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Neil O’Donnell Football

February 5, 2012 by · Comments Off on Neil O’Donnell Football 

Neil O’Donnell Football, Neil Kennedy O’Donnell (born July 3, 1966) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League for 14 seasons (1990-2003) with the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets, Cincinnati Bengals, and Tennessee Titans. He played college football at the University of Maryland.

O’Donnell grew up in Madison, New Jersey, and played high school football there at Madison High School.

O’Donnell was drafted by the Steelers with the 70th overall pick in the 1990 NFL draft. After sitting on the bench for his entire rookie season, he started in eight games during 1991 before becoming the team’s full-time QB in 1992. O’Donnell led the Steelers to Super Bowl XXX, but threw two fatal interceptions to Dallas Cowboys cornerback Larry Brown to set up short touchdown drives in the second half.

O’Donnell ended his career with the lowest interception percentage in NFL history, averaging just 2.11 interceptions for every 100 pass attempts, although this statistic is somewhat diminished by the costly ones he threw in the Super Bowl. Aaron Rodgers has since eclipsed the record (1.99 interception percentage through the 2010-11 season).

O’Donnell also wore number 14 during most of his career except during his one-year stint with the Bengals, where he wore number 12. The Bengals haven’t issued number 14 since the retirement of former quarterback & West Coast offense pioneer Ken Anderson–coincidentally, now the quarterbacks coach for the Steelers.

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