Theron Joseph Rubley (born June 19, 1968), is a former American professional

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

player who was a

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 ...

(NFL), World League of American Football (WLAF), and the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL) during the 1990s. He played for the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

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

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

of the NFL, the Rhein Fire of the WLAF, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

of the CFL.

Early years

Rubley was a first-team all-state selection for

Davenport West High School West High School is a public four year high school located in Davenport, Iowa. Their athletic mascot is the Falcon. The school has almost 200 classes, and over 1,600 students. The school, along with Davenport Central and Davenport North, make up ...

Davenport, Iowa Davenport is a city in and the county seat of Scott County, Iowa, United States. Located along the Mississippi River on the eastern border of the state, it is the largest of the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of 384,324 and a ...

, where he completed 253 of 490 passes (51.6 percent) for 4,009 yards and 32 touchdowns in three seasons from 1984 to 1986.

College career

Rubley played collegiately at the

University of Tulsa The University of Tulsa (TU) is a private research university in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a historic affiliation with the Presbyterian Church and the campus architectural style is predominantly Collegiate Gothic. The school traces its origin to ...

Professional career

Rubley was selected by the

in the ninth round (228th pick overall) of the

1992 NFL Draft The 1992 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 26–27, 1992, at the Marriott Mar ...

. He spent his rookie season as the team's inactive third quarterback. Rubley saw action in two NFL seasons in 1993 and 1995. He started seven games for the Rams during the 1993 season. With limited playing time and being waived numerous times by NFL teams, Rubley found success with the Rhein Fire of the WLAF and played briefly with

and Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. His most infamous NFL moment, leading to his being cut from the team, came as a Green Bay Packer in a 1995 game against the Minnesota Vikings. Both starting quarterback

Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 20 ...

and back-up quarterback Ty Detmer got injured in the game, but the Packers and Vikings were tied 24–24 with less than a minute to go and the Packers with the ball on the Minnesota 38-yard line. On 3rd-and-1, coach

Mike Holmgren Michael George Holmgren (born June 15, 1948) is a former American football coach and executive. He began his NFL career as a quarterbacks' coach and later as an offensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers, where they won Super Bowls XXII ...

called for a quarterback sneak. However, Rubley, the only remaining quarterback for the Packers, audibled and called a roll-out. He passed the ball and it was quickly intercepted, giving Minnesota the ball and eventually, the win. After the game, an incredulous Holmgren commented, "I called a quarterback sneak. He

ubley Ubley is a small village and civil parish within the Chew Valley in Bath and North East Somerset about south of Bristol. It is just south-east of Blagdon Lake, just off the A368 between Compton Martin and Blagdon. History There is some evid ...

changed the play. He thought he had the choice." Packers General Manager

Ron Wolf Ronald Wolf (born December 30, 1938) is the former American football general manager (GM) of the National Football League's Green Bay Packers. Wolf is widely credited with bringing success to a Packers franchise that had rarely won during the two ...

was equally livid, commenting, "I can't believe this. I think we've exhausted ways to lose here." Rubley himself said, "It was not a real good decision." Rubley was cut later that week, and never appeared in another NFL game, although he was on the

roster the following season.

Post-football career

Rubley served as a consultant for the film '' The Replacements'', specifically coaching

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in '' Youngblood'' (1986). ...

in his role as the starting quarterback for the fictional Washington Sentinels. Reeves' character, Shane Falco, is loosely based on Rubley.

References

External links

Pro-Football-Reference.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubley, T.J. 1968 births Living people American football quarterbacks American players of Canadian football Canadian football quarterbacks Green Bay Packers players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Los Angeles Rams players Sportspeople from Davenport, Iowa Players of American football from Iowa Rhein Fire players Tulsa Golden Hurricane football players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players