Say It's So, Joe

The Jet defense planned to deny the Colts the devastating inside running that had riddled the Cleveland Browns in the NFL championship game. Larry Grantham, a light corner linebacker who played 20 pounds better than his weight, said, "All week long all you read about was Joe Namath against the great Baltimore defense, and nobody wrote anything about our defense. But we felt that we had a chance to shut them out. You know, all season their defense has been giving Morrall the ball in good field position so he never had to drive more than 50 or 60 yards for a touchdown. We knew if we could make him go farther than that he would mess up eventually—and he did."

The weak spots in the Jet defense, supposedly vulnerable to the Colt passing attack, were believed to be Cornerbacks Randy Beverly and Sample, but both proved to be exceptionally prickly obstacles. The Baltimore offense, even with Morrall having a disastrous day, often moved the ball rather handily, but each time it arrived at the gates to the end zone the Jets produced a drive-stopping play. Often it was Sample or Beverly who played William Tell.

On its first offensive series, Baltimore appeared ready to substantiate the opinion of the bookies and the sportswriters. "The writers said the NFL would kick the hell out of our quarterback," Sample said. "But players play the game, not writers."

Morrall passed to John Mackey and Mackey rumbled over two Jet tacklers for 19 yards. Tom Matte swept right end for 10 yards and Jerry Hill swept left end for seven more. Then Morrall passed to Tight End Tom Mitchell at the 19 for still another first down. But at this point the Jet defense forced two incompletions and on third down Sample and Beverly clung to Colt receivers so closely that Morrall could not find a target and ran for no gain. Lou Michaels missed a field goal from the 27-yard line and it was still 0-0.

The next time Baltimore threatened, Beverly made the first of his two key interceptions. The Colts had recovered a Jet fumble on the New York 12, and on third and four from the New York six Morrall fired a cannon-shot pass at Mitchell over the Jet goal line. The ball hit Mitchell in the shoulder pad, caromed high in the air and Beverly made a diving, off-balance interception 10 yards away in the corner of the end zone.

Namath used this break as the springboard for a brilliantly executed 80-yard touchdown drive that pointed up the reasons he is no longer just Broadway Joe. He took 12 plays to negotiate the touchdown and he accepted all the variations, stunts and devices of the Colt defense with equanimity.

On this drive Namath began by using Snell four times in a row for 26 yards. Snell is a 219-pound fullback in his fifth year with the Jets and he reserved his best performance of the season for this game. Early in the week Snell had had a damaged knee drained of fluid, but now he ran as friskily as if he had 18-year-old, undamaged legs.

"Their defensive line likes to hit and slide off the block," he said later. "They have great pursuit, so we didn't want to try to run anything that would delay hitting the hole. We were hitting to the right side of their defensive line. I've been telling reporters for a long time that Winston Hill is a great offensive tackle and today he proved it. I mean when he blocks, he doesn't just get a stalemate with the guy he's on. He blows him out."

The long gainer for Snell on his four carries was a draw, a play that stung the Colts over and over again as the Jets did what the Colts were supposed to do—control the ball on a long drive. With the Colt defense properly concerned with the Jet running attack, Namath went to the air.

The Colt defense demonstrated a fascination for Don Maynard, the fastest of the Jet receivers, who has been described as a faster Raymond Berry with not quite as good moves, He may be better than that. "They had a strong rotation toward Don," said George Sauer, the other wide receiver. "Most clubs will do that to the receiver who has the most speed."