Football League Rookies of the Year|AFL Rookie of the year]].<ref name=nsarn>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lflNAAAAIBAJ&pg=823%2C7631779 |newspaper=Free Lance Star |location=Fredericksburg |agency=Associated Press |title=Namath says rookie award 'real nice' |date=December 17, 1965 |page=11 }}</ref>

He became the first professional quarterback to pass for 4,000 yards in a season when he threw for 4,007 yards during a 14-game season in [[1967 New York Jets season|1967]], a record broken by [[Dan Fouts]] in a 16-game season in [[1979 San Diego Chargers season|1979]] (4,082).<ref>{{cite web|last=Greenberg|first=Chris|title=Drew Brees Passes Dan Marino: Saints QB Joins Marino, Joe Namath, Dan Fouts In Holding NFL Record|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/27/drew-brees-passes-dan-marino-nfl-passing-record_n_1171613.html|publisher=Huffington Post|access-date=May 27, 2015|date=December 28, 2011}}</ref> Although Namath was plagued with knee injuries through much of his career and underwent four pioneering knee operations by [[James A. Nicholas|Dr. James A. Nicholas]], he was an [[American Football League All-Star games|AFL All-Star]] in 1965, 1967, 1968, and 1969. On some occasions, Namath had to have his knee drained at halftime so he could finish a game. Later in life, long after he left football, he underwent [[knee replacement surgery]] on both legs.

In the [[1968 American Football League Championship Game|1968 AFL title game]], Namath threw three [[touchdown]] passes to lead New York to a 27–23 win over the defending AFL champion [[1968 Oakland Raiders season|Oakland Raiders]]. His performance in the [[1968 New York Jets season|1968 season]] earned him the [[Hickok Belt]] as top professional athlete of the year. He was an [[Pro Bowl|AFC–NFC Pro Bowl]]er in 1972, is a member of the Jets' and the [[American Football League All-Time Team|American Football League's All-Time Team]], and was elected to the [[Pro Football Hall of Fame|Hall of Fame]] in 1985.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.profootballhof.com/players/joe-namath/ | title=Joe Namath – Class of 1985 | publisher=Pro Football Hall of Fame | access-date=April 24, 2023}}</ref>

====Super Bowl III====
[[File:1986 Jeno's Pizza - 37 - Joe Namath (Joe Namath crop).jpg|thumb|upright=1|right|Namath running a play for the [[New York Jets]] in [[Super Bowl III]] in 1969]]

The high point of Namath's career was his performance in the Jets' 16–7 win over the [[1968 Baltimore Colts season|Baltimore Colts]] in [[Super Bowl III]] in January 1969, shortly before the [[AFL–NFL merger]]. The first two interleague championship games had resulted in blowout victories for the NFL's [[Green Bay Packers]], and sports writers from NFL cities insisted the AFL would take several more years to be truly competitive. The 1968 Colts were touted as "the greatest football team in history", and former NFL star and [[Atlanta Falcons]] head coach [[Norm Van Brocklin]] ridiculed the AFL before the game, saying "I'll tell you what I think about Joe Namath on Sunday night—after he has played his first pro game."<ref>{{cite web |title=HE GUARANTEED IT |url=https://www.profootballhof.com/news/he-guaranteed-it1/ |website=PROFOOTBALLHOF.COM |publisher=Pro Football Hall of Fame |access-date=October 30, 2019}}</ref> Three days before the game, Namath was tired of addressing the issue in the press, and he responded to a heckler at a sports banquet in Miami with the line: "We're going to win the game. I guarantee it."<ref>{{cite web |last=Saraceno |first=Jon |title=Joe Namath Relives His Super Bowl Guarantee |url=https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/history/info-2019/joe-namath-super-bowl.html |publisher=AARP |access-date=October 30, 2019}}</ref>

Namath backed up his boast, which became legendary.<ref name=zinser>{{cite news|last=Zinser |first=Lynn |title=Pregame Talk Is Cheap, but This Vow Resonates |date=May 25, 2012 |newspaper=The New York Times |page=B10 |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/sports/hockey/mark-messiers-vow-set-the-bar-for-sports-guarantees.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622020207/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/25/sports/hockey/mark-messiers-vow-set-the-bar-for-sports-guarantees.html |archive-date=June 22, 2022 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Colts' vaunted defense (highlighted by [[Bubba Smith]]) was unable to contain either the Jets' running or passing game, while the ineffective offense gave up four [[interception]]s to the Jets. Namath was the [[Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award|Super Bowl MVP]], completing eight passes to [[George Sauer Jr.]] alone for 133 yards. The win made him the first quarterback to start and win a national championship game in college, a major professional league championship, and a Super Bowl.

The Jets' win gave the AFL instant legitimacy even to skeptics. When he was asked by reporters after the game whether the Colts' defense was the "toughest he had ever faced", Namath responded, "That would be the [[1968 Buffalo Bills season|Buffalo Bills]]' defense." The AFL-worst Bills had intercepted Namath five times, three for touchdowns, in their only win in 1968 in late September.

====Later career with the Jets====
After not missing a single game because of injury in his first five years in the league, Namath played in just 28 of 58 possible games between 1970 and 1973 because of various injuries. After winning division championships in 1968 and 1969, the Jets struggled to records of 4–10, 6–8, 7–7, and 4–10. His most memorable moment in those four seasons came on September 24, 1972, when he and his boyhood idol [[Johnny Unitas]] combined for 872 passing yards in Baltimore. Namath threw for 496 yards and six touchdowns and Unitas 376 yards and three in a 44–34 New York victory over the Colts, its first against Baltimore since Super Bowl III. The game is considered by many NFL experts to be the finest display of passing in a single game in league history.<ref name="kriegel" />{{rp|346}} Another notable moment was in 1970, when the head of [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s televised sports, [[Roone Arledge]], made sure that ''[[Monday Night Football]]'''s inaugural game on September 21, featured Namath. The Jets met the [[1970 Cleveland Browns season|Cleveland Browns]] in [[Cleveland Municipal Stadium]] in front of both a record crowd of 85,703 and a huge television audience. However, the Jets set a team record for penalties and lost on a late Namath interception.<ref>{{cite web |last=Grossi |first=Tony |date=September 15, 2019 |title=Pro football was changed by the first Monday Night Football game, and so was the life of the Browns' hero that night |url=https://www.espn.com/blog/cleveland/post/_/id/7003/pro-football-was-changed-by-the-first-monday-night-football-game-and-so-was-the-life-of-the-browns-hero-that-night |publisher=ESPN |access-date=October 30, 2019}}</ref>

The [[Chicago Winds]] of the [[World Football League]] (WFL) made an overture to Namath prior to the start of its 1975 season. First, they designed their uniforms nearly identically to that of the Jets, dropping red and going with green and white, to allow Namath to continue marketing his number 12 jersey in Jets colors. Then they offered Namath a contract worth $600,000 a year for three years; a $2 million annuity ($100,000 per year for 20 years); a $500,000 signing bonus; and terms for Namath's eventual ownership of a WFL franchise. The WFL's television provider, [[TVS Television Network]], insisted on the Winds signing Namath to continue broadcasts. Upon this development, Namath, in turn, requested the lofty sum of 15 percent of the entire league's television revenue, which was rejected by the league. Without a national television deal, the WFL instead opted to fold a month later.<ref name=SIMoney>Johnson, William Oscar. [https://web.archive.org/web/20121103223620/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1090543/index.htm The Day the Money Ran Out]. [[Sports Illustrated]], December 1, 1975.</ref>