Ken O'Brien
{{Short description|American football player and coach (born 1960)}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name = Ken O'Brien
| number = 7, 8, 15
| position = Quarterback
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1960|11|27}}
| birth_place = Rockville Centre, New York, U.S.
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 4
| weight_lb = 210
| high_school = Jesuit {{nowrap|(Carmichael, California)}}
| college = Sacramento State, UC Davis
| draftyear = 1983
| draftround = 1
| draftpick = 24
| teams =
- New York Jets ({{NFL Year|1983}}–{{NFL Year|1992}})
- Green Bay Packers ({{NFL Year|1993}})*
- Philadelphia Eagles ({{NFL Year|1993}})
| pastcoaching =
| highlights =
- 2× Pro Bowl (1985, 1991)
- NFL passer rating leader (1985)
- Cal Aggie Athletic Hall of Fame (1990)
| statlabel1 = Passing attempts
| statvalue1 = 3,602
| statlabel2 = Passing completions
| statvalue2 = 2,110
| statlabel3 = Completion percentage
| statvalue3 = 58.6
| statvalue4 = 128–98
| statlabel5 = Passing yards
| statvalue5 = 25,094
| statlabel6 = Passer rating
| statvalue6 = 80.4
| pfr = O/OBriKe00
| CollegeHOF = 2031
}}
Kenneth John O'Brien Jr. (born November 27, 1960) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles. One of the six quarterbacks in the famed quarterback 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 the College Football Hall of Fame.
Early life and college
O'Brien 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 an NCAA 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 most outstanding male athlete at UC Davis.
O'Brien was selected as All-Far Western Conference QB three times and was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997.
Professional career
The New York Jets selected O'Brien as the 24th pick in the first round of the 1983 NFL draft, shocking observers who expected the team to choose quarterback Dan Marino, a future member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, who was selected three picks later by the Miami 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 reporter Sal 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."){{cite episode | title=Elway to Marino | series=30 for 30 | network=ESPN | airdate=2013-04-23 | season=2}} Don Shula, who coached the division rival Miami Dolphins (which drafted Dan 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 coach Joe Walton (hired after the firing of defensive-minded Walt Michaels), as O'Brien was reported to have an IQ of 130 to go along with an arm that would be ideal for Shea Stadium and its wind (the Jets moved away from Shea the season after drafting O'Brien to less windy Giants Stadium). Hickey also stated that the Pittsburgh Steelers (three picks ahead of New York) not selecting hometown Marino was a key factor and that the final choice was between O'Brien and Darrell Green (later chosen by Washington and a future Hall of Famer).{{cite news | title = Say what? Top 50 Miami Dolphins quotes of all time | first = Hyde | last = Dave | url = http://southflorida.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-miami-dolphins-top-quotes-s060409,0,4049617.story?page=2 | newspaper = South Florida Sun-Sentinel | date = June 4, 2009 | access-date = September 13, 2009}}{{Cite web |date=2014-09-03 |title=Leaving on a Jets Plane |url=https://observer.com/2014/09/leaving-on-a-jets-plane/ |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=Observer |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2023-12-28 |title=Dan Marino, Brett Favre, Peyton Manning? The Jets could have drafted a future HOF QB |url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39188247/new-york-jets-quarterback-ifs-super-bowl |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=ESPN.com |language=en}}
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.{{cite web|url=http://www.nfl.com/player/keno'brien/2502323/careerstats |title=Ken O'Brien Career Stats |work=NFL.com |date= |accessdate=2022-05-19}} 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.{{cite web | url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198512280nyj.htm | title=Wild Card - New England Patriots at New York Jets - December 28th, 1985 | website=Pro-Football-Reference.com }} 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 with Dan Marino when the Jets played the Miami 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.{{cite web | url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/198609210nyj.htm | title=Miami Dolphins at New York Jets - September 21st, 1986 | website=Pro-Football-Reference.com }} On November 2 of that same year, he set history against the Seattle 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 until Nick Foles in 2013.{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=331103013 |title = Eagles vs. Raiders - Box Score - November 3, 2013 - ESPN}} 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.{{cite web | url=https://vault.si.com/vault/1987/01/05/wake-up-call-for-the-jets-the-jets-switched-quarterbacks-woke-up-and-did-a-35-15-number-on-the-chiefs | title=Wake-Up Call for the Jets }} 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.{{cite web | url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/O/OBriKe00/gamelog/post/ | title=Ken O'Brien Playoffs Game Log | website=Pro-Football-Reference.com }}
O'Brien went to the Pro 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 for Randall Cunningham and Bubby Brister.{{cite web|url=https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/phi/1993.htm|title = 1993 Philadelphia Eagles Statistics & Players|website = Pro-Football-Reference.com}} 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.
NFL career statistics
| class="wikitable" |
| colspan="2"| Legend |
|---|
| style="background:#ff0; width:3em;"|
| Pro Bowl selection |
| style="background:#cfecec; width:3em;"|
| Led the league |
| Bold
| Career high |
= Regular season =
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" | ||||||||||||
| rowspan="2"| Year
! rowspan="2"| Team ! colspan="3"| Games ! colspan="9"| 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 | |||||||||||
| style="background:#ffff00"|1985 | NYJ
| 16 || 16 || 11−5 || 297 || 488 || 60.9 || 3,888 || 8.0 || 25 || 8 || 96 || style="background:#cfecec;"|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 | |||||||||||
| style="background:#ffff00;"|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 | |||||||||||
| colspan="2"| [https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/O/OBriKe00.htm Career] | 129 | 110 | 50–59–1 | 2,110 | 3,602 | 58.6 | 25,094 | 7.0 | 128 | 98 | 96 | 80.4 |
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 former Cincinnati Bengals, Oakland Raiders, and Arizona Cardinals quarterback Carson Palmer.{{cite web|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/your_turn/news/2001/08/15/chatreel_palmer/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020210062357/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/your_turn/news/2001/08/15/chatreel_palmer/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 10, 2002 |title=Chat Reel: Carson Palmer |publisher=Sports Illustrated |date=August 15, 2001 |access-date=April 8, 2010}}
Personal life
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 in Manhattan Beach, California.{{Cite web |url=https://www.newyorkjets.com/news/where-are-they-now-ken-o-brien |title=Where are they now? |access-date=February 24, 2023 |archive-date=February 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224140109/https://www.newyorkjets.com/news/where-are-they-now-ken-o-brien |url-status=dead }}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Footballstats |nfl=ken-o-brien |espn=6483 |pfr=O/OBriKe00 }}
{{Sacramento State Hornets quarterback navbox}}
{{UC Davis Aggies quarterback navbox}}
{{1983 NFL Draft}}
{{Jets1983DraftPicks}}
{{JetsFirstPick}}
{{New York Jets starting quarterback navbox}}
{{Philadelphia Eagles starting quarterback navbox}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Ken}}
Category:American football quarterbacks
Category:New York Jets players
Category:Philadelphia Eagles players
Category:UC Davis Aggies football players
Category:UC Davis Aggies football coaches
Category:USC Trojans football coaches
Category:American Conference Pro Bowl players
Category:College Football Hall of Fame inductees
Category:Sportspeople from Carmichael, California
Category:Sportspeople from Rockville Centre, New York
Category:Players of American football from Nassau County, New York
Category:Players of American football from Sacramento County, California