It is hard to explain Namath to non-believers. A guy who completed barely 50 of his passes, by today's standards did not throw all that many TDs or for great yardage. But that was before Bill Walsh and his West Coast offense, the dinks and dunks down the field which receivers turned into yardage and scores.The Namath era QBs threw down the field, repeatedly, 35-40 yards. They held the ball longer and thus got hammered more often by LBs and lineman with evil intent and little regard for the whistle. (They figured if they were in motion when the whistle blew, it was legal.)
Personally I liked that brand of offense better.