Brian Griese

Brian David Griese (pronounced /ˈɡriːsi/; born March 18, 1975) is a former American football quarterback. He was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the third round of the 1998 NFL Draft. He played high school football at Christopher Columbus High School and later college football at Michigan. He has also played for the Miami Dolphins, Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A Pro Bowl selection with the Broncos in 2000, Griese earned a Super Bowl ring with the team, as the third-string quarterback in Super Bowl XXXIII. He is the son of Hall of Fame quarterback Bob Griese, who also played for the Dolphins.

Early years

Brian Griese is the son of NFL quarterback Bob Griese. He was born in Miami, Florida and attended Christopher Columbus High School in Miami, playing football, basketball, and golf. In football, he won All-State third team honors as a senior.

College career

Griese played college football at the University of Michigan from 1993 to 1997. Michigan did not offer him a scholarship, so he walked on to the football team. After he was redshirted in 1993 and limited to placeholding duties in 1994, Griese took over as the starting quarterback after Scott Dreisbach was injured five games into the 1995 season. Griese started for the remainder of the 1995 season, capped by an upset of #2 ranked Ohio State, 31–23.

At the beginning of the 1996 season, Dreisbach regained his starting job and Griese returned to the bench, serving as the team's pooch punter. However, after Dreisbach struggled, Griese replaced him at halftime against Ohio State, where he led the Wolverines to another upset victory over the Buckeyes, 13–9. Griese finished the season starting in a 17–14 loss to Alabama in the Outback Bowl.

In 1997, Griese remained the starter. Along with Heisman Trophy winner Charles Woodson, he led the Wolverines to an undefeated season and a share of the national championship. Griese was selected as the MVP of the Rose Bowl, passing for 251 yards and three touchdowns in Michigan's win over Washington State.

In his Michigan career, Griese had a 17–5 record as a starter. The Wolverines won all three games against Ohio State in which he quarterbacked.

College passing statistics

Professional career

Denver Broncos

The Denver Broncos selected Griese in the third round of the 1998 NFL Draft. He began his career as a third-string back up to Bubby Brister and John Elway. He became a Super Bowl champion in 1998, though he spent most of the season on the sidelines. Following Elway's retirement in 1999, Griese became the Bronco's starting quarterback. Griese earned a 75.6 passer rating during his first season as starter, but improved the year later by raising it to 102.9. His efforts merited him an invite to the 2000 Pro Bowl.

Griese consistently completed a high percentage of his passes. He has had four seasons with a better than 64% completion rate, including one year (2004) when he completed 69.3% of his passes. Nevertheless, he was unable to establish himself as one of the elite quarterbacks of the league, due to injuries, subpar arm strength and a penchant for interceptions. He was released by the Broncos, following the 2002 season, and was replaced by former Cardinals starter Jake Plummer.

Miami Dolphins

In June 2003 he signed with the Miami Dolphins. His stint with the Dolphins, where his father Bob Griese was a legend, was brief, being released in February 2004. Griese was given the starting job when the Dolphins starting quarterback Jay Fiedler got injured. Griese had an excellent start as a Dolphin, passing for 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions in a blowout victory against San Diego.

First stint with the Buccaneers

Griese signed with and performed well for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and provided a catalyst for the jumpstart of the Tampa offense. Griese helped them to their only victories in 2004 with a 97.5 QB rating and to a 5–1 record in 2005 before succumbing to a torn ACL. Griese was cut by the Buccaneers in 2006 after his injury to his knee in order to free up money for the salary cap.

Chicago Bears

On March 21, 2006, he signed a five year contract with the Chicago Bears.

After signing with the Bears, Griese saw limited action. Though he fared better than Rex Grossman during the 2006 Pre-Season, coach Lovie Smith decided to keep Griese as the Bears’ second string quarterback. He took late fourth quarter snaps at the end of major victories. Though Grossman started every Bears game in the 2006 season, Smith allowed Griese some extended gametime during week fifteen, after the Bears had clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. In a game against the Detroit Lions, Griese completed six of nine passes for 51 yards, which set up several game-winning Robbie Gould field goals. Smith called on Griese to relieve a struggling Grossman for the second half of the final regular season game against the Green Bay Packers. However, Griese did not fare a lot better, completing 5 of 15 passes for 124 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. While some Chicagoans questioned Grossman’s ability to lead the Bears to the Super Bowl, Smith stood by Grossman, and declared him the team's starter throughout the playoffs. The Bears went on to win the 2006 NFC Championship, but lost Super Bowl XLI to the Indianapolis Colts.

After Grossman struggled during the first three outings of the 2007 Chicago Bears season, Smith turned to Griese to lead the team.^[1] In his first outing as a Bears starter, Griese threw two touchdowns and three interceptions in a losing effort against the Detroit Lions.^[2] The next week, he led the Bears on a game winning drive against the Philadelphia Eagles, in which he called the plays due to a headset failure. Griese lost the starting job to Grossman after sustaining an injury against the Oakland Raiders during week ten.^[3] Griese again replaced Grossman later in the season, after Grossman sustained a knee injury against the Washington Redskins.^[4] However, with the Bears out of the playoffs, Kyle Orton started the remaining 3 games of the season.

Second stint with Buccaneers

On March 3, 2008, Griese was traded to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in exchange for an undisclosed 2009 draft pick.^[5] He started the second game of the season, a home game against the Atlanta Falcons, which the Buccaneers won 24-9. Griese completed 18 of 31 passes, throwing for 160 yards with one touchdown. The next week, Brian Griese played his old team, the Chicago Bears and despite throwing 3 interceptions, he threw for 407 yards and 2 touchdowns to help the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the Chicago Bears 27–24 in overtime on September 21, 2008. He also started the following week, and again despite throwing 3 interceptions, he completed 15 of 30 passes for 149 yards, 1 touchdown, and lead the Bucs to a victory over the Green Bay Packers 30-21. Griese found himself starting against the Atlanta Falcons again on December 14, 2008, subbing for Jeff Garcia who was sidelined with a calf injury. He completed 26 of 37 passes for 269 yards and threw 1 touchdown. But Griese also threw an interception and was sacked four times in all. The Bucs ended up losing the game in overtime 13-10. His career starting for Tampa Bay is 8-2. He was released on July 13, 2009.^[6] After his release, Griese decided to retire from football.

Broadcasting career

Since 2009 Griese has been employed by ESPN, working as an analyst on the network's college football coverage. Griese also serves as radio color commentator for KOA (AM)'s coverage of Denver Broncos Football.

Personal

Brian Griese was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and received his bachelor's degree in an individualized concentration from Michigan in 1997.

Griese is founder and board president of^[7] Judi's House, a children's grief support center in Denver, Colorado. Brian's mother, Judi Griese, succumbed to breast cancer when Brian was 12. The grieving process was hard for Brian, and so he established Judi's House to serve grieving children in the Denver area. To date, Judi's House has helped more than 1,700 youth and their adult caregivers cope with overwhelming feelings of grief.^[8] He continues to maintain close ties with the facility, despite the frequent moves dictated by his professional football career. Some noteworthy major donors to Judi's House include Jackson National Life Insurance, Office Depot, Nouveau Riche University, Nike, Inc., and the Adolph Coors Family Foundation.^[9]

Brian Griese was awarded the 2011 Patterson Award for Excellence in Sports Philanthropy, presented each year by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The award celebrates and promotes the selfless service of people within the world of sports whose passionate efforts make a difference in the lives around them. Griese, who works as a broadcaster for ESPN and KOA-AM in Denver, was recognized for his work with Judi’s House, a comprehensive grief care center he founded in Denver for children dealing with the loss of a loved one.http://www.rwjf.org/patterson/product.jsp?id=72947&cid=XEM_205591

Griese founded Judi’s House in 2002 in memory of his mother who died when he was 12 years old. The center helps grieving children and families by offering grief counseling and peer support groups to share the experience of loss with others. Judi’s House increases awareness and knowledge of grieving children’s needs by extending grief support services to schools, community based organizations, faithbased groups, hospices, and other caregivers in the community. As of October 2011 Judi's House has served more than 4,000 children and their adult caregivers from the Denver area since opening.

“I’m honored to receive this recognition in memory of my late mother and on behalf of everyone who works so hard to make Judi’s House a place where no child has to feel alone in grief,” said Griese. “I am proud of the unique community we have created here. With the hard work of the staff at Judi’s House along with the amazing kids and caregivers that we work with, we are able to take a potentially devastating event in a child’s life and help give them a place where they can find support and solace.”

Brian and his father, Bob Griese wrote a book together, Undefeated (ISBN 0-7852-7021-3), published in 2000 about their lives through their undefeated seasons and living through the breast cancer illness and death of Brian's mother and Bob's first wife, Judi.

Griese married Brook McClintic, a clinical psychologist, in the Spring of 2004 on the island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The couple met while Griese was playing for the Denver Broncos. On April 6, 2006, Brian and Brook had their first child, a baby girl they named Annalia Rose.

References

External links

• Official Profile and Statistics
• Judi's House - Grief Support Center