And it made me wonder was Joe Namath any good.   I always heard his name since I started following the NFL since the early 1980s like he was great, and I've never checked his stats because I didnt care much for football during that era.  So I checked his stats. His stats suck.  Lol

http://www.nfl.com/player/joenamath/2521943/careerstats

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Different era

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Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.

Different era

In one season,  4000 yards, 26 tds 28 ints.   Lol.  Blake bortles esque

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Different era

In one season,  4000 yards, 26 tds 28 ints.   Lol.  Blake bortles esque

Different time... dude you can't compare... So yes Blake bortles would have been a Hall of famer back then your point....

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It was also in a time Where you can literally pile drive a quarterback so it was essentially harder they get those kind of numbers

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There was no rule prohibiting defensive contact 5 yards downfield.
Linemen were not allowed to use hands for blocking (or at least quite discouraged from doing so, as holding was a 15 yard penalty.)
This was the era of the 7-step drop, so EVERY pass was 20-30 yards in the air

Go look at the stats from some of the other 'great' QB from that era. How many others were getting 4K a year?

He had talent. He took a beating in his years on the field. However, his biggest asset was understanding that the league was taking the national spotlight from baseball, and he was an expert at marketing himself. He did all the commercials (including pantyhose!), he knew where the cameras were, and he worked them. The guarantee before Super Bowl III just cemented his place in infamy.

He was TO before TO.

I heard them mention him in the late stages of the game last night, and I had that sinking "Oh gad, did we lose another of the great old players" moment I always get when they bring up the old footage mid-game.

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There was no rule prohibiting defensive contact 5 yards downfield.
Linemen were not allowed to use hands for blocking (or at least quite discouraged from doing so, as holding was a 15 yard penalty.)
This was the era of the 7-step drop, so EVERY pass was 20-30 yards in the air

Go look at the stats from some of the other 'great' QB from that era. How many others were getting 4K a year?

He had talent. He took a beating in his years on the field. However, his biggest asset was understanding that the league was taking the national spotlight from baseball, and he was an expert at marketing himself. He did all the commercials (including pantyhose!), he knew where the cameras were, and he worked them. The guarantee before Super Bowl III just cemented his place in infamy.

He was TO before TO.

I heard them mention him in the late stages of the game last night, and I had that sinking "Oh gad, did we lose another of the great old players" moment I always get when they bring up the old footage mid-game.

Namath was awesome.  I was a big AFL fan before they merged.  Loved the Chargers, Raiders, and Jets.

Something else that you didn't mention, and was another reason for his inclusion to the HOF, is that he was one of the reasons for 'the merger'.

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Yea he sucked. But he won that super bowl where he guaranteed the win.. he made the hall of fame just for that

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Namath played during an era where defenders were allowed to powerbomb and piledrive QB's into the ground. He was good for his time. One of the early diva's but cool about it.

Short career though I think due to some knee injuries. But had it not been for his ability to sell himself and his team we wouldn't have had the NFL we know today potentially as Rico pointed out earlier.

Not sure how old the OP is but I always enjoyed watching ESPN Classic's growing up and especially now with NFLNetwork's "America's Game" series and "A Football Life". My wife doesn't get it. But that's like Lifetime channel stuff for men.

Always respect those who came before and paved the way. Some GREAT stories and historical moments out there in the NFL. Lots of respect for those guys that played throughout those tougher decades. Especially before the merger.

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"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."

There was no rule prohibiting defensive contact 5 yards downfield.
Linemen were not allowed to use hands for blocking (or at least quite discouraged from doing so, as holding was a 15 yard penalty.)
This was the era of the 7-step drop, so EVERY pass was 20-30 yards in the air

Go look at the stats from some of the other 'great' QB from that era. How many others were getting 4K a year?

He had talent. He took a beating in his years on the field. However, his biggest asset was understanding that the league was taking the national spotlight from baseball, and he was an expert at marketing himself. He did all the commercials (including pantyhose!), he knew where the cameras were, and he worked them. The guarantee before Super Bowl III just cemented his place in infamy.

He was TO before TO.

I heard them mention him in the late stages of the game last night, and I had that sinking "Oh gad, did we lose another of the great old players" moment I always get when they bring up the old footage mid-game.

Give Marino, Unitas, Fouts & Moon today's rules and they probably shatter records. Especially now when you can't sneeze on them. This is why no matter how many times a 5,000 yard passer season or 2,000 yard rusher season occurs I'll always point back to Dan Marino's first record of it and O.J Simpson's first record of it. They played during much tougher era's with less games to break it.

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"What do I know of cultured ways, the gilt, the craft and the lie? I, who was born in a naked land and bred in the open sky. The subtle tongue, the sophist guile, they fail when the broadswords sing; Rush in and die, dogs - I was a man before I was a king."