anytime you draft a QB that makes a pro bowl w/ 10 TDSs and 11 INTs while leading team to 8-8 record you know you've hit a HR.
O'Brien was decent. He had one and a half great years. Let's not get crazy thinking he's there with Elway, Marino and Kelly.....shit, even Tony Eason made it to a Super Bowl
I'm curious...is that your daughter in your avatar? Is she a band member an 'Nova? Is that why she's crying?
32 years today.....oh what if. What about that Sugar Bowl game win against Georgia didn't the Jets get? The guy's greatness and 'clutch' under pressure staring them right in the face... Bill Hillgrove, who was with the Marino family on draft day, later recalled that when the New York Jets selected O'Brien, Marino "became visibly ill". (O'Brien, who played for Division II Cal-Davis, was so obscure that Marino later asked his agent Marvin Demoff "Who is Ken O'Brien?") Besides Marino, Sack Exchange or no Sack Exchange, Charles Mann (in the 3rd over JoJo Townsell), Greg Townsend (in the 4th over Wes Howell) and a guy named Richard HOF Dent in the EIGHT ROUND wouldn't have looked that bad. But no, let's forget BPA and reach strictly for need....sigh.... At the bottom of the '83 draft the Jets select a kicker, the would-be great Stu Crum. The Cowboys? They wait and tab an UDFA named Raul Allegre.
That's a Photoshop job. Check this out... http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/03/villanova-piccolo-player-nc-state-ncaa-tournament
I was 23 when he was drafted so his 10 year career was right in the wheelhouse of my post-teenage fandom. _
The Jets have taken a lot of shit over the years for not drafting Marino, and rightfully so. I mean, dude was like the second coming of Namath with that lighting quick release and rocket arm. But the team that passed on Marino that REALLY screwed the pooch was Pittsburgh. My God, it could not have been scripted any easier for them. Local kid IN THEIR OWN BACKYARD, with an aging Bradshaw ready to hang it up, AND YOU PASS ON HIM??? The Steelers really had NO excuse not to take him.
I agree with you but at least they didn't take a different QB and Pitt has won multiple SBs since then while we are still searching. If we won a SB stuff like this would be forgotten about like Red Sox fans "forgive" Bill Buckner now that they have one(even though losing that series wasn't Buckner's fault anyway).
"The Pittsburgh Steelers selected Gabriel Rivera in the first round (21st pick overall) of the 1983 NFL Draft. Rivera's selection was notable because the Steelers decided to pass on hometown hero and University of Pittsburgh quarterback Dan Marino as heir apparent to Terry Bradshaw. Head coach Chuck Noll chose to rebuild from the defensive side as the team did a decade earlier with "Mean Joe" Greene. Rivera was considered to be one of the fastest defensive linemen coming out of college.[5] As the 1983 season progressed, Rivera slowly began to come on, getting 2 sacks in his first 6 games played. But on October 20, 1983, Rivera was paralyzed in a drunk driving car wreck. The then-22 year-old was treated for head, neck, chest and abdominal injuries, as well as significant memory loss. The accident occurred at 9:00 p.m. in Ross Township, a northern suburb of Pittsburgh. At the time, Gabriel was married to Kimberly Covington; they had son Timothy Rivera three weeks later, on November 11, 1983." Good thing they didn't draft Ken O'Brien!
actually Ken's lone start against Miami in 1984 resulted in a loss and how many of those winning records came in playoff games? it's awesome that he beat mostly mediocre Miami teams w/ Marino though. Only 2 times did he lead the Jets to a win over a Marino led Dolphin team in a season the Dolphins made the playoffs- 1985 and 1992 at home
