The discourse surrounding Zach has been contentious from the very beginning, but it has gotten especially heated over these past few weeks. This sub (myself admittedly included) has gone back and forth, arguing incessantly and dissecting his career from every angle imaginable.

This got me to thinking about another lightning rod Jets QB: Rockville Centre’s own Kenny O’Brien, who was responsible for more than a few Zenith T5 CRT television sets being hurled out windows during rage infused Tommy Wiseau-style tantrums. Crazy Eddie probably ran a “Kenny O Special”: 20% off a new set if you smashed your TV after an O’Brien turnover.

Thing is, O’Brien wasn’t a terrible quarterback. In fact, at times, he was kind of amazing. His numbers are insane. His career in general was insane.

He was infamously picked ahead of Dan Marino, so he had to spend his entire career with that hanging over him. That’s tough for any quarterback, but for a kid playing in his hometown of New York it must have been hellish.

In 1983, right at the very beginning of his NFL career, he goes out and gets arrested with Mark Gastineau after a booze (and I wouldn’t be shocked if there were a few other party favors lol) soaked bender at Studio 54. The NFL plus NYC in the 80’s. My goodness.

He had two top end RB’s in Johnny Hector and Freeman McNeil, two elite WR’s in Al Toon and Wesley Walker, two additional Pro Bowl level targets in Mickey Shuler and Rob Moore, and was playing in an era where high powered offenses were nowhere near as common as they are today. Yet somehow, inexplicably, he never led a top 5 scoring offense.

He threw a ton of picks in some seasons, yet in others he led the league in Int% (that was mainly early on though). That was a microcosm of how he played in general: brilliant at times, horrendous at others.

He watched in horror alongside the rest of us as the team spent its 1987 first round draft selection on Roger fucking Vick despite Harris Barton and Bruce Armstrong still being on the board (they were taken with the next two picks btw, because of course they were). This was especially egregious when you consider that for the first seven seasons of his career he never had a sack percentage below 7.6, and the OL led the league in sacks multiple times during his tenure.

He made the 1991 Pro Bowl with a passer rating of 76. Just… amazing.

In 1986, he outduels the aforementioned Dan Marino in a game for the ages, putting up 479 yards Marino’s 448, yet in the 2nd game against Miami that season he goes 11-21 for 168 and a pick. Again, that extreme duality.

The entire 1986 season was batshit. In an offense run by none other than the immortal Rich Kotite, O’Brien leads the Jets to an 8-1 start which included victories over the New England Patriots and the Denver Broncos, who were among the best teams in the AFC at the time. In fact, the Broncos would go on to become AFC champions that year (and then get thrashed by the New York Giants in the Super Bowl, but whatever lol). The team then proceeds to close out the regular season on a 5 game losing streak, brutally squandering the division lead and the number one seed in the process. They bounce back to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the WC round, but then they lose an absolute crusher in DOUBLE OT to Cleveland. Oh yeah, they had a 10 point 4th quarter lead in that game.

Seriously you could write an entire book about the '86 Jets. That year was so crazy for New York sports teams.

But perhaps the most absurd thing was when he injured his thumb high-fiving Freeman McNeil on the sideline 1990. I mean, what the fuck.

So yeah, Kenny O’Brien was not a bad QB. Inconsistent. Sure. Cursed? Definitely. But he wasn’t the failure that some make him out to be. I could only imagine how he we would have handled his performances in here, and make no mistake about it I only covered a few of the things that occurred during his Jets tenure.

At the end of the day though, for as combative as we can be, we all want the same thing. There are no fair weather Jets fans. If you’re in this sub, after everything we’ve gone through over the years, your dedication to this franchise us unquestionable. That kind of passion comes with the territory. Arguing about our erratic QB’s is a cornerstone of this fanbase. Geno, Darnold, Sanchez, I bet Al Woodall and Richard Todd would have spawned multi-thread slapfights too. Shit, even the unimpeachable Joe Namath and his gruesome interception numbers probably would have resulted in a tussle or five.

It’s part of the Jets fan experience lol. You will be driven mad by the quarterback, regardless of the era. And looking at Zach and Kenny O’s careers just makes me wonder what the future has in store…