| No. 7, 8, 15 | |||||||||||||||
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| Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born: | (1960-11-27)November 27, 1960 (age 64) Rockville Centre, New York, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 210 lb (95 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | Jesuit(Carmichael, California) | ||||||||||||||
| College: | Sacramento State,UC Davis | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1983: 1st round, 24th pick | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
As a player: | |||||||||||||||
| * Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||||||||||||
As a coach: | |||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Kenneth John O'Brien Jr. (born November 27, 1960) is an American former professionalfootball player who was aquarterback in theNational Football League (NFL) for theNew York Jets andPhiladelphia Eagles. One of the six quarterbacks in the famedquarterback class of 1983, O'Brien was the first quarterback in the franchise history of the Jets to finish with the highest passer rating in a season. He held the team record for most consecutive pass completions (17) in a game. In 1997, he was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame.
O'Brien played forJesuit High School inCarmichael,California.
O'Brien started his collegiate football career in 1978 atSacramento State as a reserve. He played at theUniversity of California, Davis under coachJim Sochor. In his senior year, 1982, he was anNCAA Division IIAll-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 theBabe Slater Award for being the most outstanding male athlete at UC Davis.
O'Brien was selected as All-Far Western Conference QB three times and was selected to theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1997.
TheNew York Jets selected O'Brien as the 24th pick in the first round of the1983 NFL draft, shocking observers who expected the team to choose quarterbackDan Marino, a future member of thePro Football Hall of Fame, who was selected three picks later by theMiami Dolphins. The Jets fans who attended the draft, held in New York City, were surprised and outraged by the choice; O'Brien was so obscure that New York television reporterSal Marchiano twice mangled his name while reporting on fan reaction to the draft. (O'Brien said after his retirement, "Who blames [the fans], right? Who, in New York, has heard of Cal, University of California, Davis? Nobody ... I'm not sure I would have reacted any differently. Heck, some of my cousins grew up as Jets fans. They were probably doing the same thing.")[1]Don Shula, who coached the division rivalMiami Dolphins (which draftedDan Marino later in the round) famously asked "Who's he?" Years later, Mike Hickey, a Jets personnel director stated that O'Brien was chosen because he felt that he was smart enough to run the complicated offense of first-year head coachJoe Walton (hired after the firing of defensive-mindedWalt Michaels), as O'Brien was reported to have an IQ of 130 to go along with an arm that would be ideal forShea Stadium and its wind (the Jets moved away from Shea the season after drafting O'Brien to less windyGiants Stadium). Hickey also stated that thePittsburgh Steelers (three picks ahead of New York) not selecting hometown Marino was a key factor and that the final choice was between O'Brien andDarrell Green (later chosen by Washington and a future Hall of Famer).[2][3][4]
In 1985, O'Brien was the highest-rated quarterback in the NFL, finishing the season with a rating of 96.2 while having the lowest interception rate; he was selected to the Pro Bowl that year.[5] The Jets went 11–5 that year to reach the postseason for the first time since 1982. He went 13-of-17 for 149 yards against the New England Patriots with a touchdown and an interception as the Jets lost 26–14.[6] O'Brien later led the NFL with the lowest interception rate in 1987 and 1988.
On September 21, 1986, O'Brien engaged in a famous duel withDan Marino when the Jets played theMiami Dolphins. The eventual 51–45 victory saw a combined total of combined for 927 yards and ten passing touchdowns, with O'Brien throwing for 479 with four touchdowns.[7] On November 2 of that same year, he set history against theSeattle Seahawks. He threw for 431 yards while going 26-for-32 to become the first quarterback to achieve a perfect passer rating (158.3) while throwing for 400 yards. This would not be done again untilNick Foles in 2013.[8] O'Brien did a second game with a perfect rating in the December 23, 1990 game against the New England Patriots by going 11-of-12 for 210 yards with two touchdowns.
O'Brien threw 25 touchdown passes for the second-straight season and helped the Jets post a 10–6 record in 1986, but a sore arm bothered him down the stretch, which saw the team lose five games in a row to stumble into the playoffs.Pat Ryan (who won two games as starter) started in the wild-card round versus Kansas City, which they won.[9] O'Brien only came in action for the divisional round game versus Cleveland when Ryan got hurt early. O'Brien went 11-of-19 for 134 yards while being sacked six times with no touchdowns as the Browns won in double overtime.[10]
O'Brien went to thePro Bowl twice, in 1985 and 1991. He returned to the playoffs in the latter year as the Jets faced the Houston Oilers. He went 21-of-31 for 221 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions as the Jets lost 17–10. He retired after spending the 1993 season with the Philadelphia Eagles where he started only four games and mostly served as a backup forRandall Cunningham andBubby Brister.[11] Despite his occasional flashes with over 25,000 passing yards, O'Brien had a quarterback record of 50–59–1 as a starter, which saw him start over ten games for a team seven times while having a winning record just three times.
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Pro Bowl selection | |
| Led the league | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | Int | Lng | Rtg | ||
| 1984 | NYJ | 10 | 5 | 1–4 | 116 | 203 | 57.1 | 1,402 | 6.9 | 6 | 7 | 49 | 74.0 |
| 1985 | NYJ | 16 | 16 | 11−5 | 297 | 488 | 60.9 | 3,888 | 8.0 | 25 | 8 | 96 | 96.2 |
| 1986 | NYJ | 15 | 14 | 8−6 | 300 | 482 | 62.2 | 3,690 | 7.7 | 25 | 20 | 83 | 85.8 |
| 1987 | NYJ | 12 | 12 | 5−7 | 234 | 393 | 59.5 | 2,696 | 6.9 | 13 | 8 | 59 | 82.8 |
| 1988 | NYJ | 14 | 12 | 6−5–1 | 236 | 424 | 55.7 | 2,567 | 6.1 | 15 | 7 | 50 | 78.6 |
| 1989 | NYJ | 15 | 12 | 4−8 | 288 | 477 | 60.4 | 3,346 | 7.0 | 12 | 18 | 57 | 74.3 |
| 1990 | NYJ | 16 | 16 | 6–10 | 226 | 411 | 55.0 | 2,855 | 6.9 | 13 | 10 | 69 | 77.3 |
| 1991 | NYJ | 16 | 16 | 8–8 | 287 | 489 | 58.7 | 3,300 | 6.7 | 10 | 11 | 53 | 76.6 |
| 1992 | NYJ | 10 | 3 | 1–2 | 55 | 98 | 56.1 | 642 | 6.6 | 5 | 6 | 55 | 67.6 |
| 1993 | PHI | 5 | 4 | 0−4 | 71 | 137 | 51.8 | 708 | 5.2 | 4 | 3 | 41 | 67.4 |
| Career | 129 | 110 | 50–59–1 | 2,110 | 3,602 | 58.6 | 25,094 | 7.0 | 128 | 98 | 96 | 80.4 | |
After retiring, O'Brien had a stint as an assistant coach for theUniversity of Southern California, where he coachedHeisman Trophy winner and formerCincinnati Bengals,Oakland Raiders, andArizona Cardinals quarterbackCarson Palmer.[12]
O'Brien and his wife Stacey have four children, with his first grandchild coming in 2018. As of 2019, O'Brien works at IWP Wealth Management inManhattan Beach, California.[13]