1972 New York Jets season

WR Jerome Barkum QB Joe Namath The 1972 New York Jets season was the 13th season for the team and the third in the National Football League. It began with the team trying to improve upon its 6–8 record from 1971 under head coach Weeb Ewbank. The Jets star quarterback Joe Namath was healthy for a full season for the first time in three years but the rest of the squad was decimated by injuries and, after a strong start, the Jets finished with a record of 7–7.

During the 1972 preseason, a squad composed of the Jets’ rookies defeated the Long Island Chiefs of the Seaboard Football League, 29–3.‘Hartford Gets Grid Franchise’, Reading Eagle – May 31, 1972, p 58 The Chiefs played an exhibition game against the New York Jets rookies on July 29, 1972, losing 29-3, ‘Packer Excels at Quarterback As Jets Top L.I. Chiefs, 29-3’, New York Times, July 30, 1972, pS-3; "Rookie QB Fires Jets", Pittsburgh Press, July 30, 1972, pD-8(In 1974, the Houston Oilers rookie squad played a preseason game vs the minor league San Antonio Toros)

Namath threw for 496 yards and six touchdowns (on 15 of 28 passes) in a 44–34 victory over the Baltimore Colts in his first appearance at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium in week two, but the next week, the Jets were humbled 26–20 by Houston, the Oilers' only victory of 1972 and their last before embarking on an 18-game losing streak.

The Jets were eliminated from playoff contention in the season’s thirteenth week, a Monday Night Game with the Raiders in which a battered and bruised Namath threw for 403 yards and nearly pulled off the upset. After the game Raiders coach John Madden went into the Jets locker room and shook Namath’s hand out of respect; it was the only time in his coaching career Madden ever did that. Eliminated from postseason play, the Jets’ coaches decided Namath would sit out the final game of the season to make sure no serious injuries were incurred prior to the 1973 season.