In 1982, Anderson set an NFL record for completion percentage of 70.6%—which stood for over 25 years until broken by Drew Brees in 2009.
[11] Another neighbor and teammate, Byron Von Hoff, played basketball and other sports at Batavia with Anderson and Issel.
[12] Von Hoff was the second round pick of the New York Mets in the 1966 Amateur Baseball draft and pitched successfully in the minor leagues before an injury ended his career.
[14][11] After playing for and graduating from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, Anderson was selected 67th overall in the 1971 NFL draft by the Cincinnati Bengals, where he would soon become noted for his short-range passes and running.
Special teams helped negate a bad start on offense that meant the Bengals only trailed 21–16 at halftime.
However, the Dolphins pressed the Bengals for thirteen unanswered points to win 34–16, aided by a running attack that ran for over 200 yards on Cincinnati's defense.
In 1975, Anderson threw for a league high 3,169 yards while throwing for 21 touchdowns to eleven interceptions for a 60.5 completion percentage.
[17] The Bengals won the AFC Central for the second time in three seasons, but they were tasked to play against the Oakland Raiders away from their stadium (as per the NFL's policy of rotating playoff hosts by year).
However, the Raiders out-dueled the Bengals with better rushing and time, as they only punted once during the entire game (along with committing two turnovers), and they held on despite nearly blowing a ten-point lead in the fourth quarter to win 31–28.
[18] It was the last season with Paul Brown as coach, as he tapped Bill "Tiger" Johnson to replace him, but it was also the last with Walsh with the Bengals, as he left for the San Diego Chargers soon after.
Despite this, Anderson had a Pro Bowl caliber year, throwing for 2,367 yards with nineteen touchdowns and fourteen interceptions for a 10–4 record, although his passer rating and completion percentage all dropped considerably.
He went 7–6 as a starter (Reaves played and won his only start), throwing for 2,145 yards with eleven touchdowns and interceptions, but the Bengals still had a chance to make the postseason on the final week.
In the 1979 season, Anderson went 4–11 as a starter while throwing for 2,340 yards with sixteen touchdowns and ten interceptions while leading the league with 46 sacks.
He threw for a career high 3,754 yards while having 29 touchdowns to ten interceptions while leading the league in touchdown/interception percentage along with passer rating (98.4).
Facing off against future Hall of Famer Dan Fouts and the San Diego Chargers, the game was referred to later as the Freezer Bowl, owing to conditions of −9 °F in Cincinnati on gameday.
Anderson lived up to the challenge on the frozen tundra, passing 14-of-22 for 161 yards for two touchdowns as the Bengals led for the entire game and won 27–7 to win their first ever conference championship.
[22] In Super Bowl XVI, the Bengals played the San Francisco 49ers, now led by former coach Walsh in a matchup of the two best teams in the NFL.
Five minutes later, trailing 23–14, Anderson threw an interception that led to a subsequent field goal for San Francisco.
In the playoffs that year, they were upset by the New York Jets at home, with Anderson going 26-of-35 for 354 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions in the 44–17 loss.
Anderson finished his career seventh all-time in passing yards (with five of those above him already in the Pro Football Hall of Fame at that time).
With stats compiled of fellow 1970s quarterback Ken Stabler, Anderson outranks him in games played/started, yards, touchdowns (197 to 194) along with less interceptions (160 to 222).
[10] In terms of AFC Central competition, Anderson went 41–34 in appearances and 36–30 in starts overall against division rivals in the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, and the Houston Oilers.
He was fired after the 2006 season, along with offensive coordinator Carl Smith and special teams coach Pete Rodriguez, by Jack Del Rio.