Category Archives: Arena

Arena, NFL, usfl

Bentley, Ray

Card: Score 1991
Acquired: Canton Acquisition 2012

After finishing college at Central Michigan in 1983, Bentley went undrafted by the NFL and was taken by the Michigan Panthers in the USFL Territorial Draft. He’d play for the Panthers over the next two seasons, helping them win the USFL Championship, as the connection from Bobby Herbert to Anthony Carter on offense was almost unstoppable. Bentley played with the Oakland Invaders in 1985, which had merged with the Michigan Panthers, and reached the championship again, but the league folded after the season. As one of the quieter names in the league in an unglamorous position, Bentley again was not selected in the draft- this time being the 1984 NFL Supplemental Draft of USFL and CFL players. He signed a free agent contract with the Buffalo Bills in ’86.

An excellent find by the Bills, Bentley worked well in the team’s 3-4 alignment, alongside starters Cornelius Bennett, Shane Conlan, and Darryl Talley, plugging right into the lineup at right inside linebacker. A menacing run stopper, Ray relayed the play calls from the coaches to the team and made adjustments at the line of scrimmage for the defense.  An intimidating run stopper, Bentley was fond of using eye black and streaking it down his cheeks as though they were tears. After playing in Buffalo for 6 years, Ray finished up his career with one final season playing for the Bengals, recording his first professional touchdown on a fumble he returned 75 yards.

Ray has been a very active guy since his days in the NFL ended. He’s done a series of children’s books including “Darby the Dinosaur” and has spent a lot of his time in color commentary for the Arena Football League and Bills radio broadcasts. He’s considered a member of the ‘New’ USFL advisory board, and also spends time coaching high school football.

G/Gs  87/53   Tac  N/a    Sac 2.0    Fum 3     Int 3    Yds 71     Avg 23.6     Td  0    Lg  58

 

Arena, NFL

Jensen, Jim “Crash”

Card: Pro Set 1990
Acquired: Canton Acquisition 2012

Jim Jensen is an amazing football story. Picked in the 11th round of the NFL draft in 1981 by the Dolphins, nobody really gave the 6’4″, 215 quarterback from Boston University of the Yankee Conference a chance to make the squad. Jensen squeezed onto the roster as the team’s 3rd string quarterback, but saw little or no playing time. A few years passed, and with Miami snagging Dan Marino with their 1st round pick of the 1983 draft, Jensen knew he needed to do something, anything, to make the squad. There in Jim “Crash” Jensen was born. Jim was such a smart, well conditioned, and strong athlete, that he began to line up at any position on offense that they’d take him. Showing the heart to do what it took impressed Don Shula and his staff, his bread and butter soon became being a special teams maven. (It has been said his nickname was given to him by none other than Howard Cosell after watching the out of place QB burn down the field and make a face first tackle.) The team began to use him as an ace, lining him at WR, TE, RB, and even FB to try to expose mismatches in the opposing defenses. His role over the next few years at quarterback became only that in the role of an emergency one, but that was perfectly fine since he had found his knack doing basically everything else. On rare occasions the team did let him throw the ball and test defenses such as in trick plays, but his statistics were completely misleading since he only started 10 games over his career, if you considered his all-purpose role in the Dolphins offensive system. Statistically his 1988 and 1989 seasons were his best. Jim racked up 652 yards on 58 catches and 5 TDs in 1988, and followed that up with 61 for 557 and 6 TDs in 1989. His role slowly began to diminish from there until the end of his career with the Dolphins in 1992.  Jim decided he wasn’t finished yet with football, and jumped to the fledgling Arena Football league to play for the Miami Hooters in 1993. He’d play two seasons for the team as their #1 quarterback before retiring after the 1994 season.

I suspect that the person that I got these cards from got a good portion of autographs from the Sotl.com site. While at the time School of the Legends was a great resource for fans to get in touch with players, talk to them, and well- hit them up for autographs, – I don’t think that was the original intent of the site. (Sure, I also used the site to find players that I had been looking for, but some people just flat out abused it for autographs and didn’t really see the purpose in connecting with the players or utilizing the services that were offered.)   Jensen along with many others were active members of the site who talked to fans and kept things moving, but in the end Sotl.com went through a facelift, did away with fan and player profiles, and now there isn’t really a way to find players and talk to them anymore.

NFL    G/Gs  164/10    Att   7   Comp  4       Yds  102          Pct  57.1           Td 2        Int  0          Rat 141.4
Rush  26              Yds   142          Avg       5.5             Td   0            Lg   23
Rec    229            Yds   2171       Avg       9.5             Td 19             Lg  31

AFL   Seasons 2     Att  539    Comp  290      Yds  3256      Pct  53.8       Td   51       Int  18        Rat  81.8

 

Arena, NFL

Tomczak, Mike

Card: Score 1990
Acquired: Canton Acquisition 2012

Mike Tomczak is a great example of what an embattled quarterback is, suffering through the drama and controversy of being sandwiched between the Jim McMahon and the Jim Harbaugh eras in Mike Ditka’s run as head coach of the Chicago Bears. Tomczak was not drafted by the Bears, rather he was an unpolished diamond in the rough that the team plucked out of Ohio State in 1985. The scrappy, pretty boy quarterback got in some playing time and things looked even more opportunistic for him with the retirement of Steve Fuller after 1986, but the Bears had other plans and pulled the trigger on Michigan signal caller Jim Harbaugh in ’87 during the first round of the draft.

Tomczak still got playing time in between McMahon and Harbaugh as both quarterbacks (McMahon and Harbaugh) had a propensity to get injured. A good game manager, Tomczak had the quirky honor of winning his first 10 professional starts at quarterback. This allowed for a quarterback controversy to bloom first with McMahon and then later with Harbaugh as fans just wanted to win, no matter how ugly it was. It was rough for Mike as he had a tendency to force the ball to the receiver early in his playing career.  After 6 seasons in Chicago, Mike was allowed to leave via Free Agency.  For the Bears, Tomczak posted a 21-10 record as a starter, a 49.6 completion percentage, and 33 touchdowns to 47 interceptions.  He also ran for 326 yards and 8 touchdowns.  Mike didn’t have to travel far- in fact, he went up the road to division rival Green Bay.

Green Bay had been a doormat for the NFC Central for many years, but after an amazing 1989 season with Don Majkowski at the helm guiding the team to a 10-6 record, people expected more of the Pack, but with an underwhelming 1990, at 6-10 losing some pretty tight games, optimism was still riding high in 1991. Things didn’t go as planned, and Mike split time with Majkowski. He’d post decent numbers under center, (11 TDs to 9 picks and 1490 yards) but the team fell to a 4-12 mark. In Green Bay it was regime changing time, so Lindy Infante and his staff were out the door, and so was Mike.

Things didn’t change for Tomczak. Either he had the best or worst luck of any professional out there. Either there was an incumbent who got injured so he stepped right in, or coaches wanted him to replace the starter. Case in point, Bill Belichick and the Cleveland Browns in 1993. After a slow start and a broken hand impeded Bernie Kosar, Tomczak, who didn’t play all that bad, lead the team to a 4-4 record in Kosar’s relief. Again, it was a short stop for Mike,  as he’d be replaced by Vinny Testaverde.

Mike landed with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1994. He’d back up Neil O’Donnell at quarterback and see his first Super Bowl since his rookie season after the 1995 season- a loss to the Cowboys. He’d get his chance to show his stuff though shortly after, and be named starter of the Steelers in 1996. Tomczak had his best season since his days in Chicago, posting a 10-5 record. It was shortlived, and he’d be replaced in the lineup by electrifying, if not inconsistent, Kordell Stewart. Stewart remained starter throughout the 1998 season with Mike seeing limited playing time here and there until 1999 when he played in 5 more contests.  He’d have a really nice finale to his time there throwing for 1625 yards and 12 touchdowns to only 8 picks. In a footnote, Tomczak signed with the Detroit Lions in 2000, but broke his leg and decided to end his career.  He’d be the final member of the Chicago Bears Super Bowl XX team to retire.

Mike has remained involved in the sport since retirement. He’s worked behind the desk and as a color commentator for games. As of 2013, Mike is the offensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Power of the Arena Football League.

G/Gs 185/73    Att 2337     Comp  1248      Yds  16079    Pct  53.4    Td  88     Int 85     Rat 68.9  |
Rush 198    Yds 526    Avg  2.7   Td 9    Lg 48