Greg Landry

Last updated

Greg Landry
No. 11
Position: Quarterback
Personal information
Born: (1946-12-18) December 18, 1946 (age 77)
Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S.
Height:6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
High school: Nashua (NH)
College: UMass
NFL draft: 1968  / Round:  1  / Pick: 11
Career history
As a player:
As a coach:
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Passing attempts:1,276
Passing completions:2,300
Completion percentage:55.5%
TD–INT:98–103
Passing yards:16,052
Passer rating:72.9
Player stats at PFR

Gregory Paul Landry (born December 18, 1946) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) from 1968 to 1981, and again in 1984. He played for the Detroit Lions, Baltimore Colts and Chicago Bears. He played college football at Massachusetts from 1965 – 1967. He became an assistant coach after his playing career.

Contents

Playing career

Landry was the first quarterback selected in the 1968 NFL/AFL draft (eleventh overall) after a stellar career at the University of Massachusetts where he was selected All-Yankee Conference for two seasons. [1] With the Lions in 1971, he passed for 2,237 yards and 16 touchdowns and was named to his only Pro Bowl that year. In 1976, Landry passed for 2,191 yards and 17 touchdowns and was named the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year. He established a couple of passing records with the Lions. He was benched by Lions head coach Tommy Hudspeth late in 1977 and supplanted by Gary Danielson as the starting quarterback the following year. [2]

Landry's request to be traded was granted when he was acquired by the Colts from the Lions for fourth- and fifth-round selections in 1979 (88th and 131st overall– Ulysses Norris and Pittsburgh center Walt Brown respectively) and a 1980 third-round pick (62nd overall– Mike Friede) on April 29, 1979. [2] [3] During his three seasons with the Colts, he played brilliantly in 1979 despite a 5–11 record after a season-ending injury to starting quarterback Bert Jones. Landry passed for a career best 2,932 yards and 15 touchdowns that season. He then played for George Allen on the Chicago Blitz and Arizona Wranglers in the United States Football League (USFL) in 1983 and 1984. He started one game as an emergency quarterback for the Chicago Bears in 1984 before retiring as a player.

Landry was also notable as a rusher; in the 1970 opener at Green Bay, he ran for 76 yards on a quarterback sneak, [4] which was for a time the longest rush by a quarterback in NFL history. [5] He rushed for over 2,600 yards and 21 touchdowns in his career, exceeding 500 yards on the ground in both 1970 and 1972, as well as averaging ten yards per carry in 1970 and scoring 9 touchdowns in 1972. [6] He currently ranks third on the all-time Lions career passing yardage list (12,451), and ranks second in touchdown passes with 80.

Coaching career

Landry began his coaching career in 1985 handling the Cleveland Browns quarterbacks, and later joined Mike Ditka's staff as quarterback coach in 1986, following the Bears' rout of the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX. With the Bears, he was also the wide receivers and tight ends coach before taking over as offensive coordinator from 1988 to 1992.

Following the 1992 season, Landry was hired as the offensive coordinator at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign for two seasons. The 1994 Illinois Fighting Illini had the second-best passing offense in the Big Ten Conference, which carried the team to a 30–0 win in the Liberty Bowl over East Carolina, which was making its first bowl appearance in 16 seasons.

The following year, Landry returned to the Lions as quarterback coach, helping them to become the top offensive unit in the NFL and guiding Scott Mitchell to record-setting passing numbers that season. He retired from coaching after the 1996 season to become a local radio host.

NFL career statistics

Legend
Led the league
BoldCareer high

Regular season

YearTeamGamesPassingRushing
GPGSRecordCmpAttPctYdsAvgLngTDIntRtgAttYdsAvgLngTD
1968 DET 420–2234847.93387.0802745.77395.6141
1969 DET 1075–28016050.08535.34341048.3332437.4261
1970 DET 1265–18313661.01,0727.9589592.53535010.0761
1971 DET 14147–6–113626152.12,2378.676161380.9765307.0523
1972 DET 14148–5–113426850.02,0667.782181771.8815246.5389
1973 DET 772–4–17012854.79087.18431052.5422676.4182
1974 DET 531–2498259.85727.0453377.922954.3191
1975 DET 632–1315655.44037.2361084.220924.6140
1976 DET 14125–716829157.72,1917.57417889.6432345.4281
1977 DET 11114–713524056.31,3595.7396768.725994.0130
1978 DET 551–4487762.34525.9201177.45295.8190
1979 BAL 16122–1027045759.12,9326.467151575.3311153.7170
1980 BAL 1611–0244751.12755.9322356.67263.7141
1981 BAL 110–142948.31956.7340156.011111.0110
1984 CHI 111–0112055.019910.0551366.5210.511
Career 1469844–51–31,2762,30055.516,0527.0849810372.94302,6556.27621

Honors

In 2012, Landry was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.

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References

  1. ↑ "'End of a dream'". Nashua Telegraph. (New Hampshire). Associated Press. January 31, 1968. p. 18.
  2. 1 2 Saylor, Jack. "Greg Landry gets his wish–Lions trade him," Detroit Free Press, Monday, April 30, 1979. Retrieved November 3, 2020
  3. ↑ 1979 NFL Draft Pick Transactions, May 3 (Rounds 1–6) & 4 (Rounds 7–12) – Pro Sports Transactions. Retrieved November 3, 2020
  4. ↑ "Lions annihilate Packers, 40-0; Mann boots four field goals". Ludington Daily News. (Michigan). UPI. September 21, 1970. p. 5.
  5. ↑ "Quarterback Sneak of 76 Yards Makes Landry a Top Rusher". The New York Times. September 27, 1970. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved March 29, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Greg Landry Stats - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
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