Jets hope to snap oh-for-forever skid against Eagles

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- Fifty years later, former New York Jets quarterback Al Woodall still can visualize the play that changed the first Jets-Philadelphia Eagles game, which started one of the most bizarre head-to-head series in NFL history.

"Here's what I remember," Woodall, 77, said from his home this week in North Carolina. "At the time, it really pissed me off. Pardon my language. We ran a dig route to Eddie Bell and ..."

We'll pick it up from there.

Starting for injured star quarterback Joe Namath that day -- Dec. 9, 1973 -- Woodall threw a perfect ball to Bell, but he slipped on the damp turf at Veterans Stadium and the pass hit cornerback John Outlaw in the chest and he returned the interception 45 yards for a touchdown to give the Eagles a 24-20 lead in the third quarter. They held on for a 24-23 victory.

"Frankly," Woodall said, "we should've won the game."

And so began a half-century of shoulda, woulda, couldas -- repeated every four years or so by the green team at the northern end of the New Jersey Turnpike.

The Jets (2-3) and Eagles (5-0) meet for the 13th time Sunday at MetLife Stadium (4:25 p.m. ET, Fox), with the Jets still looking for their first victory. Yep, that's right -- they're oh-for-forever.The series has gone from Outlaw to outlier in this way:

Of all the head-to-head matchups among the 32 franchises, there are only three instances of one team being undefeated against another. The Eagles are 6-0 against the Houston Texas, and the Minnesota Vikings are 5-0 against the Texans -- but the Texans didn't join the NFL until 2002. The Cleveland Browns started 12-0 against the Arizona Cardinals, but that streak ended in 1955, when they were the Chicago Cardinals.

So, yes, the Jets-Eagles series is like no other.

"No kidding, I didn't know that," Woodall said of the 0-12 all-time mark in the series.

He's not alone.

"I didn't know anything about it," Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley said.

Tight end Tyler Conklin said, "I had no idea. All I know is, they're undefeated right now. It's a good opportunity to give a really good team their first loss and a good opportunity to go get the first win against that franchise. Two birds with one stone."

No pun intended.

It's not a big deal in the Eagles' locker room, either.

"Nah, we don't talk about that," defensive tackle Fletcher Cox said.

The Jets know long losing streaks. They've lost 15 straight to the New England Patriots, dating to 2016-- the definition of a one-sided rivalry.The Jets-Eagles series falls into a different category because they play so infrequently (not counting the annual preseason affair), meaning there's little or no carryover from one game to the next with regard to players and coaches.

It's closer to quirkiness than dominance. Consider:

The Jets have started 12 different quarterbacks against them, from Woodall to Zach Wilson, who will become the first to start two games against the Eagles. They've had 11 different head coaches in the series, with Robert Saleh set to join Walt Michaels as the only ones to face the Eagles twice.

The Woodall game, in which the Jets blew a 17-0 lead, actually served as a harbinger to the most famous game in the series. In 1993, the Jets blew a 14-point lead and lost, 35-30, on Eric Allen's 94-yard interception return in the fourth quarter.

Allen picked off Boomer Esiason's pass and delivered a spinning, juking, stutter-stepping return for the ages, avoiding no fewer than seven would-be tacklers on a run-back that took 19 seconds in real time. The legendary John Madden, in the TV booth with Pat Summerall on CBS Sports, exclaimed on the air, "That was an unbelievable play." Allen capped it by handing the ball to injured Eagles quarterback Randall Cunningham, who was standing on crutches in the Giants Stadium tunnel.

Reflecting on the touchdown, Allen said his initial thought was to gain some yardage and get out of bounds, but his motivation changed when he thought he saw Esiason walking off the field before the play was over. That fired him up.

"I just went back to when I was a youngster on 42nd Street in San Diego, playing two-hand touch," Allen said from his home in San Diego. "That's how it all materialized: 'I'm not going to let anybody touch me.' That's why you saw the back-and-forth, the spins, the stops -- that's where that came from. It was all my street football in San Diego."

Epic pick-six notwithstanding, Esiason actually played a good game (four touchdown passes), a rarity for the Jets in this series. Eight of the 12 quarterbacks finished with less than 200 passing yards, with eight throwing multiple interceptions.

In 1996, Glenn Foley threw four interceptions as the Jets squandered a 13-point lead to lose 21-20 on their way to a 1-15 season. In 2019, third-stringer Luke Falk, replacing Sam Darnold (mononucleosis) and Trevor Siemian (broken ankle), played the role of sitting duck as he was sacked nine times in a 31-6 defeat.

The oddest quarterbacking maneuver occurred in 2003, when coach Herm Edwards -- himself a former Eagle -- decided to use a two-man platoon with Vinny Testaverde and Chad Pennington. Concerned about Pennington's ability to play a full game after a long injury layoff, Edwards saved Pennington -- his starter -- for the second half. He announced the plan beforehand, saying Testaverde would play only the first half.

Testaverde played well (127.8 passer rating), but they stuck with the plan. A rusty Pennington threw a costly interception and the Jets lost, 24-17.

Inconsistent quarterback play by the Jets and strong defense by the Eagles are hallmarks of the series, according to Allen.

"For the most part, the style of play for the Eagles, from their championship in the 1960s until now, has mostly been about a strong defense," he said."Offensively, outside of maybe Joe Namath, the Jets have really struggled at the quarterback position. They never had a franchise guy who could take the ball and win the game on his own. That may be the one constant from all 12 games. That's the one key that continues to pop up and this (Sunday's) game will be no different."

We'll see if the Jets (+7.0, according to Caesar's Sportsbook) can pull an upset on the 50th anniversary of a most unusual matchup.

ESPN Eagles reporter Tim McManus contributed to this story.