I
remember over 20 years ago growing up in my house and my dad would
watch the New York Giants games featuring Lawrence Taylor. He was the man of
the city at that time and New York sports was on the top. I didn’t know much
about football at the age of 6 but I knew of this player named Jeff Hostetler.
He was the former quarterback of the New York Giants from 1984-1992. What I
remembered was the Super Bowl XXV against their arch nemeses the Buffalo Bills.
With Giants great Phil Simms out due to injury, Hostetler came in to run the
show and might I add he did. Sweeping through the playoffs and capturing
another championship for the organization since 86’ put him as a quarterback to
be reckoned with.
However, the next season Simms was back from injury and he felt that he should be the starter again but that wasn’t quite the story as he was told that he wouldn’t and “Hoss” will remain. Hoss numbers through his career wouldn’t blow you was as in his 15 seasons in the league he only threw for 94 touchdowns and 16,000 plus yards. The biggest problem was back in the day as a NFL player, you watched on the sidelines if you weren’t ready for the stage. Hoss sat as a backup for over 5 years before getting his big break.
Hostetler was a young kid that grew up in Pennsylvania and had the aspirations for the big league and he was on his way there. But he had a wakeup call when he couldn’t get the starting job in Penn State as their quarterback, so he transferred to West Virginia University. There he became a star for the Mountaineers and would make a name for himself. Hoss had the whole world watching him as he knew the NFL would be calling next and that’s what the Giants did in 1984 as they selected him in the draft in the 3rd round.
Hoss
finished his career with the Washington Redskins with no clear path on what he
was going to do after his long but injury sidelined career. Now he is married
and lives in West Virginia and owns a construction company. What we will always
remember about Hoss is that he brought New York a Super Bowl but he waited his
turn. That’s what the league is missing now. You have young guys that come out
of college and they are paid big bucks and thrown into the fire, even though
they aren’t ready. I want the old league back? Man those were the great days of
the NFL. What did you remember about Hoss?However, the next season Simms was back from injury and he felt that he should be the starter again but that wasn’t quite the story as he was told that he wouldn’t and “Hoss” will remain. Hoss numbers through his career wouldn’t blow you was as in his 15 seasons in the league he only threw for 94 touchdowns and 16,000 plus yards. The biggest problem was back in the day as a NFL player, you watched on the sidelines if you weren’t ready for the stage. Hoss sat as a backup for over 5 years before getting his big break.
Hostetler was a young kid that grew up in Pennsylvania and had the aspirations for the big league and he was on his way there. But he had a wakeup call when he couldn’t get the starting job in Penn State as their quarterback, so he transferred to West Virginia University. There he became a star for the Mountaineers and would make a name for himself. Hoss had the whole world watching him as he knew the NFL would be calling next and that’s what the Giants did in 1984 as they selected him in the draft in the 3rd round.
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