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Neil O'Donnell

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For the Scottish footballer, see Neil O'Donnell (Scottish footballer). For the Gaelic footballer, see Niall O'Donnell.
Neil O'Donnell
No. 12, 14
Position:Quarterback
Personal information
Born: (1966-07-03) July 3, 1966 (age 58)
Morristown, New Jersey
Career information
High school:Madison (NJ)
College:Maryland
NFL draft:1990 / round: 3 / pick: 70
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
TD–INT:120–68
Yards:21,690
QB Rating:81.8
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Neil Kennedy O'Donnell (born July 3, 1966) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League for 14 seasons (1990–2003) with the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets, Cincinnati Bengals, and Tennessee Titans. He played college football at Maryland.

Early life

O'Donnell grew up in Madison, New Jersey, and played high school football there at Madison High School.[1] Neil Kennedy O’Donnell was born July 3, 1966 in Morristown, New Jersey. Neil's four older brothers played for local coaching legend Ted Monica and won state championships. Stephen O’Donnell was an All-State quarterback who went on to play for Duke. Coach Monica had retired by the time Neil enrolled at Madison High School, but mentored him throughout much of his young football life. O'Donnell was the star of the Dodgers varsity team as a sophomore and junior, but the team won just three games in those two seasons. During his senior year, as quarterback, O'Donnell led the team to a respectable 4-2-3 season in 1985. Coach Bobby Ross recruited him to the University of Maryland despite lacking the stats and honors of other high school stars.[2]

College career

At the University of Maryland, O'Donnell red-shirted the 1986 season, then went on to play for the Terrapins in 3 seasons (1987–89), taking over the starting QB job in the 1988 and 89 seasons. He played under Head Coach Joe Krivak, who was promoted from QB coach after Bobby Ross left the program in 1986. The Krivak era was marked by mediocre results, and the O'Donnell years featured an especially tough out-of-conference schedule. The Terps finished 5-6 in 1988 and 3-7-1 in 1989, notably tying Penn State, only the second time Maryland had avoided losing to the Nittany Lions in the series up to that point.[3] The Terps failed to reach a bowl game during O'Donnell's career there. He was backed up by QB Scott Zolak, who pushed O'Donnell for playing time during both of his seasons as a starter. O'Donnell wore #14 for the Terps and for most of his Pro Career. He was awarded the Ray Krouse Award for Maryland team MVP in 1989, and finished his Maryland career with 26 touchdown passes, 3 rushing touchdowns, and 5,069 total yards.[4]

Professional career

Pittsburgh Steelers

O'Donnell was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 70th overall pick in the 1990 NFL draft. After sitting on the bench for his entire rookie season, he started in eight games during 1991 before becoming the team's full-time QB in 1992.

In the 1992 NFL season O'Donnell threw for 2,283 passing yards, 13 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions, receiving the only Pro Bowl selection of his career. The Steelers finished 11-5 and took the AFC Central division title, but lost to the Buffalo Bills 24-3 in a divisional playoff game.

In 1993, he had another great season throwing for a career-high 3,208 passing yards, 14 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions finishing with a 1.4 interception percentage, the second lowest in his career.

O'Donnell led the Steelers to Super Bowl XXX, but threw two interceptions to Dallas Cowboys cornerback Larry Brown to set up short touchdown drives in the second half. He became a free agent at the end of the season.

New York Jets

The Steelers made an offer to O'Donnell, however on February 29, 1996, he signed a 5-year $25 million contract with the New York Jets. He went 0–6 in his first season as starter before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury despite throwing for 292 or more yards in three of these starts. His performance improved the following season under new coach Bill Parcells the following year, 1997. He eventually fell out of favor with Parcells, and lost his starting job to Glenn Foley. O'Donnell refused to re-negotiate his contract, which paid him $6.65M for the upcoming season, Parcells chose to waive O'Donnell. [5]

Cincinnati Bengals

On July 7, 1998, O'Donnell signed a 4-year $17M contract with the Cincinnati Bengals. In the 1998 NFL season, with the then-1–3 Bengals, O'Donnell threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Carl Pickens with 20 seconds remaining to score the winning touchdown against 3–1 Pittsburgh. O'Donnell's 90.2 passer rating was sixth among regular starting quarterbacks in the NFL and third in the AFC. However, due to a poor defense, the Bengals went on to finish 3–13. O'Donnell was released at the end of the season to make room for rookie quarterback Akili Smith.

Tennessee Titans

On July 24, 1999, O'Donnell signed a multi-year contract with the Titans where he served as Steve McNair's backup. He performed well, winning four of his five starts for an injured McNair in 1999, leaving a perennial .500 team at 5–1 upon McNair's return. Later, O'Donnell came off the bench and led Tennessee to a Week 17 47–36 victory in Pittsburgh en route to the AFC Championship and Super Bowl XXXIV, in which he was not an active participant.

O'Donnell retired after the 2002 season, but was talked into coming back for one game in December 2003 when McNair and Billy Volek were injured. He started in the regular-season finale and delivered a fine performance, completing 18 of 27 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Titans to a 33–13 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

O'Donnell ended his career with the lowest interception percentage in NFL history, averaging just 2.11 interceptions for every 100 pass attempts.[6] Aaron Rodgers has since eclipsed the record (1.46 interception percentage through the 2018–19 season).[7] O'Donnell also wore number 14 during most of his career except during his one-year stint with the Bengals, where he wore number 12. The Bengals did not issue number 14 after the retirement of former quarterback and West Coast offense pioneer Ken Anderson in 1986 until Andy Dalton started wearing number 14 for the Bengals in 2011.

Post football career

O'Donnell permanently retired after the 2003 season. In 2004 he declined head coach Bill Cowher's offer to return to the Steelers after starting quarterback Tommy Maddox sustained a season-ending injury.[8]

O'Donnell found work as a sports analyst, primarily covering the Titans at WTVF, Nashville's CBS affiliate, from 2005–2007. He is currently a sales representative for FieldTurf in Kentucky and Tennessee.[9]

References

  1. ^ Eskenazi, Gerald. "PRO FOOTBALL;Jets Waste No Time Wooing O'Donnell", The New York Times, February 17, 1996. Accessed January 3, 2008. "He is a local product, having grown up and played football at Madison High School in New Jersey, not far from where the Giants have run their summer camp."
  2. ^ http://www.njsportsheroes.com/neilo%27donnellfb.html
  3. ^ Maryland–Penn State football rivalry
  4. ^ http://www.umterps.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=29700&ATCLID=208126658#TDCareer
  5. ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ny-jets-waive-neil-odonnell/
  6. ^ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0805/nfl.donovan.mcnabb.at.home/content.8.html
  7. ^ https://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/pass_int_perc_career.htm
  8. ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A44493-2004Sep23.html
  9. ^ http://mondesishouse.blogspot.com/2007/05/fieldturf-needs-sales-rep.html
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