Memories of Richard Todd
Michael David Smith, writer extraordinaire of FanHouse, ProFootballTalk and Football Outsiders to name just a few was kind enough to write a guest post for TJB this week. In this post, MDS looks back at Richard Todd.
The game is now more than a quarter century old, so there’s a whole generation of Jets fans who didn’t see it. But Richard Todd’s performance in the AFC Championship in January of 1983 was mentioned this week at the Pro Football Reference blog as the second-worst playoff game any quarterback has ever had, and that got me thinking about my own memories of Todd, who was the Jets’ first-round draft pick in 1976 and their starting quarterback for most of the next eight years.
First, there’s that AFC Championship, and yes, he was terrible. Beyond terrible. He finished the game 15-of-37 for 103 yards, with five interceptions, as the Jets lost 14-0. Dolphins linebacker A.J. Duhe had three interceptions and sealed the game with an interception return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. If you’re a Jets fan and you don’t remember that game, consider yourself lucky.
But there are some extenuating circumstances, most notably that there was a rain storm in Miami and the geniuses running the grounds crew at the Orange Bowl didn’t cover the field before the game, meaning both teams were playing on mud, and both quarterbacks were throwing a wet ball. It’s telling that Dolphins quarterback David Woodley’s performance in that game is also on Pro Football Reference’s list of the worst quarterback games in playoff history.
And putting that game aside, when I look back on the Richard Todd era (which I saw through the eyes of a very young child), I always think that he got something of a bum rap. Yes, he led the league in interceptions in 1980, and yes, he once shoved Steve Serby into a locker. He wasn’t a great player or a saint. But he did start every game in 1981 and 1982 and help get the Jets into the playoffs both seasons, after they hadn’t gotten into the postseason once in the 1970s.
He was also one of the few NFL players who understood the economics of the game in the 1970s and 1980s. Todd had the foresight to vote against the disastrous 1982 players’ strike, which accomplished nothing for the players except costing them seven game checks, and in the early 1980s he negotiated his own contract, without an agent — a contract that made him one of the highest-paid players in the league.
Overall, although Todd was far from a superstar, and although that terrible AFC Championship game was his signature moment, my memories of him are mostly positive. What about yours?
Filed under: Main Page
My friends and I used to refer to him as Richard Re-Todd. Need I say more.
He was before my time (just) but I have seen the playoff game where he led the Jets over the Raiders and he played pretty well that day.
I’m sure we’d remember him more fondly had Shula not ordered the field to be intentionally waterlogged for the AFC title game, because he probably would have been only the second QB to take the Jets to the Superbowl.
That is actually one of my first Jets memories. I was seven years old at the time. I guess I was too young to realize that game was preparing me for life as a Jets fan.
This article is my first memory of Richard Todd.
Todd had a heckuva game in either 1982 or 1983 out in San Diego. He threw 5 TD passes and the Jets edged Dan Fouts and the Chargers that day.
He also led a nearly miraculous comeback against the Bills in the 1981 wild card game. We lost 31-28 after being down something like 28-0 in the first half. Of course, the Jets were on the Bills 20 at the end of the game when he threw a pick in the end zone.
I’ll say this: If we had a QB of Todd’s talents right now, we would be talking about challenging the Patriots instead of challenging for a .500 season.
Bent…I had no idea you were such a baby! I was in my young, impressionable pre-teens during that fateful day in 1983 and I remember the game well. My mother is a Dolphins fan and it was war in my home. That game might be the moment I started truly hating the Dolphins. Funny….I don’t remember blaming Richard Todd for the loss.
Since I was too young to watch Namath, Todd was, in my opinion, the best QB I had ever seen helm the Jets for a long time.
9 months after that loss I was born. Thanks Richard Todd.
oscar….that game was the coming out party for a tight end named mickey shuler. AND…..i am pretty sure todd was picked in the end zone at the end, it was called back b/c of a defensive penalty…and he got picked again!!!
i was 10 years old when the todd era was in full effect…and i have to say my memories of him are mostly positive….
he was a cool jet QB to me….
This brings me back to the post about the Pats 2 days ago.
My memories of Todd bring me back to the dbag fans that we had who would boo him for breathing. Nothing he did was good enough, he was not Namath and that is what everyone wanted.
Nothing better than the 1981 Dolphin game 17-16 win the pass to Barkum was the best Jet moment that the had in over 10 years, everyone left Shea chanting
were#1. Great Memories.
Oh, I forgot the pass to Walker on the road against the Raiders to take the lead, one of the best non namath Jet passes ever!
As I’ve posted numerous times here, when I was an impressionable young kid, it was simply: “Todd is God”
I also remember Jets QB Matt Robinson having a couple of decent games when Todd was either hurt or non-productive. There was a QB controversy (early to mid 80s I think), with most fans wanting Robinson – and then the dumbass Robinson hurts his thumb “wrestling” or some BS excuse like that, and Todd got the job back by default. Robinson was traded and never did a thing again.
I still hate Shula for that move .. how the NFL let them get away with that.. He knew the Jet team was so built on speed – Walker, McNeil, etc – the only way to slow us down was to pull that cheap s**t ..
“Todd is God” was a serviceable QB in a long line the Jets have had – no one coming close to Namath ..
Anybody remember Todd in a Saints uniform? wasn’t that weird?
I also remember a few idiots saying – and believing – that Todd was on the take that day in Miami .. seriously..
I used to watch that throw to Duhe and wonder myself .. for a second ..
[...] Michael David Smith, writer extraordinaire of FanHouse , ProFootballTalk and Football Outsiders to name just a few was kind enough to write a guest post for TJB this week.http://www.thejetsblog.com/?p=4488 [...]
The Raider playoff game is one of if not THE best memory of my Jets history. That whole season Todd would hit Wesley Walker with Bomb after bomb. Inexplicably, the next season he couldn’t hit Walker at all. Kept under throwing him. Everyone picked the Jets to win the AFC that year. Rumor was Todd was paid off by the mob. I have honestly never seen a QB be so good one year and so horrible the next.
Like I said earlier I wasn’t born for the Todd days but even I heard from a lot of different people the theory that he got paid off.
Pete57,
If I remember correctly they fired the coach after the season, and a strike i think,
The Miami game was the first time I ever cried from a sports event…with the second coming a few years later after the Cleveland debacle. That said, I loved Richard Todd. Back in the summer of 1983 I rang his doorbell at his condo in a complex called The Hamlet on L.I. His hot wife Lulu answered the door and called Richard down sayin the there were some boys here to see him (I was 14). He came down with his arm in a sling from a recent minor injury in a preseason game and proceeded to sign our autographs happily. Nice guy who played in pain (remember the flak jacket)…came up short a bunch, but I was to young to remeber Namath so he was my guy…and we were so good in 1982…Freeman would have torn up the Fins had Shula not Belicheated us…I might have to have another cry…
coming through against the dolphins late in the season to help get into the playoffs as shea was literally shaking; and throwing an int and missing a wide open scott dierking in the end zone that blew what would have been a tremendous playoff comebackover.
I was at that game against maimi at shea when Todd hit Barkum in the end zone. Most people don’t remember, but Todd had a foot injury that day and dragged himself around on one good foot to complete the comeback – kind of Willis Reed-like (I know I’m dating myself).
That was an amazing celebration – anyone with a jets cap or shirt was your best friend, hugging, slapping hands, etc. It was awesome.
That said, I was a kid with Namath at QB and though I missed the SuperBowl by a couple of years, no one was ever as cool as Joe.
I was at the Mud Bowl and I am convinced that Todd was on the take. How do you suck that bad in a game that means you go to the Super Bowl. Todd got paid well that day, I’m tellin you.
Are you all kidding me?? My childhood memories of Richard Todd were interception after interception after interception. I wasn’t even 10 and i remeber hoping they would get a new quarterback. Although every dog has his day, He was so inconsistent and horrible. Ken O’Brien was muuuch better than Todd. too bad he got sacked every other play.
Richard Todd would’ve have been a lot better if Mr. Hess hadn’t let Riggins go to the Redskins after the 1975 season (Todd was drafted in ‘76). That late-70s Jets team was rooted in mediocrity because the RB trio of Gaines-Dierking-Long sucked. Once McNeil came on board in 1981, lo and behold, Todd has his best 2 seasons and the Jets nearly made the Super Bowl. Todd wasn’t that accurate and threw too many picks, but this was the pre-Coryell/Walsh era when the running game was supreme and most QBs were “game managers” (Bradshaw and Staubach never cracked a 60% completions and had TD-INT ratios that would not be tolerated today). The Jets had an HOF back to run behind a great OL and let him slip away. I never forgave Mr. Hess for letting Riggins go.
my memory of Todd was = we made it to the playoffs for the first time in about 10 years
“TODD IS GOD!!”
I became a JETS fan in ‘79 when all my friends were following America’s so-called team.
Jets Games were hard to get and I had to live on halftime replays.
That said, everytime I saw a replay that sign was always in the background at Shea.
He made my High School years great because we went to the playoffs with him.
I am wide open to going back again.
Where is Richard Todd today? You never see him at any public functions representing the Jets. You never see him at any Meadowlands events such as honoring players. Where is Richard Todd????
I was 20 years old in 1983 and living in Toledo, OH. I was probably the only Jets fan in the area, but I loved the ‘81, ‘82, and ‘83 Jets clubs. And Richard Todd is STILL my favorite QB of all time. He got the hell beat out of him his first few years in the league due to a weak offensive line and supporting cast. I remember that he often played hurt and played well. And he had one of the prettiest deliveries this side of Warren Moon. He had a rifle arm and was an exceptional runner. Joe Walton was a boob for trading him, but Joe Walton couldn’t coach, either. I would love to find a #14 Richard Todd throwback jersey. “In Todd We Trust”!
I thought Richard Todd was better than he got credit for. He led them back to the playoffs for the first time since 1969 and played whether he was healthy or injured. I think it was a 16-15 win over the Dolphins that made me a fan. He played on a badly sprained ankle and threw the winning TD with less than a minute to play. He was a pretty tough competitor. Top 4 Jet QB’s in my mind:
1. Broadway Joe (who else?)
2. Ken O’Brien (wasn’t his fault that we picked him over Marino and he was MUCH better than people give him credit for)
3. Richard Todd
4. Vinny Testaverde (I’d have him higher if he played more seasons healthy for us. 1998 was awesome!)
To answer where is Richard Todd, he still lives with LuLu in Florence, AL. He works in Atlanta. He has a son, Gator, that just graduated from Alabama and started on the golf team there for 4 years. They won the 2008 SEC Championship and were ranked #1 most of the year. Richard hangs around Tuscaloosa and the University of Alabama football program every now and then, and he probably does not hang out with the Jets franchise much because he lives so far from New York and doesn’t go there much because he also has two other teenagers at home in Florence.
That 16-15 victory over Miami at Shea in 1981 is still a wonderful game to watch (yes, you can find it online–the original broadcast). Todd was playing with a broken rib, not a sprained ankle, and it was a hell of a gutsy performance. Thos were the days, when the Jets were still at Shea as opposed to playing their home games at, uh, Giants Stadium (how dumb is that).
Wisdom is out there. You just have to look for it.
SMART GUY from a SMART HOME in Mobile, Alabama. PhD + PhD= Ph14 where I studied. Thanks for the Memories from Alabama and the neighborhood excitement . I loved him more than my luggage…and I always will. There was always a train between us though. I was on one side of the train, he was on the other side, and I couldn’t get to him. But you should never be without a House…especially in Burma Hills. “Follow the Yellow Brick Road”….Somewhere over the ….Causeway….way up HIGH…there’s a land that I heard of once in a Lullaby…Someday I’ll wish upon an eternal flame…and I’ll say his name…where troubles melt like Lemondrop…away upon the chimney top…that’s where you’ll find me….Some where …over the Causeway….Blue birds fly…Birds fly over the rainbow…
why then? Oh why, can’t EYE?
I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo glad to know that Richard still lives with his HOT wife LULU in Florence, Alabama. That’s where he should be. …Not hanging around Atlanta…..because “This is MY HOUSE”!
And if there are any MOORE questions about this, you can call my AGENT!
Back in the days when Silly Putty was a gift, Just because the HOUSE of COMMONS mustn’t forget it’s the “THOUGHT” that counts, alot of PEOPLE around Burma Hills said that Richard looked like Ted Turner. I’m from the old school. I found that extremely illogical …..as the CROW flies. And suddenly, the Geers are in motion…and the NEWS Pringt is STRETCHED out of realistic proportions…If we were to go back and RE-Fight the Battle at Burma Hills…I’m sure we would come away scratching out heads a bit more, looking back at the X’s and O’s and surrounding ourselves with extraordinary Counsel…before GIVING UP…And please pray for Charles. I am so Fond of him. (Dot Calm)
I think they shot that CROW in New York actually unless it was at the Fairhope Municipal Pool. And Richard got alot of criticism for that from Cecil Hurt.
I never really knew why I understood Richard sooooooo well. I just did. He was like 46 chromosomes from someone more intelligent than any of the professors I had….except his DAD…and so I never really knew why I was there. It would be Obstruction of Justice for ME not to be there. Some people knew that, some people didn’t. It’s a TALL order in the Rainbow Girls.
There are some things that are legal, that are not acceptable.” I’d like to introduce Richard to Matt…Matt this is Richard; Richard this is Matt.”.
“Hi Matt….Welcome.”
“Matt meet Mote…Let me remove that Mote…!”
“Why NO, leave my Mote alone….Take this beam…out first”.
“Matt meet Jill and Jack”
“Hi Jill….and Jack….quack quack”
“There are some things that are legal, that are not acceptable.”
“Quack, Quack.”
Spiritually, we fail to see through a glass darkly sometimes, therefore we never know the score until it’s too late. If the spirit in the game is down, and the water on the field is high, frankly speaking, it’s unsafe. If I were Richards mother, I would have a heart to heart talk about timing, cadence and his blindside…and speak the truth in love, in order that it not provoke him to wrath. Although, if a persons’ spirits are down, due to a loss of a game, sometimes facilitating the feelings can help the person to communicate his anger with himself , so that he does not turn it inward…which produces even more depression. As the leader of the team, it is the responsibility of the QB to be on his toes, alert and well hydrated…If person, place and time are not oriented, one might think of jumping into Niagara Falls instead of sitting on the bench. Frequently, I pray in these moments of anguish for Richard. I feel understanding out limits, physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, intellectually is of great importance in that we can reach to a greater inward strength in these moments in time. Thank you for letting me share. God Bless our depth chart too as justice is an absolute. God can not deny himself. So, when I have a problem with a Governor anywhere…I encourage them to pick up the phone and call JOE. (Biden) Don’t call me, call JOE.