Joseph Robert "Joe" Theismann (born September 9, 1949 in New Brunswick, New Jersey) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League and Canadian Football League. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003. Following his retirement from football, Theismann began a career as a sportscaster. He is currently employed by the NFL Network, for which he serves as a color analyst on Thursday Night Football telecasts and co-host of the weekly show Playbook. He is also a majority owner of the Florida Tuskers based in Orlando of the UFL (United Football League) as of Oct. 2010. In 1974, the National Football League's Washington Redskins obtained Theismann's rights. Determined to make it to the NFL, Theismann left the CFL and joined the Redskins, where he volunteered to be the team's punt returner. In 1978, Theismann became the Redskins' starting quarterback after Billy Kilmer proved neffective. Theismann led the Redskins to a win in Super Bowl XVII and an appearance in Super Bowl XVIII and would go on to set several Redskins franchise records, including most career passing attempts (3,602), most career passing completions (2,044) and most career passing yards (25,206), while also throwing 160 touchdown passes, with 138 interceptions. On the ground, he rushed for 1,815 yards and 17 touchdowns. He was the NFL's MVP in 1983. He earned the Player of the Game Award in the second of his two Pro Bowl appearances. In an era when most quarterbacks had long since used variations of a double-bar facemask (or even triple-bar facemasks) that afforded more protection, Theismann refused to use anything but a one-bar facemask throughout his career. So as not to obstruct his vision, he wore the shorter "snub" version of the cage which did not extend as far from his helmet as the standard one-bar. Theismann holds the lowest average punt distance in the NFL with 2 yards for 1 punt.  

THE INJURY

Theismann's career ended on November 18, 1985 when he suffered a comminuted compound fracture of his leg while being sacked by New York Giants linebackers Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson during a Monday Night Football game telecast. The injury was voted the NFL's "Most Shocking Moment in History" by viewers in an ESPN poll, and the tackle was dubbed "The Hit That No One Who Saw It Can Ever Forget" by The Washington Post.[10]