George Teague
| No. 31, 30, 23 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Free Safety | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Date of birth: | February 18, 1971 | ||||||||
| Place of birth: | Oscoda, Michigan | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 204 lb (93 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Montgomery (AL) Davis | ||||||||
| College: | Alabama | ||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 1993 / Round: 1 / Pick: 29 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||
| |||||||||
George Theo Teague (born February 18, 1971) is a former American football player who played free safety in the National Football League with the Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, and Miami Dolphins.[1]
College
An Air Force brat, Teague grew up at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas and Sembach Air Base, Germany, before moving to Alabama and attending Jefferson Davis High School.
Teague first came to note as a college athlete in the 1993 Sugar Bowl on the University of Alabama football team. This game marked his first interception with a return for a touchdown. Five plays later, he raced downfield and caught up with sprinting University of Miami wide receiver Lamar Thomas and stripped the ball from him in full stride, maintaining possession of the ball as he returned it upfield. Although the play was called back on an offsides penalty against Alabama, it effectively squashed Miami's effort to regain their offensive momentum: Miami was forced to punt soon afterward, and never mounted another substantial offensive threat in the Crimson Tide's 34–13 victory.
NFL
Green Bay
Teague was drafted in the first round of the 1993 NFL Draft by the Green Bay Packers.
Against the Detroit Lions in the 1993 playoffs, he recorded the longest interception return for a touchdown in playoffs history (101 yards).[2]
At the end of the 1995 season, he was traded to the Atlanta Falcons for a conditional 7th round draft choice, after not producing according to his draft selection.
Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons waived Teague after being less than a week with them, so the Packers had to return the conditional draft pick.[3]
Dallas Cowboys (first stint)
Teague was signed by the Dallas Cowboys for the 1996 training camp.
He played as a nickel defensive back, before starting 8 games after Brock Marion suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. He finished the year with a career-high 4 interceptions.
His career signature game came against the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC wild-card playoff game, where he was dominant in helping the Cowboys to a 40–15 rout. He forced turnovers on three consecutive Vikings possessions. He first denied Amp Lee of a 43-yard touchdown reception, by stripping the ball which went out of the end zone for a touchback. On the next Vikings possession he caused a Leroy Hoard fumble. He then proceeded to return an interception 29 yards for a touchdown.[4]
The Cowboys couldn't re-sign him at the end of the season, because of the salary cap problems they had at the time.
Miami Dolphins
After jump-starting his career with the Cowboys, he was signed away by the Miami Dolphins as a free agent in 1997. The Dolphins ended up waiving him at the end of the year to make room for Brock Marion.[5]
Dallas Cowboys (second stint)
In 1998 the Cowboys signed Teague to replace Brock Marion who left via free agency to the Miami Dolphins.
Teague is probably best known for a notable incident during a game against the San Francisco 49ers on September 24, 2000. In that game, 49ers wide receiver Terrell Owens caught his second touchdown pass of the game and ran to the Cowboys' iconic star logo at midfield to celebrate as he had on the previous touchdown earlier. Teague violently shoved Owens from behind during the celebration and was ejected from the game. In 2008, the moment was named one of the ten most memorable in the history of Texas Stadium by ESPN.[6]
On September 23, 2001 at Texas Stadium, just two weeks after the September 11 attacks, as the Cowboys were taking the field to play the San Diego Chargers, Teague carried the American flag, displayed above his head.
After playing four seasons for the Cowboys, he was waived at the end of the 2001 season because of salary cap reasons.
NFL stats
| Year | Team | Games | Combined Tackles | Tackles | Assisted Tackles | Sacks | Forced Fumbles | Fumble Recoveries | Fumble Return Yards | Interceptions | Interception Return Yards | Yards per Interception Return | Longest Interception Return | Interceptions Returned for Touchdown | Passes Defended |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | GB | 16 | 35 | 31 | 4 | 0.0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 22 | 22 | 22 | 0 | 7 |
| 1994 | GB | 16 | 52 | 40 | 12 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 33 | 11 | 16 | 0 | 13 |
| 1995 | GB | 15 | 56 | 42 | 14 | 0.0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 100 | 50 | 74 | 0 | 12 |
| 1996 | DAL | 16 | 57 | 47 | 10 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 47 | 12 | 22 | 0 | 6 |
| 1997 | MIA | 15 | 38 | 19 | 19 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 25 | 13 | 23 | 0 | 3 |
| 1998 | DAL | 16 | 42 | 34 | 8 | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 1999 | DAL | 14 | 67 | 48 | 19 | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 127 | 42 | 95 | 2 | 9 |
| 2000 | DAL | 9 | 42 | 37 | 5 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 2001 | DAL | 16 | 58 | 43 | 15 | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Career | 133 | 447 | 341 | 106 | 2.0 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 15 | 354 | 24 | 95 | 2 | 63 |
Post-career
In 2002, he started the George Teague & Friends Foundation, a charity organization comprising many former University of Alabama football players.
Following his retirement Teague coached high school football at Harvest Christian Academy in Watauga, Texas recording 8 wins and 16 losses. In June 2007 Teague was appointed the Athletic Director at Carrollton Christian Academy in Carrollton, Texas. He is also taking online classes at the United States Sports Academy to complete his bachelor's degree in sports coaching. In January 2011, Teague was named the Athletic Director and Head Football Coach for the June Shelton School in Dallas, Texas.
References
- ↑ Pro Football Reference George Theo Teague
- ↑ http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/records/playoffs/player/ints
- ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=GFJaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=s0wNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2954,531738&dq=george-teague+waived&hl=en
- ↑ http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1996-12-29/sports/9612280951_1_george-teague-dallas-cowboys-minnesota-vikings
- ↑ http://www.phins.com/news98/News_9803111729.html
- ↑ http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=luksa_frank&page=hotread1/luksa
- ↑ "George Teague Stats". ESPN Internet Ventures. Retrieved 27 May 2014.