Ray Lucas (born August 6, 1972) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He played for three teams, the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

during his seven-year career from

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. He is currently a

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

analyst for the show ''Jets Nation'' on

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

-based sports

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SportsNet New York SportsNet New York (SNY) is an American regional sports network owned by Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, LLC, itself a joint venture between the Fred Wilpon (which owns a controlling 65% interest) Sterling Equities, Charter Communications thr ...

Early life

Lucas was born while his father, Tom, was serving in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Professional career

Early career

Lucas spent most of his career in the NFL in a backup role. During the

1999 NFL season The 1999 NFL season was the 80th regular season of the National Football League. The Cleveland Browns returned to the field for the first time since the 1995 season, while the Tennessee Oilers changed their name to "Tennessee Titans," with t ...

, after quarterback

Vinny Testaverde Vincent Frank Testaverde Sr. (; born November 13, 1963) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 21 seasons. He played college football at Miami, where he was an All-American and won the Hei ...

was injured in the first game of the season,

Rick Mirer Richard Franklin Mirer (born March 19, 1970) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. He played college football at Notre Dame and was selected second overall by the Seattle Sea ...

took the helm, winning four of ten games. Lucas took over afterward and lost his first two starts but won his next four games to give the Jets an 8-8 record for the season. Lucas was a favorite player of

Bill Parcells Duane Charles "Bill" Parcells (born August 22, 1941) is an American former football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 19 seasons. He rose to prominence as the head coach of the New York Giants from 1983 ...

during Parcells' time in New England and with the Jets, and was one of the players Parcells eventually brought over from the Patriots to the Jets. Parcells introduced Lucas in 1997 by putting him in at quarterback with second string QB

Neil O'Donnell Neil Kennedy O'Donnell (born July 3, 1966) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League for 14 seasons. He played college football at Maryland and was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third ro ...

lined up at wide receiver. Lucas set up in a

shotgun formation The shotgun formation is a formation used by the offensive team in gridiron football mainly for passing plays, although some teams use it as their base formation. Instead of the quarterback receiving the snap from center at the line of scrimmage ...

and ran the ball himself for 15 yards, befuddling the Vikings defense in a play that eventually led to a Jets victory. He attempted his first NFL pass in Week 17 of 1997 against the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. Lucas went 3 of 3 for 28 yards before throwing an interception. He was also called for a personal foul when making the tackle on the interception return. Lucas started in the Jets' 1999 preseason opener against the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

, and Parcells had him in the running for the starting and second-string quarterback role during that season. After starting QB

was injured in the first game of the season, Lucas started several games.

Later career

Following his success with the Jets, Lucas spent the 2001 and 2002 seasons with the

. As the team's backup quarterback, he didn't see much playing time during the 2001 season (only having three pass attempts), but during the 2002 season Lucas got an opportunity to start six games. Due to his large size, he was also the quarterback of choice during goal-line and some red zone situations. The Dolphins began the 2002 season 5-1, but after then starting quarterback

Jay Fiedler Jay Brian Fiedler (born December 29, 1971) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played 76 games at quarterback in the NFL, starting 60, and threw 69 touchdowns. He was inducted into the National Jewi ...

broke his thumb during a Monday night game against Denver, Lucas was trusted to quarterback the Dolphins for the next six games. During those games, Lucas amassed 4 touchdowns, 6 interceptions, and a 69.9 QB rating. Lucas holds the unenviable distinction of worst single game quarterback performance by any Dolphin. On October 20, 2002, in one game against the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

, Lucas was responsible for 6 turnovers: 4 interceptions and 2 fumbles. He completed only 13 passes to Dolphin receivers. The player that caught the most passes from Lucas was Buffalo Cornerback

Nate Clements Nathan D. Clements (born December 12, 1979) is a former American football cornerback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for Ohio State. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills 21st overall in the 2001 NFL Draft, and a ...

Post-career

On March 28, 2008, Lucas was named to the Hudson County Sports Hall of Fame. In 2014, Lucas co-wrote the book ''Under Pressure: How Playing Football Almost Cost Me Everything and Why'd I'd Do It All Again''. In March 2018, Lucas was named Executive Director of the Harrison New Jersey Housing Authority serving in the same capacity that his father did for 27 years.

Broadcasting career

For several years, Lucas worked for

as an analyst to Jets programs such as pre-game and post-game shows and weekly updates, before leaving in 2020. In 2009 Lucas joined the Rutgers Football Radio Network as a color analyst, a role he no longer has as of 2021 as he decided to coach his home high school football team.Former Rutgers quarterback Ray Lucas will be announcer for RU Football Radio Network
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Ray 1972 births Living people People from Harrison, New Jersey African-American players of American football American football quarterbacks Players of American football from New Jersey Baltimore Ravens players Rutgers Scarlet Knights football players New England Patriots players New York Jets players Miami Dolphins players National Football League announcers Rutgers Scarlet Knights football announcers Sportspeople from Hudson County, New Jersey 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople