Moon, Warren
Football
b. Nov. 18, 1956, Los Angeles, CA
Moon wasn't drafted by any NFL team after his senior year at the University of Washington and he signed with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League in 1978. A 6-foot-3, 212-pound quarterback, Moon took Edmonton to six consecutive Grey Cup championships, from 1978 through 1983. He completed 1,369 of 2,382 attempts for 21,228 yards and 144 touchdowns.
In 1984, he signed with the NFL's Houston Oilers and immediately became the team's starting quarterback. To use Moon's passing skills to the utmost, Coach Jerry Glanville in 1986 installed an offense called the "run and shoot," which generally uses four wide receivers and no tight end.
Moon led the NFL with 584 attempts, 362 completions, 4,689 yards, and 33 touchdown passes in 1990. The following year, he set records with 655 attempts and 404 completions, also leading the league with 4,690 yards and 21 interceptions.
Because of a broken collarbone suffered in the first game of the 1992 season, Moon missed five games that year and he was briefly benched after the Oilers won only one of their first five games in 1993. Moon then led the team to eleven consecutive victories and a berth in the playoffs, where Houston was eliminated by the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Oilers traded Moon to the Minnesota Vikings before the 1994 season. He passed for more than 4,200 yards in each of his first two seasons there but missed half of the 1996 season with an injury. The Vikings then decided to replace him with the younger Brad Johnson and Moon went to the Seattle Seahawks as a free agent.
Moon made the Pro Bowl in his first season with Seattle, but injuries struck again in 1998, when he was in and out of the lineup. The Seahawks also decided to go with a younger starter the following year and Moon joined the Kansas City Chiefs. He spent two seasons as a backup there before retiring.
Despite spending his first six professional seasons in Canada, Moon ranks third all-time in NFL passing yardage and fifth in touchdown passes thrown. In his pro career, he threw for more than 70,000 yards and 435 touchdowns.