1988 Week 2 - N.Y. Jets at Cleveland

New York Jets (0-1) at Cleveland Browns (1-0)
September 11, 1988
Weather: 65 degrees, relative humidity 69%, wind 5 mph
Line: Cleveland -9.5
Over/Under: 40
Starting QBs: Ken O'Brien (NY), Gary Danielson (Cle)
Network: NBC
Announcers: Mel Proctor, Al De Rogatis

[@Tuzotonics]

I always loved these Jets helmets.

[@shanetrimble9265]

Wow a game called by Al De Rogatis.

[@OhThankKevin]

Yeah. Many of the announcers were covering the Olympics for NBC.

[@danorthsidemang3834]

You liked Al, huh?

[@shanetrimble9265]

@@danorthsidemang3834 I did yes.

[@MaximusWolfe]

This is some of the worst football announcing I’ve ever heard. I’ve listened to local high school broadcast announcers who had more charisma and who did a better job of expounding on the action.

[@robertlamkin6464]

This was the ultimate Gastineau. Instead of handing the ball to the official, he runs it down into the Dog Pound. The saddest day in my experience as a fan was the day he quit. What a credit to the game he was. I would actually drop a date if I could watch him play.

[@benfranklin9292]

The announcer roasts O'Brien at 1:13:20- "He spent more time looking at the sky than Dr. Carl Sagan."

[@KabarkadaTV681]

COMMENTATORS: MEL PROCTOR AL DeROGATIS TV NETWORK: NBC DATE: 11 SEPTEMBER 1988

[@teresapflaumer5717]

Jets bust Roger Vick actually did something!

[@danorthsidemang3834]

He wasn't a bust.

[@Tuzotonics]

I'll always remember him from the 1987 draft when someone yells out "oh no" before Pete Rozelle announces his name.

[@gmcneoplan84]

@@danorthsidemang3834 Yeah he was. In 1987 he got a pass because he was a rookie and he had vets Freeman McNeil and Johnny Hector ahead of him. By 1988 he was challenging Hector for carries and yards and he was solid that year. By 1989 he was supposed to make Joe Walton (HC) and Rich Kotite (OC) think he was going to beat out Hector for carries and yards and he didn't. Plus, '89 was supposed to be the year that either Vick or Hector were going to be the successor to an aging Freeman McNeil and Hector STILL beat Vick out for carries and yards. Oh, yeah and I forgot to mention that Vick had a fumbling problem, 12 of them in 3 years with the Jets. After Walton got fired after the '89 season players like Vick were on their way out. By early 1990 the Jets had a new coach and then they drafted Blair Thomas (another bust) in April.

[@steves9964]

@@gmcneoplan84 Thanks for that horrific trip down memory lane. Thomas wasn't the same after that brutal fumble in that Monday night game at Chicago early in '91. Of course the common thread between Vick and Thomas was the lack of effective leadership both toiled under. Walton was aggressive when he should have been conservative, and conservative when he should have been aggressive. Coslet irked me with his decision-making, and the strength of their team during his tenure was defense despite his being an offensive coach and the Jets having no shortage of quality backs and receivers at his disposal. The team was terrible on 3rd down and in the red zone, under his tutelage, and they blew a number of leads. He was also responsible for the Browning Nagle experiment in '92, a season I was actually looking forward to as a kid coming off their '91 wildcard berth.