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Feb 29, 2004 Speculation has been going around that with the signing of QB Ricky Ray of the CFL 2003 Grey Cup Champion Edmonton Eskimos by the New York Jets that Vinny Testaverde is eyeing retirement. He has planned not to participate in the Jets’ offseason workouts this year, taking the time to evaluate his future. If this really is the end of Testaverde’s career, then he rides off into the sunset as maybe the most maligned productive QB in NFL history, at the very least this generation. Critics have cited lack of accuracy (235 career interceptions) lack of mobility and poor decision making (career passer rating: 75.363) in branding him an average QB at best. They also point to the fact that Testaverde has been the starting QB on four winning teams in his career, and has only once been within a whiff of a Super Bowl. He also carries the stigma of being a previous Heisman Trophy winner, copping the hardware in 1986. (Heisman QBs have almost universally been a bust in the pros the last 30 years--think Andre Ware and Danny Wuerffel. It’s still way too early to judge Tim Couch, Carson Palmer and Jason White, but other than Testaverde, you have to go back to Jim Plunkett in 1970 to find another productive Heisman winning QB--and even he had a riches-to-rags-to- riches pro career.) Testaverde was the Archie Manning of the late 80s and early 90s, a good QB stuck on the league’s most dismal teams and little talent to help him. The closest he ever got to a championship was in the 1986 Fiesta Bowl, which his Miami Hurricanes team, coached by Jimmy Johnson, lost to national champion Penn State 14- 10, Miami’s only loss that season. His best showing in the pros was making the 1998 Pro Bowl and leading the Jets to the 1998 AFC title game, losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos. This has caused Testaverde’s career numbers to be overlooked. For someone that isn‘t supposed to be good, he sure has been around a long time in the NFL--17 seasons. Plus, he came into 2003 very close to some milestones. When Chad Pennington went down with a wrist injury during the 2003 campaign, it gave Testaverde a huge window to become only the ninth player in NFL history to pass for more than 40,000 yards. In fact, while I was doing the research to show that he was underrated, I made the discovery that he had put up fantastic career numbers. Indeed, Testaverde ranks seventh in passing completions, seventh in passing yardage and eleventh in passing touchdowns. To really illustrate how significant these are, let’s compare his numbers with a pair of Hall of Fame members known for slinging passes: Joe Montana and Dan Fouts. Passing Completions Joe Montana 3409 Dan Fouts 3297 Vinny Testaverde 3319 Passing Yardage Joe Montana 40,531 Dan Fouts 43,040 Vinny Testaverde 40,943 Passing Touchdowns Joe Montana 273 Dan Fouts 254 Vinny Testaverde 251 Amazing, isn’t it, how close they are in these career numbers? Testaverde’s numbers are hardly those of a washout. Looking at their stats, a few things come to mind. Fouts had the Air Coryell offense. Montana had a West Coast offense AND a stingy defense, which is why he won four Super Bowls. For the majority of his career, Testaverde had neither. This begs the question: What would Testaverde have done had he had Jerry Rice and John Taylor or Wes Chandler and Charlie Joiner to throw to? Testaverde has earned the right to be enshrined in my eyes, but with the way the NFL Hall of Fame highly political selection process works, he may never make it in. The selection process involves one media representative (writers) from each NFL city, one from the Pro Football Writers of America, and six at-large delegates. Each writer has to pick one player to campaign for, usually one who played in his city, and lobby the other writers to vote on that player. This is why Carl Eller finally made it in 25 years after he retired, despite being named first or second team All-Pro six times, and playing in four Super Bowls. And this despite the writer for Minnesota, Sid Hartman, bleeding purple all those years. Unless the Jets lobby the New York media representative five years from now (assuming Testaverde is done) he could be waiting a very long time. ------------ About the author: Paul Carter is unique; he thinks that a Grant Green jazz guitar solo, The Federalist Papers, an El Greco painting, the National Football League, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church are all interesting. When not working a home business, he is a graphic artist. Email Paul Carter: paulcarterdesign@earthlink.net Tell a friend about this site! ------------ |
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