Hall of Fame Preview: Steve Young

By Hugo Guzman  |   Tuesday, August 02, 2005  |  Comments( 0 )

San Francisco 49ers
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Steve Young was one of the most unique passers in the history of the NFL. Let's go over some of the reasons for this distinction:

1) He was left handed. Not many NFL quarterbacks are southpaws.

2) He is entering the Hall of Fame on his first ballot despite the fact that he was a backup in five of his first six NFL seasons.

3) In the late 80's Steve Young was already considered to be one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL despite the fact that he was a backup!

4)While fellow inductee, Dan Marino, hogs up most of the NFL's career passing records it is Steve Young that is known for having the highest career passing rating; an extremely robust 96.9 (most NFL quarterbacks don't have one season with that high of a passing rating under their belts)

5) Steve Young might be the greatest running quarterback in history in terms of a combination of running prowess and passing ability. While Randall Cunningham and now Michael Vick are more well known for their ability to scramble, neither of those guys can throw the ball as well as young did.

6) Steve Young was involved in two of the craziest NFL plays that I have ever seen. The first play was a 49 yard scramble for a touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings on the last play of the game. After avoiding a sure sack and scrambling around like a wild rabbit he almost choked away the entire play when he tripped on the turf at about the 10 yard line. However, he managed to bumble and stumble his way into the endzone and win the game. The second play was the play that thrust Terrell Owens into the national spotlight. It occurred in the 98' Wild Card game against the Green Bay Packers. Once again, on the last play of the game Young worked his magic, and once again, he almost tripped himself up (this time with an offensive lineman's foot. Somehow, after tripping while dropping back to pass, he righted himself and drilled a pass in between multiple defenders. Owens, who had a case of the "drops" all day long, was able to hold on to the bullet pass even after being popped by two defenders securing a last second victory.

For those of you who had the privileged of watching Steve Young play I don't have to say much. He was simply one of the most exciting (as well as unique) quarterbacks in NFL history. For those of you who are somehow too young to remember his glory. I recommend that you watch a lot of TV this week and try and catch as many highlight films as you can of this freak of nature that had the legs, the arms, and the smarts to wow fans and opponents week in and week out.
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About Hugo Guzman

Co-founder of RealFootball365.com. Born in Argentina, of Dominican descent, living in Hoboken, but from Miami through and ...
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