1965 New York Jets season

The 1965 New York Jets season was the sixth season for the team in the American Football League (AFL). The season began with the team trying to improve on their 5–8–1 record from 1964 under head coach Weeb Ewbank. The Jets finished the season 5–8–1, their third consecutive season with that record. The Jets drafted Joe Namath, who made his first appearance in the second game of the year against Kansas City, relieving Mike Taliaferro. Namath would start the last six games of the season, where he won three of them.

1965 New York Jets season
Owner	Sonny Werblin
Head coach	Weeb Ewbank
Home field	Shea Stadium
Results
Record	5–8–1
Division place	2nd AFL East
Playoff finish	Did not qualify

The Jets adopted this helmet and logo design in 1965.

The Jets changed their primary logo in 1965, reversing the colors and slightly enlarging the helmet decal, which was now solid green with white lettering ("JETS" in thick sans-serif italics in front of "NY" in outline serif lettering) and a white miniature football at bottom center.

Offseason

Draft

Main article: 1965 AFL draft

1965 New York Jets draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	1	Joe Namath * †	QB	Alabama
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Roster

1965 New York Jets roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 12 Joe Namath 17 Mike Taliaferro 20 Bob Schweickert Running backs (RB) 31 Bill Mathis HB 41 Matt Snell FB 32 Charlie Browning HB 30 Mark Smolinski 45 Kern Carson HB 45 Cosmo Iacavazzi HB Wide receivers (WR) 13 Don Maynard 23 Bill Rademacher 83 George Sauer, Jr. 29 Bake Turner 28 Jerry Robinson 80 Jim Evans Tight ends (TE) 85 Gene Heeter 89 Dee Mackey

Offensive linemen (OL) 52 Mike Hudock C 56 John Schmitt C 61 Dan Ficca G 64 Pete Perreault G/T 65 Sam DeLuca LG 67 Dave Herman RG 71 Nick DeFelice T 75 Winston Hill LT 79 Sherman Plunkett T Defensive linemen (DL) 72 Paul Rochester 76 Arnie Simkus DE/DT 78 Jim Harris 81 Gerry Philbin DE/DT 82 Bert Wilder DE/DT 86 Verlon Biggs DE

Linebackers (LB) 54 Wahoo McDaniel MLB 55 Mike Dukes 60 Larry Grantham LB 63 Jim O'Mahoney 88 Al Atkinson 51 Ralph Baker 60 Larry Grantham Defensive backs (DB) 22 Willie West 25 Ray Abruzzese 42 Clyde Washington 44 Jim Hudson 46 Bill Baird (American football) 48 Cornell Gordon Special teams 33 Curley Johnson 11 Jim Turner 40 Dainard Paulson

Rookies in italics , 0 practice squad

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 12	at Houston Oilers	L 21–27	0–1	Rice Stadium	52,680	Recap
2	September 18	Kansas City Chiefs	L 10–14	0–2	Shea Stadium	53,658	Recap
3	September 26	at Buffalo Bills	L 21–33	0–3	War Memorial Stadium	45,056	Recap
4	October 3	at Denver Broncos	L 13–16	0–4	Bears Stadium	34,988	Recap
5	Bye
6	October 16	Oakland Raiders	T 24–24	0–4–1	Shea Stadium	59,890	Recap
7	October 23	San Diego Chargers	L 9–34	0–5–1	Shea Stadium	60,679	Recap
8	October 31	Denver Broncos	W 45–10	1–5–1	Shea Stadium	55,572	Recap
9	November 7	at Kansas City Chiefs	W 13–10	2–5–1	Municipal Stadium	25,523	Recap
10	November 14	at Boston Patriots	W 30–20	3–5–1	Fenway Park	18,589	Recap
11	November 21	Houston Oilers	W 41–14	4–5–1	Shea Stadium	55,312	Recap
12	November 28	Boston Patriots	L 23–27	4–6–1	Shea Stadium	59,334	Recap
13	December 4	at San Diego Chargers	L 7–38	4–7–1	Balboa Stadium	32,167	Recap
14	December 12	at Oakland Raiders	L 14–24	4–8–1	Frank Youell Field	19,013	Recap
15	December 19	Buffalo Bills	W 14–12	5–8–1	Shea Stadium	57,396	Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

AFL Eastern Division
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	PF	PA	STK
Buffalo Bills	10	3	1	.769	4–2	313	226	L1
New York Jets	5	8	1	.385	3–3	285	303	W1
Boston Patriots	4	8	2	.333	2–4	244	302	W3
Houston Oilers	4	10	0	.286	3–3	298	429	L7

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings in the AFL.

Awards and honors

• Joe Namath, Offensive MVP, AFL All-Star Game, UPI Rookie of the Year

External links

• 1965 team stats