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Sunday Night Quarterbacks,

For April's Quarterback of the Month, I have chosen to go from one in the past, and that is Rich Gannon! Here is a short biography about Rich Gannon.

Richard Joseph Gannon (born December 20, 1965 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a retired football quarterback, who achieved most of his success late in his career with the Oakland Raiders in the National Football League. Gannon attended Saint Joseph's Preparatory and won three varsity letters each in football and crew, and twice in basketball. Gannon exploded his senior season winning first team All-City as a punter and quarterback. He threw for 1,567 yards his senior season. Gannon attended the University of Delaware,was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, and played under Tubby Raymond and ran Raymond's Wing-T offense. When he led the Raiders to Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003, he was the first player from the University of Delaware to go to the Super Bowl. Gannon played for 4 NFL teams in his career. Here is an overview of his times with each one:

Minnesota Vikings

Gannon began his career being drafted by the Patriots who were rumoring to convert him to a defensive back. He would have none of it, and was traded to the Vikings. He did not play much there, until he got his chance in 1990 only to be released from the team when Sean Salisbury took over in 1992.

Washington Redskins

In 1993, Gannon signed with the Washington Redskins after coming off rotator cuff surgery. Gannon started  only three games for Washington and was cut, and took a short hiatus from football.

Kansas City Chiefs

A year later in 1995, Gannon signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. He was a backup for for three years until he got a chance to play in 1997 when Elvis Grbac was injured, and he played well creating a QB controversy. So after the regular season ended, Head Coach at the time Marty Shottenheimer played Grbac but they lost, which led to the two quarterbacks splitting snaps during 1998.

Oakland Raiders

In 1999, Gannon was a free agent who signed with the Oakland Raiders. There he was great in Gruden's West Coast offense, and was a Pro Bowl selection in his first year with the Raiders! That was only the first of four straight Pro Bowl selections. In '01 and '02 he won the Pro Bowl MVP award both years in a row, which no other player has ever done. Then Gannon would not stop there. He won the NFL MVP Award after a record setting season in '02, throwing for 4,689 yards and 26 touchdowns, which helped the Raiders advance to Super Bowl XXXVII. He led the league in with 418 completions on 618 attempts.

In the Super Bowl however, Gannon struggled. He threw a Super Bowl record 5 interceptions, three of which were run back for touchdowns, in a 48-21 rout by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Buccaneers stellar defense was significantly at an advantage due to the fact that Jon Gruden who left Oakland the year before, knew the whole playbook which went almost unchanged under Callahan.

Gannon's 2003 season ended abruptly by a shoulder injury in Week 7, and then a serious neck injury in 2004 pretty much 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 of the 2004 season.

 The Raiders signed Kerry Collins prior to the 2004 season, some thought that Gannon would be released due to the signing of the gunslinging PSU alum Collins who was supposed to be a better fit in new head coach Norv Turner's offense. Gannon not only started at QB, but thrived. He threw for 305 yards in the season opener against Pittsburgh, including a 40 yard touchdown pass to Doug Gabriel, the Raiders almost beat a Steelers team that finished the 2004 season with 15 victories and went to the AFC Championship. The Raiders were competititors with Gannon as their QB, and finished 5-11 after his career ending neck injury. When Gannon went, so did the Raiders franchise to be honest.

Rich Gannon retired from football in August of 2005, to the dismay of many Raider fan's who thought he had it in him for another year or two. It was sad to see him go. He was my favorite NFL player of all time for all he did for the Raiders, and for his accomplishments:

Records

• NFL season record for most completions in a season (418 in 2002)--record broken by Drew Brees during the 2007-2008 season
• 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 most consecutive completions in a single game (21 at Denver 2002)--record broken by Mark Brunell during the 2006-2007 season
• 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)
• Voted into University of Delaware Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005

Well Sunday Night Quarterbacks, you can nominate May's Quarterback of the Month by commenting on this post!

Anthony E.