Jeff Hostetler

William Jeffrey Hostetler (born April 22, 1961) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League for the New York Giants, Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, and Washington Redskins. His nickname is "Hoss."

Jeff Hostetler
Hostetler during his collegiate career with West Virginia
No. 15
Position:Quarterback
Personal information
Born: (1961-04-22) April 22, 1961
Jerome, Pennsylvania
Career information
High school:Conemaugh Township Area
College:West Virginia
NFL Draft:1984 / Round: 3 / Pick: 59
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
TD–INT:94–71
Yards:16,430
QB Rating:80.5
Player stats at NFL.com

College career

Penn State

Hostetler started his career at Penn State, where he started three games for the 1980 season. But Todd Blackledge soon beat him out for the starting quarterback job, and Hostetler transferred to West Virginia. Hostetler sat out the 1981 season, due to NCAA transfer rules.

West Virginia

Hostetler's first game as a Mountaineer was a 41-27 win over the #9 1982 Oklahoma Sooners football team, when he threw for four touchdowns and 321 yards. The upset victory earned Hostetler Offensive Player of the Week honors from Sports Illustrated. Another big win that season was a week later against the Maryland Terrapins, who were led by Boomer Esiason. The Mountaineers won 19–18 against the Top 10 ranked Terps. The Terps lost the game on a two-point conversion, while Hostetler threw for 285 yards and a touchdown. Hostetler led the Mountaineers to the 1982 Gator Bowl, where they lost to Florida State 31–12. Hostetler totaled 1,916 yards with ten touchdown passes that season.[1]

In 1983, Hostetler led the #7 Mountaineers over Big East rival Pitt after a fourth quarter run to beat the Panthers 24–21, the first victory over Pitt in seven years. Hostetler led the game-winning drive that he capped out with a bootleg touchdown run for victory. In the 1983 Hall of Fame Bowl, Hostetler pulled out a come-from-behind 20-16 victory over the University of Kentucky, throwing two touchdowns. Hostetler finished his college career in the 1984 Hula Bowl and in the Japan Bowl. Hostetler threw for 2,345 yards and 16 touchdowns his senior season.[1]

Hostetler's two-year tenure at WVU led him to an 18–6 record under coach Don Nehlen. Hostetler ranks among single-season leaders at WVU in total offense, passing yards, pass completions, pass attempts, touchdown passes and passing efficiency. Hostetler also is the career leader in interception avoidance. Hostetler was named to the WVU all-time roster. In 1998, Hostetler was inducted into the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

Hostetler was named to the 1984 GTE/CoSIDA academic All-America team and that same year won the National Football Foundation postgraduate scholarship. He was also a fan favorite in Morgantown and inspired a record, "Ole Hoss (The Ballad of West Virginia's Jeff Hostetler)".

Professional career

New York Giants

Hostetler was drafted by the Giants in the third round of the 1984 NFL Draft. In his first five seasons he played sparingly, rarely making an appearance as he was the third-string quarterback behind Phil Simms and Jeff Rutledge. His first start came late in the 1988 season, where he helped lead the Giants to victory in a road game against the New Orleans Saints. In 1989, he started a key game in the middle of the season, leading the Giants to a Monday night victory over the Minnesota Vikings. However, outside of these games, Hostetler's primary roles were mop-up duty and as a holder for kickers Raul Allegre, Bjorn Nittmo, and Matt Bahr. In 2007, in the episode of America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions that profiled the 1990 Giants team, Hostetler noted that he was frustrated with his lack of playing time and volunteered to play other positions, including wide receiver and blocker on the punt return team. On December 15, 1990, leading up to the Giants' matchup with the Buffalo Bills, Hostetler became frustrated and recounted that he was all but done with football and was planning to retire at the end of the season.

During the game against Buffalo, Hostetler was called in the game to replace Simms after Simms had suffered a foot injury. The Giants lost the game, dropping them to 11-3 on the year, but Hostetler was able to lead them to victories in their last two regular season games and their first playoff game against the Chicago Bears.

In the NFC Championship against the San Francisco 49ers, Hostetler suffered a knee injury in the fourth quarter when Jim Burt tackled him below the knees. Although he was injured, Hostetler was able to walk off the field on his own and later returned to the game and engineered two late scoring drives, that culminated with a Bahr field goal, and a 15-13 victory.

Hostetler started Super Bowl XXV; the Giants defeated the heavily favored Bills 20-19. He completed 20 of 32 passes for 222 yards with one touchdown. In 2008, ESPN ranked Hostetler's performance the 30th best quarterback performance in Super Bowl history. After reconsidering his retirement, he elected to return for the 1991 season.

During the summer of 1991, new coach Ray Handley made a decision regarding his quarterbacks. Instead of giving the starting job back to the now-healthy Simms, the coach held an open competition that Hostetler would ultimately win.[2] He then led the Giants to victory in the season opener against the 49ers at home, snapping their NFL-record 18 game road winning streak. In his twelfth start against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Hostetler broke his back and missed the rest of the season. Of the games Hostetler started (including the one he didn't finish), the Giants went 7-5. Simms, meanwhile, lost his first three starts against the lowly Cincinnati Bengals (who won only three times that year), the Philadelphia Eagles (a loss which eliminated the Giants from playoff contention), and the eventual Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins. The Giants managed to win their final matchup against the Houston Oilers to finish 8-8.

When Hostetler returned from his injury in 1992, he once again was placed in an open competition with Simms for the starting quarterback position. This time, Simms won the job, but after Simms suffered a season-ending injury during a Week 4 loss to the Los Angeles Raiders, Hostetler again was pressed into service. Although he was now the starter, he was unable to stay healthy and he only managed 9 starts, playing in four more games, and missed three other games with injuries, including a concussion. While Hostetler had the best record of any Giants starter in 1992, (5-4), he was not retained by the team following the season and signed with the Los Angeles Raiders to be their starter in 1993.

Los Angeles / Oakland Raiders

Following the 1993 regular season, Hostetler led the Raiders to an impressive 42-24 playoff win over the Denver Broncos. The veteran quarterback threw for 294 yards and three touchdowns in what would be the last NFL playoff game played in Los Angeles until the 2017 season, when the LA Rams hosted the Atlanta Falcons in the wild card round. In 1994, Hostetler was voted to his only career Pro Bowl after leading the Raiders to a 9-7 record. With the Raiders back in Oakland for the 1995 campaign, Hostetler got his team off to an impressive 8-2 record. However, a shoulder injury kept him out for all but the final game of the season. The Raiders lost their final six games and finished 8-8.

Washington Redskins

He then joined the Washington Redskins in 1997 and retired after two seasons with them. It was during that time he saw his last significant playing time at quarterback; after starter Gus Frerotte suffered a bizarre neck injury after head butting a concrete wall while celebrating a touchdown in a game against Hostetler's former squad from New York, he was pressed into action and started the last three games, winning two and losing against his former team as the Giants clinched the division.

During his last season he spent much of his time on injured-reserve and saw no playing time in 1998.

Hostetler retired with 1,357 of 2,338 completions for 16,430 yards and 94 touchdowns, with 71 interceptions. He also rushed for 1,391 yards and 17 touchdowns. Perhaps most impressive about Hostetler was his ability to perform very well in the post-season. In five playoff games, he completed 72 of 115 passes (62.6 percent) for 1,034 yards, seven touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 112.0 passer rating while going 4-1.

Personal

Hostetler now lives in Morgantown, West Virginia, and owns a construction company. Hostetler is a descendant of the Amish-Mennonite immigrant, Jacob Hochstetler. With his wife, Vicky (the daughter of his college head coach), he has three sons. Hostetler graduated with a 3.85 GPA in Finance from West Virginia University. His nephew is Ryan Nehlen, who played wide receiver for the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Chris Cuomo of ABC News interviewed Hostetler as part of One Moment in Time: The Life of Whitney Houston, a two-hour special on ABC shortly after the 2012 death of singer Whitney Houston. In Super Bowl XXV, Houston performed "The Star-Spangled Banner", and Hostetler and Super Bowl XXV MVP Ottis Anderson reflected on Houston's performance in that game.

He is the uncle of former Buffalo Bills tight-end Jonathan Stupar and New York Giants linebacker Nate Stupar.

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References
  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 4, 2007. Retrieved May 11, 2007.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. DAVE ANDERSONPublished: October 12, 1997 (October 12, 1997). "Sports of The Times; Not a Quarterback Controversy. It's Simply a Contest". New York Times. Retrieved September 8, 2012.
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