Rich Gannon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rich Gannon | |
|---|---|
 Rich Gannon |
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| Date of birth | December 20, 1965 (age 41) |
| Place of birth |  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Position(s) | QB |
| College | Delaware |
| NFL Draft | 1987 / Round 4/ Pick 98 |
| Career Highlights | |
| Pro Bowls | 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 |
| Awards | 2002 AP NFL MVP,
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| Stats | |
| Statistics | |
| Team(s) | |
| 1987-1992 1993-1994 1995-1998 1999-2004 |
Minnesota Vikings Washington Redskins Kansas City Chiefs Oakland Raiders |
Richard Joseph Gannon (born December 20, 1965 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a former football quarterback, who achieved most of his success late in his career with the Oakland Raiders in the National Football League.
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[edit] Biography
Gannon attended Saint Joseph's Preparatory and won three varsity letters each in football and crew, and twice in basketball. His brother, Joseph, currently lives near Philadelphia.
[edit] College
Gannon attended the University of Delaware, playing under Tubby Raymond and running Raymond's Wing-T offense. When he led the Raiders to the Super Bowl in 2003, he was the first player from the University of Delaware to do so.
[edit] NFL career
[edit] Minnesota Vikings
He was selected in the 4th round (98th overall) of the 1987 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots, who envisioned converting him to a defensive back. Gannon balked at the idea, and he was quickly traded to the Minnesota Vikings. After two years of playing sparingly, Gannon became the Vikings' starting quarterback in 1990, displacing incumbent Wade Wilson, until he was passed over for Sean Salisbury towards the end of the 1992 season.
[edit] Washington Redskins
In 1993 Gannon was released and signed with the Washington Redskins after coming off rotator cuff surgery. Gannon started three games for Washington and was released at season's end.
[edit] Kansas City Chiefs
Following a hiatus from football for the 1994 season, he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1995. For two years he served as a backup to Steve Bono. In 1997 a quarterback controversy was created when the Gannon-led Chiefs excelled in the absence of the injured Elvis Grbac. In the playoffs, coach Marty Schottenheimer elected to play Grbac instead of Gannon and the Chiefs lost 14-10. The two ended up splitting snaps in 1998, after Grbac was injured in Week 1.
[edit] Oakland Raiders
In February 1999 he was signed as a free agent by the Oakland Raiders. He excelled in Jon Gruden's west coast offense and was voted to the Pro Bowl in his first year as a Raider, the first of four straight selections. In 2001 and 2002, he won the Pro Bowl MVP award consecutively, a feat achieved by no other NFL player. Gannon won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award after a record-setting 2002 season, throwing for 4,689 yards and 26 touchdowns, which helped the Raiders advance to Super Bowl XXXVII. He led the league in with 418 completions on 618 attempts.
In the Super Bowl, Gannon threw a Super Bowl record 5 interceptions in a 48-21 rout by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs' stellar defense was aided by the fact that their new head coach was Jon Gruden, who was able to impart to the Buccaneers' almost perfect knowledge of the Raiders' playbook, as well as Gannon's mannerisms and even some audibles which Oakland coach Bill Callahan had left unchanged since Gruden left.
Rich's 2003 season was ended by a shoulder injury in Week 7, after a 2-5 start. A serious neck injury in 2004 effectively ended his career. Gannon was hurt when he scrambled, and slid into a helmet-to-helmet collision with Tampa Bay linebacker Derrick Brooks in Week 3.
When the Raiders signed Kerry Collins prior to the 2004 season, most thought that Gannon would be cut in favor of the strong armed Collins, whom skeptics thought was a better fit in new coach Norv Turner's vertical offense. Gannon not only kept his starting QB spot, but thrived. He threw for 305 yards in the season opener against Pittsburgh, including a 40 yard touchdown strike to Doug Gabriel, the Raiders nearly won the game over a Steelers team that finished the 2004 season with 15 victories. The Raiders were a competitive team with Gannon as their QB, and finished 5-11 after his career ending neck injury. When Gannon went, so did the Raiders' 2004 season.
[edit] Retirement
On August 6, 2005 Gannon officially retired from football and joined CBS Sports as an NFL analyst. The same year Gannon was inducted into the University of Delaware athletics hall of fame, Gannon retired as an Oakland Raider.
[edit] Personal
Bill Brown, former Minnesota Vikings running back, is his father-in-law. [1]
[edit] Awards
[edit] Records
- NFL season record for pass completions (418 in 2002)
- NFL season record for 300+ yard passing games (10 in 2002)
- NFL season record for consecutive 300+ yard passing games (6 in 2002), tied with Steve Young (1998) and Kurt Warner (2000)
- NFL game record for completions (43 vs Pittsburgh in 2002)
- NFL game record for highest completion percentage (89%)
- NFL game record for most consecutive completions (21)
- Oakland Raiders franchise record for 300-yard passing games (24)
- Oakland Raiders franchise record for completions (1,533)
- Oakland Raiders franchise record completion percentage (62.6)
- Voted into University of Delaware Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005
[edit] External links
- Rich Gannon at ESPN.com
- Career statistics at pro-football-reference.com
[edit] References
| Dallas Texans/Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterbacks |
|---|
| Davidson • Dawson • Adams • Fuller • Kenney • DeBerg • Krieg • Montana • Bono • Gannon • Grbac • Green |
| Preceded by Kurt Warner |
NFL Most Valuable Player 2002 season |
Succeeded by Peyton Manning Steve McNair |
Categories: Kansas City Chiefs | 1965 births | American Conference Pro Bowl players | American football quarterbacks | AP NFL MVP Award winners | Delaware Fighting Blue Hens football players | Kansas City Chiefs players | Living people | Minnesota Vikings players | Oakland Raiders players | People from Philadelphia | Sigma Phi Epsilon brothers | Washington Redskins players
