At the age of 40, Brett Favre led the Minnesota Vikings to the
NFC Championship game this season.
Kurt Warner willed the Cardinals to the Super Bowl last season
at age 38, and to the playoffs again in 2009 at 39.
Turning 40 later this month, Jeff Garcia is primed to make his
return to the gridiron, to feel the camaraderie of a team
again.
At the age of 40, Brett Favre led the Minnesota Vikings to the NFC Championship game this season.
Kurt Warner willed the Cardinals to the Super Bowl last season at age 38, and to the playoffs again in 2009 at 39.
Turning 40 later this month, Jeff Garcia is primed to make his return to the gridiron, to feel the camaraderie of a team again. He is a natural leader, full of competitive passion and still ripe with the desire to play. For a guy who fought for everything he has earned in his career, he isn’t ready to throw in the towel, eager for one more round.
“I’m not yet ready to move to the next phase of my life,” Garcia said in a phone interview a few weeks back. “I feel like I have too much to offer from a football player’s standpoint.”
The Gilroy native shared of the upcoming charity bowling event in Morgan Hill his Garcia Pass It On Foundation is hosting. However, the charismatic QB also indulged me a little bit during our 30 minute conversation as we dove into topics of coaching, the NFL playoffs, the unfortunate fallout with the Oakland Raiders and his plans to return to the field next season.
“I know that I still have the same skill that I’ve had over the past three, four years, I don’t feel like my skill has diminished,” Garcia said. “What creates that fire in me to get back out there is seeing all the guys who are playing that shouldn’t be out there. I couldn’t believe how bad the quarterback play was for some teams. It was frustrating for me to watch that from the outside looking in.”
Twelve quarterbacks who had at least 200 pass attempts during the 2009 season had more interceptions than touchdowns. Of those, however, three were rookies (Mark Sanchez of the Jets, Matthew Stafford of the Lions and Josh Freeman of the Buccaneers.)
Once in his 11 NFL seasons has Garcia thrown more picks than touchdowns – the 2005 season with the Detroit Lions, but he only had 102 pass attempts and appeared in eight games. In 2000, Garcia had a 3-to-1 touchdown to interception ratio, tossing 31 scores to just 11 int’s.
Garcia holds an 87.5 career passer rating, that number is higher than 19 of the starting quarterbacks from this past season. He has amassed 25, 537 passing yards, rushed for an additional 2,140 and has 187 total touchdowns.
The Browns could have used the stable Garcia on their squad instead of watching Brady Quinn complete 3-yard passes all game long. Or, the Niners; Alex Smith would benefit from Garcia’s profound football knowledge. Plus red and gold looked great on Garcia.
Warner, who was originally brought in by the Cardinals to back up Matt Leinart and to mentor the young pro. Warner, the crafty veteran, earned the starting job. Garcia is capable of doing the same and has been a reliable second-stringer before, taking over for an injured Donovan McNabb in 2006 and capturing the NFC East crown.
The age excuse or reasoning or cop-out by NFL owners doesn’t apply to Garcia. He understands what it takes to win, leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the playoffs just two seasons ago. The Bucs have since sunk to last place in the NFC South.
Garcia’s underdog, never-say-die persona and dedicated work ethic has carried him from an undersized, scrambling quarterback leading the Gilroy High Mustangs to, well, an undersized, fleet-footed Pro Bowl NFL signal caller.
Basically hand-picked by Bill Walsh, Garcia took over the reins of one of the most storied franchises full time in 2000. After Steve Young went down with a concussion during a Week 3 game against the Arizona Cardinals in 1999, Garcia played 13 games, starting 10 of them. He went on to start every game for the Niners over the next three seasons, taking the team to the playoffs in 2001 and 2002.
The 2002 Wild Card game featured the second-greatest comeback in playoff history. Trailing the New York Giants 38-14 late in the third quarter, Garcia and the Niners rattled off 25-unanswered points to stun the visiting Giants, 39-38.
Garcia’s career has led him from Gavilan College, San Jose State, the Canadian Football League (where he won the Grey Cup with the Calgary Stampeders in 1998), the San Francisco 49ers, the Browns, the Lions, the Eagles, the Buccaneers, the Raiders (although he never took a regular-season snap) and the Eagles once more.
Whew. What a journey. And he isn’t done yet – at least he doesn’t believe he is.
“For a guy who has been a starter throughout his entire career and the fact that I didn’t have that opportunity to be out there this year was very difficult for me,” Garcia said. “And, yeah, I would love nothing more than to have that opportunity to be a part of a team and positive situation once again.”
The 2009 season for Garcia began with a bang, returning to his Bay Area roots, signing with the Raiders to back up an ill-prepared JaMarcus Russell – my words not Garcia’s.
Things began to unravel and frustrations mounted leading to Garcia’s release.
“I kind of kick myself now and wish I would have bit my lip and powered through it,” Garcia said. “I just was frustrated and felt like it was a situation I didn’t want to be a part of especially if it meant the last year of my career. It was bad timing for me to walk away because every other team had their roster set.”
It should be obvious the guy can still play. He has remained in great shape throughout his tenure in the NFL and his knowledge of the game surpasses a majority of those in the game now. Though he hasn’t specified any teams he would like to be a part of, Garcia is steadfast on making his return next season.
“Hopefully a team will look at me as a guy who can come in and help out a young quarterback and be a positive influence and be a leader and help a team reach success,” Garcia said. “That’s what I want to be a part of.”
