December 2, 2007: The Oldest Starting Quarterback to Win an NFL Game

December 2, 2007: The Carolina Panthers beat the San Francisco 49ers, 31-14 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers' starting, and winning, quarterback was Vinny Testaverde. He had just turned 44. This made him the oldest starting quarterback ever to win an NFL game.

George Blanda had thrown passes at the ages of 45, 46, 47 and 48, making him the oldest quarterback, and the oldest player, in NFL history. But Testaverde broke his record as the oldest starting quarterback.

Vincent Frank Testaverde was born on November 13, 1963 in Brooklyn, and grew up in Floral Park, Long Island, New York. (There's also a Floral Park in neighboring Queens.) He won the Heisman Trophy with the University of Miami in 1986, but his pro career seemed to be a bust, as he failed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens franchise.

But in 1998, he came home, and led the New York Jets into the AFC Championship Game for only the 3rd time in their history. (They've since gotten back twice more.) At 35, it seemed like he was ready to lead the Jets into the future. But in the opening game of the 1999 season, he tore his Achilles tendon, and that was it for the Jets. He was reduced to a backup role with the Jets, was cut in 2004, signed with the Dallas Cowboys, played that season with them as Tony Romo's backup, returned to the Jets as a backup in 2005, and backed up Tom Brady on the New England Patriots in 2006.

After the Panthers lost quarterbacks Jake Delhomme and David Carr due to injury, the Panthers gave Testaverde another shot midway through the 2007 season. On October 14, he led them to victory over the Arizona Cardinals, making him the oldest quarterback ever to lead an NFL team to victory. The Panthers lost their next 5, although Testaverde did not play in 2 of them, before he broke his record against the 49ers on December 2. After a bad performance the next week, the Panthers turned to another backup, Matt Moore. He won the week after that, but the team finished 7-9 and missed the Playoffs. They went 3-3 with Testaverde as their starter.

He lost more games than any starting quarterback in NFL history, 123; and threw 267 interceptions, 4th all-time at the time of his retirement. But he also won 90 games. He passed for over 46,000 yards, then 7th all-time. He threw 275 touchdown passes, then 8th all-time. He threw touchdown passes to 70 different players, a record until broken by Brady in 2018. And he's still the oldest starting quarterback to win an NFL game. Think about that: Here's a guy who was born before the Kennedy assassination, and he was still playing quarterback in the NFL near the end of the Bush tenure in the White House.

He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame, although he will probably never get into the Pro Football Hall. He has also been elected to the Long Island and Florida Sports Halls of Fame. He has moved back to Tampa, and is an assistant coach at Jesuit High School, where son Vincent Jr. played quarterback, going on to play in the Canadian and Arena Football Leagues.

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December 2, 2007 was a Sunday. These other NFL games were played that day:

Houston, New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Tennessee

* The New York Giants beat the Chicago Bears, 21-16 at the new Soldier Field in Chicago.

* The New York Jets beat the Miami Dolphins, 40-13 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat the Philadelphia Eagles, 28-24 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Washington Redskins, 17-16 at FedEx Field (now Northwest Stadium) in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Tennessee Titans, formerly the Houston Oilers, beat the Houston Texans, 28-20 at LP Field in Nashville.

* The Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat the New Orleans Saints, 27-23 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Cincinnati Begnals, 24-10 at Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 28-25 at the RCA Dome (formerly the Hoosier Dome) in Indianapolis.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Detroit Lions, 42-10 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The St. Louis Rams beat the Atlanta Falcons, 28-16 at the Edward Jones Dome (now The Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 24-10 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Oakland Raiders beat the Denver Broncos, 34-20 at the Oakland Coliseum (then the McAfee Coliseum).

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the Cleveland Browns, 27-21 at the University of Phoenix Stadium (now State Farm Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* The previous Thursday night, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Green Bay Packers, 37-27 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* And the next night, on ESPN Monday Night Football, the New England Patriots beat the Baltimore Ravens, 27-24 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

Baseball was out of season. There were 8 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Phoenix Suns, 115-104 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New Jersey Nets lost to the Detroit Pistons, 118-95 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 80-70 at the TD Banknorth Garden (now the TD Garden) in Boston.

* The San Antonio Spurs beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 100-79 at the AT&T Center (now the Frost Bank Center) in San Antonio.

* The Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat, 115-89 at the Pepsi Center (now the Ball Arena) in Denver.

* There was a doubleheader at the Staples Center (now the Crypto.com Arena) in Los Angeles. At 12:30 PM, Pacific Time, the Los Angeles Clippers lost to the Indiana Pacers, 101-95. And at 6:30 PM, the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Orlando Magic, 104-97.

* And the Golden State Warriors beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 109-96 at the KeyArena in Seattle.

And there were 3 games in the NHL:

 

* The New Jersey Devils beat the Atlanta Thrashers, 3-2 in a shootout at the Prudential Center.

* The Minnesota Wild beat the Vancouver Canucks, 2-1 at the Xcel Energy Center (now the Grand Casino Arena) in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* And the Edmonton Oilers beat the Anaheim Ducks, 4-0 at the Honda Center in Anaheim.