Gabriel wore the number 18 with the Rams and the number 5 with the Eagles. In the professional ranks Gabriel went on to play 16 seasons in the NFL, splitting time with the Rams and the Eagles. He ranked as the Rams' all-time passing leader with 22,223 yards and 154 touchdowns (1,705 com./3,313 att.) and threw for 7,221 yards and 45 touchdowns (661 com./1,185 att.) with the Eagles.
In 1973 he led the NFL with 3,219 yards and 23 touchdown passes, for which he was awarded the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award. He still holds the Rams' career records for touchdown passes (154), passing yards (22,223), passes attempted (3,313), passes completed 1,705 and wins by a starting quarterback (74).
However, all that came with a cost. From 1962 through 1965, Gabriel had a difficult time securing a starting quarterback job. However, Gabriel did get to start 23 games from 1962 through 1965.
When George Allen came to coach the Rams in 1966, he knew that Gabriel was the best QB the Rams had stated Gabriel was one of the toughest quarterback to beat in the NFL. Gabriel suffered knee injuries as well as shoulder and hip injuries through 1970-1972. Some of that led to the trade to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1973 and was voted to the Pro Bowl for the fourth time, and was voted the "Comeback player of the Year" by Pro Football Weekly.
Gabriel is the only quarterback from his era to still rank high in the "lowest interception percentage" category in NFL passing statistics—Meaning, quarterbacks today avoid throwing interceptions in a way similar to how Gabriel did it a generation earlier. His 3.3% interception percentage will likely last longer, and it may be some time before they can get Gabriel out of the Top 100 of all-time in that category.
Gabriel had a brief career in movies, playing a prison guard in Otto Preminger's 1968 spoof
Skidoo and an American Indian named "Blue Boy" in the 1969 John Wayne film
The Undefeated.
Gabriel's dark complexion gave rise to a popular belief that he may really be a Native American, but this is not the case; he is actually Filipino American on his father's side and Irish-American on his mother's. Gabriel had previously appeared as a headhunter in an episode of CBS'
Gilligan's Island.
Gabriel's last completion of his career was a 15-yard pass to Vince Papale, the walk-on WR and special-teams captain who is the inspiration for and subject of Disney's movie
Invincible,
After retirement from pro football in 1977, Gabriel went into broadcasting as a color commentator for CBS television and, later, Carolina Panthers radio.
He currently lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.