You have it good Jets fans. Savor this week, Dolphins Week, a week you get twice a year, (and once three times ('82 season)). The Jets and Dolphins have forged one of the Classic rivalries of Modern Sports. The franchises genuinely dislike each other and get under each others skin. Despite the respective records, the games have traditionally always been competitive -- and like our other rivalries (Raiders, Colts, Pats) -- chock full of lore. The Jets have recently lost two in a row to the Fins, which hasn't happened since 2003. Even more impressive was the 10 year run of utter dominion the Jets had on their hated rivals from 1998 until 2008, in which we compiled a record of 17-4. During that time, we swept the season 7 times while only getting swept once, in 2003. We opened up winning 8 in row, sweeping the series 4 years in a row: 1998-2001. We then split, in 02, and were swept in 03. We swept in 04. We won the first game of 05, and lost the second. We then ran off five straight over three seasons from 2006-2008 before losing the last two in typical Rivalry fashion. Last year Chad Penningotn returned in full ironic fashion to the Meadowlands to secure the division on the final week for Miami for the first time since 2000. This year, the Dolphins grounded, and embarrassed the Jets on Monday Night Football running roughshod on the "vaunted" Jets defense, a loss that has potential to compound just three weeks later, where we square off for what is being billed by Jets players and coaches as a vendetta. The Jets during that great era of dominance won 8 consecutive games; 5 consecutive games; and 3 consecutive games. We swept the last two seasons of the 20th century, and mopped up the first two seasons of the 21st. Looking at the Rivalry's history, there is a precedent for these pendulous swings of dominance. From the time the Fins started up in 1966, the Jets won 8 in row, without losing, while they built up their aura as a legacy AFL franchise, and bagging the 68 SuperBowl. The 1970's ushered in a Dolphins hegemony:14-2 from 1970 thru 1977! The Jets then won 6 straight from 1978-1980, going 8-1 thru 1981. The Dolphins then swept the next three years, including the 1983 championship game - the only playoff match in the Rivalry's history. From 1985-1993 the teams traded barbs, going 11-7, advantage Jets. The next 4 seasons saw the Fins go 7-1, bringing us to 1998. What got lost I think in the past decade is the real aura of this rivalry, as many younger fans have seen the Patriots eclipse the Fins as the de facto #1 Rivalwith the border wars, with Tuna, C-Mart, Mo and Brady, Mangini, and Bellichik. For many years the Jets vied with the Pats for dominance in the division as the Fins floundered. This is not to discredit what has emerged as a nasty rivalry with the Patriots, a natural NY-Boston rivalry to begin with. The Jets-Pats rivalry it seems is here to stay, it is that nasty. But it seems that we may happen to have started to take those Miami games for granted -- etching W's in the column -- while looking ahead to the New England games. Bart Scott, in his weekly Madbacker series talked about hate. Which teams he has had to learn to hate in becoming a Jet. Bart, when you become a Jet, you first learn to hate the Dolphins. Calvin Pace, Jenkins, and Rex, have all jumped into the fray. Their Pride has been injured, and they are playing for personal revenge, which happens to coincide nicely with the rivalry, which today stands at 46-41-1, advantage Jets. The Dolphins have dominated the division since 1970 in head-to-head matchups (including Indy), except for the Jets. The Fins haven't won three in a row against the jets since well over TEN YEARS AGO, 1996-1997. That aroma in the air wafting in from Sunday is Jets-Dolphins. It is Dolphins week. The luster of these games is back. They aren't pencil-in victories. Dolphins week means anyone can win this game. It means rivalry in the college sense. There should be marching bands for these games. And fight songs (J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets). Jets fans are lucky. We have a franchise that has recognized and live and kickin rivalries that teams like the Bucs, or the Bills, or the Saints, or the Niners don't have. Who gets up for Seahawks-Niners? For Saints-Falcons? While Jets-Fins doesn't have the longevity of Packers-Bears, it has the intensity. The Jets have major rivalries with four teams, four great franchises. Two of their division mates -- the Pats 50-49-1, the Fins 46-41-1; two major intra conference rivals -- the Raiders 21-17-2?, and the Colts 26-40 (2-0 Playoffs including SB III). We also have a major (if faux) rivalry with the other NY team, the Giants. There are few teams that can claim to have such hot rivalries. The NFC East and North are full of historical and existing intra-divisional rivalries and the AFC North and West have some -- and some that have outlived their legacies. Savor it Jets Fans, Week 8 is Dolphins Week, Sunday 1pm, is Jets-Dolphins, with more than just pride on the line, this is our homecoming game. *I don't consider the Bills a major rival. (While the rivalry with the Bills is cool, the games are always hotly contested.)
i think it would be funny if the Jets, from 2009-2019 rape the Pats and struggle against the Fins. It would be a funny reversal of fortunes.
The Pats may have dominated recently and I hate them but I'll always hate Miami first. Grew up in the Marino/O Brien era and was at the epic OT game in 86 with my dad not realizing I may have witnessed the greatest regular season NFL game ever played. I will never forget the heartbreak of the fake spike and what that did to the franchise over the next 2 1/2 seasons. In hindsight that was probably the best thing that ever happened to us. There are always teams I will dislike but no NFL team brings out my hatred like Miami.
Same. In recent years the Pats to me have just been like a stone in my shoe, irritating and there until the the rock gets tossed out. The Phins are just really great to hate, you only have to look at the posts on TGG to see some of the best rants are from Phins fans. Its rivalries like this I live for. AND we have this game showing this weekend too, so for once the HD gets to see some football.
I hate Pats so much more than the Dolphins but that probably has a lot to do with the fact that I live in the heart of Patriots Nation, about 7 miles from the Stadium. Pats fans (and most Boston sports fans) annoy the shit out of me. But back in the day, I hated the Dolphins more than any other team in sports. This goes back to the '80's when Miami was consistently the team to beat in the division. The Mud Bowl game was my first major heartbreak as a Jet fan.
being a younger fan, I have severe hatred for the phins, but they have sucked monkey nuts for the majority of the time I have been a die-hard Jets fan. The pats on the other hand have been kicking our ass for the last decade, and the hatred I have for them are simply on another planet in comparison to that of the Dolphins. Hell I simply might hate the Bills more than the phish because I live in the middle of NY with the retard bills fans. actually I take that back, I almost pity the bills because of the fans and how retarded their expectations are....
Yep. Fish fans are the worst fans of any team, any sport, any era. I hate them and their f'ing team an their f'ing players and their f'ing owners and everything about them. Putting all else aside, the fact that the Jets have lost two in a row to that team makes me ill. Three in a row would ruin anything else that happens, and make me wonder if the new CS and players have any real understanding of who the Jets are, what the history of this franchise has been with those cakeholes from Miami, and what it means, how it is more important than anything, to beat them.
Having grown up in the impressionable 80s, I will always hate the Dolphins more than the Pats. Sports seem to leave a more indelible mark on a youngster when there are a lot less distractions in one's life. And back then I just hated Marino, Duhe, the Marks, Shula, etc. more than anyone. I even hated Nick Buonacotti (sp) on "Inside the NFL" because he was a Fin. That said, I have to respectfully disagree with you, Pats fans are worse. Maybe it's because I'm 0-5 or 0-6 at Pats games, but these people have no class when they lose and they have no class when they win. Considering the bandwagon ran about 12 deep before 1997 or something like that, most of them are spoiled and they act that way. Us Jets fans, OTOH, have been brought up on heartbreak and despair, which prepares us well for every day life living. That's why I don't understand when I see a thread started that says after 3 weeks in (this season) or 12 weeks in (last season) "We're going to the Super Bowl." It would be a dream if (when) it happens, but I just shake my head when I see this and I'm just like "Why?"
I want to not hate any of our division rivals for a long time. I want the Jets to drain the emotion out of these rivalries by being so dominant against the Pats, Fins, and Bills during the next ten years that I never even notice its a division game.
