Ken O'Brien

Infobox NFLretired


|caption=
width=
position=Quarterback
number=7, 15
birthdate=birth date and age|1960|11|27
Rockville Centre, New York
deathdate=
debutyear=1984
finalyear=1993
draftyear=1983
draftround=1
draftpick=24
college=California-Davis,
Sacramento State
teams=
* New York Jets (1983-1992)
* Philadelphia Eagles (1993)
stat1label=TD-INT
stat1value=128-98
stat2label=Yards
stat2value=25,094
stat3label=QB Rating
stat3value=80.4
nfl=OBR553720
highlights=
* 2x Pro Bowl selection (1985, 1991)
HOF=
CollegeHOF=80006

Kenneth John O'Brien (born November 27, 1960 in Rockville Centre, New York) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League for the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles. When he retired he was the the only Jets quarterback to have ever been ranked the number 1 passer for a season. His career passer rating was ranked in the top 10 amoung retired NFL quarterbacks. He held the team record for most consective pass completions (17) in a game and perhaps most impressive is his still current NFL game records. Ken O'Brien was one of the six quarterbacks in the famed Quarterback class of 1983 and in 1997 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

High school and college career

He played for Jesuit High School in Carmichael, California.

O'Brien started his collegiate football career in 1978 at Sacramento State as a reserve.

He played at the University of California, Davis under coach Jim Sochor. In his senior year, 1982, he was a Division II All-American. He led UCD to a 10-0 regular season mark and to the Division II championship game. He was ranked #2 in total offense and #3 in passing efficiency in Division II. He also won the Babe Slater Award for being the best offensive player in the Conference.

He was selected as All-Far Western Conference QB three times and was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997.

Professional career

O'Brien played quarterback for over a decade in the National Football League. Taken in the 1983 NFL Draft with the 24th pick of the first round by the New York Jets out of UC Davis, three picks before Dan Marino. O'Brien amassed over 25,000 yards in his 11 year career. In 1985, he led the NFL in passer rating which included the most yards per pass attempt. He also led the NFL with the lowest rate of interceptions in 1985, 1987, and 1988. He retired after spending the 1993 season with the Philadelphia Eagles. His two NFL game records still hold today and are arguably the most impressive game records to have. He is the only quarterback to pass for 400 or more yards (431) in a game and earn a perfect NFL 158.3 rating. Both feats by themselves are very rare in the NFL. Ken O'Brien was also the champion in an NFL record combined 927 (884 net) yards passing with Dan Marino.

O'Brien went to the Pro Bowl two times, in 1985 and 1991.

Four of the six first round quarterbacks in the famed Quarterback class of 1983 went to the Super Bowl including John Elway, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, and Tony Eason. While Ken O'Brien was unsuccessful in achieving the ultimate goal he was successful at times at defeating the four that did.

Notable Games:

September 21st 1986 Dolphins at Jets: This is one of the NFL's greatest games. Ken O'Brien would get his revenge from last years amazing passing game in which O'Brien passed for 393 yards in a losing effort to Marino's 362 yards and 50 yard game winning touchdown pass with less than a minute in regulation. His revenge wasn't going to be easy as he witnessed Marino throwing for 6 touchdown passes and 448 yards. O'Brien would return fire with 479 yards and 4 touchdowns, all to Wesley Walker. With 5 seconds remaining and the score 38 to 45, Ken O'Brien riffled a 21 yard bullet pass to help tie the game at 45. In overtime on the Jets first drive, O'Brien hit Walker with a 43 yard touchdown pass for the win. It should be noted that the previous two years Dan Marino (1984) and Ken O'Brien (1985) were the highest rated Quarterbacks in the NFL.

Top 5 Ken O'Brien games by category (Minimum 10 pass attempts)

Quotes about Ken O'Brien

September 23rd 1991 Jets at Bears: "When (Ken O'Brien) gets the time to throw the football, no one throws it any better than he does." - Frank Gifford on ABC's Monday Night Football.

October 20th 1986 Broncos at Jets: "You wanna throw the ball deep? Ken O'Brien, he'll never under throw it." - Frank Gifford on ABC's Monday Night Football.

November 9th 1986 Jets at Falcons: "This kid is absolutely as hot of quarterback as I've ever seen in the NFL. He's so cool. He's got everything so much in control." - Bob Trumpy on NBC.

November 9th 1986: "I've been around a lot of tough, smart guys who won even though they couldn't throw the football that well. Billy Kilmer with the Redskins, Fran Tarkenton with the Giants, they didn't have a lot of physical ability, they did it by being tough and smart. But in addition to being tough and smart, Kenny O'Brien can throw the football." -Joe Walton, New York Jets Head Coach.

Quarterback Challenge

In 1990 the first Quarterback Challenge was introduced. Several top-rated Quarterbacks competed in several events with O'Brien emerging as the champion. The following year Dan Marino would win however in the accuracy challenge O'Brien would more than double the points of the next best quarterback by hitting ALL of the targets including a near perfect 50 yard pass that was close to the bull's eye.

Coaching career

After retiring, O'Brien had a stint as an assistant coach for the University of Southern California, where he coached Heisman Trophy winner and current Cincinnati Bengal Carson Palmer.

Honors

* He was inducted into the Cal Aggie Athletic Hall of Fame in 1990.

O'Brien in popular culture

O'Brien made a guest appearance on the television show "Home Improvement" in the episode "The Eve Of Construction", as part of Tim Taylor's "all-star" team of home builders, building for charity. As the episode aired March 9, 1994 it was just after O'Brien had played his final game. He stated that he played for 'whoever will take me', although Tim cites him as playing for the Eagles.

ee also

*List of NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
*List of NFL quarterbacks who have posted a passer rating of zero
*List of NFL Quarterbacks who have passed for 400 or more yards

References

* [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/27071/Ken-O-Brien-s-Quarterback-Clinic/overview Ken O'Brien QB clinic film]
* [http://www.veteranpresence.com/FPOTM/OBrien.html Article including photo]
* [http://ucdavisaggies.cstv.com/hallfame/ucda-hallfame.html Cal Aggie Athletic Hall of Fame]
* [http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198611020sea.htm 1986 Jets at Seahawks]
* [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3793806.html 1986 Jets at Seahawks article]
* [http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198609210nyj.htm 1986 Dolphins at Jets]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE0DE1330F931A1575AC0A960948260 1986 Dolphins at Jets article]
* [http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198611090atl.htm 1986 Jets at Falcons]
* [http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MH&s_site=miami&p_multi=MH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB3661D1B991126&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM 1986 Jets at Falcons article]
* [http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/199012230nyj.htm 1990 Patriots at Jets]
* [http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198511170nyj.htm 1985 Bucaneers at Jets]