Post by Lithfan on Dec 13, 2015 9:38:16 GMT -5
December 13, 1986
Those of us who are old enough remember the season well. 1986. The 10-1 start. The Paul Maguire proclamation. The collapse down the stretch. The playoff win at home against KC. The roughing the passer penalty against Cleveland. The season had a bit of everything. When they were good, the Jets were very very good. When they were bad, they were awful. And when things got ugly…
12/13/86, the 10-4 Jets would host the Pittsburgh Steelers. They were a bad Steeler team, coming in at 5-9, led by QB Mark Malone. After losing three straight, by a combined score of 86-16, this would be the Jets chance to get back in the win column and still salvage a Division title.
As they had the 3 previous weeks, the Jets fell behind, and QB Ken O’Brien made too many mistakes. He finished 20-30 for 197, but threw 3 costly interceptions. After falling behind 17-7, O’Brien would hit RB Kurt Sohn just before the half for a 24-yard TD that cut the deficit to 3. It was only the Jets 2nd offensive TD in the last 14 quarters of play. Their other 1st half score came when JoJo Townsell returned a kickoff 93 yards for a TD following the Steelers 1st TD.
After a Pat Leahy 3rd quarter FG, the Jets found themselves tied heading into the 4th.
Early in the 4th quarter, Malone found John Stallworth twice for 36 yards on a 10 play drive to set up a 1 yard TD plunge that Malone took in himself and it was 24-17.
Then Steeler DB Lupe Sanchez took over. He intercepted an O’Brien pass on the next drive, to set up a 40 yard TD connection from Malone to Stallworth. Sanchez followed that up with a 67 yard pick 6 on the next drive, and the Steelers had a comfortable 38-17 lead. Jets losing a game due to 2 Sanchez picks in the 4th quarter -- a storyline that would be repeated over 20 years later.
The teams traded late TDs to make the final margin 45-24 in the Steelers favor. The 28 4th quarter points allowed is still the most the Jets have ever given up in a loss. They did give up 28 in a 4th quarter to Houston in 1980, a game they managed to win in OT, 31-28.
The lone bright spot in the game for the Jets was the play of Freeman McNeil, who rushed 23 times for 137 yards in the loss. He surpassed Emerson Boozer in the game to become the Jets all time leading rusher with over 5,135 yards.
Those of us who are old enough remember the season well. 1986. The 10-1 start. The Paul Maguire proclamation. The collapse down the stretch. The playoff win at home against KC. The roughing the passer penalty against Cleveland. The season had a bit of everything. When they were good, the Jets were very very good. When they were bad, they were awful. And when things got ugly…
12/13/86, the 10-4 Jets would host the Pittsburgh Steelers. They were a bad Steeler team, coming in at 5-9, led by QB Mark Malone. After losing three straight, by a combined score of 86-16, this would be the Jets chance to get back in the win column and still salvage a Division title.
As they had the 3 previous weeks, the Jets fell behind, and QB Ken O’Brien made too many mistakes. He finished 20-30 for 197, but threw 3 costly interceptions. After falling behind 17-7, O’Brien would hit RB Kurt Sohn just before the half for a 24-yard TD that cut the deficit to 3. It was only the Jets 2nd offensive TD in the last 14 quarters of play. Their other 1st half score came when JoJo Townsell returned a kickoff 93 yards for a TD following the Steelers 1st TD.
After a Pat Leahy 3rd quarter FG, the Jets found themselves tied heading into the 4th.
Early in the 4th quarter, Malone found John Stallworth twice for 36 yards on a 10 play drive to set up a 1 yard TD plunge that Malone took in himself and it was 24-17.
Then Steeler DB Lupe Sanchez took over. He intercepted an O’Brien pass on the next drive, to set up a 40 yard TD connection from Malone to Stallworth. Sanchez followed that up with a 67 yard pick 6 on the next drive, and the Steelers had a comfortable 38-17 lead. Jets losing a game due to 2 Sanchez picks in the 4th quarter -- a storyline that would be repeated over 20 years later.
The teams traded late TDs to make the final margin 45-24 in the Steelers favor. The 28 4th quarter points allowed is still the most the Jets have ever given up in a loss. They did give up 28 in a 4th quarter to Houston in 1980, a game they managed to win in OT, 31-28.
The lone bright spot in the game for the Jets was the play of Freeman McNeil, who rushed 23 times for 137 yards in the loss. He surpassed Emerson Boozer in the game to become the Jets all time leading rusher with over 5,135 yards.
