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Reading Weaknesses. A more important factor than the hashmark change is the slow but discernible evolution of offensive strategy in an increasingly complex defensive environment. As Namath puts it: "Because of the development of the defenses, we've had to compensate and develop even more. When a guy runs out for a pass, he's not just running out for a pass; he reads what the coverage is, and I read what the coverage is, and we try to connect. When I go back to the huddle, I don't know what the pass is going to be. You have to read the weaknesses and the strengths of the defense and take it from there."
That is precisely what Namath did against Baltimore, a game that prospective quarterbacks should have watched with the same solemn intensity that surgical residents devote to watching a kidney transplant. With deadly skill, Namath dissected one of the two or three best defensive units in pro football. At one point in the game, for instance, Running Back John Riggins told Namath in the huddle that the Colts' towering (6 ft. 7 in.) left-side linebacker, Ted Hendricks, was slacking off a bit on his pass coverage. Joe said nothing, threw one incomplete pass, then connected for short yardage. But on the next play, he called for Riggins to shoot out of the backfield and blow past Hendricks. Riggins ran his pattern precisely, caught a Namath pass on the run and streaked 67 yds. for a touchdown.
The Colts nonetheless managed to stay within range of the Jets—largely through a stellar passing performance (26 completions for 376 yds. and two touchdowns) by their canny old craftsman Johnny Unitas—until the final quarter. It was then that Namath displayed his instinct for the jugular. First he wound up and heaved a 79-yd. touchdown pass to Tight End Richard Caster. A few minutes later, the Colts scored, narrowing the Jets' margin to three points. When New York got the ball again, Namath called a pass play that could have gone to one of three receivers. Meanwhile the Colts had inserted a fresh cornerback, Rex Kern, No. 44, into the secondary; his primary responsibility was covering Caster. As Namath dropped back, Kern, fresh from an injury, tried to pick up the speedy Jet tight end. Namath recalls with a grin: "As I was getting ready to throw, I just saw a big, clean No. 44 on the guy's jersey and I knew that's where I was going to go." Caster, with three steps on Kern, snagged Namath's pass and raced into the end zone for his second touchdown in 'two consecutive offensive plays.
Those two plays sum up Namath's vital assets on the field: a bazooka arm, a trigger-quick release and an almost supernatural ability to read complex defenses in a matter of microseconds. As Namath explained to TIME Correspondent Marsh Clark last week: "Unless I have some sort of mental lapse, I know what they're doing on the defense every time." In the instruction booklet he is now writing on the art of passing, he gives his older brothers much of the credit for his proficiency: "They taught me a single motion—simply throwing from your ear. I may not always do that now, but I don't have any waste motion." And how did he develop the fast release? "Strictly out of fear," he says. "When you see those sonsabitches coming at you, you get rid of it."