Matt Flynn

Matt Flynn

Flynn wearing his practice jersey.
No. 10     Green Bay Packers
Quarterback
Personal information
Date of birth: June 20, 1985 (1985-06-20) (age 26)
Place of birth: Tyler, Texas
Height: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Weight: 225 lb (102 kg)
Career information
College: Louisiana State
NFL Draft: 2008 / Round: 7 / Pick: 209
Debuted in 2008 for the Green Bay Packers
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2011
TDINT     9–5
Passing Yards     1,015
QB rating     92.8
Stats at NFL.com

Matthew Clayton Flynn (born June 20, 1985) is an American football quarterback for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Packers in the 7th round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at LSU.

Contents

Early years

Matt Flynn attended Robert E. Lee High School in Tyler, Texas, where he was coached by Mike Owens. Flynn was one of the top-rated quarterbacks in the state of Texas, alongside Drew Tate of Baytown, Texas. As a junior in 2001, Flynn guided his team to a 5A playoff appearance but lost to the eventual state champion Mesquite High School. Flynn completed 101-of-199 passes for 1,650 yards, 13 touchdowns and 9 interceptions for the season. As a senior, he completed 124-of-206 passes for 1,679 yards and 9 touchdowns. He also displayed his ability on the ground with 305 yards rushing and 12 touchdowns. Flynn displayed toughness by leading Robert E. Lee High School to a semifinal appearance in one of the toughest classifications in Texas despite playing his last four games with a broken foot. His team lost to Midland High School 24-14.

Flynn was a member of the SuperPrep Texas 124, Dallas Morning News Texas Top 100 and the Tyler Morning Telegraph All-East Texas Football Team. He chose LSU over Tennessee, Texas Tech, Texas A&M.

College career

Freshman season

Flynn redshirted the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season, as did the other LSU quarterback signee, JaMarcus Russell. In 2004, he served as third string quarterback as a redshirt freshman, behind starter Marcus Randall and backup JaMarcus Russell. He also doubled as the LSU's holder on placekicks. Flynn played in all 12 games, but only three games at quarterback. His collegiate first completion went to Xavier Carter for a 67-yard touchdown against Mississippi State. Flynn also made a short appearance in the 2004 Capital One Bowl, completing 1-of-4 passes for 11 yards in a 25-30 losing effort against Iowa. He finished the year by completing 4-of-10 passes for 99 yards and 1 TD.

Sophomore season

The departure of Randall left Russell and Flynn battling for the starting QB position. Russell eventually got the job, leaving Flynn as backup.[1] He played in seven games at quarterback for the Tigers in 2005, completing 27-of-48 passes for 457 yards, 7 touchdowns and 1 interception. In a win over North Texas, Flynn threw a perfect 7-of-7 for 139 yards and 3 TDs, all in the fourth quarter. In the 2005 SEC Championship Game against the Georgia Bulldogs, starting quarterback Russell was injured and Flynn finished the game. He was then given the nod to start for the Tigers in the 2005 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl against the University of Miami Hurricanes. In that game, he led the Tigers to a 40-3 rout of Miami.

Junior season

Again serving as backup to Russell, Flynn appeared in seven games. He completed 12-of-20 passes for 133 yards over the season, recording 2 touchdowns and 1 interception. Both TDs came in a 49-0 rout against Kentucky on October 14, 2006.[2]

Senior season

With Russell's departure, Flynn finally became a starter as a fifth-year senior. He started every game that season except the SEC Championship in which he was injured.

Flynn threw a 22 yard TD pass to Demetrius Byrd to win the game against Auburn on October 20, 2007 with 1 second remaining on the clock; Colt David kicked the extra point to make the final score LSU 30-Auburn 24.

He then led the Tigers to a 4th quarter comeback against Alabama. Flynn and the Tigers then went on to beat Louisiana Tech the following weekend and climb back to the #1 spot after a loss by then #1 Ohio State. The following week the Tigers beat Ole Miss. In his final game at Tiger Stadium, Flynn and the Tigers lost to Arkansas, seemingly losing any chance at the national title. However, LSU, without Flynn, beat Tennessee for the SEC Championship, and losses by Missouri and West Virginia vaulted LSU back into the title game in New Orleans.

On January 7, 2008, Flynn led LSU to a BCS National Championship, beating Ohio State 38-24. Flynn was named offensive MVP of the game and the Tigers were ranked an undisputed #1 in the polls.

Professional career

Green Bay Packers

Flynn was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 7th round (209th overall) of the 2008 NFL Draft. On July 23, he was signed to a four-year rookie contract through the 2011 season.[3][4] He is currently listed as the Packers' second-string quarterback, having won the competition for the back-up role to Aaron Rodgers, beating out fellow rookie and second-round pick Brian Brohm.[5] The battle for the second-string position became the most intriguing battle in camp.[6] Flynn was seen as being less talented than Brohm because of Brohm's superior size, arm and foot speed, coupled with the fact that Brohm was selected much higher in the draft compared to Flynn.[7]

On December 19, 2010, Flynn made his first NFL start against the New England Patriots after starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers was not cleared medically to start.[8] Flynn threw three touchdown passes; one each to John Kuhn, James Jones and Greg Jennings against New England, but threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown in the second half. The game went down to the final play when Flynn, with the ball at the New England 15-yard line, lost it when he was sacked. The Packers lost the game 31-27. Flynn completed 23 of 37 passes for 254 yards in the loss.[9]

On January 1, 2012, after the Packers had already clinched the #1 seed and home field advantage throughout the playoffs and rested most of their starters, Matt Flynn started the final game of the season against the Detroit Lions. He threw for 480 yards and 6 touchdowns in the 45-41 victory, both of which set all-time Green Bay Packers records.[10]

Personal

His father, Alvin, was a quarterback at Baylor in the 1960s.[11] His mother, Ruth, was the director of the Tyler Junior College Apache Belles.[12] Matt has 4 siblings: Adam, Bill, Rebecca, and Amanda.

References

  1. ^ Flynn vying for his position, again
  2. ^ Bowe's 3 TDs highlight LSU's rout of Kentucky
  3. ^ Rob Demovsky (2008-07-23). "Packers sign Giacomini, Swain, Flynn". greenbaypressgazette.com. http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080723/PKR01/80723126/1058. Retrieved 2008-07-24. 
  4. ^ PackersNews.com (2008-07-24). "Poppinga gets a four-year contract extension, plus other salary info". greenbaypressgazette.com. http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/ic/blogs/insider/index.shtml. Retrieved 2008-07-24. 
  5. ^ TylerPaper.com (2008-09-01). "Tyler's Matt Flynn Wins No. 2 QB Job With Green Bay Packers". Tyler Morning Telegraph. http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20080901/SPORTS/809010265/-1/SPORTS. Retrieved 2008-10-06. 
  6. ^ Tom Pelissero (2008-08-15). "5 things to watch in Saturday night’s game". greenbaypressgazette.com. http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080815/PKR01/80815126/1058. Retrieved 2008-10-06. 
  7. ^ Tom Silverstein (2008-08-18). "Brohm holds slim lead". JSOnline. http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=784634. Retrieved 2008-10-06. 
  8. ^ Green Bay Press Gazette (2010-12-19). "Green Bay Packers QB Matt Flynn has fine 1st road start". Green Bay Press Gazette. http://packersnews.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20101219/PKR07/101219048/Eric-Goska-column-Flynn-turns-in-fine-1st-road-start. Retrieved 2010-12-20. 
  9. ^ Associated Press (2010-12-19). "Pats find worthy adversary in Flynn, hold off Pack for sixth straight". NFL.com. http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2010121913/2010/REG15/packers@patriots/recap/full-story?module=HP_headlines. Retrieved 2010-12-20. 
  10. ^ Matt Flynn's historic day leads Packers' backups past Lions
  11. ^ An early look: Six golden nugget quarterbacks
  12. ^ [1]

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
JaMarcus Russell
LSU starting quarterbacks
2007
Succeeded by
Jarrett Lee