Oakland Raiders

He has won, and he has been well liked by his teammates wherever he's played. Yet Rich Gannon has never been a model quarterback, the kind you want to build your team around.

A former wing-T quarterback for the Division I-AA Delaware Fighting Blue Hens, the 33-year-old, 12-year veteran is accustomed to having his abilities questioned. There were the pro scouts who said, after watching him throw at Delaware, "O.K., Rich, now let's see you backpedal." There were the Patriots, who picked him in the fourth round of the 1987 draft, then traded him to the Vikings two weeks later after he refused to switch to safety. In Minnesota, Washington and Kansas City, Gannon won 31 of the 58 games he started from '87 through '98. Not once, however, would a coach go out on a limb and unequivocally proclaim Gannon as his starter.

Until now. Having given up on rifle-armed underachiever Jeff George, Raiders president and general partner AJ Davis decided that Gannon, a free agent last winter, was the solution to his team's quarterback woes and signed him to a four-year, $16 million deal. The contract raised eyebrows around the league. "I like Rich Gannon," says one AFC coach, "but I don't like him that much."

"He's been labeled a backup and a dink-and-dunk passer, but we think he can play," says Raiders second-year coach Jon Gruden. "The passion, the desire he has to succeed—it's an overpowering feeling."

This is in no way to be confused with the quarterback play Oakland got from George, Donald Hollas and Wade Wilson last season, which more often than not produced an overpowering smell. The team's final game, against the Chiefs, fittingly brought down the curtain on that trio: Having exited early with a pulled groin, starter Wilson was replaced by Hollas, who 11 snaps later pulled a groin and was relieved by George, who was still getting over a groin pull he suffered in early October. When the Raiders lost 31-24, they wound up with a 2-6 record in the second half of the season and missed the playoffs for the fifth straight year.

Gannon's strengths—aside from his healthy groin muscles—are his exceptional mobility and a knack for salvaging a broken play. That scrambling ability will come in handy as he zigs and zags for dear life behind a line that yielded 67 sacks in '98, the most in the NFL. "Unorthodox but very effective" is Raiders cornerback Eric Allen's assessment of Gannon. "When he used to play against us, we always said, 'You've got to stay with your receiver, because he will scramble until that guy is open. Stay with the play, because you know he's going to.' "

Gannon looked a trifle ragged early in training camp, throwing a few interceptions and more than a few ugly balls. So what's new, say those who know the Philadelphia native. Gannon will never be aesthetically pleasing. He's had his greatest success as a change-of-pace quarterback, coming into the game cold, running around, making things happen, firing up his teammates. (When he ran some smack past Sea-hawks linebacker Chad Brown in a game last season, Brown asked him, "What is this, high school?")

That feistiness differentiates Gannon from George and endears him to Gruden. "Rich isn't just a playmaker, he's a leader," says the coach. "There's a toughness to him. He's a Philly guy."

Still, the Philly guy's feelings are hurt whenever someone questions his arm strength, as often happens. Will blazing Oakland wideout James Jett outrun Gannon's passes? "Andre Rison may not be as fast as James," says Gannon, referring to his former go-to receiver with the Chiefs, "but I don't recall underthrowing him when I was there."

Besides, as Gannon points out, "If you take a five-step drop and throw a go route, the ball only has to travel 45 yards. This is a game of rhythm, footwork, timing. It's not about throwing the ball 70 yards in the air."