Countdown to Camp: 76
As we look ahead to training camp in late July, we're going to take a daily retrospective look back at some random people, moments and games from Jets history...
The Current 76
The number 76 has just been allocated to the recently-signed Darius James, who is an undrafted rookie lineman that signed one day into rookie camp. James was a solid run blocker at Auburn. Wesley Johnson wore this jersey last year.
The Greatest
Jumbo Elliott's tenure with the Jets will always be remembered for one play (see below) but he started 58 games for them over four years and then served as a back-up for two more:
The other 76's
Ben Rudolph, Lawrence Pillars, Ben Svihus...
The '76 season
This was a rough period in Jets' history as it was the middle of a three-year span where they never managed to win more than three games. The coach during this season was current ESPN college football analyst Lou Holtz as the team went 3-11.
This would be Joe Namath's last season and he led the team with four touchdown passes. In all, the Jets scored just 17 touchdowns on offense, with Clark Gaines their most potent threat. They reached double digits in just half of their 14 games.
76 catches
Mickey Shuler didn't make it to a pro bowl until 1986 but his 1985 season was his best. He was seventh in the NFL in receptions with the only tight end ahead of him being Oakland's Todd Christensen. He would surely have gone to more pro bowls had he not been in the same conference as Christensen, Kellen Winslow Sr. and Ozzie Newsome.
Shuler, whose 76 receptions broke George Sauer's team record that year, although it didn't stand for very long, also caught five passes in the wild card game that year, including this touchdown from Pat Ryan:
Let us know if there's any connections to 76 that we missed...