Monday, June 17, 2019

Top 50 NFL Quarterbacks: #42 - Roman Gabriel


Roman Gabriel

Roman Gabriel was the first Filipino-American quarterback in the NFL, and he was one of the top quarterbacks of the period around the NFL-AFL merger, though he never won a championship.

Gabriel was drafted in 1962, as the #1 pick in the AFL Draft by Oakland and the #2 overall NFL pick by the Rams, and he chose to go south to LA. He started only half of his team's games in his first 4 seasons, but they won 11 of those games, and only 4 games combined when someone else started.

When the team switched coaches before the 1966 season, he was named the starter, and led the team to its first winning record in nearly a decade. The next year he led the Rams to the division title with an 11-1-2 record, with a personal best 25 touchdown passes and only 13 interceptions during the season, but they fell in the playoffs to the eventual champion Green Bay Packers.

After falling just short of the playoffs in 1968, he had an MVP season in 1969, leading the league with 24 touchdowns and only 7 picks, and the Rams started the season with 11 straight wins, which is still a franchise record. They lost their first playoff game to Minnesota, which meant that they ended their season with 4 straight losses.

After a couple more seasons with the Rams, in which they slid further from contention each year, Gabriel was traded to the Eagles. He left the Rams as the all-time franchise leader in many categories, and he still holds the marks for wins and touchdown passes.

In Philadelphia, he was named the Comeback Player of the Year after leading the league in touchdowns, completions, and passing yards. He started for the Eagles for 3 years, then played backup for two more, but never saw the playoffs again and retired without a championship.

Though not many remember him today, Gabriel was one of the best in the league for a good number of seasons right after the merger. He led the league in yardage once and touchdowns twice, and was a decent runner as well, but the fact that he never even played in a championship game has made him fade somewhat into obscurity, but I still believe that he deserves this spot on the list of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.



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