Joe Namath hopes Jets’ Sam Darnold will one day win MVP and lead team to Super Bowl

Joe Namath considers himself one of the bigger fans of his former team, the New York Jets.

And as the only quarterback in their history to lead them to a Super Bowl victory 50 years ago, he shares in the seemingly endless hunger to win another Lombardi Trophy.

‘He’s well-respected by his teammates and coaches’

Namath would love nothing better than the Jets’ current QB, Sam Darnold, to join him in that rare distinction.

“I hope he’s the MVP of the league and he leads them to the Super Bowl,” Namath told Alex Marvez and Gil Brandt on Late Hits. “That’s my hope. I have had a chance to meet him and he carries himself beautifully. He’s well-respected by his teammates and his coaches.”

‘What’s between the ears and how can they handle the situation’

Namath realizes, however, that it takes more than one player to reach the heights he and his teammates did in Super Bowl III after the 1968 season.

“What’s between the ears and how can they handle the situation?”

“When we, as fans, size up guys, we see them on television and see them in games, you can tell the athleticism,” he said. “You see how they’re moving around and all. But how do they think? What’s between the ears and how can they handle the situation?

‘Competition is tough, and you’ve got to earn the championship’

“And that’s what our New York Jets need to figure out, get the kind of ballplayers that the coach for a day back when, Coach (Bill) Belichick (would select); he was a Jets coach for almost a day, at least that was the rumor. I don’t know how Coach Belichick picks his players, but we need to find out how he does it … keeping their poise, all those little things (Jets Super Bowl-winning coach) Weeb (Ewbank) used to talk about. Don’t beat yourself; that’s Coach (Bear) Bryant … Don’t be making mistakes. It’s tough. Competition is tough, and you’ve got to earn the championship.”