DEFENSIVE LINE OF THE NEW YORK JETS IN THE EARLY 80’S
Nicknames can shape a persona or an image for a city, a sports team, an individual, or even a singular event, game or play. This particular nickname brought together Wall Street and a handful of defensive linemen that liked to terrorize quarterbacks.
The defensive line of the New York Jets of the early 80’s comprised of Mark Gastineau, Marty Lyons, Joe Klecko, and Adbul Salaam. They were notorious for disrupting pass protection and getting to the quarterback. But back in ’80 and ’81, the quarterback sack was not yet an official statistic, and did not become official until 1982. It was made an official statistic largely due to the attention and interest generated by the Jets defensive line and a few others, such as New York Giants superstar Lawrence Taylor. Football historians have determined that both Klecko and Gastineau had seasons of over 20 quarterback sacks before it became an official statistic, an alarming number at the time. But even though the quarterback sack had yet to be legitimized, the media and fans caught on and made these players celebrities. Further attention and notoriety were generated by the flamboyant personalities of the players, particularly the front-page lifestyle and celebratory sack dances of Gastineau. So much so, that in 1981, all four defensive linemen were invited to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange. Later that same year, a poll was conducted by the Jet Report, a team magazine, to come up with a nickname, and ‘The New York Sack Exchange’ was born. All four players would play well into the 80’s, with Gastineau and Klecko each garnering awards for defensive player of the year on separate occasions. In fact, Klecko just recently was voted into the NFL Hall of Fame. This group will always be mentioned in any conversation about the greatest defensive line of all-time.