Age: 33 (Nov.
13)
10th
season in pro football, 4th with Browns/Ravens
College: Miami
(FL)
Height: 6’5” Weight: 227
Prelude:
In college, Testaverde
passed for 6058 yards and 48 touchdowns while averaging 9.0 yards-per-attempt
and won the 1986 Heisman Trophy. Highly regarded and chosen first overall by
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in ’87, he moved into the starting lineup late in his
rookie season. A big quarterback with a strong arm and fair mobility,
Testaverde suffered with a poor team and was prone to poor decisions under
pressure. He led the NFL in interceptions thrown with 35 in 1988 and 22 in ’89
and never had more TD passes than pickoffs in his six years with the Bucs.
Testaverde signed with the Cleveland Browns as a free agent in 1993 to back up
QB Bernie Kosar, his former college teammate who he understudied at Miami, but
when Kosar was let go in a surprise midseason move, he took over as the starter
with promising results, tossing 14 TD passes with just 9 interceptions. In 1994
he threw for 2575 yards and 16 TDs, although with 18 interceptions, and the
Browns reached the playoffs. However, the club fell off badly in ’95, its last
year in Cleveland, and Testaverde was benched for three games, although he achieved
a new high by completing 61.5 percent of his passes and had a TD to
interception ratio of 17 to 10. He moved on to Baltimore as part of the
franchise reborn as the Ravens in 1996.
1996 Season Summary
Appeared and
started in all 16 games
[Bracketed numbers
indicate league rank in Top 20]
Passing
Attempts – 549
[3, tied with Jeff Blake]
Most
attempts, game – 51 vs. St. Louis 10/27
Completions –
325 [3, tied with Brett Favre]
Most
completions, game – 31 vs. St. Louis 10/27, vs. Jacksonville 11/24
Yards – 4177
[2]
Most yards,
game – 429 vs. St. Louis 10/27
Completion
percentage – 59.2 [13]
Yards per
attempt – 7.6 [3]
TD passes – 33
[2, 1st in AFC]
Most TD
passes, game – 4 at Denver 10/20
Interceptions
– 19 [4, tied with Jim Kelly & Trent Dilfer]
Most interceptions,
game – 4 vs. Cincinnati 11/3
Passer rating
– 88.7 [5]
400-yard
passing games – 1
300-yard
passing games – 5
200-yard
passing games – 13
Rushing
Attempts – 34
Most
attempts, game – 8 (for 42 yds.) vs. Oakland 9/1
Yards – 188
Most yards,
game – 42 yards (on 8 carries) vs. Oakland 9/1
Average gain
– 5.5
TDs – 2
Scoring
TDs – 2
2-pt conversions
– 1 [6, tied with many others]
Points – 14
Awards & Honors:
Pro Bowl
Ravens went 4-12
to finish fifth in the AFC Central while ranking second in the NFL in passing
yards (3978) and third in total yards (5723).
Aftermath:
Testaverde
had a lesser season in 1997 and was waived, signing with the New York Jets in
’98 where it was anticipated that he would return to being a backup. However,
he took over the starting job for 13 games, 12 of which were wins, and passed
for 3256 yards and 29 touchdowns while giving up just 7 interceptions and
compiling an AFC-leading passer rating of 101.6. The Jets reached the AFC
Championship game and Testaverde was selected to the Pro Bowl. His 1999 season
ended in the opening game with a ruptured Achilles tendon and, while he
regained the starting job in 2000, it was with lessened mobility and a return
to old patterns as he led the NFL by being intercepted 25 times. Testaverde cut
his interceptions down to 14 while operating in a West Coast-style offense in
2001 and foregoing the long ball but lost his starting job to Chad Pennington
in ’02 and, after one more year with the Jets in which he saw action when
Pennington was injured, Testaverde moved on to Dallas in 2004 where he was a
stopgap starting quarterback and led the NFL once more with 20 interceptions. He
returned to the Jets as a backup in 2005, spent ’06 behind Tom Brady in New
England, and finished up at age 44 with the Carolina Panthers in 2007. Over the
course of a long and uneven career, Testaverde passed for 46,233 yards and 275
TDs with 267 interceptions. He was a first-team All-AFC selection once and was
chosen to two Pro Bowls.
--
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
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