Jump to content

Byron Leftwich

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 66.66.173.210 (talk) at 15:11, 12 April 2009. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Byron Leftwich
refer to caption
Leftwich at an Atlanta Hawks game in May 2008
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Career information
College:Marshall
NFL draft:2003 / Round: 1 / Pick: 7
Career history
Roster status:Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2008
TD-INT:54-38
Passing yards:9,624
QB Rating:80.3

Byron Anton Leftwich (Born January 14, 1980 in Template:City-state) is an American football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars seventh overall in the 2003 NFL Draft. He played college football at Marshall.

Leftwich has also played for the Atlanta Falcons and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Early years

Leftwich attended H.D. Woodson High School in Washington, D.C. and was a letterman in football, basketball, and baseball. He garnered an honorable mention on the Washington Post's All-Met football team in 1997 as a senior. He was also first team All-DCIAA East in basketball his senior year. Nicknamed "SqueE" for his loud, casual footwear.

College career

Leftwich starred at Marshall University in West Virginia. He gained notoriety after quarterbacking a 64–61 overtime victory over East Carolina University in the 2001 GMAC Bowl (in which he took on future teammate David Garrard). He is also remembered for being carried by linemen Steve Sciullo and Steve Perretta, after breaking his shin and returning to the game, down the field on multiple series as he rallied his team to a 17 point comeback against Akron in November 2002. The image of Leftwich being carried after a completion has become iconic for compassion teammates show.[1] Leftwich, along with fellow Marshall alumni Chad Pennington and Randy Moss is also credited for helping the Mid-American Conference (MAC) gain more national attention (Marshall has since joined Conference USA).

He was the MVP of the 2000 Motor City Bowl.

Leftwich, for his career at Marshall completed 939 of 1,442 passes (65.1 percent) for 11,903 yards, 89 touchdowns and only 28 interceptions. He amassed 12,090 yards of total offense on 1,632 plays, ranking second on the school’s all-time record lists behind Chad Pennington.

Professional career

2003 NFL Draft

At the 2003 NFL Draft, the Minnesota Vikings and Baltimore Ravens agreed to a trade to move the Ravens into position to take Leftwich with Minnesota's 7th overall selection. However, one of the teams had second thoughts at the last minute and the Vikings missed the allotted time for their pick. As a result, they defaulted the selection and were dropped to 9th. The Jaguars, originally supposed to draft 8th, moved up and took Leftwich with the 7th overall pick.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Leftwich took over as the Jaguars starting quarterback in game four of his rookie year after Mark Brunell was injured in the previous week's matchup against the Indianapolis Colts.

For the first 11 games of the 2005 regular season, Leftwich was developing into the quarterback the Jaguars believed he would become when they picked him in the first round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He obtained a passer rating of 89.3, ninth-best in the NFL, and a 3:1 touchdown:interception ratio (15:5).

However in the regular season against the Arizona Cardinals, Leftwich suffered a broken ankle after being sacked by Cardinals' safety Adrian Wilson on the first play of the game. Leftwich missed the remaining five games of the regular season. He returned against the New England Patriots in the AFC Wild Card round of the playoffs. The Patriots won 28-3.

Leftwich entered his fourth NFL season as the Jaguars starting quarterback, but without veteran wide receiver Jimmy Smith, who suddenly retired in May 2006. Leftwich led the Jaguars to victories on national television in consecutive weeks against the favored Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers to begin the 2006 season. Leftwich suffered an ankle injury in a week 4 loss to the Washington Redskins. Following a week 6 loss to the Houston Texans, Leftwich had surgery to repair the ankle, which effectively ended his season.

David Garrard replaced Leftwich for the remainder of the season. In his first seven games as Leftwich's replacement, Garrard led the Jaguars to five wins and two losses and an 8-5 record through thirteen games in the season. Garrard's and the team's success in Leftwich's absence led to speculation that the Jaguars may seek to replace Leftwich permanently with Garrard. However, the Jaguars lost the three final games of the season, preventing the team from making the playoffs. Garrard struggled during the final three games. He threw three interceptions and fumbled once in a 24–17 loss to the Tennessee Titans, whose offense had struggled throughout the game mustering only 98 total yards of offense to the Jaguars' 396. Three of the turnovers were returned for touchdowns, accounting for 21 of the Titans' 24 points. [2] The Jaguars lost their following two games against the New England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs. In the final game of the season, Garrard's ineffectiveness prompted Jaguars head coach Jack Del Rio to replace Garrard with backup Quinn Gray.

In February 2007, Del Rio publicly reaffirmed his commitment to Leftwich, formally naming him as the team's starter over Garrard and Gray. If the team had been favoring Garrard after the first seven games of the season, his unfavorable performance in the final three games almost certainly led to reaffirmation of Leftwich.

After observing Leftwich's and Garrard's performances throughout the 2007 preseason, in the week preceding the first regular season game of 2007 Del Rio named Garrard the team's starter and declared that Leftwich would be either cut or traded.[3] The Jaguars cut Leftwich on September 1, 2007.

Atlanta Falcons

On September 17, 2007, Leftwich was flown out to Atlanta to meet with Atlanta Falcons officials, citing a possible signing with the team.[4] On September 18, Leftwich signed a two year deal with the Falcons with escalators attached that could make the deal worth up to $7 million.

Leftwich entered the season as a backup to starter Joey Harrington. After replacing Harrington late in Week 5, Leftwich got the start in Week 7 and played very well, before having to leave the game with an ankle sprain. He got the start again in Week 11 after returning from his injury. Harrington regained his starting position and Leftwich did not play again. On February 15, 2008, he was released by the Falcons. He worked out for the Tennessee Titans in July.

Pittsburgh Steelers

On August 10, 2008, Leftwich was signed by the Pittsburgh Steelers to a one-year deal after Pittsburgh's backup Charlie Batch was injured in a pre-season game.[5][6] The contract was worth $645,000 and included a $40,000 signing bonus.[7] Leftwich started the 2008 season as the back-up quarterback to Ben Roethlisberger. "I'm the guy sitting in the bullpen," he stated prior to the first game of the 2008 season, "if something were to happen, I have to go out there."[8] Leftwich performed well throughout the season when called upon, appearing in 5 games. During the 2008 season, he completed 21 of 36 attempts for 303 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions for a 104.3 passer rating, in addition to rushing for 1 touchdown. Leftwich earned a Super Bowl ring as the Steelers' backup when the Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII[9].

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

agreed to a two-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a source told ESPN's Michael Smith

In the media

References

  1. ^ ESPN.com - NCAA College Football - The 100
  2. ^ http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter?game_id=29078&displayPage=tab_gamecenter&season=2006&week=REG15
  3. ^ Ketchman, Vic (2007-08-31). "Jags trying to move Leftwich". Jacksonville Jaguars. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
  4. ^ "Jaguars Trim Roster to 53". Jacksonville Jaguars. 2007-09-01. Retrieved 2007-09-02.
  5. ^ "Steelers sign Leftwich, Culpepper as QB fill-ins". NFL. Sporting News. 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  6. ^ "Steelers looking at QB Leftwich". NFL. Yahoo! Sports. 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-08-09.
  7. ^ "Leftwich the pick on the QB option". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 2008-08-11. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
  8. ^ Bouchette, Ed (2008-09-02). "Leftwich embraces new role as Steelers' No. 2 quarterback". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  9. ^ My Super Bowl Journey:Byron Leftwich
Preceded by Jacksonville Jaguars Starting Quarterbacks
2003-2007
Succeeded by


Template:Persondata {{subst:#if:Leftwich, Byron|}} [[Category:{{subst:#switch:{{subst:uc:1980}}

|| UNKNOWN | MISSING = Year of birth missing {{subst:#switch:{{subst:uc:}}||LIVING=(living people)}}
| #default = 1980 births

}}]] {{subst:#switch:{{subst:uc:}}

|| LIVING  = 
| MISSING  = 
| UNKNOWN  = 
| #default = 

}}