December 17th, 1966. The 5-6-2 Jets hosted the 8-3-2 Boston Patriots in a battle for pride. The Jets were in the midst of a disappointing season under Weeb Eubank, but were determined to play spoiler in what was considered the birth of a rivalry.
The 1966 Jets were a focal point of the NY sports landscape just 7 years into existence. They continued to draw a much larger crowd at Shea than the competitors. On this Saturday, the Jets were hell-bent on ruining the Boston Patriots 1966 season. That is just what they did.
QB Babe Parilli and Joe Namath were going to duke it out on this 42 degree December day at Shea Stadium. The AFL was known for throwing the football and today was a testimate to that. Babe and Joe went toe to toe with the difference being 2 interceptions thrown by Pirilli.
The first quarter went both ways with Pirilli connecting on an 18 yard pass to Gino Cappelletti and Joe Namath hitting Don Maynard on a 20-yard strike.
The Jets took a 17-7 lead going into the half after a 1-yard TD run by Emerson Boozer and a 12-yard FG by Jim Turner dominated the second quarter.
In the third quarter, both teams looked to open up the aerial attack as Babe Pirilli hit Jim Whalen on an 18 yard pass which was sandwiched in between 2 Joe Namath TD strikes. The first was another Maynard TD of 8 yards and the second was a 77-yard connection to George Sauer. After 3 quarters, the Jets led the Patriots 31-13 and were looking to now destroy the Patriots’ season.
In the 4th quarter, the Patriots rallied behind a 1-yard TD run from Jim Nance and a 15-yard pass from Pirilli to Art Graham. Their victory bid fell short as Matt Snell added to the Jets scoring with a 25 yard TD run. The Jets knocked the Patriots out of the playoffs and the title game with and sparked a rivalry that has become one of the most heated ones in the NFL to this day.
