against the Baltimore Colts: he completed 15 of 28 passes for 496 yards and six touchdowns. Despite Namath's performance, John Madden's Oakland Raiders eliminated the Jets from contention in their second-to-last regular season game. New York finished the season with a record of 7–7. Before the 1973 season, the aging Ewbank announced that he would retire as coach after the season and as general manager after 1974. The Mets unexpectedly qualified for the World Series, consigning the Jets to another long stay away from Shea. The Jets did not play a home game until the end of October. The team finished with a record of 4–10, though their final game against the Bills attracted considerable media attention. The attention was not for Ewbank's last game, but for Bills running back O. J. Simpson's attempt to become the first NFL player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. Simpson gained 200 yards, finishing with 2,003 for the season. Shortly after the 1973 season, the team hired Ewbank's son-in-law, former Cardinals coach Charley Winner, as head coach. The new coach showed an initial inability to get his team to emulate his last name: the team started the season by losing seven of their first eight games. Namath, who had a reasonably healthy season behind a poor offensive line, predicted the Jets would win their final six games. The first NFL regular-season overtime victory, over the Giants at the Yale Bowl, and the usual large number of home games towards the end of the season helped New York in its comeback, and a Namath prediction again came true. Al Ward replaced Ewbank as general manager in 1975. The Jets won four of their five preseason games, though sportswriter Gerald Eskenazi, in his history of the Jets, notes that the wins were secured by playing first-string players while the other teams were trying out rookies and backups. When the regular season started, the Jets lost seven of their first nine games, and Winner was fired. Offensive coordinator Ken Shipp became interim head coach, and the Jets finished with a record of 3–11. Running back John Riggins, who became the first 1,000-yard rusher in franchise history during the season and made the Pro Bowl, departed for the Washington Redskins as he felt the Jets' Namath-led offense passed the ball too often. New York hired North Carolina State coach Lou Holtz. With New York enduring