Tyler Palko

Tyler Palko

Kansas City Chiefs
Personal information
Born:	(1983-08-09) August 9, 1983 Imperial, Pennsylvania
Career information
College:	Pittsburgh
Undrafted:	2007
Career history
New Orleans Saints (2007–2008) Arizona Cardinals (2009)* California Redwoods (2009)* Montreal Alouettes (2009) Pittsburgh Steelers (2009) Kansas City Chiefs (2010–present) *Offseason and/or practice squad member only
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Roster status:	Active
Career highlights and awards
2001 Pennsylvania Big School Player of the Year USA Today All-America Team (second team) (2001) Pitt team MVP (2004) 2× second-team Big East (2004, 2005)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 14, 2011
TDs-INTs: 2-7 Passing yards: 831 QB rating: 60.7 Stats at Pro Football Reference
Stats at CFL.ca

Tyler Palko (born August 9, 1983) is an American football quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. He was signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2007. He played college football for the University of Pittsburgh.

Palko was the starting quarterback at the University of Pittsburgh from 2004 to 2006. He was not selected in the 2007 NFL Draft, but was signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent. After spending the 2007 season on the Saints practice squad and occasionally the active roster, Palko did not play football in 2008. He joined the Arizona Cardinals on a future contract in December 2008 before being waived in September 2009. Palko then joined the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League before signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers in November 2009. He signed a future contract with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2010 but spent most of the 2010 season on the practice squad before being elevated to the active roster near the end of the season. He entered the 2011 season as the back-up to Matt Cassel. Palko replaced Cassel as the starting quarterback for a November 21 Monday Night Football game against the New England Patriots due to an injury to Cassel's hand.

Early years

Palko attended West Allegheny High School in Imperial, Pennsylvania. Palko was the Associated Press 2001 Pennsylvania Big School Player of the Year at West Allegheny. He was a USA Today All-America Team (second team) and three-time Pittsburgh Post-Gazette WPIAL Class AAA Player of the Year. Palko also led his West Allegheny Indians to a PIAA state title in 2001 for AAA in Pennsylvania. At West Allegheny he played under his father in football, Coach Bob Palko, earning four letters in football; additionally he earned three letters in basketball, and one in track and field. His cousin was James Pratchenko from Center Area High School. In his high school senior year, he was named 2002 YMCA Tribune-Review Scholar-Athlete honoree. In 2002, Palko was selected to play in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, an all-star game for high school athletes.

He is left handed.

College career

Palko played for the Pittsburgh Panthers football team, where he started his career in 2002 as a lettered true freshman. He only completed 2-3 passes for 13 yards on the season, but rushed for an eight-yard touchdown late in Pitt's Insight Bowl victory over Oregon State.

The following season, 2003, Palko redshirted. In 2004, as a redshirt-sophomore, Palko earned second-team All-Big East honors and was named Pitt's MVP and offensive captain as a first-year starter. Palko's threw for 3,067 yards and 24 touchdowns with only seven interceptions. Palko's 24 touchdowns led the Big East and were third-highest single-season in Pitt history, and his passing yardage total was the most ever for a sophomore and third best overall in Pitt history as well. Palko also had four 300-yard passing games and one 400-yard passing game that season alone. Palko started against the University of South Florida with a career-high 411 yards, fifth-highest in school history, and matched a personal best of five touchdowns with no interceptions that game. Palko threw five touchdown passes and totaled 334 yards with no interceptions against Notre Dame becoming the first opposing quarterback to throw for five touchdowns in a single game as a visiting team player against the Fighting Irish. Late in the fourth quarter, the Panthers went on two late scoring drives: one for a touchdown and one for a game-winning field goal with one second left to play. The Panthers also led three consecutive scoring drives against Temple to overcome a 10-point fourth quarter deficit. They also overcame the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Backyard Brawl after being down 13-9 in the fourth quarter, by leading a drive that consisted of four third-down conversions that ended with a two-yard run by Palko for the score. During the game, Palko hurdled defensive back Pacman Jones in the second quarter on a scramble for a first down. Pittsburgh then earned a bid in the Fiesta Bowl to play the Utah Utes. Palko was sacked nine times in a 35-7 loss.

In the spring of 2005, Dave Wannstedt, after replacing Walt Harris as head coach, chose Palko over Joe Flacco as the incumbent quarterback in Pitt's spring training. Flacco was left to run Pitt's second team and eventually transferred to the University of Delaware, where he played for the Division I-AA Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football team. Flacco is currently the starting quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens.

As a junior in 2005, Palko earned second-team Big East honors for the consecutive season and was also named Pitt's captain for the second year in a row. Palko's passing stats were not as productive as the previous year's, with 2,392 yards and 17 touchdowns with nine interceptions, but his rushing of six scores was a career-high and a team-high for the season and Palko was Pitt's third leading scorer with 36 points. Palko's 371 yards and four touchdowns against Rutgers University were season-highs while his 35 completions of 58 attempts were both career highs. Against West Virginia, he threw for 308 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in a loss. Palko also threw for 198 yards and a touchdown against the second-team best Big East team in Louisville. In the season-opener against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Palko threw for 220 yards with one touchdown and one interception while rushing for a four-yard score as well.

In his final season as a Panther, 2006, Palko threw for 2,871 yards, less than his 2004 and 2005 totals, but topped the 2004 results with 25 touchdowns. He only rushed for 77 yards and two scores on the season though. Palko and the Panthers opened the season against Virginia with 283 yards passing and three touchdowns. Palko followed it up with a 267 yard game (Cincinnati), 277 yard performance (Michigan State), and ended the 200+ yard game streak against The Citadel with 313 yards for four scores. Against West Virginia late in the season, Palko threw for a season-high 341 yards along with two scores in a 45-27 loss. In the season finale against the Louisville Cardinals, Palko threw for 307 yards with a touchdown, but threw three interceptions as well. Palko's yardage was first in the Big East, passing efficiency of 173.4 was first in the conference, and his completions per game was also first. His ten 300-yard passing games on the season tied a Big East-record set by Rutgers' Ryan Hart from 2002-2005. Palko, along with linebacker H. B. Blades, were invited to attend the Senior Bowl at season's end.

Palko ended his college career tied for second in school history in career touchdown passes with former Panther Alex Van Pelt with a total of 66 and was second in university history in career passing yardage, trailing Dan Marino by 254 yards. Palko's career totals of 8,343 passing yards with 66 touchdown passes rank him as one of the top-three passers in Panther football history. Thus, Palko is frequently referred to as "The Fifth Highwayman". He ranked 4th in the NCAA in passing efficiency in 2006 with 163 (the leader was Colt Brennan with 186).

Statistics

				Passing									Rushing
Season	Team	GP		Rating	Att	Comp	Pct	Yds	TD	INT	Sack		Att	Yds	TD
2002	Pittsburgh Panthers	8		103	3	2	67	13	0	0	NA		10	9	1
2004	Pittsburgh Panthers	12		135	409	230	56	3067	24	7	NA		129	139	3
2005	Pittsburgh Panthers	11		127	341	193	57	2392	17	9	NA		70	-139	3
2006	Pittsburgh Panthers	12		163	322	220	68	2871	25	9	NA		66	77	2
	Totals	43		141	1075	645	60	8343	66	25	NA		275	86	12

Notes: Uses NCAA (rather than NFL) passer rating model The NCAA indicates he played one game (bringing his total Pittsburgh career games played to 44) in 2003 but was redshirted that year without any record of passes or rushes. His official Panther biography says he did not play at all in 2003.

Professional career

New Orleans Saints

Palko went undrafted in the 2007 NFL Draft before being signed by the New Orleans Saints on April 28, 2007. After the Saints released Palko at their final cut-down, he was signed to the Saints' practice squad. He was then elevated to the 53-man roster for the team's first regular season game, where he was the team's third quarterback. After the game, he was released and re-signed to the team's practice squad. Palko again was promoted to the 53-man roster for the team's second game, and waived after the game. On October 9, 2007, Palko was signed back onto the Saints' practice squad. On December 30, 2007, Palko was signed onto the active roster for the final game of the season, but was declared inactive for the game.

Palko was waived by the Saints during final cuts on August 30, 2008. Palko injured his hand after being waived.

Arizona Cardinals

After spending the 2008 NFL season out of football, Palko was signed to a future contract by the Arizona Cardinals on December 30, 2008. He was waived on September 4, 2009.

California Redwoods

On September 20, 2009 Palko was signed by the California Redwoods of the United Football League. He was cut during the preseason.

Montreal Alouettes

In October 2009 he signed with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League and was placed on their practice roster. He was signed to the active roster on November 2. He was released on November 25, allowing him to sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Palko was signed to the Pittsburgh Steelers' practice squad on November 25, 2009 after quarterbacks Ben Roethlisberger and Charlie Batch were injured. He was promoted to the active roster on November 28 when Roethlisberger was declared inactive for the team's November 29 game against the Baltimore Ravens. Palko was named the back-up quarterback behind Dennis Dixon. He was released on December 9, 2009.

Kansas City Chiefs

2010

Palko was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs to a future contract on March 3, 2010.

On September 4, 2010, the Chiefs released Palko from the active roster, and on the following day, signed him to the practice squad. He was elevated to the 53-man roster on December 8, 2010.

Palko played in in the final minutes of the Oakland-Kansas City game on January 2, 2011 (which the Chiefs lost 31-10). He also played in the final minutes of the Denver-Kansas City game on November 13, 2011 (which the Chiefs lost 49=29). He passed a total 4 for 6 for 35 yards with no interceptions and was sacked twice.

2011

The Chiefs announced that Palko would take over starting quarterback duties against the New England Patriots in week 11 of the 2011 season, following a season ending index finger injury to starting quarterback Matt Cassel. Palko's first starting opportunity with the Chiefs resulted in a 34-3 loss to the Patriots at Gillette Stadium, where he completed 25 of 38 attempts for a total of 236 yards, and also 3 interceptions. That next week, the Chiefs claimed Kyle Orton off waivers from the Denver Broncos.

Palko started the next game against the Pittsburgh Steelers that received considerable interest in Pittsburgh given his college history. Palko went 18 of 28 for 167 yards and had three interceptions including one in the closing seconds of the game as Kansas City was driving in Steeler territory in route to a 13-9 loss that was surprisingly close (the Steelers were 10 point favorites).

Palko threw his first NFL touchdown pass the following week against the Chicago Bears; a 38 yard Hail Mary pass to Dexter McCluster as time expired at the end of the first half which turned out to be the game winning play. Orton (who was starting quarterback for Chicago in 2008 and the Bears had unsuccessfully claimed him the November 2011 waivers) replaced Palko in the second quarter and Orton was injured on his first and only play when he threw an incomplete flea-flicker pass that fell incomplete when Orton hurt a finger on his right throwing hand. Palko finished the game in the Chiefs upset of the Bears 10-3 completing 17 of 30 passes for 157 yards — and no interceptions or turnovers.

In the December 11 game against the New York Jets in the first half Palko only had 4 yards total offense and one first down with Palko going 3 for 8 for 11 yards and one interception as the Jets jumped to a 28-3 lead. In the second half Palko threw for his second touchdown of his career (a 24-yarder to Jerheme Urban) and would have had another except Dwayne Bowe dropped the ball. He was 13 for 24 for 184 and no interceptions in the second half. The Jets only scores in the second half occurred when the Jets scored a touchdown in a drive in which the Chiefs were penalized 5 times for 81 yards (including an unsportsmanlike penalty against coach Todd Haley) and a safety on Jackie Battle. Palko was sacked five times in the game which the Chiefs lost 37-10.

Following the Jets game the Chiefs fired Haley. Interim coach Romeo Crennel said that either Orton or Ricky Stanzi would start the December 18 game against the Green Bay Packers. Orton played a complete game against the previously unbeaten Green Bay which the Chiefs upset 19-14.

Statistics

Through the December 11, 2011, game against the Jets, his professional statistics are:

Season	Team	Games			Passing								Sacks		Rushing				Fumbles
		GP	GS	W–L	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/Att	TD	INT	Rating	#	Yds	Att	Yds	Avg	TD	FUM	Lost
2010	Kansas City Chiefs	2	0	0	4	6	66.7	35	5.8	0	0	81.9	2	10	2	5	2.5	0	0	0
2011	Kansas City Chiefs	6	4	1-3	80	134	59.7	796	5.9	2	7	59.8	11	83	5	5	0	0	1	1
	Total	8	4	1-3	84	140	60.0	831	5.9	2	7	60.7	13	93	7	20	2.9	0	1	1

External links

• Arizona Cardinals bio
• Pittsburgh Panthers bio