Tag Archives: New York Jets

NFL

O’Donnell, Neil

gday92 o'donnellCards: ProSet 1991, GameDay 1992
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o Home
Sent: 1/2    Received: 1/11  (9 days)

Neil O’Donnell is officially my first response to kick off 2014. He responded in 9 days signing 2 of the cards I sent. The third- a Skybox 1992-1993 ‘Colors’ edition he kept. It’s a shame as it was a nice card, but at the same time I am sometimes flattered when they keep a card or two.

Neil was of a long line of Maryland quarterbacks to make it to the NFL. He was proceeded into the league by noteworthy signalcallers such as: Boomer Esiason, Stan Gelbaugh, Frank Reich, and Mike Tice, while his back up Scott Zolak followed him into the NFL in 1991.  O’Donnell transferred to Maryland at the end of the Henning era in 1986, and split time with him as the starter in 1987. In 1988, Neil became the fulltime starter with young Scott Zolak hot on his heels for the job. An injury, suffered in the Virginia game allowed for an opening to be created, but Zolak could not keep Neil from retaining his starting job through the 1989 season.

pset91 o'donnellIn 1990 Neil O’Donnell was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Drafted in the 3rd round, he’d be the 5th quarterback off the board behind Jeff George (#1 overall), Andre Ware, Peter Tom Willis, and Tom Hodson. It was not considered a very strong position that year and after George and Ware, none of the quarterbacks that were taken were really expected to contribute as long term solutions unless serious investment was taken by those respected franchises.  The Steelers at that time seemed content at quarterback, with Bubby Brister leading the way and Neil riding the bench behind Rick Strom. In 1991, Bubby was injured and missed 8 games. Neil stepped up and delivered, setting the stage for an open quarterback competition in 1992. With new head coach Bill Cowher coming in, Neil took over the starting job and cemented his efforts, with his one and only Pro Bowl appearance.It’d be the 1995 season that O’Donnell was best known for. Powering the team through the playoffs the Steelers faced the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl XXX. In that game Neil misfired on multiple hot reads, allowing for Larry Brown to pick him off twice, en route to the Cowboys 27-17 victory. O’Donnell’s legacy is unfairly remembered based on that game alone. As a final straw to many Steelers fans, Neil signed with the Jets after the season, eschewing the Steeler organization’s ‘fair’ offer.

Largely, Neil’s next few years were difficult to say the least. Stepping into Rich Kotite’s offense, Neil was injured and the team finished at a lowly 1-15. Kotite was fired and Bill Parcells took over in 1997. Neil fared well under Bill’s guidance, and threw 17 touchdowns to only 7 interceptions. After the season, O’Donnell packed his bags for Cincinnati. While Neil again proved his worth in the pocket, leading the league with only 4 picks in 343 attempts, the Bengals finished at a lowly 2-9 under his direction.

He’d sign immediately with the Titans in 1999 where he’d enter the backup phase of his career, behind Steve McNair. Coach Fisher loves his veteran backups. Crafty, smart, adaptable, and ready to come into a game in a pinch, O’Donnell was a valuable member of the Titans organization. During the team’s Super Bowl run in ’99 Neil stepped in and led the team to a 4-1 record in McNair’s stead. He’d play sparingly over the next few seasons for the Titans, before retiring officially in 2004, after rejecting an offer from the Steelers to return to the organization to mentor young quarterback Ben Rothlisberger. Consequently the Titans organization under Jeff Fisher’s stead employed a scrappy veteran back up with Kerry Collins and Matt Hasslebeck both finding life as a journeyman under the reign of Fish.

O’Donnell lives in the Nashville area. He’s done color commentary for the Titans, but most recently has been involved in stadium turf sales.

G/Gs  125/100       Att  3229    Comp 1865      Yds 21690       Pct 57.8%      Td 120    Int  68      Rat   81.8  |
Rush  215    Yds  446           Avg  2.1      Td 4       Lg   27

NFL

Allegre, Raul

sco89 allegreflr90 allegre
Card: Fleer 1990, Score Supplemental 1989
Acquired: 2/16/2013, Longhorn Neighborhood Foundation Bowling Tournament

Raul was the last autograph that I got from the LNF Bowling Tourney. It was one of the more memorable ones as Rod Babers came up and harassed Allegre about his picture on the back of his 1989 Score Supplemental card. He laughed and remarked about how young he looked, and Rod told Raul’s son that he looked just like him. Raul is an extremely active member of the NFLPA and is Vice President of the Austin chapter. He’s an ESPN Deportes commentator and has also handled the color commentary for Monday Night Football in Espanol.

Raul Allegre excelled at soccer in high school, which led him to become a kicker in football. He attended Montana and then later the University of Texas where he was 67/69 on extra points and 28/46 on field goals. A free agent signee by the Colts in 1983, Allegre stepped in and actually went to the Pro Bowl following the 1985 season going 16 of 26 on field goals and 36 of 39 on extra points. Following the 1985 season, Allegre lost a pitched training camp battle to Dean Biasucci. He did not see action until midway through the 1986 season, when he was an injury replacement for the New York Giants. He held the position down with the Giants through their 1986 and 1990 titles. He was notable during his stint with the Giants for his accuracy under pressure. Cut in 1991, he quickly signed with the Jets, but retired in 1992 after losing out to Jason Staurovsky in training camp, citing lingering back injuries. In 1992 he briefly entertained a comeback with the Houston Oilers and was considered for the kicker job there, but lost out to Al Del Greco. Raul is a member of the original Tecmo Bowl as the Giants’ kicker.

G/Gs  92/92    XPA  190    XPM 183   Pct 96.3%     FGA 186    FGM 137    PCT 73.7%    Pts 594

NFL

Ryan, Buddy (1934-2016)

Card: ProSet 1990
Acquired: Canton Acquisition 2012

Buddy Ryan’s coaching career spans almost 5 decades of football stretching back to the 1950s. After completing his military service Buddy began positional and defensive coordinator coaching in college with Buffalo, Pacific, and Vanderbilt Universities. In 1968 he became the defensive line coach of the New York Jets, and employed exotic blitz packages (at that time) to foil the Colts in Super Bowl III. He’d coach there through 1975 and shuffle over to the Vikings in 1976. Buddy wasn’t there for too long before the rival Chicago Bears dialed his number, promoting Ryan to defensive coordinator in 1978. It was in 1982 that Mike Ditka was hired by the Bears. Ryan felt snubbed for the head coaching job, and he and Ditka never saw eye to eye. This would become a Ryan hallmark of: “Us against them,” or “defense versus offense”- even on the same team. Ryan implemented his 46 defense and the Bears leaped into the Super Bowl behind one of the greatest defensive performances of all time. Chicago won Super Bowl XX and probably could have won more of them, but Ryan jumped ship for Philadelphia, which offered him the head coaching job to him in 1986.

The Eagles at the time, were not the consistent playoff foe that people remember today. The team was going through a transition in nearly all phases of the team.  Buddy came in and made the hard decisions, benching Jaworski in favor of Cunningham, and then going into the draft and mining out gems that filled the team defense. Guys like Seth Joyner, Clyde Simmons, Eric Allen, Jerome Brown, were all products of Ryan’s drafting. He also got some scrappy role players on offense like Keith Byars, Fred Barnett, Calvin Williams, Cris Carter, and Keith Jackson.

Ryan was not without controversy in Philadelphia, where he openly feuded with Cowboys coaches Tom Landry and Jimmy Johnson. The latter accused him of bounties on his players, in what was referred to as the “Bounty Bowl”. I remembered the promo for the game on CBS vividly, as they had wanted posters of the Cowboys with bounties on the bottom and shot holes through them as they went through the cast of Troy Aikman and Luis Zendejas.  Ryan also did not have problems settling and running up scores on opponents. Buddy won a division title in 1988, and while the team saw the playoffs under his tenure 3 times in a row- he’d be fired after the 1991 season.

Buddy briefly served as a commentator and then returned to the sidelines, this time as defensive coordinator of the Houston Oilers in 1993. The Oilers had a historic collapse the previous season, losing in the playoffs to the Buffalo Bills.  Bud Adams put his foot down and the taciturn Jack Pardee was forced to fire his defensive coaching staff and turn over the defense to Buddy Ryan. Ryan hated the run ‘n shoot offense, and most of all- had a strong dislike for offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride. He continued his usual ‘us against them’ mentality and it was even rumored that the defense ate at different tables than offensive players. Buddy had the Oilers trade for Wilber Marshall, turned Lamar Lathon into a monster, and the Oilers defense seemed to play with more bite than the offense.  After a sloppy start and adjustment to the 46 defense, the Oilers won 11 straight, clinched the division title, and was to play at home in the first round of the playoffs, but then Buddy pulled his greatest stunt yet. With the Oilers leading against the Jets near halftime in the shadow of their own endzone, Cody Carlson under center fumbled the ball and the Jets recovered. Buddy lost his temper with Gilbride, walked over and socked him in the face. Curtis Duncan, Al Smith, and Keith McCants, get into the middle and are forced to break up the skirmish on the sideline but it didn’t matter as it was all caught on video. The team imploded the next week and lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Kansas City Chiefs. -When I look back at things now, this was when the Oilers started their long march towards becoming the Tennessee Titans. Buddy moved on and was hired as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals the following season. Buddy was gunning to be a head coach again and didn’t care about what a mess he contributed to. He left behind defensive coordinator Jeff Fisher, who later was promoted to head coach when Jack Pardee resigned during the 1994 season.

Buddy coached the Cardinals for the next 2 years. After making the same lavish predictions he made in Philly, Buddy was done in Arizona, unable to get consistency on the offensive side of the ball- or anywhere else for that matter. The silver lining was that his sons, Rex and Rob, both got some valuable coaching experience learning under him there at Arizona.  Buddy retired after the season and breeds racehorses in Kentucky.  He loves watching his sons coach football, and does not comment on who he roots for when the pair’s team play against each other. Buddy has battled Melanoma over the past 40 years, but is tough as nails and keeps coming back.

Buddy Ryan punches Kevin Gilbride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPK3cDl7Ftw

W 55   L  55    T 1      Pct .500

UPDATE- On June 28th 2016, Buddy Ryan passed away after a lengthy battle from Cancer. He was 85.