Roger Craig (American football)

Roger Timothy Craig (born 10 July 1960 Davenport, Iowa) is a former US- American football player at the position of the running backs. He played for the San Francisco 49ers, the Los Angeles Raiders and the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League ( NFL).

College

His college years were spent at the University of Nebraska, where he played for the Cornhuskers. In a game against the Florida State Seminoles in 1981 he set a school record for the longest run ( 94 yards) on. Overall, he latched on to 234 yards in this game, which he only occupied the 10th place on the record list of colleges in 2006. During the season he erlief 1,060 yards and six touchdowns with an average of 6.1 yards per run. Compared to his later achievements in the NFL, only a meager 86 yards went through caught passes in that year to its total power added.

NFL

After its good but just not outstanding college career he was selected in 1983 in the second round of the NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers. Roger Craig played in his professional period 1983 to 1990 for the San Francisco 49ers in 1991 with the Los Angeles Raiders and 1992 to 1993 for the Minnesota Vikings. In his time with the 49ers, he won, on the side of quarterback Joe Montana, three times the Super Bowl.

The 49ers then a new dimension was added to his game. Coach Bill Walsh took advantage of Craig's good fishing properties to the running back also increasingly integrating into the passing game, emphasizing the short pass to one of the tailbacks an essential feature of his fledgling West Coast Offense. In the season 1985 Craig managed to be the first player in the NFL Walk in a season over 1,000 yards and catch passes for over 1,000 yards. Overall, he latched on 1,050 yards in 214 attempts with nine touchdowns and caught 92 passes over 1,016 yards with six touchdowns. He even managed not to repeat this feat and to 1999 also any other player in the NFL. Only Marshall Faulk was able to repeat this performance, 16 years later with the St. Louis Rams, but he also made ​​it just this once. The 92 caught passes in the 1985 season at that time meant an NFL record for running backs and Craig did so this year even all wide receiver behind! In the Super Bowl the previous season, on January 20, 1985 ( Super Bowl XIX), Roger Craig erlief 58 yards, caught seven passes for 77 yards and was the first player in the NFL, who scored three touchdowns in a Super Bowl. During the 38:16 victory against the Miami Dolphins, the San Francisco 49ers managed 537 yards with one more Super Bowl record. The team record for most yards in a season erlaufenen put Craig in 1988 with 1,502 yards. This was only 10 years later by Garrison Hearst broke with 1,570 yards. Together with its over 534 yards caught passes he could for the second time in his career to crack the 2,000 yards mark and became the offensive player of the year selected. The following final (Super Bowl XXIII) on January 22, 1989 against the Cincinnati Bengals won Craig his second Super Bowl title. In the game he latched on to 71 yards in 17 attempts and contributed an additional 101 yards from eight captive passports at. After the following season, the 49ers were able to defend their Super Bowl title (Super Bowl XXIV). In the 55:10 victory against the Denver Broncos Craig erlief 69 yards in 20 attempts and scored the touchdown to 54:10. A further 34 yards on eight catches pass were added. Due to the outstanding performances of Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, Roger Craig was able to win the Super Bowl three times, but not even win the title of Super Bowl MVP ( most valuable player of the final match ). The hunt for a - unprecedented - third Super Bowl in a row ended in tragedy for Roger Craig. In his last game for the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game against the New York Giants just he lost the ball ( fumble ) in the last quarter at a 13:12 lead his team. Lawrence Taylor recovered the ball for the Giants quarterback Jeff Hostetler and replacement led his team 33 yards wide, up to half of the 49ers. Shortly after the Giants with expiry of the clock were the game by a field goal by Matt Bahr (fifth to be in this game ) decide about 42 yards for the final score 13:15 for themselves.

Even in his last season with the 49ers, but also in the three seasons after that Craig was not able to his earlier achievements. He played one more season with the Raiders and two more for the Vikings before he retired from professional sports. He finished his career with 8,189 yards erlaufenen from 1,991 experiments with 56 touchdowns; 4,911 yards on 566 passes caught with 17 touchdowns. With another 43 yards from three kickoff returns, he scored a total of 13,143 yards and 73 touchdowns. He was four times elected to the Pro Bowl (1985 and 1987 to 1989) and managed to play in the playoffs in each of his eleven professional years. To date (2006) he is the only running back to the one NFL season finished with the most passes caught and caught the only running back passes for more than 100 yards in a Super Bowl.

Craig is a member of the National Football League 1980s All- Decade Team and the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame. He has been nominated for inclusion in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2009.

After the career

Craig now works in a software company.

Runningback Davenport (Iowa) 1983 NFL season College Football University of Nebraska system July 10 Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award National Football League 1980s All-Decade Team Dan Fouts Walter Payton John Riggins Steve Largent Dan Marino Ozzie Newsome Joe Jacoby John Hannah (American football) Dwight Stephenson Mike Webster Reggie White Dave Butz Mike Singletary Jack Lambert (American football) Andre Tippett John Anderson (American football) Carl Banks Frank Minnifield Ronnie Lott Kenny Easley Deron Cherry Morten Andersen Gary Anderson (placekicker) Billy Johnson (American football)
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