Mehl's Diner

  Shonn Greene breaks away   (Continuing my list of the Top 10 Jets wins of all time) #6: AFC Divisional Playoff Jets 17 Chargers 14  (1/17/2010) ( full game video ) The 2009 Jets were a roller coaster of a team, starting out 3-0, falling to 3-3, and finding themselves on the brink at 4-6 before eking out a 9-7 record and a 6th seed in the AFC playoffs.  After easily handling the Bengals in the wildcard round in Cincinnati, the Jets had to stay on the road to play the heavily favored 13-3 Chargers in San Diego in the divisional playoff. The game turned out to be a contest decided in the running game. The Jets held San Diego RB sensation LaDanian Tomlinson and the rest of the Chargers to just 61 yards on 18 carries. Meanwhile, New York ran for 169 on 39 carriers.  Defense was the name of the game both sides of the ball, with the score still just 7-3 San Diego going into the 4th Quarter.  The Jets edged ahead 10-7 less than two minutes into the 4th with a Mar...

  TE Jerome Barkum is swarmed by his teammates at Shea   (Continuing my list of the Top 10 Jets wins of all time) #7: Jets 16 Dolphins 15 (11/22/1981) ( full game video ) After going the entire decade of the 70s without making the playoffs even once, the Jets began the 1980s with a severely disappointing 4-12 season in 1980, (this, even after Jimmy the Greek predicted the Jets would make the Super Bowl).  1981 was headed into the toilet fast too as the Jets began the season 0-3-1. But then, the team's offense got rolling along with the emergence of the original NY Sack Exchange in defense.  1981 had a lot of dramatic victories for the Jets en route to a 10-5-1 regular season finish and a home game against Buffalo in the AFC Wildcard Game.  But none of those games were more important and meaningful than this comeback win over Miami at Shea. It was at home, it was against a bitter rival, it came in the last seconds, and the man who scored the TD was a 10-year vet...

  (Continuing my list of the Top 10 Jets wins of all time) #8: AFC Wildcard Game Jets 35 Chiefs 15    (12/28/1986) ( full game video ) Jets fans in our age demographic remember very well how the team started the 1986 season at 10-1 and then lost the last five games to finish 10-6 and barely make the playoffs.  But do you remember just how badly the Jets lost those last five games? The team was outscored by 67-183 (per game, that comes out to a 37-13 loss each week). The closest loss was a 17-3 defeat at the hands of the L.A. Rams where the Jets didn't score until the 4th quarter and were already behind 17-0. The last two of the five losses were embarrassments to Pittsburgh (45-22) and Cincinnati (52-21), two teams that didn't even make the playoffs that year.  That was the heavy cloud the Jets were under when they still managed to earn home field advantage over the 10-6 Kansas City Chiefs in the Wildcard Game. The Chiefs were on an almost exact opposite trajecto...

  (Continuing my list of the Top 10 Jets wins of all time) Nick Folk kicked the winning FG with no time left #9 AFC Wildcard Playoff: Jets 17 Colts 16    (1/8/2011) ( full game video ) Even for older fans, the significance and excitement connected to this game stands out.  It wasn't just a last-second, heart pumping victory on the road in the playoffs against Peyton Manning and the Colts. It was also probably the best execution of Head Coach Rex Ryan's "ground and pound" philosophy that focused on a strong defense and powerful running game. Jets RB's LaDainian Tomlinson and Shon Greene combined for 152 yards on 35 carries, for a nifty 4.3 yards per carry and two TDs. The defense held Manning's pass happy offense to a respectable 219 net yards.  While the divisional playoff wins of the Ryan era rank higher in importance, this was the most dramatic win of his time as Jets head coach.   

With exactly seven weeks to go before the start of the NY Jets 2023 regular season, I woke up this morning wondering if I should start a blog for all the Jets fans around my age and older who remember the Jets at Shea, the Sack Exchange, the days when they'd hang something to cover the "Giants Stadium" sign at the Meadowlands when the Jets were home, etc.  I was still trying to make up my mind when I got sign from above: (okay it was on my phone) but it was a text from the Jets announcing the team will be wearing throwback jerseys and helmets (see above to honor the late 70's- to mid 80s "Sack Exchange Era" Jets. So welcome to a blog for all fans of the Jets, but especially those who got hooked on the team from its birth in 1960 through the early 80s.  Of course, the name of this blog honors one of the best players of that late 70's-early 80s days, Linebacker Lance Mehl . Of course, his name also jives with the hit show "Alice" during that same...