Quarterback Joe Namath talked about the New York Jets and a range of topics during a 45-minute interview with The Associated Press ahead of this weekend's NFL conference championship games. Here are some excerpts:
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On his guarantee the Jets would win Super Bowl III against the heavily favored Colts:
"I didn't plan it. I was just responding to a guy in the back of the room. (Colts quarterback) Earl Morall and I were being honored at a dinner, a big to-do the Miami Touchdown Club held at the end of the season, just ahead of the game. ... I'm at the podium and some guy yells, 'Hey Namath, the Colts are going to kick your ass!'
We'd been hearing a lot of that. So I said, 'I've got news for you. We're gonna win the game. I guarantee it.'"
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On 'guaranteeing' another Jets win against the Colts on Sunday:
"I'm not in that business anymore. That's another reason why I love Rex (Ryan, the Jets coach). He got me off the hook. I'm just saying I know we can win. Some days you fall flat and some days you kick the other team's butt. Our guys are good enough. They're definitely good enough."
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On Jets rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez:
"I like that his coaches, when they talk about him, use the term 'gym rat' a lot. That's special. You don't fool the people on your team. They know how much work you're putting in, and he's been consumed with making his team and himself better, and the other players have learned that.
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On Colts QB Peyton Manning:
"I've never seen anything like him. No. 1, it's still a team game and you have to have the other pieces in place. But I've watched Peyton from, college on, and he's improved the teams he's played with. He's even helped change the way the game's played today. That's a hell of a compliment.
I don't know a guy who's done so well with all the extra responsibility. ... He throws with velocity, touch, accuracy, whatever a situation calls for and he's a giant to boot. Maybe he misses now and then, but he's remarkable.
And that's what we're going up against - a great player AND a great leader."
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On Vikings QB Brett Favre:
"I don't think I've ever seen him play better. ... I always believed with every new experience, you get smarter or else you're not very bright. Brett's carrying with him a few boxcars of experience and he's convinced people they can count on him. They're getting a man pulling the trigger who's seen just about everything possible on a football field.
He never shows any quit, he can still put some heat on the ball and squeeze it into tight spots. But he's become more accurate and he knows how to locate the third or fourth option. ... That's a pretty tough bill to fill."
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On Saints QB Drew Brees:
"I've been impressed with him since he showed up in San Diego. Marty Schottenheimer, who coached him there, and I grew up together and Marty thought the world of him right away. I think football history would be different if Miami had given Brees that extra million and let him work down here.
I hear he's a terrific leader, close to a saint, and if I can't have Peyton or Brett, I'd gladly take this guy."
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On the evolution of 'Broadway Joe':
"Sonny (Werblin, the Jets owner) came from the entertainment business and he believed in the star system. He knew fans wanted to see stars. We thought of ourselves as just football players that nobody got to know except the guys we played with.
"I'll never forget this. I had dinner with the Werblins one night - this was late in the 1960s - and Sonny was telling me, 'You're a confident guy. Be more open, it will be better for everybody.' And I kept saying, 'It's just football. How much is there to talk about?'
"So finally, his wife leans over and says, 'Joe, don't worry, honey. It's all just show business,' and she turned out to be right. Sport was changing. Things were changing in society, too. ...
"All that action off the field? Some of it was good and some not so good. But thank God, we're still here."
