Age: 25
4th season in pro football & with Eagles
College: Nevada – Las Vegas
Height: 6’4” Weight: 201
Prelude:
Taken by the Eagles in the 2nd round of the 1985 NFL draft, Cunningham saw some action in place of veteran QB Ron Jaworski, and while he completed only 42 % of his passes, he showed off his exciting running ability. In ’86, under new Head Coach Buddy Ryan, he saw more action in place of Jaworski and took over as the starting quarterback during the strike-interrupted 1987 season. Cunningham threw for 2786 yards and 23 TDs in 12 games and also rushed for 505 yards.
1988 Season Summary
Appeared and started in all 16 games
[Bracketed numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]
Passing
Attempts – 560 [2]
Most attempts, game – 53 vs. Dallas 10/23
Completions – 301 [3]
Most completions, game – 31 vs. NY Giants 10/10
Yards – 3808 [3]
Most yards, game – 369 vs. NY Giants 10/10
Completion percentage – 53.8
Yards per attempt – 6.8
TD passes – 24 [4]
Most TD passes, game – 3 vs. NY Giants 10/10, vs. LA Rams 11/6
Interceptions – 16 [7, tied with Steve DeBerg]
Most interceptions, game – 2 on five occasions
Passer rating – 77.6 [15]
300-yard passing games – 2
200-yard passing games – 11
Rushing
Attempts – 93
Most attempts, game - 9 (for 85 yds.) vs. Cincinnati 9/11, (for 64 yds.) at NY Giants 11/20, (for 21 yds.) at Phoenix 12/10
Yards – 624
Most yards, game – 85 yards (on 9 carries) vs. Cincinnati 9/11
Yards per attempt – 6.7 [1]
TDs – 6
Punting
Punts – 3
Yards – 167
Average – 55.7
Punts blocked – 0
Longest punt – 58 yards
Scoring
TDs – 6
Points - 36
Postseason: 1 G (NFC Divisional playoff at Chicago)
Pass attempts – 54
Pass completions – 27
Passing yardage – 407
TD passes – 0
Interceptions – 3
Rushing attempts – 3
Rushing yards – 12
Average gain rushing – 4.0
Rushing TDs – 0
Awards & Honors:
NFL Player of the Year: Bert Bell Award
2nd team All-NFL: AP
1st team All-NFC: UPI, Pro Football Weekly
Pro Bowl
Eagles went 10-6 to win NFC East, their first division title since 1980. Lost NFC Divisional playoff to Chicago Bears (20-12).
Aftermath:
Cunningham had another Pro Bowl year in 1989, passing for 3400 yards and running for 621, but the Eagles again lost in the first round of the playoffs. He followed up in ‘90 with a second MVP season and was again chosen for the Pro Bowl, passing for 3466 yards and 30 touchdowns with a much-improved passer rating of 91.6. But once more, the club fell quickly in the postseason. An outstanding talent who could often improvise brilliantly, Cunningham was less adept at reading defenses and often irritated teammates with his demeanor. He was lost to a season-ending injury in the first game of 1991 and, while he successfully returned in ’92, injuries became more of an issue as he missed most of 1993 with a broken leg. Benched in favor of Rodney Peete in ’95, he sat out a year in retirement before returning as a backup with the Vikings in 1997. When starting QB Brad Johnson was injured early in ’98, Cunningham put together an outstanding season, leading the league in passing (106.0 rating) while throwing 34 TD passes against just 10 interceptions. However, the team was upset by Atlanta in the NFC Championship game and Cunningham played in just six games in ’99. He finished up his career for good following a year each in Dallas and Baltimore. In the end, he passed for 29,979 yards and 207 TDs, was the career rushing leader for quarterbacks (4928 yards), and had the best rushing average (6.4) of any player in NFL history with over 750 carries (775).
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MVP Profiles feature players who were named MVP or Player of the Year in the NFL, AAFC (1946-49), AFL (1960-69), WFL (1974), or USFL (1983-85) by a recognized organization (Associated Press, Pro Football Writers Association, Newspaper Enterprise Association, United Press International, The Sporting News, Maxwell Club – Bert Bell Award, or the league itself).
[Updated 2/15/14]
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