Rich Gannon

Richard Joseph Gannon (born December 20 1965 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a former American football quarterback, who achieved most of his success late in his career with the Oakland Raiders in the National Football League.

Biography

Gannon attended St. Joe's Prep (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and won three varsity letters each in football and crew, and twice in basketball.

College

Gannon attended the University of Delaware.

NFL career

Minnesota Vikings

He was selected in the 4th round (98th overall) of the 1987 NFL Draft by the New England Patriots, who envisioned converting him to a defensive back. Gannon balked at the idea, and he was quickly traded to the Minnesota Vikings. After two years of playing sparingly, Gannon became the Vikings' starting quarterback in 1990, displacing incumbent Wade Wilson.

Washington Redskins

In 1993 he was traded to the Washington Redskins after coming off rotator cuff surgery.

Kansas City Chiefs

In 1995 he was dealt to the Kansas City Chiefs. For two years he served as a backup to Steve Bono. In 1997 a quarterback controversy was created when the Gannon-led Chiefs excelled in the absence of the injured Elvis Grbac. In the playoffs, coach Marty Schottenheimer elected to play Grbac instead of Gannon and the Chiefs lost 14-10. The two ended up splitting snaps in 1998, after Grbac was injured in Week 1.

Oakland Raiders

In February 1999 he was signed as a free agent by the Raiders. He excelled in Jon Gruden's "dink and dunk" offense and was voted to the Pro Bowl in his first year as a Raider, the first of four straight selections. In 2000 and 2001, he won the Pro Bowl MVP award consecutively, a feat achieved by no other NFL player. Gannon won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award after a record-setting 2002 season, which helped the Raiders advance to Super Bowl XXXVII. He led the league in attempts with 618, and completions, with a record 418.

In the Super Bowl, Gannon threw a Super Bowl record 5 interceptions in a 48-21 rout by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucs' stellar defense was aided by the fact that their new head coach was Jon Gruden. Sideline footage shows Bucs like John Lynch amazed by how much they knew about the Oakland offense.

Rich's 2003 season was ended by a shoulder injury in Week 7, after a 2-5 start. A serious, neck injury in 2004 effectively ended his career. Gannon was hurt when he scrambled, and slid into a helmet-to-helmet collision with Tampa Bay linebacker Derrick Brooks in Week 3.

Retirement

In August 2005, Gannon officially retired from football and joined CBS Sports as an NFL analyst. ^*. The same year Gannon was inducted into the University of Delaware athletics hall of fame.

Awards

Pro Bowl selections - 1999, 2000, 2001 & 2002
Pro Bowl MVP - 2000 & 2001
NFL MVP - 2002

Records

NFL season record for pass completions (418 in 2002)
NFL season record for 300+ yard passing games (10 in 2002)
NFL season record for consecutive 300+ yard passing games (6 in 2002), tied with Steve Young (1998) and Kurt Warner (2000)
NFL game record for consecutive completions (21 vs Denver in 2002)
NFL game record for completions (43 vs Pittsburgh in 2002)
Oakland Raiders franchise record for 300-yard passing games (24)
Oakland Raiders franchise record for completions (1,533)
Oakland Raiders franchise record completion percentage (62.6)

External links

Career statistics at pro-football-reference.com

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