Tag Archives: green bay packers

NFL

Noonan, Danny

Cards: ProSet 1989, Action Packed 1990
Acquired: In Person 1990,1991, Dallas Cowboys Training Camp

A Home grown All-American defensive lineman at Nebraska, Danny Noonan was selected in the first round of the 1987 draft by the Tom Landry era Dallas Cowboys. He’d be the 4th DL off the board in the top 12 coming behind Reggie Rucker, Jerome Brown, and Shawn Knight.

Noonan had a difficult time living up to the team’s expectations, as he was frequently injured and had trouble keeping up with the speed of the game. He’d have a decent season in 1988, making 7.5 sacks and pulling in an interception for a touchdown, but as Jimmy Johnson took over as head coach in 1989, Danny by then had additional problems maintaining his playing weight. (It was then later revealed that Noonan had been a steroid user in his playing days at Nebraska and had tested positive before the combine- something the Cowboys had to have known before they drafted him.)

After his 1988 season, everything seemed to unravel, and by 1991 he had been cut by Dallas. Signed by the Packers, who needed defensive line depth, he’d play there for a season. He’d retire after a short 2 game stint with the Broncos in 1993.

A criminal justice major, Danny went back to school and got a business degree with a specialty in e- business. He also did some web management, helping to originate huskerpower.com and is now a financial advisor in the greater Omaha area. To stay in shape he does some jiu-jitsu and martial arts to keep up with his kids.

I got Danny’s autograph twice during training camp that first year during the first or second day, near the entry way of the St. Edwards campus building that they went into at the end of practice. At first this seemed like the primo place to get autographs, then we realized it was all about the fence line near the edge of the practice field that was the best spot to nab autographs.

G/Gs 73/41   Tac n/a     Sac 15   Fum n/a
Int  1  Yds 17   Avg 17.0   Td 1   Lg  17T

NFL

Bennett, Tony “Alligator”

Card: Score Supplemental 1990, Action Packed Rookies 1990
Acquired: TTM 1993, C/o The Green Bay Packers

A brutal hitter with good speed and excellent pass rusher- Tony Bennett was taken in the 1990 draft by the Green Bay Packers in the first round. (In retrospect the 1990 draft was a great linebacking class, led by Junior Seau, Chris Singleton, and James Francis.)  Bennett would be the 6th linebacker taken in the top 18. The knock on Alligator Bennett was that he didn’t respect the run enough.

After a slow 1990, Tony would take off, sacking opposing quarterbacks 13 times in 1991 and 13.5 times in 1992. After a 102 day holdout in 1993, Tony would make 6.5 sacks- he’d leave via free agency to the Indianapolis Colts in 1994 and record 28.5 sacks over the next 4 seasons for them retiring after an injury plagued 1997. All in all a respectable career for 8 seasons logged. I got these two cards autographed by Tony after I had really good results mailing the Packers back in the early 90s for players like Darrell Thompson, Brett Favre, Reggie White, and Sterling Sharpe.

G/Gs  108/89   Sac 64.5     Tac 397   Fum 19       Int 0  Yds 0  Td -.-  Lg -.-

NFL, WLAF

Dilweg, Anthony

Card: Proset 1989, Fleer Update 1990, Wild Card WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2010, C/o Work
Sent: 7/30   Received: 9/14  (45 days)

Anthony Dilweg is a rarety- a player from Duke drafted to play in the NFL. A monster quarterback when he got his chance to play at the college level under Steve Spurrier, he once threw for 450 yards in a game against Wake Forest, a record that still stands to this day. He’d be drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 3rd round of the 1989 draft. A notoriously weak draft after Troy Aikman at quarterback- Dilweg would perform well enough to grab the backup job behind Don Majkowski by 1990. Anthony’s moment in the spotlight would be opening day of that season where he’d throw for 250 yards and 2 touchdowns against a sleepwalking Los Angeles Rams defense in substitution for recently resigned holdout Majikowski. He’d be rebenched shortly after but would end up starting the last 5 and a half games after a rotator cuff injury set back Don.  Dilweg would be hot and cold throughout the rest of the season putting up a 119.9 qb rating against the Buccaneers, but would also put up a 33.2 rating against Minnesota as well and 22 sacks on the season. That second season however would end respectably enough as he threw for 1200 yards and 8 touchdowns, but with the team slumping to a 6-10 record that season, Lindy Infante would be released and the organization would clean house. New GM Ron Wolf would go in a new direction with a new head coach- Mike Holmgren. The team was determined to improve the quarterback situation and brought in Mike Tomczak from Chicago, who beat out the young Dilweg at QB. Anthony would be quickly signed by the Los Angeles Raiders, but would not make a start for the franchise.

The WLAF and the NFL agreed to allocate young talent to the WLAF starting with the 1992 season. With this decision the Raiders allocated Dilweg to the Montreal Machine. The Machine were lead by a stable of runningbacks, and a strong back 7 on defense. The problem with the Machine always seemed to be their lines, and especially on offense their quarterbacks ended up paying the price. Montreal in 1992 drafted the young Dilweg to fix their problems at quarterback after the retirement of Kevin Sweeney. They’d go with Dilweg right out of the gate for a road opener against the San Antonio Riders blitzing defense. -He wouldn’t even make it out of the first half succumbing to injury and being taken to the locker room.  Anthony would play sparingly after that for the rest of the season and retire after the WLAF went on hiatus.

Anthony after football has been able to parlay his brief NFL career into the financial industry where he has been highly successful in real estate. I sent these cards to him via his company and received these autographs in under 60 days.  He also included a nice thank you for being a fan- of the Packers, even though I had only mentioned my experiences in the World League. Below are his WLAF statistics for the Machine.

G/Gs N/a    Att 75     Comp 43     Yds 468      Td 2     Int 1     Rat 79.2