Category Archives: NFL

NFL

Schaub, Matt (2)

Cards:  Score 2010
Acquired: In Person 10/11/2011, Whataburger Texans Community Player of the Month
See Also: http://n8d.flywheelsites.com/2011/schaub-matt/

Well moving back to Texas has some benefits, placing me within decent striking distance of both the Cowboys and Texans marketing departments. As a fan of the Texans I was aware of the team’s Community Player of the Month efforts sponsored through Whataburger. At about 4 hours drive and 200 miles flat, I thought it was worth the time to get Schaub on a card or two. It was of great hassle to get there as my GPS hadn’t had an update since 2007, so after I missed my turn, -under its direction I ended up off-roading in a Mazda Miata. Amazingly I did not get stuck in the mud however it was a hairy experience that I do not wish to duplicate. After about an 2 and a half hour wait in the Whataburger parking lot, I got both Joel Dreessen and Matt Schaub’s autograph.

 

Matt has taken a lot of flak in the media, both from fanboys and armchair quarterbacks. As a traditional drop-back passer, Schaub is not a scrambler by nature and some people claim that he’s not an elite quarterback, but the thing is, you go out of Texas and the impression is much better. He has 10 comeback victories to his resume in his career and while people say that he’s only good because of Andre Johnson, I’d say that charge is unfair because he performed well enough for the Texans to grab him from the Falcons in the first place. Also other teams have those sort of connections but those charges are never leveled against guys like Matt Ryan, Matt Stafford, or Tony Romo for that matter. As 2011 continues, the pressure from a frustrated city and fan base continues to mount on Matt. Hopefully he will be able to deliver a playoff berth and at least a division title for the long suffering city of Houston.

NFL

Dreessen, Joel

Cards: Bowman Chrome 2005, Leaf Rookies & Stars 2005
Acquired: In Person, 10/11/2011. Texans Whataburger Community Player of the Month

As I was packing to leave California, I started scouting ‘local’ autograph opportunities around the Central Texas Area. I found out that the Texans held community player of the month events during the season and that players routinely appeared around town to sign autographs. In this case the Texans sponsored the event, so I figured I could show up without much hassle since it was Dreesen and his sponsor Matt Schaub. I tried to figure out how early I should arrive at the event by posting something on the message board, but there was no response, so I decided that the best thing to was to just plan to get there an hour before the signing. Arriving at about 345 I was issued the 120th wristband by the corporate staff of both of the organizations by two very nice women. They jokingly asked if I was there to see them, to which I flirted back at them unabashedly which caused them to giggle like school girls. As I waited in line I chatted it up with my neighbors around me. One of them was waiting for a friend and had run out of Joel Dreessen items to get signed, but since there was also a sign limiting 1 autograph per player per person and I had 2 extra cards- things sorta fell into place. He offered to get the other cards signed because he had more friends attending the event, so I thought it’d be equitable to allow them to keep one of the extra cards I had of Joel. The session moved pretty quickly and in roughly 40 minutes I had an autograph in hand from both players. I asked Joel if the route he ran at the end of the Raiders game that almost won them the game was the same play that the Texans used against the Redskins last year that was key in their victory- but unfortunately it wasn’t. I also snapped a hasty picture from my camera of him and then moved on to Schaub. Afterwards, I hucked down a #6 and drove back to Austin like a happy bandit, with the autographs in hand.

The Texans do two things without fail- draft tight ends and get players from Colorado State. Joel Dreessen was initially drafted by the New York Jets in the 6th round of the 2005 draft. As both a tight end and a long snapper, the team felt that they could find him a home under head coach Eric Mangini, but Joel was on the street by 2006.  Houston, using their Colorado State connection (David Anderson, Mike Brisiel, & Jessie Nading) brought in Dreessen to back up Owen Daniels and be the team’s primary long snapper.  At 6-4, 260, Dreessen is a nice sized blocker as well as a decent receiver in traffic. He wouldn’t start any games for the Texans in 2007, and make only 4 receptions, but 2 of those would go for touchdowns, including his first professional TD against the Chargers. He’d build on that and by 2009, Dreessen would start 11 games in relief for Daniels, with 26 catches for 320 yards and a TD.  In 2010, Joel would have his best season, with 36 receptions for 518 yards and 4 TDs.  As 2011 has materialized so far, the Texans continue to find ways to work Dreessen into the lineup including 2 and 3 tight end sets that devastate opposing defensive lines and create heavy mismatches.

NFL

Calloway, Chris

Cards: Action Packed Rookies 1990, Topps Metal 1996
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent:  9/2  Received: 10/7   (35 days*)
*Slight delay. Forwarded from old address.

Chris Calloway is another receiver from the Great Blue of Michigan, who played opposite of blue chip prospect Greg McMurtry, finishing with 8 touchdown receptions.  At 5’10”, 189 it was thought that the speedster may have been a bit small, but the Steelers pulled the trigger on him in the 4th round of the 1990 draft.  He’d make 10 receptions his rookie season and 15 in 1991, but would find himself on the street in 1992.

Calloway would find a home with the New York Giants who liked his speed, route running, and willingness to do the dirty work. Calloway would continue to build slowly off of his previous seasons with 335 yards receiving, endearing him to Giants fans. Chris in fact his first 6 seasons saw career highs in receptions and yards every season.  After a slight dip in 1996- Chris would peak with 848 yards receiving and 8 touchdowns in 1997. 1998 was a career high in catches for Calloway with 62.  Chris signed with Atlanta in 1999 and start 6 games, making 314 yards receiving. He’d then play one final season in New England starting 2 games in 2000 before retiring in 2001.  At the end of his career, Chris ranked 7th on the Giants receptions list with 334 catches. Among receivers Chris reminds me a lot of former Houston Oilers wideout Curtis Duncan. Since retirement, Calloway has not forgotten about football and avidly wants to get into coaching or scouting. He lives in the Altanta area and is also a member of SotL.

Well this is the first one I got back TTM after moving with my forwarding address on it. I’m assuming it went back to my old address in California from Chris’ place in Georgia then came back to me here in Texas in a round about sort of way. Still I am happy to add him to my collection. Chris’ Action Packed Rookies card from 1990 was another example of Hi-Pro Marketing doing their due diligence at the time as this would be one of the earliest of his rookie cards by 4 or 5 years. His Topps Finest gives you a good idea of what the card industry was doing during the late 90s as it was losing traction and attempting to feel out its market. Using a similar metal process to Playoff, Topps produced this shiny metal format for a while, before returning to a much more flat style. I was surprised that the card also took the ink as well as it did.  Here are Chris’ final statistics:

G/Gs  158/96    Rec  386      Yds 5497       Avg 14.2       Td 30       Lg 68