The Way That Guy was Going, He’d Have Beaten Anybody

BY BILL BRAUCHER

Herald Sports Writer

NEW YORK — Joe Namath took the Dolphins' game plan and shoved it down their gullets Sunday. Before the game it was Bob Griese who was supposed to throw to wide receivers and take advantage of aging Johnny Sample and rookie Randy Beverly, the cornerbacks.

Instead Namath drove Jimmy Warren and Dick Westmoreland to distraction and Griese left with a shoulder injury after the first quarter.

"I really have no excuses,” said Warren, in the self-effacing silence of the dressing room. “I was beaten on patterns l don't usually miss.

“Maybe some of it was psychological,” added the puzzled cornerback. "Maynard (the Jets’ flanker) never had much success with me before and maybe it all evened up in one Sunday, I don't know. I do know that has to be the hardest field in the world and I was slipping once in a while.

"But when Namath throws like that there’s not much you can do. He was right on the money all the time. I told him during the game, ‘You're hot today, Joe,’ hoping to psyche him. But he didn't psyche.”

Warren did not say so, but he injured a knee early in the game on the hard turf. Tight-end Doug Moreau, whose 6 catches for 72 yards led Miami receivers, bruised his right thigh. Tackle Maxie Williams reinjured a leg, but all casualties including Griese are expected to be ready for next Sunday's fracas at Kansas City.

“The way that guy (Namath) was going, he would have beaten anybody,” said Westmoreland. “I’m not trying to alibi,” Sure, I had a bad day but I honestly can’t figure out what I would have done different.

“You have to maintain a certain position on defense. You can't let the receiver get behind you and you can't abandon the style you know best. We'll get ‘em next time.”

Coach George Wilson admitted that Namath “was very accurate” but was unhappy over two incidents. One was halfback Emerson Boozer’s touchdown in the last minute of the first half on a 49-yard pass. Safetyman Pete Jaquess missed a shot at Boozer around the Miami 25.

“If we'd have stopped him there they probably wouldn't have scored or would have had to settle for a field goal at best. But the touchdown put them in control at halftime and took the play away from us.”

Wilson’s other peeve stemmed from a Saturday night remark by one of the Dolphins that they would eat up the Jets.

“0ur players,” snapped Wilson, “had better learn to keep their mouths shut. The time to talk is after the game, not before. That might have been all they needed.”

Wilson may have been right. Namath never had thrown a touchdown pass on the Dolphins until Sunday, and was well aware of the oversight.

“I guess,” said Namath, “we broke up that record a bit.”

The Jets tried to break up Li’l Abner Haynes, too, and started a mild fuss early in the fourth quarter.

“Ab got in a little fracas and somebody hit him from behind,” said tackle Norm Evans, the offensive captain. “I jumped in there to break it up.

“Yes, Namath was great,” added Evans, yanking tape off his ankles. But let’s look at it this way. If we'd have moved the ball, Namath wouldn't have had all those chances to throw.”

The Dolphins did hang up two records. One came on rookie Larry Seiple's gigantic 70-yard punt in the fourth quarter. Seiple averaged 46 yards for seven punts in another good day. The other record, the 415 yards yielded to Namath, shattered the mark of 329 by Jack Kemp and Daryle Lamonica during the course of a 59-24 romp last year in Buffalo.