At 77 years old, Tom Moore is in his 38th season as an NFL assistant coach and his 52nd as a college or pro assistant. He has a chance to earn a trip to his fourth Super Bowl on Sunday, when his Arizona Cardinals squad visits the Carolina Panthers in the NFC Championship Game.
Moore, who was born in Owatonna and went to high school in Rochester, won Super Bowls with the Steelers in the 1978 and 1979 seasons when he was a receivers coach under the legendary Chuck Noll and had Terry Bradshaw at quarterback. He also won a Super Bowl with the Colts and Peyton Manning when he was Indianapolis offensive coordinator in 2006.
Moore has had successful quarterbacks everywhere he has coached, though his best-known relationship is with Manning.
Moore even coached Rich Gannon with the Vikings in the 1990s, though Gannon didn't get to his Super Bowl until 2003 with the Raiders.
This season, Moore has had great success with 36-year-old Carson Palmer. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 draft set career highs with 4,671 passing yards, 35 touchdown passes and a 104.6 rating.
Asked to talk about coaching Bradshaw, Manning and Palmer, Moore said: "They're each very, very different, and part of the difference is because the game has changed. Terry Bradshaw played and the game was different than it is now. With Peyton, we did a lot of audible in his scenarios. In their own way, all three are great quarterbacks but very different from each other. But all three are great quarterbacks."
When asked how Palmer has had such a big season, Moore credited Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, who interestingly served under Moore as Colts quarterbacks coach from 1998 to 2000.
"I think you have to give Bruce Arians all the credit in the world," Moore said. "Bruce has done a tremendous job with this football team. I can't say enough about the job. He has done a great job with Carson. One of the true measures of a coach is the coach plays to the players' strengths, and Bruce has come up with an offensive scheme to take advantage of Carson's strengths and Carson has bought into it and had an excellent year."