New York Jets: The greatest villain in franchise history

We review the NFL Mocks selection for the biggest villain in New York Jets history and make a different selection of our own.

The New York Jets have encountered many villains over the years. Tom Brady is one that fans love to hate. Maybe he will retire, some day. Bill Belichick is another, dating back to the napkin incident. In a history that has included a lot of failure, villains won’t be difficult to find.

But who is the biggest villain in Jets history? Erik Lambert of our related site, NFL Spin Zone took a look at this question by naming the biggest villain for every team. It’s an interesting piece that anyone that really loves football should take a look at.

For the Jets, Lambert chose a villain that played for Don Shula for a long time. Many fans from back in 1983 when he was drafted believed in hindsight that he should have been a member of the Jets. That player, of course, is quarterback Dan Marino.

Here is an excerpt of what Lambert had to say:

"Going into 1998, Marino was 17-9 against them in his career. If not for four-straight wins his final two years, it would’ve looked so much worse. The high point of his villainy had to be the 1994 season. Going into their rematch, the Jets were 6-5 and still in the playoff hunt. They had the lead late in the game until Marino uncorked the now iconic “Fake Spike” play that saw Miami score the go-ahead touchdown."

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Granted, he was a huge villain. That fake spike still gives this Jets fan nightmares. But was he the biggest villain ever?

In 1983 and 1984 the Dolphins did finish ahead of the Jets, this is true. But in 1985 the Jets did finish 11-5 and go to the playoffs, and in 1986 they finished ahead of the Dolphins and made a run that should have at least gone to a title game.

The rest of the decade, neither of the teams were very good so to say that the Dolphins got in the Jets way is not completely accurate.

And the fake spike, as miserable as it was, was a game in the middle of the regular season. Even if the Jets win that game there is no telling what is going to happen that year.

So who was the biggest villain in team history? Some older Jets fans will know this guy, as he played for Don Shula and made his mark in Jets history before Marino arrived. On a day that the Jets should have beaten the Dolphins to go to the Super Bowl, this guy picked off quarterback Richard Todd three times.

For anyone who doesn’t know, the man’s name is A.J. Duhe.

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For anyone who wants to relive it, take a look here. The Jets came into this one expecting to win with their fast wide receivers on the outside. Instead they found a Miami Orange Bowl submerged in mud thanks to not being covered in the rain. A.J. Duhe picked off Todd three times out of a total of five, and the Dolphins won 14-7 and went on to the Super Bowl.

What makes Duhe a bigger villain than Marino? His performance in the title game literally kept the Jets from going to the Super Bowl. At no point had Dan Marino ever done that. That puts Duhe right to the top of the list.

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