1980 GOTW Week 12 - Oilers vs. Jets

[@gustavfarley1983]

That was some ballgame between the NY Jets and Houston Oilers. I watched the 2nd half of the game.

[@rustykuntz94]

Surreal when they show the massive Shea Stadium scoreboard and it shows the Oilers with 28 4th Q points

[@fromthefarside]

“In November 1980, the Oilers went to New York to play the Jets at Shea Stadium,” McClain wrote. “Stabler partied into the wee hours, blowing curfew and infuriating his coaches. Early Sunday morning, Stabler’s teammates saw him struggling to get out of a cab about the time they were preparing for the pregame meal. Hung over from his night on the town, Stabler was awful in the first half, throwing four interceptions - one returned for a touchdown - and the Oilers trailed 21-0 at halftime. “In the dressing room at halftime, [coach Bum] Phillips was addressing his players, and some could hear Stabler throwing up in a bathroom area. Finally, Stabler emerged, sobered up and wiping his face with a towel. He told his teammates he was ready to go. Stabler threw four touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, including one to Richard Caster to make it 28-28. The Oilers lost 31-28 in overtime, but there was another story for the Stabler legend.” While it’s not quite apples-and-apples to flip the outcome of a November 23 game between the Oilers and a Jets team that otherwise went 3-12 and to assume the rest of Houston’s games would have finished the same way, changing that loss to a win would have made the Oilers 12-4 in 1980. Which would have given Houston the AFC Central title over the 11-5 Browns, who had won the division via a tiebreaker. Which would have given Houston a bye to the divisional round. Which would have forced Cleveland, not Houston, to go to Oakland for the wild-card game in which Oakland beat Houston.

[@rustykuntz94]

One of only 4 Jets wins in 1980, they also beat the Oilers in 1981 at Shea Stadium too.

[@georgehahn6149]

Went to that game as a 17 year old

[@romelovesdan]

The out come of this game would have big consequences for The Oilers and the AFC. It just may have been a major step in allowing the Raiders to march to a win in Super Bowl XV.

[@plntntvzn]

Ken Stabler once wrote,"when we went into New York to play the Jets in 1980, we stayed at a hotel just across the Hudson River in New Jersey. I liked to bop around New York and was determined to get over there. All through the buffet I kept looking for a chance to slip out, not only from the coaches but even from my own roommate! (Center # 55 Carl Mauck was ordered to be on Stabler watch that whole season and drove Stabler crazy). As the buffet wound down and guys began peeling off, I just walked out with MLB Gregg Bingham and Mauck didn't notice. We were joined by a guy named Bobby Fingers, whose daddy was a wealthy furniture dealer in Houston and a friend of Bum Phillips. Bobby always traveled with the team and liked to pass himself off as a player when we went out. The three of us grabbed a cab and drove to an East Side club called the Tittle-Tattle, which was owned by a guy I knew. About ten-thirty Bingham said he was going back to the hotel and asked if I wanted to join him. I said I was going to stay out for a while. That turned out to be one of the stupidest things I ever did. Bobby and I picked up a couple of girls and took them to the Playboy Club, then we went to a bar called Cody's to listen to some country-and-western music. We were having a good time and got into a conversation with some guys about football, which I really enjoyed. But one of those guys was a gambler with a bad mouth. He asked if i thought we were going to win tomorrow-which was now today, about 3am- and I said,'we're gonna try'. 'Well, you ain't got a chance,' the guy said. 'That's your opinion,'I said,'Call your bookie'. 'The reason you don't have a chance,' he said,'is because you can't throw the ball over 30 yards anymore.' I shouldn't have done it, but I'd had just enough Jack to say to myself,'Fuck it.' I popped the guy on the chin and knocked him down. The bouncers came right over and we cleared out of Cody's. Bobby and I went fo'r breakfast at the Brasserie. From there I phoned Richard Todd and woke him up. 'Richard, come on out!' I said. 'Hey,it's four o'clock, Ken,' We got a game to play,' he said. 'That don't matter. Come on out!' Todd, of course, wouldn't budge. By the time Bobby and I got a cab to take us to New jersey for $100, it was after six. I was still roaring pretty good when we reached the hotel. Some of my teammates had been going at it a bit too, as i could hear alot of (blank) going down the corridor beyond my room. I walked in my room and Mauck wasn't in sight. But one of our backs was in there wrestling around with a woman who always showed up when the Raiders came to town (when Stabler played for Oakland). She was a big blonde who was really stuck together. She'd won some nickel-and-dime body beautiful contest, and the guy was trying to talk her out of some (blank). She wouldn't even take off her fur coat. The player got pissed, snatched off her coat, threw it in the shower, and turned on the water. Miss Body Beautiful raised hell, hollering and cussing at him. 'Jesus Christ,' I yelled,'it's rougher in here than it is in a game!' I don't think I got over two hours' sleep, and I'm not sure that was enough before the Jet game. In the first half, I threw four interceptions, and the Jets led 21-0. Then i told Bum,'I'm gonna throw the ball on just about every play. We're coming back.' All told, I threw 51 passes in this game, four for touchdowns, sending the game into overtime. We then lost the coin toss and then the game. Having often partied before games for years and been successful, it was almost as if I was afraid to change my routine. But this was one time I should have quit earlier because we should have beaten the hell out of that Jet team. I thought about it on the bus ride to the airport,'All of that shit is a part of me; it all goes into making me whatever the (blank) I am,' I thought.'The trouble is, I don't know what the (blank) I am'. If we had beaten the Jets we would have won the AFC Central Division title and had the home field advantage in the playoffs. Instead, we would play in Oakland". Now, could Stabler have still thrown the football over 30 yards had WR#00 Ken Burrough not missed virtually all of 1980 with injury? I think Stabler still could have. But without WR Burrough and with age finally catching up to DT#78 Curly Culp (who by now was in Detroit), 1980 Oilers were doomed regardless who was at QB.

[@romelovesdan]

@@plntntvzn Now That is reporting! Thank you! Was that excerpt from the "Snake" book?

[@plntntvzn]

@@romelovesdan Yes, and losing LT#70 Leon Gray to injury for the playoffs on that Thursday night 6-0 victory over Pittsburgh in week 14 didn't help either. Losing Leon Gray, WR Ken Burrough, and DT Curly Culp? Oilers of December 1980 had fallen from level of Oilers of January 1980. By 1982, they had turned into the NFL's punching bag for 3-5 years.

[@bc6352]

​@plntntvzn great Intel wow! I watched the last quarter on TV on way home from the eagles vs raiders game same day in philly

[@romelovesdan]

@@bc6352 Many forget those eventual SB XV opponents played THREE times that season! Pre-season 8/30/80 in OAK....week 11/30/80 in PHIL....and SB XV in New Orleans 1/25/81. Game telecasts survive for all.

[@stevep8445]

Richard Todd.. Put the "T" in turnover

[@rustykuntz94]

We used to call him RE-Todd