David Archer (quarterback)

{{Infobox NFL biography

| name = David Archer

| image = David Archer.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Archer in 2021

| number = 15, 16, 18

| position = Quarterback

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1962|2|15}}

| birth_place = Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height_ft = 6

| height_in = 2

| weight_lbs = 200

| high_school = Soda Springs {{nowrap|(Soda Springs, Idaho)}}

| college = {{ubl|Snow College (1980-1981)|Iowa State (1982-1983)}}

| undraftedyear = 1984

| pastteams =

Atlanta Falcons ({{NFL Year|1984}}–{{NFL Year|1987}})
Miami Dolphins ({{NFL Year|1988}})*
Washington Redskins ({{NFL Year|1988}})
San Diego Chargers ({{NFL Year|1989}})
Philadelphia Eagles ({{NFL Year|1991}})
Sacramento Surge (1992)
Philadelphia Eagles ({{NFL Year|1992}})
Sacramento Gold Miners ({{CFL Year|1993}}–{{CFL Year|1994}})
San Antonio Texans ({{CFL Year|1995}})
Ottawa Rough Riders ({{CFL Year|1996}})
Edmonton Eskimos ({{CFL Year|1998}})

| highlights =

| statlabel1 = Pass attempts

| statvalue1 = 661

| statlabel2 = Pass completions

| statvalue2 = 336

| statlabel3 = Percentage

| statvalue3 = 50.8

| statlabel4 = TD–INT

| statvalue4 = 18–30

| statlabel5 = Passing yards

| statvalue5 = 4,337

| statlabel6 = Passer rating

| statvalue6 = 61.9

| pfr = ArchDa00

}}

David Mark Archer (born February 15, 1962) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for six seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Iowa State Cyclones. Undrafted in the 1984 NFL draft, he played in the NFL from 1984 to 1989 for the Atlanta Falcons, Washington Redskins, San Diego Chargers, and Philadelphia Eagles.

Early life

Born in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Archer attended Soda Springs High School in Soda Springs, Idaho.{{Cite web |title=David Archer - Hall of Fame Class of 2005 - Iowa State Athletics |url=http://www.cyclones.com/sports/2015/3/2/GEN_20140101188.aspx |website=www.cyclones.com}}

College career

After high school, Archer played football at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah. In 1981, in his second season with the Badgers, Archer received Juco All-American honors and was fourth in the country in passing. This caught the attention of Donnie Duncan and the Iowa State coaching staff.{{Cite web |title=Legends: DAVID ARCHER – Soda Springs/Iowa State/NFL football player |url=http://idahostatejournal.com/legends/legends-david-archer-soda-springs-iowa-state-nfl-football-player/article_2f7aa7e9-500a-536f-b38b-3e3edd860615.html |website=IdahoStateJournal.com |access-date=July 31, 2017 |archive-date=December 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215092831/https://www.idahostatejournal.com/legends/legends-david-archer-soda-springs-iowa-state-nfl-football-player/article_2f7aa7e9-500a-536f-b38b-3e3edd860615.html |url-status=dead }}

Archer began his Iowa State career with the 1982 season. He had some individual success with 1,465 yard of passing offense, but the team struggled to a 4-6-1 record. The following season under Jim Criner's downfield oriented offense, Archer flourished. He paired up with All-American receiver Tracy Henderson to form one of the most lethal QB-WR duos in ISU history. Archer set school marks in pass completions (234), attempts (403), yards (2,639), total offense (2,698), touchdowns (18) and lowest interception percentage (.029). He led the Big Eight and ranked eighth nationally in total offense while his favorite target Henderson caught a then-school record 1,051 yards, ranking third nationally.{{Cite web |last=SCHOFFNER |first=CHUCK |date=November 16, 1986 |title=Jim Criner's Firing Ends 21 Months of Unrest at Iowa State |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-11-16-sp-7786-story.html |via=LA Times}} In one of Archer's best games, he threw for a then-school-record 346 yards against the No. 1-ranked Nebraska team, helping the Cyclones put up the most points (29) against the Cornhuskers in the regular season.{{Cite web |title=Nebraska Historical Scores |url=http://www.jhowell.net/cf/scores/Nebraska.htm |website=www.jhowell.net}} His 2,639 passing yards and 2,698 yards of total offense his senior season are still the second-best single-season marks in Iowa State history.

=Statistics=

colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"\| ! colspan="7" style="text-align:center;"\| Passing ! colspan="4" style="text-align:center;"\| Rushing
class="wikitable sortable"
style="text-align:center;" ! Year !! {{tooltip\|GP\|Games played}} !! {{tooltip\|Cmp\|Passes completed}} !! {{tooltip\|Att\|Passes attempted}} !! {{tooltip\|Pct\|Completion percentage}} !! {{tooltip\|Yds\|Passing yards}} !! {{tooltip\|TD\|Passing touchdowns}} !! {{tooltip\|Int\|Interceptions}} !! {{tooltip\|Rtg\|Passer rating}} !! {{tooltip\|Att\|Rushing attempts}} !! {{tooltip\|Yds\|Rushing yards}} !! {{tooltip\|Avg\|Yards per rushing attempt}} !! {{tooltip\|TD\|Rushing touchdowns}}
style="text-align:center;" \| 1982	11	125	244	51.2	1,465	5	13	97.8	90	7	0.1	2
style="text-align:center;" \| 1983	11	234	403	58.1	2,639	18	12	121.9	110	59	0.5	3
class="sortbottom" style="background:#eee;" ! Total !! 22	359	647	55.5	4,104	23	25	112.8	200	66	0.3	5
colspan="13" style="font-size:8pt; text-align:center;"\|Reference:{{Cite web \|title=David Archer College Stats - College Football at Sports-Reference.com \|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/david-archer-1.html \|website=College Football at Sports-Reference.com}}

NFL career

Archer was drafted in the ninth round of the 1984 USFL Draft by the Denver Gold, but was not called in the NFL draft.{{Cite web |title=USFL.info |url=http://www.usfl.info/1984draft.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618201806/http://www.usfl.info/1984draft.html |archive-date=June 18, 2012 |access-date=July 31, 2017 |website=www.usfl.info}} He opted to not sign with USFL and chose to sign a free-agent contract with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. This decision ultimately paid off because in his second NFL season he was the named the starting QB. He led Atlanta with 1,992 passing yards.{{Cite web |title=David Archer |url=http://www.nfl.com/player/davidarcher/2499447/profile |website=NFL.com}} The following season he kept the starting job, led the Falcons to a 5-1-1 record after seven games, was named NFC Player of the Month for September, and kept the Falcons rolling until an injury ended his season with five games remaining.{{Cite web |last=Murphy |first=Austin |title=From out of the shadows |url=https://www.si.com/vault/1986/09/29/114053/from-out-of-the-shadows-lowly-atlanta-with-quarterback-david-archer-is-3-0-after-upsetting-dallas}} He finished the year with 2,007 passing yards and 10 touchdown strikes in 11 games, throwing for a career-high 350 yards against the New York Giants. The mobile Archer proved to be one of the better running QBs in the league, ranking at the top of the NFL in QB rushing yards in both 1985 (347 yards) and 1986 (298). Archer played five more seasons in the NFL, finishing his final years with the Washington Redskins, San Diego Chargers, and Philadelphia Eagles.

=Statistics=

rowspan="2"\|Year	rowspan="2"\|Team	rowspan="2"\|G	rowspan="2"\|GS	colspan="8" \|Passing	colspan="4" \|Rushing	colspan="2" \|Sacked	colspan="2" \|Fumbles
class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/A	TD	Int	Rtg	Att	Yds	Avg	TD	Sack	Yds	Fum	Lost
1984	ATL \| 2 \|\| 0 \|\| 11 \|\| 18 \|\| 61.1 \|\| 181 \|\| 10.1 \|\| 1 \|\| 1 \|\| 90.3 \|\| 6 \|\| 38 \|\| 6.3 \|\| 0 \|\| 7 \|\| 45 \|\| 1 \|\| 1
1985	ATL \| 16 \|\| 11 \|\| 161 \|\| 312 \|\| 51.6 \|\| 1,992 \|\| 6.4 \|\| 7 \|\| 17 \|\| 56.5 \|\| 70 \|\| 347 \|\| 5.0 \|\| 2 \|\| 43 \|\| 312 \|\| 9 \|\| 2
1986	ATL \| 11 \|\| 11 \|\| 150 \|\| 294 \|\| 51.0 \|\| 2,007 \|\| 6.8 \|\| 10 \|\| 9 \|\| 71.6 \|\| 52 \|\| 298 \|\| 5.7 \|\| 0 \|\| 34 \|\| 249 \|\| 8 \|\| 1
1987	ATL \| 9 \|\| 1 \|\| 9 \|\| 23 \|\| 39.1 \|\| 95 \|\| 4.1 \|\| 0 \|\| 2 \|\| 15.7 \|\| 2 \|\| 8 \|\| 4.0 \|\| 0 \|\| 3 \|\| 24 \|\| 0 \|\| 0
1988	WAS \| 1 \|\| 0 \|\| 0 \|\| 2 \|\| 0.0 \|\| 0 \|\| 0.0 \|\| 0 \|\| 0 \|\| 39.6 \|\| 3 \|\| 1 \|\| 0.3 \|\| 0 \|\| 0 \|\| 0 \|\| 0 \|\| 0
1989	SD \| 16 \|\| 0 \|\| 5 \|\| 12 \|\| 41.7 \|\| 62 \|\| 5.2 \|\| 0 \|\| 1 \|\| 23.6 \|\| 2 \|\| 14 \|\| 7.0 \|\| 0 \|\| 2 \|\| 12 \|\| 0 \|\| 0
colspan="2"\|Total	55	23	336	661	50.8	4,337	6.6	18	30	61.9	135	706	5.2	2	89	642	18	4
colspan="20" style="font-size:8pt; text-align:center;"\|Reference:{{Cite web \|title=David Archer Stats - Pro-Football-Reference.com \|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/A/ArchDa00.htm \|website=Pro-Football-Reference.com}}

WLAF and CFL career

Archer played for the Sacramento Surge of the WLAF in 1992, throwing for 2,964 yards (NFL Europa single season record) and leading them to a World Bowl championship, where he was named game MVP. In 1993, the same ownership group who owned the Surge (who folded along with the rest of the WLAF's North American teams following the 1992 season) transferred Archer to their new Canadian Football League (CFL) team, the Sacramento Gold Miners (part of the league's United States expansion). As a Gold Miner, in 1993, he threw for 6,023 yards, still the fifth most in any CFL season (Doug Flutie of the Calgary Stampeders threw for even more yards that year.){{Cite web |last=Green |first=Mike |date=August 13, 2015 |title=Archer One Of Iowa State's Best QBs |url=https://cyclonesidebar.wordpress.com/2015/08/13/archer-one-of-iowa-states-best-qbs/}} He threw for 3,340 yards for Sacramento in 1994. He played with the San Antonio Texans in 1995, and the Ottawa Rough Riders in 1996. After the Rough Riders folded, he was drafted by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the dispersal draft. He decided to not play in Saskatchewan as the contract offer was too low and retired instead. He spent the 1997 season as a CFL television analyst and returned to the CFL with the Edmonton Eskimos in 1998.{{Cite web |title=David Archer |url=http://cflapedia.com/Players/a/archer_david.htm |website=cflapedia.com}} His final game was the Western Final playoff game against the Calgary Stampeders with Jeff Garcia at quarterback. Calgary won and went on to win the Grey Cup. Archer retired after that game and is now the color analyst for the Atlanta Falcons alongside Wes Durham and ACC college football.

In his five seasons in the CFL, he completed 1,388 of 2,434 passes (57%) for 20,671 yards with 120 touchdown passes and 71 interceptions.{{Cite web |title=David Archer College & Pro Football Statistics - Totalfootballstats.com |url=http://www.totalfootballstats.com/PlayerQB.asp?id=106 |website=www.totalfootballstats.com}}

Broadcasting career

In 2004, Archer made the move from pre- and post-game show host to the booth as the main color commentator for the Falcons' games on their flagship station, 92.9 the Game FM. Additionally, he serves as a color analyst for ACC football games for the Raycom network as well.{{Cite web |title=Atlanta Falcons - Broadcast Team |url=http://www.atlantafalcons.com/on-the-air/falcons-radio-network/broadcast-team.html |access-date=July 31, 2017 |archive-date=July 31, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731231707/http://www.atlantafalcons.com/on-the-air/falcons-radio-network/broadcast-team.html |url-status=dead }}