Age: 25
4th
season in pro football & with Bengals
College: Augustana
(IL)
Height: 6’2” Weight: 211
Prelude:
Anderson, who
was well-regarded despite coming from a small college, was chosen by the
Bengals in the third round of the 1971 NFL draft, and took over as starting
quarterback in his second season. Mobile, intelligent, and with a good arm, he
also adapted well to QB coach Bill Walsh’s early version of the West Coast
passing attack with short timing passes. He broke out in 1973, throwing for
2428 yards and 18 touchdowns with a passer rating of 81.2 while the Bengals
went 10-4 and won the AFC Central title.
1974 Season Summary
Appeared and
started in 13 of 14 games
[Bracketed
numbers indicate league rank in Top 20]
Passing
Attempts – 328
[7]
Most
attempts, game – 44 vs. Houston 10/27
Completions –
213 [1]
Most
completions, game – 30 vs. Houston 10/27
Yards – 2667
[1]
Most yards,
game – 352 vs. Houston 10/27
Completion
percentage – 64.9 [1]
Yards per attempt
– 8.1 [1]
TD passes – 18
[5]
Most TD
passes, game – 4 vs. Kansas City 11/24
Interceptions
– 10 [20, tied with Dan Pastorini, Mike Livingston & Jerry Tagge]
Most
interceptions, game – 2 at San Francisco 9/29, at Oakland 10/20, at Houston
11/17
Passer rating
– 95.7 [1]
300-yard
passing games – 1
200-yard
passing games – 6
Rushing
Attempts – 43
Most
attempts, game – 7 (for 70 yds.) vs. Washington 10/6
Yards – 314
Most yards,
game – 70 yards (on 7 carries) vs. Washington 10/6
Average gain
– 7.3
TDs – 2
Scoring
TDs – 2
Points – 12
Awards &
Honors:
2nd
team All-NFL: NEA
2nd
team All-AFC: UPI
Bengals went 7-7
to finish third in the AFC Central while leading the conference in passing
yards (2511).
Aftermath:
Anderson
again led the NFL in passing (93.9 rating), passing yards (3169), and yards per
attempt (8.4) in 1975 and was selected to the Pro Bowl in ‘75 and ’76. The team
regularly contended during that period, but through coaching changes and
attrition, the Bengals slumped later in the decade and Anderson, who also
battled injuries, even briefly lost his starting job during the 1980 season. He
came back with a MVP performance in 1981 in which he led the NFL with a
career-high 98.4 passer rating and Cincinnati won the AFC Championship. Anderson
again led the NFL in passing during the strike-shortened 1982 season (95.3) and
completed a then-record 70.6 % of his passes. He led the league once more in
completion percentage in ’83 (66.7) but after one last year as the starting
quarterback, he backed up Boomer Esiason in 1985 and ’86, his last two seasons,
all spent with the Bengals. Overall, he passed for 32,838 yards and 197 TDs,
averaging 7.3 yards per attempt. He also rushed for 2220 yards and 20
touchdowns. Anderson was a consensus first-team All-NFL selection once,
received second-team honors twice more, and was chosen to the Pro Bowl four
times.
--
Highlighted Years features players who were consensus
first-team All-League* selections or league* or conference** leaders in the
following statistical categories:
Rushing:
Yards, TDs (min. 10)
Passing:
Yards, Completion Pct., Yards per Attempt, TDs, Rating
Receiving:
Catches, Yards, TDs (min. 10)
Scoring: TDs,
Points, Field Goals (min. 5)
All-Purpose:
Total Yards
Defense:
Interceptions, Sacks
Kickoff
Returns: Average
Punt Returns:
Average
Punting:
Average
*Leagues include
NFL (1920 to date), AFL (1926), AFL (1936-37), AAFC (1946-49), AFL (1960-69),
WFL (1974-75), USFL (1983-85)
**NFC/AFC
since 1970
