1968 AFL
In 1968, the New York Jets (11-3-0) would dominate the Eastern Division by four games over the Houston Oilers (7-7-0). It was a different story in the Western Division, as the Raiders and Chiefs would battle to a 12-2-0 tie atop the division. This would force a playoff between the two teams, and the Raiders would blow out the Chiefs 41-6 in the Western Division Playoff. This would set the stage between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets, for the AFL Championship Game, which would be played on December 19, 1968 at Shea Stadium in New York. In the AFL Championship Game, it would be a tight battle throughout, with the Jets, led by QB Joe Namath, coming out on top 27-23, giving them the AFL Championship, and the right to meet the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. Super Bowl III was the third AFL-NFL Championship Game in pro football, the first to officially bear the name "Super Bowl". The game, played on January 12, 1969, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, is regarded as one of the greatest upsets in American sports history. The heavy underdog AFL champion New York Jets defeated the NFL champion Baltimore Colts by a score of 16–7. This was the first Super Bowl victory for the AFL. New York entered the game with their primary deep threat, wide receiver Don Maynard, playing with a pulled hamstring. But his 112-yard, two touchdown performance against the Oakland Raiders in the AFL championship game made the Colts defense pay special attention to him, not realizing he was injured. Using Maynard as a decoy—he had no receptions in the game—Joe Namath was able to take advantage of single coverage on wide receiver George Sauer, Jr.. (After studying the Colts' zone defense, Ewbank had told his receivers, "Find the dead spots in the zone, hook up, and Joe will hit you." ) The Jets had a conservative game plan, emphasizing the run as well as short high-percentage passes to minimize interceptions. Meanwhile, with the help of many fortunate plays, the Jets defense kept the Colts offense from scoring for most of the game. Namath finished the game having completed 17 of his 28 passes. He is the only quarterback to win Super Bowl MVP without throwing a touchdown pass. Snell rushed for 121 yards on 30 carries with a touchdown, and caught 4 passes for 40 yards. Sauer caught eight passes for 133 yards. Beverly became the first player in Super Bowl history to record 2 interceptions. Morrall had a terrible day—just 6 of 17 completions for 71 yards, and was intercepted 3 times. Despite not being put into the game until late in the third quarter, Unitas finished with more pass completions (11) and passing yards (110) than Morrall, but he also threw one interception. Matte was the Colts' top rusher with 116 yards on just 11 carries, an average of 10.5 yards per run, and caught 2 passes for 30 yards. The Colts were minus-4 in turnovers throwing four interceptions, all of which were deep in Jet territory.
AFL 1968
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