Tag Archives: Atlanta Falcons

NFL

Schaub, Matt

Card: Leaf Rookies & Stars Longevity 2009
Acquired: TTM 2009, Texans Blitz
See also: matt schaub (2)

Firmly entrenched now as the Houston Texans starting quarterback, Matt Schaub was originally taken in the 3rd round of the 2003 draft to be insurance for Mike Vick in Atlanta. An incredibly accurate passer at Virginia, Schaub held many Cavalier and ACC records upon graduation.  Schaub would quickly establish himself as a budding quarterback, starting 1 game in 2005 against the Patriots where he threw for almost 300 yards and 3 touchdowns in relief of the injured Vick. He’d also see playing time in mop up duty in 4 additional games.

In early 2007 the Houston Texans traded the Atlanta Falcons 2 second round choices (07,08) and swapped first rounders so that the Texans could lock up Schaub. The Texans’ and Matt Schaub’s timing coming together was fortuitous, as incumbent starter David Carr was released the same day as the trade was consummated (making Schaub the de facto starter), and shortly thereafter news broke about Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick’s dogfighting. Although early on the reviews on Schaub were mixed due to injuries, Schaub did establish team records for passing in a game (497), team record, (with marks of 8-8 and 9-7,) passing yards (4,770) and all of the other relevant Houston Texans passing records.  Schaub’s 4770 yards in 2009 led the NFL and he was Pro Bowl MVP in 2010.

Matt is a good mid-range passer- excellent for the West Coast System that the Texans employ. He’s got good vision and is a leader on the field. Matt stands tall in the pocket but has been prone to be completely oblivious to his surroundings (which is often just as much the fault of his line) checking down and rechecking down receivers instead of scrambling upfield. Defenses have already made this adjustment, daring him to scramble by dropping sometimes off into deep zones. I’d also like to see Matt be able to audible more to take advantage of mismatches at the line of scrimmage.

Otherwise, since Schaub has arrived the Texans have become a dangerous offensive team especially when paired with Andre Johnson. He’s a great budget buy in Fantasy Football leagues, and helped me win my fantasy football league 2 years ago handcuffed to Andre. Like many Texans I am still awaiting an autograph from Matt Schaub as part of a major autograph blitz. Things continue to look up for Schaub as the Texans in 2011 hope that he will lead them into the playoffs for the first time.

I really like this card and I think Donruss hit it out of the park with their design taking Leaf’s previous series and really ramping it up. It does feel very trendy for the time with the worn look, but is it timeless? There’s good use of white space and while I’m not the biggest fan of the type family “Birth of a Hero”, it suits the design well. The gold reflective surface is nice, but I have never been a fan of high gloss cards since they make players’ signatures smear and pool.

So I had a little fun at the end of 2008, putting the Apex Card together. -If only I had access to high resolution imagery. Oh well. It was still a fun exercise taking a Texans photo of Matt and then changing the colors of his uniform to my fantasy football team, the Pasadena Riders, who won the Fantasy Football Championship in 2009.  While my team did not fare as well in 2010 (4th out of 12 teams), I still managed to make the playoffs again despite not having Andre or Matt on my team. Futura and usage of small caps came in handy here with Pro Set being a definite influence on the design. I manipulated the uniform by placing Matt on a mask, then colorizing him separately utilizing the color tool in Photoshop. Originally it had FANTASY IMPACT written across the card too, but I thought it was a bit over the top so I removed it in the end. There’s still some artifact ‘bitmappery’ I still need to clean up, but overall not a bad first stab.

G/Gs 91/55   Att 1965   Comp  1270    Pct  64.6     Yds   15204    Td  81    Int  52    Rat  90.9

Arena, NFL, NFLE

Agee, Mel “Big Bopper” (1968-2008)

Card: Star Pics 1991
Acquired: TTM 1992, C/o The Indianapolis Colts

Widely regarded as one of the best defensive lineman to come through the University of Illinois at 6’5″, 300,  Mel Agee was a stand out player while playing for the Fightin’ Illini notching 15 sacks. With a nice burst and a good first move off the line, the Colts made the “Big Bopper” their 6th round draft choice in 1990, and he’d make the roster of the team making 29 tackles and a forced fumble mainly on mop up duty and starting in just one game his rookie season.   His 1992 season was pretty much lost in the lineup or injured as Mel suited up for one game but did not make a tackle.

1993 saw a shift of addresses to Atlanta for the Bopper. He’d have his best season playing in Atlanta’s 3-4 set up, making career highs with 43 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 7 starts.  1994 and 1995 would see Agee slide into the background again, and by the end of that season he’d retire.

In 1998 his number was dialed up by the Frankfurt Galaxy of the NFLE and Agee made 2 sacks before returning stateside to play for the Arena Football League. Over a 5 year career with the Tampa Bay Storm Mel made 8 receptions for 51 yards and 5 TDs. He’d also make 25 tackles, 9 pass blocks and 3 fumble recoveries before finally retiring in 2002.  Tragically, in 2008, Mel passed away of a sudden heart attack.

NFL, WLAF

Koonce, George

Card: Ultimate WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 4/14 Received: 4/22 (8 days)
Failure: 4/27/2010 TTM 2010, C/o University of Milwaukee

George Koonce went undrafted out of college from the University of East Carolina in 1992 after an amazing career at the Junior College level.  He signed with Jerry Glanville‘s Falcons, but was waived during the preseason.

Undeterred Koonce was selected by the Ohio Glory of the World League of American Football in 1992.  He started at linebacker making 2.5 sacks for the team during the season. Afterwards Koonce would immediately sign with the Green Bay Packers where he’d play all 3 positions at linebacker in the team’s 4-3 alignment over the next 8 seasons. Although injured for the team’s Super Bowl appearance, Koonce was a solid pickup by the Packers and was competent in coverage, making a career high 3 interceptions for 84 yards and a touchdown in 1996. After the 1999 season, Koonce  would sign with the Seattle Seahawks in 2000, where he made 1 pick for 27 yards and a touchdown to cap off his career.  At the conclusion of George’s NFL career he managed to rack up 720 tackles, 9 sacks, 5 picks, and 2 TDs in 118 starts. Pretty darn good for a World League of American Football player!

Since retirement George has been inducted into the ECU Pirates Hall of Fame and earned his master’s degree in Sports Management. He also has a foundation for underprivileged children and has served in the front office of the Packers, Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

I had previously attempted to contact him for his autograph through the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee but he had already left the college and it is assumed that those cards are lost. I saw that he had signed a few cards recently through the mail and through Sportscollectors.net so I gave his home address a shot. He responded in 8 days.

Koonce is a WLAF success story, (much like Tracey Simien, Doug Pedersen or Chris Mohr,) George was one of the original players who had a long and tenured career in the NFL that directly benefited from his involvement with the World League.  This Ultimate 1992 card is technically (for all points and purposes) his rookie card and his card photo was taken at the Riders/ Glory preseason game in 1992. Not one of my favorite cards. I mean couldn’t they have gotten him in a 2 point stance or cropped this photo differently.

G/Gs N/a   Tac N/a   Sac 2.5   Fum 0   Int  0   Yds  0    Avg -.-   Td 0  Lg -.-