Ken O ' Brien Kenneth John O ' Brien , Jr . ( born November 27 , 1960 ) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League for the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles . When he retired he was the only Jets quarterback to have ever been the top ranked passer in a season . He held the team record for most consecutive pass completions ( 17 ) in a game . O ' Brien was one of the six quarterbacks in the famed Quarterback class of 1983 and in 1997 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame . High school & college career . He played for Jesuit High School in Carmichael , California . O ' Brien started his collegiate football career in 1978 at Sacramento State as a reserve . He played at the University of California , Davis under coach Jim Sochor . In his senior year , 1982 , he was a Division II All - America n . He led UCD to a 10 - 0 regular season mark and to the Division II championship game . He was ranked # 2 in total offense and # 3 in passing efficiency in Division II . He also won the Babe Slater Award for being the most outstanding male athlete at UC Davis . He was selected as All - Far Western Conference QB three times and was selected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1997 . Professional career . The New York Jets selected O ' Brien as the 24th pick in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft , amazing observers who expected the team to choose fellow quarterback Dan Marino ; Marino was selected three picks later . The many Jets fans that attended the draft , held in New York City , were surprised and outraged by the choice ; O ' Brien was so obscure that New York television reporter Sal Marchiano twice mangled his name while reporting on fan reaction to the draft . ( O ' Brien said after his retirement , " Who blames [ the fans ] , right ? Who , in New York , has heard of Cal , University of California , Davis ? Nobody . . . I ' m not sure I would have reacted any differently . Heck , some of my cousins grew up as Jets fans . They were probably doing the same thing . " ) O ' Brien played quarterback for over a decade in the National Football League . He amassed over 25 , 000 yards in his 11 - year career . In 1985 , he was the highest rated quarterback in the NFL , finishing the season with a rating of 96 . 2 . He also led the NFL with the lowest rate of interceptions in 1985 , 1987 , and 1988 . After an 11 - 5 record in 1985 , O ' Brien helped his team open up with a 10 - 1 record in 1986 . After ten games he was leading the NFL with a 111 . 1 rating ( in fact he was the only NFL QB with a rating over 100 ) . He retired after spending the 1993 season with the Philadelphia Eagles where he only started 4 games and mostly served as a backup for Randall Cunningham and Bubby Brister . O ' Brien was the first quarterback to pass for 400 or more yards ( 431 ) in a game and earn a perfect NFL 158 . 3 rating , a feat he accomplished against the Seattle Seahawks in 1986 and would not be matched until 27 years later , by Nick Foles in 2013 . O ' Brien was also the holder of another NFL record that lasted for 25 years when he combined for 927 ( 884 net ) yards and 10 TDs passing with Dan Marino . The new record ( achieved January 1 , 2012 ) is 1000 yards passing with 11 TDs ( the same amount of TDs with 63 more yards ) in a game that featured the Detroit Lions vs the Green Bay Packers . O ' Brien went to the Pro Bowl two times , in 1985 and 1991 . Quarterback Challenge . In 1990 the first Quarterback Challenge was introduced . Several top - rated quarterbacks competed in several events with O ' Brien emerging as the champion . The following year Dan Marino would win . However , in the accuracy challenge O ' Brien would more than double the points of the next best quarterback by hitting all of the targets including a near perfect 50 - yard pass that was close to the bull ' s eye . Coaching career . After retiring , O ' Brien had a stint as an assistant coach for the University of Southern California , where he coached Heisman Trophy winner and current Arizona Cardinal Carson Palmer . O ' Brien in popular culture . O ' Brien made a guest appearance on the television show " Home Improvement " in the episode " The Eve Of Construction " , as part of Tim Taylor ' s " all - star " team of home builders , building for charity . As the episode aired March 9 , 1994 it was just after O ' Brien had played his final game . He stated that he played for ' whoever will take me ' , although Tim cites him as playing for the Eagles .