Facts and information about the New York Jets

• The New York Jets entered the AFL as the New York Titans, after both financial and on-field troubles, the Titans were sold and renamed the Jets by the new owners.

• Bill Parcells is the only person to have coached both of the NFL’s New York franchises, the Jets and the Giants.

• Neither the New York Jets or the New York Giants play any of their games in New York, they both play in New Jersey.

• Three people have held the job of Head Coach for both the New York Jets and the New England Patriots; Bill Parcells, Pete Carroll, and Bill Belichick (though he only held the Jets position for one day before resigning).

• The first New York Jet to rush for 1,000 yards in a season was John Riggins in 1975.

• The Jets share their home field, Giants Stadium, with the New York Giants. When the Jets play a home game there, it is referred to on all material as “The Meadowlands” and not Giants Stadium.

• The New York Jets were originally known as the New York Titans for their first three years until they were sold to a new ownership group who named them the Jets.

• As the New York Titans, the team’s uniforms were blue and gold.

• Bill Parcells is the only coach to have coached as an away team in his own home stadium for two different teams.  He did this for the New York Giants when they played away against the New York Jets, and then he did it again as the coach of the Jets when they played away against the Giants.
  

• Before moving into the Meadowlands in 1984, the Jets played in Shea Stadium, and before that when they were known as the Titans they played in the Polo Grounds.

• The face of the early Jets teams, Joe Namath, chose to sign with the Jets of the AFL over the NFL team that drafted him; the St. Louis Cardinals.

• In 1967, Joe Namath became the first professional Quarterback to pass for over 4,000 yards.

• The Jets beat the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, which was the first game to be called the Super Bowl, before that it was referred to as the AFL-NFL Championship Game.

• Due to injuries, Joe Namath retired at the age of 34 after playing in only four games, ending his career with the Los Angeles Rams.

• In the 1975, 1976, and 1977 seasons the Jets finished with consecutive 3-11 seasons.

• In 1980, Quarterback Richard Todd threw a mammoth 30 interceptions.

• 1981 became the New York Jets first winning season since joining the NFL in 1970 as part of the AFL-NFL merger.

• The Jets reverted to their classic logo, with a darker shade of green, for the 1998 season.

• In the playoffs following the 1998 season, Wide Receiver Keyshawn Johnson tallied a key interception after being put in the game as a defensive back.

• In 2006, when Head Coach Herman Edwards left the Jets to coach the Kansas City Chiefs, the Jets received a fourth round pick as compensation.

• The first former Jet to play defense and make it into the Hall-of-Fame was Ronnie Lott, though he played the bulk of his career with the San Francisco 49ers.

• The #90 worn by Dennis Byrd has not been officially retired, but it has not been worn by any player since Byrd received his career ending, and briefly paralyzing, injury.

• In December of 2005, in a game against the Patriots, backup Quarterback Vinny Testaverde played for the Jets against backup Quarterback Doug Flutie for the New England Patriots; this marked the first time ever in the NFL that two Quarterbacks over the age of 40 years old competed in a regular season game against eachother.