| In June 2004, the Steelers agreed to terms with Tommy Maddox for a new four-year deal that included a $2 million signing bonus and could be worth $14 million if he hits all of his incentives. Maddox was scheduled to make $750,000 this season, making him the lowest-paid starting quarterback in football.
2003: (Passing) 519 Atts, 298 Comp, 57.4%, 3414 Yds, 53 Lg, 18 TDs, 17 Ints, 41 Sacks, 75.3 Rtg.
(Rushing) 13 Atts, 12Yds, 0.9 Avg, 6 Lg, 0 TDs
Tommy Maddox, in his first full season as a starting quarterback for the Steelers, set franchise records in passing. Maddox set Steeler records in pass attempts (519), completions (298), 300-yard season passing performances (4 – tied with Neil O’Donnell), and 300-yard regular season career passing performances (6). His 3,414 yards passing for the season was second to Terry Bradshaw’s 3,724 in 1979. Maddox was 2003 offensive team captain, the first quarterback offensive team captain of the modern Steeler era. His 6,404 yards passing, in less than two seasons, makes him one of only nine quarterbacks to have passed the 6,000-yard mark over their Steeler careers and his 59.8 percent completion percentage over that period is the highest of all nine of those Steeler quarterbacks. He ended the season ranked thirteenth in the NFL for touchdown passes and 10th in passing yards.
2002: (Passing) 377 ATTs for 234 CMPs, 2836 YDs, 20 TDs - 62.1 CMP%, 7.52 YPA, 16 INTS, 26 SACKs - finished the season with rating of 85.2. (Rushing) 19 ATTs for 43 YDs.
Tommy supplanted Kordell Stewart as the starting Steeler QB for game 4 of the 2002 season. His completion percentage, for the season, of 62.1 eclipsed the Steeler record set by Stewart in 2001. The transition from Stewart to Maddox marks a milestone in Steeler history. In 2002, Tommy exhibited great accuracy and decision-making. Perhaps his greatest attribute was in decision-making and how he set himself up after the snap and looked over his receivers. After what is a long and winding road in professional football for any QB, Tommy looks like like a veteran. And that is more than the Steelers could have hoped for.
Tommy Maddox first entered the NFL as a 1992 first-round draft pick of the Denver Broncos. He had left UCLA as a sophmore and never panned out as a legit NFL starter. Denver traded him to St. Louis in 1994. Maddox then moved on to the Giants in 1995 and was released by them during the 1996 training camp. Tommy went on to play some arena football the next few years but it wasn't until 2001, when he led the XFL's Los Angeles Xtreme to that league's championship and was named the league's most valuable player, that he received another chance to play in the NFL when the Steelers invited him to training camp to vie for a backup quarterback position. Maddox was the surprise of that 2001 camp and won the No. 2 QB spot by the start of the season. He was signed to a contract extension in spring 2002. |
