Jeff George

However, despite George's stellar statistics, the team struggled overall; their defense finished 28th in scoring.

Oakland finished 4–12 in Joe Bugel's one and only season as the Raiders' head coach.

The following year, the offense changed to head coach Jon Gruden's West Coast offense, a controlled-pass approach which did not suit George's strengths.

George was inconsistent at the beginning of the year, and later struggled with a groin pull, telling a local radio audience that he was finished for the year.

Jeffrey Scott George (born December 8, 1967) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons.

He attended Warren Central High School, where he received the Dial Award for the national high school scholar-athlete of the year in 1985 and was the first Gatorade National Player of the Year.

He attended Purdue University and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.

George transferred after a year at Purdue when the coach who recruited him, Leon Burtnett, resigned.

Burtnett's replacement was Fred Akers, who had been known for his teams that used a run-heavy option type offense that required a more mobile quarterback.

George subsequently committed to the University of Miami, but he backed out when coach Jimmy Johnson would not guarantee him a starting job.

George stayed at Illinois for two years, leaving with a year of eligibility remaining after being assured he would be drafted as one of the first five picks of the NFL draft (he was picked No. 1 overall).

He would finish his college career with 6,212 yards, to go with 35 touchdowns and 35 interceptions.

In 1989, his final year as a college player, he threw for 2,738 yards, with 22 TD vs 12 INT.

He played college football for the Illinois Fighting Illini, where he won the Sammy Baugh Trophy, and was selected first overall by the Indianapolis Colts in the 1990 NFL Draft.

The Colts traded up to draft George, making him the first pick in the 1990 NFL Draft, and signed him to the richest rookie contract in NFL history at the time (worth a total of $15 million).

George threw 46 interceptions to 41 touchdowns and lost 35 of his 49 career starts as a Colt; his only winning season with the Colts was 1992, during which he played ten games and threw 15 interceptions to seven touchdowns.

Before the 1993 season, he refused to report to training camp and only returned to the team when Jim Irsay made it clear that George would have to pay a huge penalty fee for breach of contract if he did not get back to work.

The Colts traded George to the Atlanta Falcons after the 1993 season.

A member of seven NFL teams during his career, George helped the 1995 Atlanta Falcons and the 1999 Minnesota Vikings reach the playoffs and led the league in passing yards in 1997 with the Oakland Raiders.

George's NFL tenure would also be marked by frequent conflicts with coaches and management, which resulted in his departure from most of his teams.

George was born in Indianapolis, Indiana to an Arab-American family.

In 1995, George led the Falcons to their first playoff appearance since 1991.

On September 22, 1996, in a game against the Philadelphia Eagles, George got into a heated argument on the sidelines with Falcons coach June Jones, all of which was caught on camera for a national television audience.

Jones suspended George for the remainder of the 1996 season.

It was later confirmed that George blamed team management for his problems and felt Jones betrayed him by not standing up to this alleged mistreatment.

Years after the incident, Jones became an advocate for George, stating that the TV argument was overblown and that George was a good quarterback, a team player and worthy of being on an NFL roster.

George's record with the Falcons was 16–19; he had the best completion percentage (60.5) of his career with 50 touchdowns and 32 interceptions.

George signed with the Oakland Raiders for the 1997 after leaving the Falcons.

The Oilers, in their first home game since their controversial relocation from Houston, ruined George's debut (he threw three touchdowns to Tim Brown) by beating the Raiders, 24–21, on an Al Del Greco field goal in overtime.

A notable moment for the Silver and Black came in Week 8; against the visiting Broncos, George delivered a workmanlike performance (9-12, 96 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT).

Thanks in large part to Napoleon Kaufman's 227-yard performance on the ground, the host Raiders upset the eventual Super Bowl champions, 28–25.

In his eighth year in the NFL, he had arguably his finest statistical year, throwing for 29 touchdown passes and 9 interceptions, for a 91.2 passer rating.

He also ignored the offensive coordinator's play calls during the 1998 season and ran his own plays through a wristband containing plays (in an interview, George told Joe Theismann that he did what the coaches wanted on 1st and 2nd down, and simply threw it to Tim Brown on 3rd down).

The Raiders essentially ended George's Oakland tenure when they signed free-agent quarterback Rich Gannon.

After being cut by Oakland, George initially found himself without anywhere to play in 1999; an article at SI.com had several coaches (including Dick Vermeil, Mike Ditka, and Mike Holmgren) go on record about how George wasn't a winner and would not be considered by them despite their own poor/uncertain QB issues.

However, the article also said that the Vikings had interest in George at a low salary to be the backup to Randall Cunningham, and George accepted that offer before training camp began.

Cunningham struggled at the start of the 1999 season and was benched, and George took over the starting role.

In 10 games as a starter George went 8–2 with 23 touchdowns, 8.6 yards per attempt, and a 94.2 rating, in leading Minnesota to the playoffs.

George then earned his first career playoff win, throwing three touchdown passes to lead the Vikings over the Dallas Cowboys, 27–10.

The Vikings lost the next week to the eventual Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams, 49–37.