Sack Exchange: The Definitive Oral History of the 1980s New York Jets

For the first half of the 1980s, the New York Jets were one of the National Football League's more frustrating franchises, complete with a dynamic defensive line christened the "New York Sack Exchange" and several explosive offensive weapons. But a series of puzzling personnel moves%E2%80%94notably the 1983 firing of beloved head coach Walt Michaels%E2%80%94and a propensity to collapse in big games kept those teams from reaching the Super Bowl. Reconstructing that franchise's era via interviews with coaches, players, and employees, Prato's effort lacks tension. Prato, a music journalist (The Eric Carr Story) and childhood admirer of these Jets teams, devotes separate chapters to developments that might have been incorporated into the narrative (e.g., team chemistry; playing at Shea Stadium, the Jets' home field until the mid '80s). In chronicling the team's not-quite-good-enough years, chapters read like yearbook profiles as Prato covers seasons of new players and occasionally uneventful travails. Jets fans, however, will surely find something to hold onto. Photos. (Sept.)