Matt Moore (American football)

Matthew Erickson Moore (born August 9, 1984) is an American former professional quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the UCLA Bruins and Oregon State Beavers before signing with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 2007. Moore was also a member of the Carolina Panthers, Kansas City Chiefs, and Miami Dolphins.

Early life

After playing youth football for six years with Palmdale Falcons Youth Football, Moore attended William S. Hart High School in Santa Clarita, California.

As a junior, Moore lettered in football while playing as a safety, earning All-CIF acclaim with 80 tackles and 10 interceptions on the season.

Moore lettered again during his senior year playing as Hart High School's starting quarterback. Moore led his team to a 13–0 record, culminating in a 42–13 win over Valencia in the CIF-Southern Section Division III title game. In the sectional, division title game, Moore completed 14 of 18 passes for 277 yards and four touchdowns and ran 15 times for 95 yards and one score. On the year, he completed 234 of 353 (66.3%) passes for 3,334 yards and 33 touchdowns and ran for 415 yards and seven scores. Moore was named the CIF-SS Division III Offensive Player of the Year. He was named First-team All-State and First-team All-CIF SS. He was selected to play in the 2002 North-South Shrine All-Star game.

Moore ended his senior season as one of the top-rated quarterbacks in the nation. He was ranked No. 8 by Scout.com and No. 11 by Rivals.com. SuperPrep rated him as the No. 8 quarterback in the nation and named him the FarWest Offensive Player of the Year. Max Emfinger named him to his All-America team and ranked him as a four-star prospect and the No. 17 quarterback prospect. PacWest Football rated Moore a four-star rating and rated him the No. 6 quarterback in the West and No. 9 in the nation. PrepStar named Moore to the All-American team and rated him the No. 5 quarterback in the West. He was named member of the Tacoma News Tribune Western 100, the Las Vegas Sun Super 11 second-team, the Los Angeles Times All-Star Team, and the First-team L.A. Times All-San Fernando Valley, which selected him as the region Player of the Year.

Moore lettered twice in baseball playing shortstop and third base.

College career

2002

Moore began his college football career at UCLA. He was slated to redshirt, but was pressed into duty due to injuries to Cory Paus and Drew Olson against Cal. He appeared in six games as a true freshman, becoming the first Bruins' true-freshman quarterback to start since Cade McNown. The Bruins defeated Stanford in Moore's debut, making him the first true-freshman QB in his first game to lead UCLA to victory. He led the team to seven scoring drives against the Cardinal. He saw action against Arizona, USC, Washington State, and New Mexico in the Las Vegas Bowl as a reserve. Moore was 7 for 11 for 64 yards and one touchdown in the annual rivalry game against USC. For the season he completed 33 of 62 passes for 412 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

2003

Moore started four of the eight games he appeared in at UCLA. He threw for 555 yards, two touchdowns, and six interceptions as a sophomore, completing 52 of 103 passes. He started the season opener against Colorado, but suffered a leg injury that sidelined him for the next three games. He had difficulty regaining the starting job with just eight pass attempts over the next three games. He moved back in front of Olson on the depth chart for the Oct 26 game at the Rose Bowl against Arizona State, passing for 190 yards and a touchdown in UCLA's 20–13 win. He also started the team's next two games against Stanford and Washington State. At the end of the season, Moore transferred from UCLA. (LA Times, December 5, 2003).

2004

Moore did not play in 2004 while attending the College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, California. Although he had not played baseball since high school, he was selected in the 22nd round of the 2004 MLB draft by the Los Angeles Angels after scouts saw him play in a Southern California semi-pro baseball league and invited him to private workouts with the team.

2005

Although he also strongly considered Colorado State, Moore enrolled at Oregon State in January 2005 and participated in spring training with the team. Head coach Mike Riley announced him as the leader on the depth chart entering the 2005 season. He finished the season with 2,711 yards passing, the ninth-highest total for a single season at OSU. His .594 completion percentage was third among the 20-best single season yardage performances in school history. Moore injured his right knee in the second quarter of the 10th game of the season against Stanford and missed the remainder of the year. His 271.1 yards passing per game was second in the Pac-10, trailing only USC's Matt Leinart (293.5). Making yet another record-breaking debut, he threw for 367 yards in the season opener against Portland State, the most ever by a Beaver quarterback in his first start. Moore threw for a career-high 436 yards against Arizona, had 317 yards at Louisville, and 311 against Arizona State. He hit Mike Hass on a 63-yard touchdown strike against Washington State that gave OSU the lead 37–33 after the team trailed 30–13 late in the second quarter. He also had two 58-yard passes—one to Anthony Wheat-Brown in the team's upset of No. 18 California in Berkeley and the other one week later (again to Hass) in his return to the Rose Bowl.

2006

Moore started all 14 games for the Beavers and was an All-Pac-10 honorable mention leading the Beavers to a 10-win season capped off by a Sun Bowl victory against Mizzou. After a 2–3 start, Moore and coach Mike Riley received a great deal of criticism from fans. Both found redemption after winning the next 8 of 9 games. This streak included a win over #3 ranked USC and a Civil War win at home. On the season, Moore completed 229 of 378 passes for 3,022 yards and 18 touchdowns with seven interceptions. He set an Oregon State record for the most consecutive pass attempts without an interception with 183 before having that streak end in the Sun Bowl. He was named MVP of the Sun Bowl after throwing for 356 yards and four touchdowns and rushing for one touchdown. The 4 passing TDs were a Sun Bowl record. It was the second-highest scoring game in the Sun Bowl's 73-year history. He was 5-for-7 for 55 yards on the winning drive, setting up a 2-point conversion to put the Beavers up 39–38 with 22 seconds left to play.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Moore was not selected in the 2007 NFL draft, but he was courted by the Dallas Cowboys and the Carolina Panthers, among other teams. Eventually, Moore signed as an undrafted free agent with the Cowboys. On signing with Dallas, Moore stated, "They had two quarterbacks on the roster; it was the Cowboys," adding "seemed like an easy choice to me at the time."

During the preseason, Moore completed 21-of-29 passes for 182 yards, a touchdown, and no interceptions for a 100.1 quarterback rating. On September 1, the Cowboys waived Moore during their final preseason cuts. Dallas intended to sign Moore to their practice squad had he passed through waivers, but he was claimed off waivers by the Panthers the following day.

Carolina Panthers

2007 season

After being signed by the Panthers, Moore was listed as the third-string quarterback behind veterans Jake Delhomme and David Carr. Early in the season, Delhomme suffered a strained right elbow injury in a game against the Atlanta Falcons.

In Week 5, Moore saw his first regular season action in a game against the New Orleans Saints. Near the end of the first quarter, Moore entered the game after Carr suffered a back injury due to a sack. Moore's first NFL completion was a 43-yard pass to Keary Colbert; his playing time was brief as Carr returned to the field for the game's second half. The following day, Delhomme determined it would be best to undergo season-ending ligament-replacement surgery for his elbow injury. Due to Delhomme's season-ending surgery and Carr's back injury, the Panthers signed 20-year veteran quarterback Vinny Testaverde to their roster.

In Week 9, Moore briefly relieved Carr against the Tennessee Titans. In Week 12, in a 31–6 loss to the Saints, Moore entered the game after Carr's ineffective performance. A balky back kept Testaverde from starting Week 12, and Panthers' head coach John Fox stated that, if healthy enough, Testaverde would start in Week 13 over both Carr and Moore.