Oakland Raiders: 10 Reasons Healy’s Take On Carr Is Dead Wrong
By Kevin Saito
Aug 2, 2014; Canton, OH, USA; Dan Fouts waves to the crowd at the TimkenSteel Grand Parade on Cleveland Avenue in advance of the 2014 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Though he doesn’t have a Super Bowl Championship to his credit, there is no denying the fact that Fouts had a pretty prolific career as an NFL quarterback – despite the fact that he was a mere third round selection out of Oregon.
Once again, contrary to Healy’s point, Fouts wasn’t very good as a rookie. In ten games – with six starts – Fouts put up incredibly pedestrian numbers. His completion rate was just 44.8 percent, he threw six touchdowns against 13 interceptions, and threw for just 1,126 yards in compiling a 1-5 record as a starter.
As an aside, Fouts posted a meager 5.8 yards per attempt average – very similar to Carr’s rookie season, and a statistic that Healy used to “prove” that Carr will not find NFL success.
Fouts had a very up and down career until 1979, when he broke out in a big way – that would be his seventh and not his rookie season in the NFL, if you’re scoring at home, Andrew Healy.
In 1979, Fouts completed 62.6 percent of his passes for an eye popping at the time 4,082 yards – a run of three straight seasons in which he topped the 4,000 yard mark, which made him the first in NFL history to accomplish that feat.
Fouts went to six pro bowls, was named first team All Pro twice, was the NFL MVP (1982), NFL Offensive Player of the Year (1982), threw for 43,040 yards – which is eleventh most in NFL history – and currently has a bronze bust sitting in Canton.
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