Sponsored by Shea Stadium Remembered
For the first time since their first game at Shea in 1964, the Jets open the football season at Shea Stadium. The 14-year wait does not go unnoticed. The Jets, Mets, the city, and the courts wrangled long and hard to grant the Jets early access to Shea. As primary tenant the Mets maintained priority and would not agree to have a Jets game at Shea until the baseball season ended, leading to the Jets continually starting on the road, sometimes spending the first month away from Shea. A home game was even shifted to Pittsburgh during the Mets’ 1973 postseason run. In 1977 the Jets played their first home game at Giants Stadium. The addition of two games to the NFL schedule in 1978 brings the Shea issue to a head, but the rancor will eventually lead the Jets to find a new roommate.
Despite horrific traffic thanks to the holiday weekend and U.S. Open Tennis next door, 49,000 see the Jets upset the Dolphins, 33-20, as Richard Todd tosses three touchdowns. Donned in new uniforms, Walt Michaels’s club will collect their most wins since 1969, but the Jets will drop their final two games to finish 8-8 and out of the playoffs for the eighth straight year.