CORTLAND — The Super Bowl guarantees no longer flow freely from the Jets. The talk of Rose Garden visits and Lombardi Trophies has quieted over the past few years.
But that does not mean the Super Bowl is not on this team’s mind. Every time the players look at their playbooks, they get a reminder.
Like many teams, the Jets have switched to digital playbooks on their iPads. Players must enter a passcode to gain access.
The passcode? 1-9-6-9. As in 1969, the last time the Jets won it all.
“It’s just something to remember — 1969 is the last time this team was perfect,” defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson said. “That’s a long time ago.”
It was Jan. 12, 1969, or 16,641 days ago to be precise, that Joe Namath jogged off the Orange Bowl field with his index finger pointed to the sky. Jets coach Rex Ryan was just 6 years old. Heck, the game was not even called the Super Bowl at that point, and it would be two years until the championship trophy was renamed for Vince Lombardi.
“It’s been a long time,” guard Willie Colon said.
As chatty as the current team can be, no Jets are predicting they will finish the season in Arizona at this season’s Super Bowl. Instead, the iPad code serves as a reminder of what the ultimate goal is. Tim Tubito, the team’s director of football video, is the one who came up with the passcode idea.
“If you don’t want to be a champion, you’re not going to be,” Ryan said. “It’s safe to say no one’s going to be a champion if they’re going to be like, ‘Eh, maybe I’d like to’ or whatever. That has to be why you play the game because you do want to be the best. Certainly I want to be the best and I know everybody in this organization feels the same way I do.”
Only two players on the Jets know what it feels like to wear a Super Bowl ring and both reside on the offensive line. Colon was part of the 2008 championship Steelers team, and right tackle Breno Giacomini won it all with the Seahawks last season.
“There’s no greater feeling than winning it,” Colon said. “You have bragging rights forever. No one can take a championship away from you. You go anywhere in this country, you get the front-door treatment.”
The Jets came close in Ryan’s first two years, losing in the AFC Championship, but that’s a distant memory now. There are only eight players left from the team that lost to the Steelers in January 2011. The organization has gone through major turnover since with three non-winning seasons, a change at general manager and a new starting quarterback.
This year’s Jets know not much is expected of them, but they remain encouraged by last year’s 3-1 finish and the new pieces they added this offseason. Colon said no one can question the Jets’ toughness, but it is time they add smarts, which he felt they lacked at times last year.
“Not every team is scared of the Jets — very few are,” Colon said. “They know we have a big mouth and we like to talk, but we’ve got to start backing it up. We have to do it with our play and our attitude and enthusiasm.”
For the Jets, erasing the ghosts of the last 45 years starts with overcoming the monster of the last 13 years — the Patriots. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady have won the AFC East in 11 of the last 13 years and every year since Ryan became Jets coach. The last time the Jets won the division and had a home playoff game was 2002.
“For me, I try to set realistic goals,” Colon said. “Is winning the division a realistic goal to me, personally? Yes, it is. I believe we can do it, but only if we play the brand of football we need to play.”
That brand of football has only made rare appearances with the Jets in the past 45 years. Instead, the stronger memories are of Mud Bowls, Fake Spikes and Buttfumbles.
These Jets are trying to change all that, and maybe next year’s passcode can be 2014.