BRIAN GRIESE
Quarterback #14

Height: 6-3
Weight: 215
College: Michigan
Born: March 18, 1975, in Miami, Fla.
High School: Columbus High School, Miami, Fla.
Resides: Coral Gables, Fla.
Acquired: Draft #3 (91st overall), 1998
Pro Year: 3rd
Year with Broncos: 3rd
NFL Games Played/Started: 15/13


2000: Griese started nine of the first 10 games, but is expected to miss at least one more week because of a separated acromioclavicular (AC) joint in his right (throwing) shoulder, suffered vs. Oak. (11/13). He will practice on a limited basis this week. Griese has been inactive for each of the past four games (vs. S.D., 11/19; at Sea., 11/26; at N.O., 12/3 and vs. Sea., 12/10). For the season Griese has completed 214 of 334 passes (64.1%) for 2,674 yds. and a career-high 19 touchdowns, with just four interceptions and a long of 61 for an NFL-best passer rating of 102.8. He has also rushed 29 times for 102 yds. (3.5) and one touchdown with a long of 18. Griese was voted by his teammates an offensive captain at the midpoint of the season, joining Terrell Davis. Griese leads the AFC in completion percentage (2nd NFL) and yards-per-attempt (8.01; 4th NFL), and desite missing three games still ranks tied for fourth in touchdown passes (T7th NFL); seventh in passing yards; ninth in completions and ninth in attempts. He is also the NFL’s leading passer on third-down (109.6 rating) and ranks second in fourth-quarter passing (112.6 rating). Versus Oakland on Monday Night Football (11/13) Griese showed tremendous courage and leadership, and earned the NFL.com All-Heart Player of the Week Award, by playing the majority of the game with a separated AC joint in his right (throwing) shoulder and engineering a fourth-quarter game-winning drive—the third of his career. Griese suffered the injury on Denver’s second offensive series, and was taken to the locker room for examination. He returned to the game on the second play of the 2nd qtr., and played the remainder of the contest, completing 25 of 37 (68%) for 262 yds. and a touchdown, with one interception. On the Broncos’ 10-play, 83-yd. touchdown march that put them ahead 24-10 in the 4th qtr., Griese completed 6 of 6 for 73 yds. Then, with the score tied at 24, and 1:01 remaining on the clock, Griese led a 7-play, 44-yd. drive to set up Jason Elam’s 41-yd. game-winning field goal. He covered 42 yds. on four straight pass completions and the final two yards on a quarterback sneak to set up the field goal attempt. Showing his affinity for performing in the clutch, from the midway point of the 3rd qtr. he completed 15 of his final 17 pass attempts (88%) for 161 yds. and a touchdown (125.7 rating), and in the 4th qtr. alone he completed 9 of 11 (82%) for 102 and a touchdown (135.6 rating). At one point he completed 11 straight passes for 119 yds.—tied for the fifth longest completion streak in franchise history. A week earlier Griese began the second half of the season by throwing for more than 300 yds. for the third game in a row, tying an all-time Broncos franchise record, at the Jets (11/5). He completed 22 of 35 passes (63%) for 327 yards and two touchdowns (both to Ed McCaffrey) with one interception to tie the record held by John Elway (1996, 1993-94). It was Griese’s fifth 300-yd. passing day of the season, tied for most in a season (Elway, ’95), and the seventh of Griese’s career, second most in team history. Griese was particularly sharp on third downs (the Broncos converted 12 of 18 for the game), completing 13 of 16 passes (81%) for 225 yards and two touchdowns, achieving the highest possible passer rating (158.3) in such situations. With the score tied 20-20 late in the 3rd qtr. he led Denver 71 yds. in 10 plays over 5:24 for the go-ahead 23-yd. Elam field goal, then 80 yds. in 8 plays over 4:12, capped by a 47-yd. TD pass to McCaffrey for a 30-20 lead. Griese turned in an impressive performance at Cin. (10/22), throwing for a career-high 365 yds. on 30 of 45 passing (67%), with two touchdowns and one interception. Griese’s two touchdown passes gave him 16 for the season, a personal single-season high (14, 1999). He matched his career high with three touchdown tosses for the second week in a row (fourth career) in a Week 7 win over Cleve. (10/15), as he completed 19 of 34 passes (56%) for 336 yds. All three scoring passes went to Rod Smith (17 yds., 22 and 32). It was Griese’s third 300-yd. game of the season—a plateau he had already reached by halftime (18-33, 304 yds., 2 TDs), making him the first NFL player to pass for 300 yards in a half since Dec. 5, 1999 (Jeff Garcia, S.F., 307 vs. Cin., 2nd half). With five 300-yd. passing performances in his first 19 starts, Griese reached that number faster than any quarterback in franchise history (Tripucka, 31st start; Elway, 40th start). He threw three touchdown passes the week before at S.D. (10/8), among his 27 completions in 40 attempts (68%) for 235 yds. Two of his scoring tosses went to McCaffrey (2 and 5 yds.) and the other went to Dwayne Carswell (14 yds.). Griese had returned to his starting role in Week 5 vs. N.E. (10/1) after missing the previous game because of a partially torn labrum in his right shoulder, suffered at Oak. (9/17). He set career highs for completions (31) and attempts (50) in the New England game, while posting his second highest yardage total (361; now third), to go with one touchdown and one interception. Griese’s 50 attempts tied for the sixth most in a game by a Broncos quarterback, and were the most since John Elway threw 59 passes at Green Bay, Oct. 10, 1993. His 31 completions were the fourth most in a game by a Bronco, and the most since Elway completed a franchise-record 36 vs. San Diego, Sept. 4, 1994. In the New England game Griese also ended a streak of 181 consecutive passes thrown without an interception, eight shy of the franchise record (Elway, 189 in 1997). He was designated the third quarterback vs. K.C. (9/24) because of the injury. Before missing the K.C. game Griese had begun the year with three consecutive outstanding performances, the last of which came at Oakland (9/17) when he engineered a 33-24 win over the previously unbeaten Raiders and completed his fourth straight game without an interception. He connected on 21 of 31 (67.7%) passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns, with a long of 35. Griese’s touchdowns went 10 yds. to McCaffrey and 1 yd. to Howard Griffith. He was impressive the previous week vs. Atlanta (9/10), tying his career high with three touchdown passes while completing 20 of 33 passes (61%) for 268 yds. His touchdowns went 6 yds. to Griffith and 11 and 37 yds. to Rod Smith. Griese made a spectacular 2000 debut on Monday Night Football at defending Super Bowl champion St. Louis (9/4), completing 19 of 29 passes (65.5%) for 307 yds. and two touchdowns, for a passer rating of 123.8, best in the NFL for Week 1. He also rushed for a touchdown (8 yds.) among his four carries for 28 yds. (7.0), and was sacked four times (-33). His touchdown passes went 25 yds. to R. Smith and 7 yds. to Desmond Clark. Preseason: Griese started all four games and completed 29 of 44 passes (65.9) for 395 yards and three touchdowns, with a long of 61, to compile a passer rating of 117.1. He also rushed four times for 22 yards (5.5) with a long of 6 and one touchdown. 1999: Griese played in 14 games, and started 13, completing 261 of 452 (57.7%) passes for 3,032 yds. and 14 touchdowns, with 14 interceptions and a long of 88. He rushed 46 times for 138 yds. (3.0) and two touchdowns with a long of 23, and been sacked 27 times (-176). With 3,032 passing yards in 1999, Griese became just the eighth quarterback in the NFL since 1970 to pass for more than 3,000 yards in the year of his first start. Griese was active but did not play in Weeks 9 and 10 (at S.D., 11/7; at Sea., 11/14) because of a sore shoulder, and played in a reserve role vs. Oak. (11/22) in Week 11. In Griese's first NFL start, vs. Miami (9/13), he performed well, completing 24 of 40 passes (60%) for 270 yds. and three touchdowns. His longest completion was a 61-yd. touchdown to Ed McCaffrey on his sixth attempt of the night, and just the ninth of his career. All three of Griese's touchdown passes went to McCaffrey, as the duo folllowed the initial TD connection with scoring strikes of 11 and 4 yds. in the third and fourth quarters, respectively. Griese added his fourth touchdown of the season at Tampa Bay (9/26) on a 12-yd. pass to McCaffrey in the 1st qtr. He temporarily established a new longest career pass with a 71-yd. completion to Rod Smith vs. the Jets (10/3). Griese notched his first NFL win as a starter at Oakland (10/10), completing 17 of 29 (58.6%) for 234 yds. and one touchdown, with one interception, while rushing a career-high seven times for 16 yds. (2.3). The touchdown came on a 3-yd. pass to Rod Smith just before halftime, capping an efficient 5-play, 57-yd. drive that consumed just 40 seconds of clock time. On the drive, Griese completed all four of his passes for 57 yds., and carried the ball 5 yds. on Denver's only running play. The win also marked Griese's first NFL game-winning fourth-quarter drive, as he marched the Broncos 63 yds. in 11 plays for the winning 26-yd. field goal. He made it two wins in a row with his performance against Green Bay (10/17), completing 19 of 31 passes (61.3) for a career-high 363 yds. and two touchdowns with one interception, to earn AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. The yardage figure was the 11th-highest single-game total in franchise history, and the highest by a first-year starter. His 88-yard shovel-pass completion to Byron Chamberlain in the contest was the longest non-scoring pass play in franchise history, and the seventh-longest overall, and was the longest pass play in the AFC (T3rd NFL) in 1999. Griese also rushed for his first NFL touchdown in the contest, a 2-yarder in the 4th qtr. to provide the final margin of 31-10. Griese made it two games in a row with both a passing and rushing touchdown, at New England (10/24), part of a 25-of-38, 316-yard effort that saw him become the first Broncos first-year starter to exceed the 300-yd. passing mark in back-to-back games. The 25 completions represented a new career high, as did his 23 rushing yards (3 carries) and his longest carry of 14 yds. After missing two games with a sore shoulder, Griese entered the Oakland game (11/22) in the 4th qtr. and sparked the Broncos to a 27-21 overtime victory. He completed 6 of 14 passes for 60 yds. with a long of 24, and rushed twice for 1 yd., while being sacked once (-2). Griese led Denver to field goals on two of his three fourth-quarter drives -- the latter coming with just 7 seconds remaining in the game -- to force an overtime session, in which Olandis Gary scored on a 24-yd. run for the game-winner. The game marked Griese's second career fourth-quarter or overtime game-saving or game-winning drive. Griese returned to the starting lineup vs. K.C. (12/5) and completed 20 of 36 for 227 yds. (55.5%) with one interception. He had his best game in terms of completion percentage (73.3%) at Detroit (12/25) on 22 of 30 passing for 171 yds. in a 17-7 Denver win. In the preseason Griese was named the Broncos' starting quarterback Aug. 30, replacing Bubby Brister. In five preseason games (1 start) he completed 68 of 101 passes (67.3%) for 716 yds. and 6 touchdowns with just one interception, to compile a passer rating of 103.4. He rushed twice for 5 yds. (2.5) with a long of 3, and was sacked three times for 23 yds.

After it is all said and done, Griese tops my list as the hottest NFL Quarterback....MEOW!!! :)