American football player (born 1950)
American football player
Joseph Carlton Ferguson Jr. (born April 23, 1950) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 17 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the Buffalo Bills . He played college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks and was selected by the Bills in the third round of the 1973 NFL draft .
Early life
Ferguson played high school football in Shreveport, Louisiana , for Woodlawn High School. He guided the Knights to the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Class AAA (the top classification at the time) state championship in 1968. Ferguson succeeded Terry Bradshaw as Woodlawn's starting quarterback.
Ferguson played college football at the University of Arkansas , where he held the school's single game record for most completions until broken in 2012 (31 against Texas A&M in 1971).
Professional career
The Buffalo Bills selected Ferguson in the third round of the 1973 NFL draft .[1] Although he is most famous for playing with the Bills from 1973 to 1984, Ferguson also played three seasons for the Detroit Lions , two seasons for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers , and one final season with the Indianapolis Colts . Ferguson's number 12 with the Bills is now retired for his successor with the team, Hall of Famer Jim Kelly .
Ferguson placed in the top 10 in pass attempts five times, completions and passing yards four times, passing touchdowns six times, and yards per pass three times. At one time he shared, with Ron Jaworski , the NFL record for consecutive starts by a quarterback with 107, until he was replaced by Joe Dufek on September 30, 1984. He has a 1–3 record in the NFL postseason , winning against the New York Jets in 1981. His three losses came from the Cincinnati Bengals in those same 1981 playoffs, the San Diego Chargers the year before in 1980 (a game in which he played the entire contest with a sprained ankle), and in 1974 to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He retired after the 1990 season after playing only one game with the Colts.
In 1995, Ferguson briefly came out of retirement to serve as a backup quarterback for the San Antonio Texans of the Canadian Football League 's South Division . Kay Stephenson , who had coached Ferguson in his last year in Buffalo, was coach of San Antonio at the time and needed an inexpensive backup who knew Stephenson's system after starter David Archer was injured midseason.[2]
In 1975 Ferguson tied Fran Tarkenton for the NFL lead with 25 touchdown passes and compiled a passer rating of 81.3. Ferguson also surpassed 20 touchdown passes in three other seasons: 1980, 1981, 1983. He finished his career with 196 touchdowns thrown and 209 interceptions.
NFL career statistics
Legend
Led the league
Bold
Career high
Regular season
Year
Team
Games
Passing
Sacks
Drives
GP
GS
Record
Cmp
Att
Pct
Yds
TD
TD%
Int
Int%
Lng
Y/A
Y/G
Rtg
Sck
SckY
Sck%
4QC
GWD
1973
BUF
14
14
9−5
73
164
44.5
939
4
2.4
10
6.1
42
5.7
67.1
45.8
20
164
10.9
2
1
1974
BUF
14
14
9−5
119
232
51.3
1,588
12
5.2
12
5.2
55
6.8
113.4
69.0
32
235
12.1
3
3
1975
BUF
14
14
8−6
169
321
52.6
2,426
25
7.8
17
7.6
77
7.6
173.3
81.3
20
153
5.9
1
3
1976
BUF
7
7
2−5
74
151
49.0
1,086
9
6.0
1
0.7
58
7.2
155.1
90.0
11
80
6.8
1
1
1977
BUF
14
14
3−11
221
457
48.4
2,803
12
2.6
24
5.3
42
6.1
200.2
54.2
36
273
7.3
1
1
1978
BUF
16
16
5−11
175
330
53.0
2,136
16
4.8
15
4.5
92
6.5
133.5
70.5
29
243
8.1
1
1
1979
BUF
16
16
7−9
238
458
52.0
3,572
14
3.1
15
3.3
84
7.8
223.3
74.4
43
387
8.6
2
3
1980
BUF
16
16
11−5
251
439
57.2
2,805
20
4.6
18
4.1
69
6.4
175.3
74.5
13
129
2.9
2
4
1981
BUF
16
16
10−6
252
498
50.6
3,652
24
4.8
20
4.0
67
7.3
228.3
74.1
15
137
2.9
2
2
1982
BUF
9
9
4−5
144
264
54.5
1,597
7
2.7
16
6.1
47
6.0
177.4
56.3
11
105
4.0
1
1
1983
BUF
16
16
8−8
281
508
55.3
2,995
26
5.1
25
4.9
43
5.9
187.2
69.3
27
266
5.0
3
3
1984
BUF
12
11
1−10
191
344
55.5
1,991
12
3.5
17
4.9
68
5.8
165.9
63.5
35
357
9.2
—
—
1985
DET
8
1
0−1
31
54
57.4
364
2
3.7
3
5.6
38
6.7
45.5
67.2
4
35
6.9
—
—
1986
DET
6
4
2−2
73
155
47.1
941
7
4.5
7
4.5
73
6.1
156.8
62.9
10
101
6.1
1
1
1988
TB
2
1
0−1
31
46
67.4
368
3
6.5
1
2.2
34
8.0
184.0
104.3
1
8
2.1
—
—
1989
TB
5
2
0−2
44
90
48.9
533
3
3.3
6
6.7
69
5.9
106.6
50.8
5
37
5.3
—
—
1990
IND
1
0
0−0
2
8
25.0
21
0
0.0
2
25.0
13
2.6
21.0
0.0
0
0
0.0
—
—
Career[3]
186
171
79−92
2,369
4,519
52.4
29,817
196
4.3
209
4.6
92
6.6
160.3
68.4
312
2,710
6.5
20
24
Buffalo Bills franchise records
Highest touchdown percentage in a single season – 7.8 (1975)
Lowest interception percentage in a single season – 0.7 (1976)
Most sack yards lost in a single season – 387 (1979)
Most interceptions thrown in a career – 190
Most sack yards lost in a career – 2,529
Source :[4] [5]
Personal life
In May 2005, Ferguson was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma cancer and underwent treatment at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston , Texas. In January 2008, Ferguson was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia . In February 2008, he was treated at M.D. Anderson in the intensive care unit for pneumonia . In July 2009, it was reported that Ferguson had recovered from his battles with cancer .[6]
References
^ "Football Notebook" . St. Petersburg Times . July 27, 1973. pp. 3–C. Archived from the original on February 5, 2020. Retrieved April 12, 2010 .
^ "SPORTS PEOPLE: FOOTBALL; Ferguson, 45, Signs C.F.L. Deal" . The New York Times . August 3, 1995. ISSN 0362-4331 . Retrieved December 23, 2019 .
^ "Joe Ferguson Stats" . Pro-Football-Reference.com . Retrieved December 23, 2019 .
^ "Buffalo Bills Career Passing Leaders" . Pro-Football-Reference.com . Retrieved December 23, 2019 .
^ "Buffalo Bills Single-Season Passing Leaders" . Pro-Football-Reference.com . Retrieved December 23, 2019 .
^ "Joe Ferguson talks Cancer, Jim Kelly" . Buffalobills.com .