Joe Benigno talks Jets fandom, says missing 2023 playoffs would be ‘biggest disaster’ in team history
Post columnist Steve Serby huddles with former WFAN personality and Jets superfan Joe Benigno before training camp kicks off this week.
Q: What do you think of the Jets being on “Hard Knocks”?
A: I hate it. I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all. I think it’s a distraction. Now, with that said, the other time they were on “Hard Knocks,” they went to the [2010] AFC Championship game. I don’t know if [head coach Robert] Saleh’s gonna handle “Hard Knocks” the way Rex [Ryan] handled it. Rex kind of embraced it. I don’t think they’re gonna be embracing it. So I’m not thrilled about it.
Q: Who are some of the personalities you’re looking forward to watching on “Hard Knocks”?
A: I don’t really care. I’ll watch it because it’s my team. I don’t care about personalities, I want to win a championship, bro. It’s been 55 years since we won a Super Bowl. We’ve gone beyond the Rangers. Remember like the Rangers’ 54 years was like the Holy Grail? Oh my god! 1940! Nobody’s chantin’ 1968! But this is gonna be 55 years. Fifty-five (screeching voice)! I was 15 when they won the Super Bowl. I’m gonna be 70 in two months. And we haven’t even been back, OK? Enough said. I could care less about personalities. All I care about is winning a championship before I die.
Q: How much does Aaron Rodgers have left?
A: I think he’s got a lot left. And here’s the thing too with Rodgers: This isn’t Brett Favre, who didn’t want to be here. This guy wants to be here. This guy’s actually embracing being with this team. And I think he realizes, that if he wins a Super Bowl with the Jets, he goes from, OK, yeah, he’s a first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback and all that, but he goes up like 10 levels if he wins a Super Bowl with the Jets. Let’s be real. He’d be the football equivalent of [Mark] Messier. And I think he understands that, he realizes that.
Q: Where does he rank in today’s NFL?
A: You got [Patrick] Mahomes one, got [Joe] Burrow two, if you want to give me [Josh] Allen three, I guess I can live with him being third … I will say Rodgers is probably next.
Q: What kind of realistic shot do Rodgers and the Jets have of winning a Super Bowl?
A: I think it’s realistic. … I don’t know if it’s gonna happen this year. Look, I’ll put it this way: We got two years to win a championship. Let’s say this: We gotta win the division this year. I want a division title and a home playoff game. We’ve won two division titles since the merger. We haven’t had a home playoff game since the 2002 season.
Q: So you’re thinking Rodgers will be here for two years?
A: Unless they win a Super Bowl this year, then I can see him walking away, and he can go, see ya. God bless you, thank you so much. I’ll be building the statue in my basement, and you can go leave.
Q: Why are you optimistic that he’ll be here for two?
A: I think he wants to play for two more years. And I think he does want that Super Bowl. So I think if they don’t win it this year, I think he’s coming back to try to win it, I really do.
Q: When was the last time you were this optimistic about a Jets team heading into training camp?
A: Well, I wouldn’t call it … let me say ***** cautiously ***** optimistic. How’s that? Because I’m a Jet fan. And my baseball team [Mets] didn’t exactly give me good karma going into the football season, ya know what I mean?
Q: When was the last time you were this ***** cautiously ***** optimistic?
A: I will say going into the 2010 season, after they lost to the Colts in the [AFC] Championship game in ’09.
Q: Have you ever gone into a darkness retreat?
A: Not alone (laugh out loud).
Q: What do you like best about this Jets team?
A: Well, I think we’ve got a very good defense, but it’s gotta get better because it doesn’t force turnovers.
Q: Quinnen Williams?
A: Love him. One of the best defensive tackles in football, and I’m so happy they got the deal done.
Q: Sauce Gardner?
A: Great. Phenomenal. Got the jersey. Love the guy. Has a chance to be one of the great corners of all time.
Q: Garrett Wilson?
A: Oh my god. Tremendous. Loved him at Ohio State. I watch a lot of the Big Ten and the SEC, OK? I was doin’ a dance when they drafted him. Love him.
Q: Mekhi Becton?
A: Disaster. Wake me up when he’s actually on the field playing and plays an entire 17-game schedule. Wake me up.
Q: How do you feel about the offensive line?
A: I think it’s gonna be better than we think, I do. Alijah Vera-Tucker’s back, I like this kid [Joe] Tippmann they drafted out of Wisconsin. Let’s see what happens with the tackle position. To me, if worse comes to worse, you can put AVT back at tackle. That would be a worst-case scenario … AVT back at tackle, Duane Brown on the other side, put Tippmanm at center and make [Connor] McGovern a guard. I could see them doing that.
Q: Allen Lazard?
A: I like all the guys they brought in. I’d like to see them sign Dalvin Cook, I would bring him in, ’cause I’m worried about Breece [Hall]. Look, he’s got the same injury [ACL] that [Saquon] Barkley had, and it took Barkley really a couple of years to get back to top form. So I’m a little worried about Breece Hall. We can’t have enough weapons. Bring in Dalvin Cook, I’m all for it.
Q: Offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett?
A: I gotta see what he is, I don’t know. And I look at it this way, too: I put no stock in him as the head coach in Denver, that means nothing to me. Look, just because you’re a bad head coach doesn’t mean you’re a bad offensive coordinator. And I look at it this way anyway: Rodgers is basically the offensive coordinator as far as I’m concerned.
Q: You were not a fan of his father, Paul Hackett, when he was the offensive coordinator from 2001-04?
A: Much too conservative.
Q: What do you like about Robert Saleh?
A: He’s an unbelievably good guy. The guy could not be a nicer guy, and that might be my biggest concern about him, and it has been since Day 1, that he is too nice.
Q: What was it like playing golf with him on Wednesday?
A: He just couldn’t have been nicer. What else can I say?
Q: What kind of golfer is he?
A: He’s good. He hits the ball a ***** looong ***** freakin’ way off the tee. He told me he has over 500 balls — he has a ball from every golf course he’s ever played.
Q: Joe Douglas?
A: He redeemed himself last year with [Garrett] Wilson and Gardner. Let’s see what happens this year. I wanted the wide receiver from Ohio State, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, instead of [Will] McDonald, but we’ll see what McDonald turns out to be. I’ll give him for his three years of drafting, we don’t know what this year’s gonna be yet, a C-plus.
Q: How do you see the AFC East?
A: Ours for the taking. I think Buffalo is overrated, that’s a big hit losing their defensive coordinator [Leslie Frazier]. They have no running game whatsoever, their running game is Allen. I think that there’s issues with him and Stefon Diggs. I think Miami’s overrated. You know Mike White’ll be playing at some point, Tua [Tagovailoa’s] gonna get hurt. I don’t love Mike McDaniel as a coach, Dolphin fans love him, they think he’s the next Don Shula. Tell me where that is, ya know? Look, Bill [Belichick] is still in New England, and that makes them dangerous, but I don’t think Mac Jones is any good. The division’s there. Take it! The division’s there for the winning.
Q: How would you feel if the 12-year playoff drought is not broken?
A: Let’s put it this way: If the Jets don’t make the playoffs this year, it will be the biggest disaster in the history of the franchise. And that’s sayin’ something. Let’s be honest.
Q: But you’re not expecting that.
A: They better make the playoffs. … I expect the worst, and I’m never disappointed. That’s how I approach ever year. I told you, I’m ***** cautiously ***** optimistic. But there is the possibility, because I’m a Jet fan since 1965, and I got the hemorrhoids to prove it, and you could put it in there. OK? All right?
Q: What drove you growing up?
A: My father [Joe] died [heart attack] when I was 13, so that kind of set the tone for my life a little bit. I kind of looked at myself now I’m on an island by myself.
Q: Was your father a Jets fan?
A: I wouldn’t say specifically a Jet fan, but my father was the guy that turned me on to Joe Namath, though, when he was at Alabama. Next thing I know, Joe Namath’s being drafted by the Jets in New Yawk, and I’m like, “Oh wow! This is my team!” And that’s how I became a Jet fan.
Q: Did you like all the New York teams?
A: I became a Met fan in 1962. Here’s this brand new team, and I said, “I’m gonna be a fan of this team.” What a mistake that was. My first memory of any sport was the [Bill] Mazeroski home run [against the Yankees in the World Series] in 1960, OK?
Q: How did your mother react to you being such a fanatic Jets fan?
A: That was also an issue because they all wanted me to go to medical school, OK? In the early days, my relatives kind of frowned on me being into the sports like I was.
Q: Your mother was not a sports fan, right?
A: No, she wasn’t, but then as the years went on and she remarried, she would tell me all the time that you should do something to get into the sports world. She started pushing me in that direction. Unfortunately, she passed away before I got into doing sports radio. She passed away in 1990, so she didn’t see me become a talk show host.
Q: What year did you marry Terry?
A: 1994. In fact, our anniversary is coming up Sunday.
Q: How has she handled your Jets obsession?
A: She handles it very well. She knew what I was when she married me. I wasn’t doing radio yet when she married me, I was still about a year-and-a-half away or whatever it was from that happening. But she was very supportive of me doing that. I used to call “Mike and the Mad Dog” all the time, I was on FAN as a caller, and she was very supportive of that. … She always says to me, “If there was one thing I could get for you, it would be a Jet Super Bowl championship.”
Q: When you were a caller, Joe from Saddle River, what regarding the Jets made you the most ticked off and spurred you to call in?
A: Where do you want me to start? When did I start? [It was] 1995, so that was actually whatchamacallit’s first year … [Rich] Kotite. … The Spike Game, Pete Carroll, losing the last five games of that season … the whole disaster with Bruce Coslet after they were 8-5 in ’93, they lost the last three games to blow the playoffs that year … losing that home to Houston the last game of the season when he could have made the playoffs and basically not even showing up. … There’s a lot of things.
Q: So you and Kotite started at the same time?
A: Lucky me. And remember this: All the years that I did radio, I did not see one of my teams [Jets, Mets, Knicks, Rangers] win a championship, not one.
Q: When did you begin to sour on Kotite?
A: Probably about halfway through the first year, I knew this guy was a disaster.
Q: You must have had him on the show, no?
A: I never had Kotite on, never.
Q: Why not?
A: I never tried. I didn’t want him. Who wanted him? I didn’t want him on.
Q: Your favorite Jets growing up?
A: Namath and George Sauer stand out.
Q: What did you think of Joe Klecko?
A: I loved him. He’s the greatest defensive player in the history of the franchise — sorry, Darrelle [Revis]. And by the way, guys like you should start, ’cause I’m doing this, you should start pushing for Mark Gastineau to get in the Hall of Fame. … He’s one of the premier pass rushers of all time. … He was a trendsetter with the sack dance, think about it.
Q: What was it like for you watching the New York Sack Exchange?
A: It was great, we had a great defensive line. The only problem was that we crapped out in the playoffs, ya know? Richard Todd hitting Bill Simpson in 1981 in the Buffalo disaster, Richard Todd hitting A.J. Duhe wide-open in the Mud Bowl disaster, ya know? What can I tell ya?
Q: Where does Revis rank in cornerback history?
A: Deion Sanders is the best cover corner of all time. If you asked me, OK, you’re starting two all-time cornerbacks, I got Deion on one side and I got Mel Blount on the other side. I’ll say top 10, but maybe like five, six, in that range. I’d have to think about it a little bit. … I was very upset when they let [Revis] walk away, and he goes and he wins a freakin’ Super Bowl with the Evil Empire. And let me say this too: I gotta see what the exact number is of Jet first-round draft choices — I’ll throw the names out there — that won Super Bowls with somebody else … John Riggins … Jonathan Vilma … Keyshawn Johnson … James Farrior … Burgess Owens … obviously Darrelle Revis. … There’s probably a couple of others that I can’t think of off the top of my head. Very depressing.
Q: Was the Mud Bowl (the AFC Championship against Miami in January 1983) your most agonizing defeat?
A: No, the most agonizing defeat had to be Cleveland, in January of ’87, with the 20-10 lead with five minutes to go in the game. That has to be the worst ever. And, of course, it was prolonged when [Mark] Moseley missed that chip-shot field goal to kind of prolong the agony, ya know what I mean, in the overtimes.
Q: Why was that one worse than the Mud Bowl? That was not an AFC Championship game.
A: No, I understand that. I think it was worse than the Mud Bowl because of the fact that we had a 10-point lead with five minutes to go (laugh), ya know what I’m sayin’? The Mud Bowl, we didn’t score a point in that game, it was nuthin’-nuthin’ at halftime, right?
Q: What were your emotions after the Mud Bowl?
A: I wasn’t happy about it. I will say this: I probably still felt that we had a chance going forward with that team. Now, I didn’t know at the time that Walt Michaels was gonna get fired, OK? And Joe Walton was just a horrible head coach, I mean he stunk.
Q: What was your reaction when the Jets passed on Dan Marino in the 1983 draft?
A: I was very upset. I was beyond upset. I watched Marino in college, I knew this guy was gonna be a big-time quarterback in the NFL. It’s funny because back then, remember, we’re not watching the draft on a Thursday night like it is now. And I remember calling the old Sports Phone and they saying the Jets drafted this quarterback that I never heard of before out of Cal-Davis, Ken O’Brien … Who the hell is Ken O’Brien, right? That set them back at least 10 years. That may be ***** the ***** biggest mistake in the history of the franchise, not drafting Marino.
Q: In 25 words or less: Joe Walton?
A: Absolutely horrific head coach. When I think of Joe Walton, I think of Joe Walton on the sideline with his hat backwards picking his nose, that’s what I think.
Q: Dennis Byrd?
A: Ah man, I was at that game. Tragic. The pall that was over the stadium when Byrd went down. Horrible. Horrible.
Q: Leon Hess?
A: Great man, great humanitarian. I didn’t think a very good owner. It took him too many years to finally figure out, “I want to win a Super Bowl,” and it was too late.
Q: Bill Parcells?
A: Great head coach. Was not happy with his tenure with the Jets. Should have made the playoffs the first year in ’97. … You tell me why he stuck with Rick Mirer — who stunk! — as long as he did to start the 1999 season. He couldn’t wait to go to Ray Lucas on that [1997] Lion game when the guy never threw a pass in his life as a quarterback, and he waited till we were like 1-6, or whatever we were, until he decided to go to Ray Lucas in ’99. Bill did turn the franchise around, there’s no doubt, I give him that, but when I look back at Parcells, I don’t look back at him very favorably as a Jet coach.
Q: Were you upset when he left the sidelines after three years?
A: Yeah, of course. Typical Bill. It was typical Bill. And let’s be honest with this too, Belichick, he set him up to look bad.
Q: How so?
A: I don’t think Belichick really wanted the Jet job. Once Leon Hess passed away, that was it.
Q: Were you at the “Belichick HC of the NYJ” press conference?
A: No. I was doing the [WFAN] overnights then, I was actually sleeping, and I remember somebody calling me and telling me what happened and I couldn’t believe what happened. Couldn’t believe it.
Q: Describe losing the 1998 AFC Championship game at Denver.
A: I recall all Bill’s guys let me down. Dave Meggett not fielding the kickoff, Keith Byars had a major fumble on that game, even Curtis [Martin] fumbled in that game. … Victor Green getting burned by Ed McCaffrey right after we took the 10-0 lead … all of that.
Q: Vinny Testaverde’s Opening Day torn Achilles in 1999?
A: Oh, my god, unbelievable. And here’s the thing, too: Remember Tom Tupa comes in the game, he’s the punter, but he was the second quarterback then. Tupa comes in and throws two touchdown passes to Keyshawn Johnson! Right? And then Bill decides he’s gotta put Rick Mirer in in the fourth quarter! And we wound up blowing the game. What was that all about? Why the hell did he take Tupa out? I’m still ticked off at that.
Q: Al Groh?
A: Oh please. The team is 9-and-freakin-4 [in 2000], and he knew, OK, let’s be honest, he already had one foot out the door to go to Virginia, right? Couldn’t wait to go coach Virginia, and then they lose the last three games of the season, right — the last one that disaster in Baltimore where they got the 14-0 lead, the Christmas Eve debacle. We had a few debacles on Christmas Eve — [2011 against the Giants and] Victor Cruz comes to mind as well. Al Groh — can’t stand him. Left my team high and dry. Couldn’t wait to get outta town. They flush a 9-4 start and lose the last three games and don’t make the playoffs.
Q: Herman Edwards?
A: I thought he did a decent job. I mean, he took the Jets to the playoffs more than anybody. I wasn’t too happy when he left, to be honest, even though they had a bad year in ’05.
Q: You also weren’t happy about the divisional playoff loss in January 2005 in Pittsburgh?
A: Well, the playoff loss to Pittsburgh was completely on him. I mean, you’re playing for a field goal. I know Chad [Pennington] was banged up in that game. … How ’bout trying to win the game? Have Pennington throw a pass instead of setting up for a 40-something yard field goal in a place where nobody makes field goals?
Q: Eric Mangini?
A: That’s a tough call on Mangini. I blame Brett Favre for the ’08 season more than I blame Mangini. First of all, Favre didn’t even want to be here, OK? Favre wanted to be in Minnesota. He comes to my team, he starts out 8-3, we’re all giddy, that big win over the Titans, we’re all goin’ delirious, right? And then he gets hurt, he hurts his arm, he’s not the same, and we blow the playoffs again. I thought Mangini got a little bit of a bad rap because of what happened with Favre.
Q: Vernon Gholston?
A: We’ve had so many horrible No. 2 draft choices … so many … so it’s hard to say that he’s the worst ever. But he’s certainly in the conversation. No doubt about it.
Q: Todd Bowles?
A: Ugh … terrible, just a terrible head coach. Should have been fired after the second year. He lost the team, right? He doesn’t have the team ready to play in a game that [if] they win, they go to the playoffs in Buffalo [in January 2016], right? I’m watching Darrelle Revis get burned the entire game by Sammy Watkins, he makes no adjustments whatsoever, not one. Then, with a chance to take the lead where a field goal would have gave ’em the lead later on in the game, instead of playing it a little conservative like he should have. He’s got [Ryan] Fitzpatrick throwing passes and he gets intercepted in the end zone. The following year he basically loses the team — after Week 2, they’re having fights in the locker room … Revis was a statue, we kept trottin’ him out there — he couldn’t cover me at that point — and the team goes right in the tank. And they kept him around for two more years after that! What was that all about? Terrible head coach.
Q: Rex Ryan?
A: I liked Rex. Say whatever you want about Rex, we went to back-to-back AFC Championship games, we won more playoff games than any coach in the history of the franchise with Rex, with Mark Sanchez as our quarterback, OK? Everybody kills Sanchez — the Buttfumble, all of this — well, he won more playoff games than anybody in the history of the franchise as the quarterback — he won four, all on the road. The one year, in 2010, he beats Peyton Manning and [Tom] Brady consecutive weeks on the road. My big knock on Rex was I did not think that they coached Mark Sanchez correctly, I really don’t. He played him in that stupid Snoopy Bowl, he winds up getting hurt, we know what happened after that. But the big mistake of the Rex Ryan Era was firing Mike Tannenbaum. He should have kept Tannenbaum and Rex together, and I think they would have eventually figured it out.
Q: John Idzik?
A: Ugh. Two words: horror show.
Q: Adam Gase?
A: Two words: horror show. They should have hired Mike McCarthy, let’s be honest.
Q: The day Geno Smith got sucker punched in the locker room in 2015?
A: I think Geno was another guy that was never coached right. The ability was always there, he had a big-time arm and all of that. I think the big issue with him was maturity issue when he was with the Jets, I really do.
Q: The Tim Tebow signing?
A: Ridiculous. Why? Let me say this though, if you don’t mind me saying this: I think Tim Tebow was blackballed out of the league, all right?
Q: Sam Darnold?
A: We should have took Josh Allen. … Look, let’s be honest: As bad as Idzik was, and he was brutal, Mike Maccagnan might have been the worst general manager we ever had. … All the terrible No. 1 picks that the team has had starting with Steve Tannen back in 1969, Lee White, we can go that far back, all right? You know me. The worst draft choice in the history of the franchise was Christian Hackenberg. He took him with a second-round pick! This guy couldn’t even see the field! He never even played a down in the NFL! The worst draft choice in the history of the franchise. Christian Hackenberg.
Q: Zach Wilson?
A: To me, they lost out on [Trevor] Lawrence, and they had to pick a quarterback, so they took this guy. He was the second-best guy, and they took him, and it was a mistake, let’s be real.
Q: Woody Johnson?
A: I don’t love him. I don’t know what to think about Woody. I don’t think he’s a very good owner, I’ll say that. I don’t think winning is the end-all, be-all for Woody. I know he got Rodgers and all of that, but I never really felt that winning a championship was his No. 1 priority.
Q: Three dinner guests?
Q: JFK, Marilyn Monroe, Big Don … Trump.
Q: Favorite movie?
A: “The Godfather” — all three of ’em.
Q: Favorite actor?
A: [Al] Pacino.
Q: Favorite actress?
A: Marilyn.
Q: Favorite singer/entertainer?
A: Frank Sinatra.
Q: Favorite meal?
A: A nice, stellar T-bone steak.
Q: Who named your twice-weekly podcast “Oh the Pain”?
A: I think my daughter [Erin] came up with it.
Q: You watched Super Bowl III at your home?
A: At that point, we were living at my grandmother’s house because my father had passed away the year before. … I think my mother was in the room, maybe, I don’t remember.
Q: Did you think they were going to get killed?
A: No, I didn’t. I was actually pretty confident. My feeling back then was, even as a 15-year-old, I thought the three best teams in pro football that year were the Jets, the Raiders and the Chiefs, to be honest with ya.
Q: What were your emotions when the game was over?
A: I was delirious. Let me tell ya this, too: I can’t tell you how many bets I had made with people, I probably had like a couple hundred dollars bet. I had no idea how I was gonna cover these bets if the Jets lost. And I remember guys just throwing money at me the next day. When I came into school on Monday, I had guys just throwing like five dollars, 10 dollars. … One of the guys I made a bet with, it was a 10-dollar bet? He hands me a bag: 10 dollars worth of pennies.
Q: Sum up what it’s been like being Joe Benigno, Jets fan.
A: Fortunately, for me, OK. I’m a lot more than just that. I don’t think people probably realize that, they think that I’m just like this wacko sports guy. But I’m into a lot more than that. And I think that the other stuff that I’m into, has helped me survive the last 55 years as a Jet fan.
Q: The other stuff being what?
A: I’m a very well-rounded dude, ya know what I mean?
Q: Give me an example.
A: Well, I’m a very big music guy, OK? ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s music, I’m all over it. I like to sing, not very good, but I have no problem making an ass out of myself. I’ve always been a big history guy, definitely always into American history. I’m big into the political stuff, all of that.
Q: What message would you give to your fellow Jets fans about this season?
A: I would say temper your enthusiasm. … Be ***** cautiously ***** optimistic, because, remember, it is the Jets.
Q: If the Jets won the Super Bowl, how would you celebrate?
A: I have not had a drink since Evan’s [Roberts] wedding, which I believe is now about 10 years ago, because I have a very bad stomach … probably because I’m a Jet-Met fan … and I get the gout. But if the Jets win the Super Bowl, it will be a double Beefeater martini.
