ESPN interviews Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Namath, who led Alabama to the 1964 national title. The video is about four minutes long.
Also, we have the Bryant Museum lookback on Namath’s time at Alabama. It’s about 2 minutes, 26 seconds long.
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New York Jets quarterback Greg McElroy gets the call for Sunday’s game against San Diego. (AP photo by Kathy Willens)
New York Jets quarterback Greg McElroy will make his first professional start Sunday when his team hosts San Diego. It marks the first time a former Alabama quarterback has started in the NFL since Brodie Croyle led the Kansas City Chiefs for one game in 2010. The Chiefs lost 31-0 at San Diego.
Some other little factoids about Alabama quarterbacks starting in the NFL, with plenty of help from pro-football-reference.com:
–The last time a former Alabama quarterback started and won in the NFL was Nov. 15, 1987, when Jeff Rutledge led the New York Giants past the Philadelphia Eagles 20-17. Rutledge threw for 298 yards and led New York back from a 17-10 third quarter deficit. He was replacing the injured Phil Simms.
–Before Rutledge won two starts in 1987, the last Alabama quarterback to win as an NFL starter was Richard Todd. On his 31st birthday, Nov. 19, 1984, he quarterbacked the New Orleans Saints to a 27-24 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday night. The Saints trailed 17-13 in the fourth quarter before Todd rallied them.
–McElroy will be the third former Alabama quarterback to start for the Jets. Joe Namath started 126 games for them during 1965-76, and Todd started 94 during 1976-83. The last start came Dec. 16, 1983, when Todd threw for 230 yards in a 34-14 loss at Miami. The first came Sept. 26, 1965, when the Jets lost 33-21 at Buffalo as Namath threw for 287 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
–The last time an Alabama quarterback started and won a playoff game was Jan. 15, 1983, when Todd led the Jets to a 17-14 win over the Raiders. New York won when Todd rallied the Jets to a late fourth-quarter touchdown.
Alabama started quarterbacks in the NFL and their teams’ records when they started:
Ken Stabler (1970-84), 96-49-1
Joe Namath (1965-78), 62-63-4
Bart Starr (1956-71), 94-57-6
Richard Todd (1976-85), 48-59-1
Scott Hunter (1971-79), 21-18-3
Harry Gilmer (1948-56), 0-10-0
Jeff Rutledge (1979-92), 2-7-1
Brodie Croyle (2006-10), 0-10-0
Steve Sloan (1966-67), 0-1-0
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New York Jets quarterbacks, from left, Greg McElroy, Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow earlier this season.(AP photo by Tom Uhlman)
“We’ve all had ugly games,” Namath said this morning on the Colin Cowherd ESPN radio show.
However, Namath added that he would let Sanchez “play his way out of the position.” He still is not a huge believer in Sanchez and but is a big fan of McElroy’s.
“He’ll be in the NFL about as long as he wants to,” said Namath, who led the Crimson Tide to the 1964 national championship. “If he does not get injured, he’s got not only the skill set, the passing ability, the stronger arm that’s getting stronger — that was my main concern — but he’s got the mind and the calmness and the competitiveness to be a successful NFL quarterback.
“He can grasp any offense faster than most of the guys, and his decision making is superb. So, yes, Greg McElroy is going to be around for a good while.”
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Note: Every day this week, we’ve given you video of an exciting moment in Iron Bowl history. Sorry, Auburn fans, this is The Daily Bama Blog, so they’re all from Crimson Tide wins.
OK, there’s nothing especially important historically about Alabama’s 34-16 win over Auburn in 1978, except for Tide quarterback Jeff Rutledge‘s three touchdown passes.
During 1971-82 when Alabama ran the run-based wishbone offense, no other quarterback threw for three touchdowns in a game. Nine other Tide passers did it before the wishbone, including Bart Starr, Joe Namath and Ken Stabler.
In addition, Rutledge’s three touchdown throws in his final regular-season game gave him 13 for the season, which tied the school record held by Namath and Harry Gilmer. Back then, bowl totals didn’t count toward the team and individual statistics. Rutledge, a senior, also improved to 30 touchdown passes for his career, which broke Namath’s school record of 28.
One of his scoring throws against Auburn went to tight end Rick Neal, while two went to split end Bruce Bolton.
The video highlights of the game:
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NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath with the Gray Line New York bus honoring him. (Copyright photo by Dave Allocca of Gray Line New York)
Former Alabama star Joe Namath hasn’t played quarterback for the New York Jets since 1976, but the Big Apple still loves him.
Part of that may be because the Jets haven’t won a Super Bowl since he took the 1968 team to a championship game victory over the Baltimore Colts. (Yes, the Colts used to be in Baltimore.)
Today, Gray Line New York inducted Namath into its Ride of Fame. Gray Line calls itself “New York City’s premier sightseeing and tourism company.” Namath participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil a custom decal on the front of one of Gray Line New York’s double-decker buses. If you’ve been to New York, you’ve seen these red buses around the city — maybe you even have ridden in one.
Gray Line has honored only three athletes in its Ride of Fame campaign: Henrik Lundqvist (NHL’s New York Rangers), Reggie Jackson (New York Yankees) and Namath. Other past honorees include Liza Minnelli, Donald Trump, Whoopi Goldberg, Bernadette Peters, Richard Dreyfuss, Rachael Ray, Cyndi Lauper and Marc Anthony.
Namath wasn’t just a one-game wonder. Before the AFL-NFL merger, he was All-AFL first team in 1967, ’68 and ’69. After the merger, he was All-Pro in 1972.
Namath played for Alabama in 1962-64, throwing for 2,713 yards and 25 touchdowns. He helped the Crimson Tide to a national championship in 1964.
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