Countdown to Camp: 34
As we look ahead to training camp in late July, we're taking a daily retrospective look back at some random people, moments and games from Jets history...
The Current 34
Aside from a late-season cameo, we didn't really get to see anything of sixth-round pick Jeremy Clark in his rookie year. Coming off a knee injury it was obvious he wouldn't start to realize his potential until 2018, so perhaps that will start to happen in camp.
We reviewed Clark in depth here.
The Greatest
Often overshadowed during his decade-long Jets career - mostly by Freeman McNeil - Johnny Hector still had a lot of big moments. He had 44 touchdowns, including a league-leading 11 rushing touchdowns in 12 games in the strike shortened 1987 season and 10 more the following year.
Hector had over a thousand yards from scrimmage in 1989 and his six hundred-yard rushing games included one where he also had over 100 receiving yards and a memorable game against New England where he carried 40 times for 143 yards and scored three touchdowns. He didn't have much of a role in his final two years, but turned back the clock with another 100-yard game out of nowhere in the wild card clincher over Miami in 1991.
Here's Hector getting into the end zone:
The other 34's
Lamont Jordan, Maurice Cole, Cedric Houston...
34 years ago
In 1984, the Jets got off to a 6-2 start behind Mark Gastineau's record 22 sacks but fell out of contention down the stretch. We detailed that earlier in our countdown, here.
34 yard scores
Here's Freeman McNeil taking one in from 34 in a blowout over the Colts from 1981:
Also, here's Jermaine Kearse's touchdown against the Raiders from last year:
34 on the scoreboard
One of the most memorable wins in team history saw the AFC East champion Jets win a home playoff game against Jacksonville 34-24. Curtis Martin rushed for 124 yards and two touchdowns and also caught six passes, but it was Keyshawn Johnson who starred, catching nine passes for 121 yards and a touchdown while also rushing for a score, intercepting a pass and recovering a Jacksonville fumble.
Another memorable win saw Brett Favre lead the Jets to a 34-31 overtime win in New England, setting up the winning score with some clutch passes to Dustin Keller. The Jets had blown a 24-6 leading by allowing Matt Cassel to pass for 400 yards and rush for 62 more. The Jets blew out the unbeaten Titans 34-13 the following week to move to 8-3 only to then lose four of their last five against a series of bad teams and miss the playoffs.
Let us know if there's any connections to 34 that we missed...