Curtis Dustin Zeigler (born September 27, 1973 in
Savannah, Georgia
Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...
) is a former
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...
offensive lineman
In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...
in the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...
for the
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...
and the
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...
.
Notre Dame
Dusty Zeigler played
college football at the
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...
.
Buffalo Bills
Zeigler was
drafted in the sixth round of the
1996 NFL Draft
The 1996 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 20–21, 1996, at the Paramount ...
by the Bills in 1996. He became their starting center as a sophomore in 1997, playing between left offensive guard
Ruben Brown
Ruben Parnell Brown (born February 13, 1972) is a former American football guard who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills 14th overall in the 1995 NFL Draft. He played college footba ...
and right guard
Corbin Lacina
Corbin James Lacina (born November 2, 1970) is a former American football offensive lineman and Midwest Emmy award-winning sports broadcaster who played eleven seasons in the National Football League, mainly for the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vi ...
, replacing the 11-year incumbent
Kent Hull. That was the final one in
Marv Levy
Marvin Daniel Levy (; born August 3, 1925) is an American former football coach and executive who was a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for seventeen seasons. He spent most of his head coaching career with the Buffalo Bills, le ...
's term as head coach (6-10 won-lost record), replaced the following year by his defensive coordinator,
Wade Phillips
Harold Wade Phillips (born June 21, 1947) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach of the Houston Roughnecks of the XFL (2020), XFL. He has served as head coach of the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills, and Dallas Cowboys. He ha ...
, who guided the Bills to playoff berths in 1998 and 1999. In 1998, when Zeigler started all 16 games, playing between Brown and
Joe Panos, Buffalo finished in second place in the
AFC East
The American Football Conference – Eastern Division or AFC East is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). There are currently four teams that reside in the division: the Buf ...
and lost a wild-card game to the
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pl ...
. In 1999, Buffalo also finished in second place in the AFC east, but Zeigler was switched to right guard to make place for
Jerry Ostroski as the center next to Brown. The Bills lost another wild-card game, this time to the
Tennessee Titans
The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...
.
New York Giants
Zeigler became a New York Giant in 2000, where he also became the starting center, from 2000 to 2001, starting all 16 games during those two years. In 2000, the Giants won the NFC championship game of the
2000-01 NFL playoffs, but lost
Super Bowl XXXV
Super Bowl XXXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion fo ...
to the
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays it ...
with
Kerry Collins
Kerry Michael Collins (born December 30, 1972) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 17 seasons. Collins was a member of six NFL teams, most notably the Carolina Panthers, New York Giants, ...
as
quarterback
The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...
. In 2002, Zeigler started only 2 games, replaced by
Chris Bober, and never played again.
Post-football
Since retiring from football, Zeigler has become active in politics and was elected as a Republican to be the county commission chairman in Effingham County GA in 2008.
In 2012, Zeigler became an offensive line coach for the Savannah Christian Raiders, a high school team competing in the Georgia High School Association (GHSA).
See also
*
History of the New York Giants (1994-present)
References
1973 births
Living people
Players of American football from Savannah, Georgia
American football centers
Notre Dame Fighting Irish football players
Buffalo Bills players
New York Giants players
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