To say that Italy holds a few surprises for Rick Dockery would be something of an understatement. He knows nothing about Parma, has never been to Europe, and doesn’t speak or understand a word of Italian. So Rick reluctantly agrees to play for the Panthers–at least until a better offer comes along–and heads off to Italy. Yes, Italians do play American football, to one degree or another, and the Parma Panthers desperately want a former NFL player–any former NFL player–at their helm. Against enormous odds Arnie finally locates just such a team and informs Rick that, miraculously, he can in fact now be a starting quarterback–for the mighty Panthers of Parma, Italy. Overnight, he became a national laughingstock and, of course, was immediately cut by the Browns and shunned by all other teams.īut all Rick knows is football, and he insists that his agent, Arnie, find a team that needs him. He is playing for the Cleveland Browns, and they are in the AFC Championship against the Denver Broncos. Generally relegated to the third string or emergency quarterback, he has a powerful arm but is inconsistent.

With a 17-point lead and just minutes to go, Rick provided what was arguably the worst single performance in the history of the NFL. Rick Dockery had a very successful college football career and since then has bounced around in the NFL. In the AFC Championship game against Denver, to the surprise and dismay of virtually everyone, Rick actually got into the game. The iron man left tackle a star of one of the Cleveland Browns great stories who used to say he wanted to set an Ohio record for longevity died at the age of 84 Sunday night.

Rick Dockery was the third-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.

Rick dockery cleveland browns