Quote:
Originally Posted by Colts And Orioles
o
Plus an additional 2 solid seasons of quarterbacking in 1980 and 1981, after having recovered from consecutive injury-plagued seasons in 1978 and 1979.
Many presume that Bert's shoulder injuries spelled the end of his career ...... they didn't. A ruptured disc in his neck while playing for the Rams in 1982 is what ended his career.
o
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMugwump
Technically, true.
However he was no where near to the same after the injuries that limited him to seven games in 1978 and 1979. His stats for a '80 and '81 look similar to his earliest years, but if you saw him, it wasn't the same. Neither was the team.
In fact, it's not a huge stretch to say that if Jones was healthy straight through, and Drunk Bob doesn't start selling off some of the team defense, then the Colts never leave Baltimore.
|
o
I completely disagree.
I believe that Jones was every bit as good in those 2 seasons as he was previously, but the teams around him were not as good (especially the 1981 team.)
Jones almost single-handedly had the Colts in playoff contention throughout the 1980 season, as they were 7-6 after 13 games, including a 2-game sweep over the eventual division champion Buffalo Bills. He engineered what should have gone down as one of the greatest comebacks ever in the 14th game of that 1980 season against the Bengals. The Colts were losing by a score of 31-6 at the start of the 4th quarter. Jones engineered 4 straight touchdowns to give the Colts a 33-31 lead. The referees then bailed out the Bengals by making a horrible pass interference call, which allowed them to keep driving and set up for what was the game-winning field goal.
Instead of an 8-6 record and one of the greatest comebacks in pro football history, the Colts were robbed by the zebras and dropped to 7-7, which eliminated them from playoff contention. With all of the wind taken out of their sails by that controversial loss, the Colts dropped the final 2 games of the season to finish at 7-9.
The following season (1981), even Jones could not rescue what was an historically bad Colts team that finished at 2-14 overall, with both wins coming against the Patriots on the first and last games of the season. In both of those season, Jones had over 3,000 yards passing at a time when doing so was still a considerable achievement.
8 years after his career ended, Bobby Beathard of the Chargers actually tried to talk Jones out of retirement at the age of 39 when he saw Bert win a
Quarterback Challenge passing contest (Jones was still heaving the ball 75 yards while he was pushing 40.) Jones declined after consulting with doctors who confirmed what he was told 7 and-a-half years earlier, which was that he was risking serious injury (possibly paralysis) if he tried to return.
o