Vinny Testaverde

Vincent Frank Testaverde (born November 13, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York) is a quarterback with the National Football League's New York Jets.

College Career

Testaverde was a star quarterback at the University of Miami, winning the Heisman Trophy in 1986 on his way to becoming the University of Miami's all-time leader in career touchdown passes (46).

Pro Career

Testaverde was the first overall draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1987 NFL draft. He has played in two Pro Bowls (in 1996 with the Baltimore Ravens and 1998 with the New York Jets) in nineteen seasons in the NFL.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Vinny Testaverde

Vinny Testaverde

In 1988, Testaverde became the Bucs' starting quarterback, throwing a 47.6% completion rate for 3,240 yards and 13 touchdowns, but with 35 interceptions. Toward the end of his tenure in Tampa, Testaverde began to receive taunts from fans and radio personalities about his color blindness. In 1991 a radio station in Tampa rented a billboard after losing to the New York Giants that had Testaverde standing in front of a blue background. The billboard read: "Vinny thinks this is orange!" His numbers continued to improve and, by the 1992 season, his last with Tampa Bay, he threw for a 57.5% completion rate for 2,554 yards and 14 touchdowns.

Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens

Testaverde signed as an unrestricted free agent with the Cleveland Browns in 1992. He spent three seasons in Cleveland, then moved with the Browns to Baltimore and played two more seasons with the newly-renamed Baltimore Ravens.

New York Jets

In 1998, his first season with the Jets, Testaverde flourished, completing 61.5% of his passes with 29 touchdowns and only seven interceptions, arguably his best season in the NFL. However, in many of his remaining seasons with the Jets, Testaverde was hampered by injuries.

Dallas Cowboys

Despite his injuries, Testaverde's performance with the Jets endeared him to coach Bill Parcells, who retired from coaching in 1999. One year after Parcells was lured out of retirement by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, he brought Testaverde to his new team in 2004.

Testaverde initially was signed to be a backup and mentor to young Cowboys quarterback Quincy Carter. But after Carter was abruptly cut by the Cowboys, Testaverde was given the starting quarterback job. While many questioned Testaverde's ability to still play in the NFL, the protection schemes and play calling allowed him to showcase his arm with mixed results. He was able to throw for significant yardage, but led the league in interceptions, getting picked off on 4 % of his passes.

Testaverde's one-year contract with the Cowboys expired early in 2005. The Cowboys chose to instead sign Parcells' 1993 number one draft pick, Drew Bledsoe, as their top quarterback, leaving Testaverde without a contract.

Back With the New York Jets

As injuries on September 25 knocked both Chad Pennington and backup Jay Fiedler out for the 2005 season, the New York Jets re-signed Testaverde on September 27, 2005. Testaverde was named the Jets' starting quarterback in week five of the 2005 season, in a home game against the team which originally drafted him, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

On December 26, against the New England Patriots on the final ABC telecast of Monday Night Football, Testaverde set a new NFL record for most consecutive seasons with at least one touchdown pass, 19, by throwing a 27-yard pass to Laveranues Coles to secure the record. That pass is also notable as being the last touchdown pass thrown on Monday Night Football while it was still broadcast by ABC. The game was also notable because the Patriots sent in back-up quarterback Doug Flutie, making this the first game in NFL history in which two quarterbacks over the age of 40 competed (Testaverde was 42, Flutie was 43).

Career statistics

			Passing								Rushing
Season	Team		GP	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	TD	INT		Att	Yds	TD
1987	Tampa Bay Buccaneers		6	71	165	43.0	1081	5	6		13	50	1
1988	Tampa Bay Buccaneers		15	222	466	47.6	3240	13	35		28	138	1
1989	Tampa Bay Buccaneers		14	258	480	53.8	3133	20	22		25	139	0
1990	Tampa Bay Buccaneers		14	203	365	55.6	2818	17	18		38	280	1
1991	Tampa Bay Buccaneers		13	166	326	50.9	1994	8	15		32	101	0
1992	Tampa Bay Buccaneers		14	206	358	57.5	2554	14	16		36	197	2
1993	Cleveland Browns		10	130	230	56.5	1797	14	9		18	74	0
1994	Cleveland Browns		14	207	376	55.1	2575	16	18		21	37	2
1995	Cleveland Browns		13	241	392	61.5	2883	17	10		18	62	2
1996	Baltimore Ravens		16	325	549	59.2	4177	33	19		34	188	2
1997	Baltimore Ravens		13	271	470	57.7	2971	18	15		34	138	0
1998	New York Jets		14	259	421	61.5	3256	29	7		24	104	1
1999	New York Jets		1	10	15	66.7	96	1	1		0	0	0
2000	New York Jets		16	328	590	55.6	3732	21	25		25	32	0
2001	New York Jets		16	260	441	59.0	2752	15	14		31	25	0
2002	New York Jets		5	54	83	65.1	499	3	3		2	23	0
2003	New York Jets		7	123	198	62.1	1385	7	2		6	17	0
2004	Dallas Cowboys		16	297	495	60.0	3532	17	20		21	38	1
2005	New York Jets		6	60	106	56.6	777	1	6		7	4	2
	Totals		223	3691	6526	56.6	45252	269	261		413	1647	15

External links

• Vinny Testaverde at ESPN.com.
• Template:Pro-football-reference.
• Heisman Trophy 1986 Award: Vinny Testaverde.
• Fan site.
• Vinny Testaverde profile, NNDB.