Tag Archives: pittsburgh steelers

NFL, NFLE

Moore, Lance

Card: Score 2009, Score 2011
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent:  12/4     Received: 12/16   (12 days)

Lance Moore played college ball for the Toledo Rockets. The Rockets have become sort of a mid-school pipeline for really sneaky offensive talent over the years- and Moore was no different.  Posting strong numbers his Junior (103 receptions for 1194 yards and 9 TDs), and Senior years (90 receptions for 1189 yards and 14 TDs), Moore did not get selected in the 2005 NFL Draft.  Who knows why Lance wasn’t selected, but that didn’t stop him from signing with the Cleveland Browns.  After a quick stop there  he’d find himself signed to the Saints practice squad.

In 2006 the Saints elected to send Moore overseas to the NFL developmental league, the NFLE. He’d play for the Berlin Thunder and post a modest 12 receptions for 207 yards, a 68 yard long and 1 TD. He’d return stateside to the Saints and be active for 4 games, catching his first pass, a 10 yard reception from Drew Brees in a week 3 contest against the Carolina Panthers. Soon thereafter, Lance was sent back to the practice squad. 

Moore firmly established himself as a fan favorite and popular locker room presence. A consummate professional, Lance was continually working on perfecting his game. Maybe it helped that he was undrafted, but Lance is every man’s underdog story. 

Things finally stated paying off in 2007. As a situational starter, Lance played in all 16 games (starting 4) and posted 32 receptions for 302 yards and 2 TDs.  He topped those numbers in 2008 with a career high 121 targets that he converted into 79 receptions for 928 yards and 10 TDs.  Later in his career, Lance posted a career high 1041 yards in 2012, but he is perhaps best known for catching a two point conversion from Drew Brees cementing the team’s domination over the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV.  While experiencing some measure of success over the next few seasons, Lance was released by the Saints in 2014. 

He’d play the next two seasons for the Steelers (2014) and Lions (2015) before finally deciding to hang up the cleats. – He’d sign a  one day contract with the Saints, where Lance was most happy to retire.

Lance signed these two cards for me in a pretty quick snap. In 2018 he was inducted into the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame alongside runningback Pierre Thomas. A key and unsung cog of the mighty Saints Super Bowl run, Moore posted 346 catches for 4281 yards an 38 TDs over his time with Who Dat Nation. Pretty good for an undrafted free agent.

Really love this Score 2009 edition of Lance. Can’t say more about the design of the card other than Panini had variants of this design across multiple sets. It forms a very nice diamond shape there in the center for the image canvas. It’s very subtle, because the design is masking it with the diagonal streaks across the corner, but regardless it is very strong. Lance’s autograph compliments it very well. Contradict this one with Score’s 2011 entry- a very plain and boring treatment. While it gets the message across of the player, his team, and a strong photo, the canvas design itself is very tired looking. Thankfully Lance’s strong autograph is there to rescue them both. 

NFL  G/GsRECYDSAVGTDLG
129/40389481612.44480T
KRYDSAVGTDLG
1835419.7036
PRYDSAVGTDLG
493887.9072
NFLERECYDSAVGTDLG
1220717.2168
NFL

Hoge, Merril

Cards: Score 1989, Score 1990, Action Packed 1991, Fleer 1990
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent: 10/20   Received: 10/27      (7 days)
Failure: 2011, C/o Home

Merril Hoge. Few players angered me more than Merril Hoge during the Red Gun/ Run ‘N Shoot era of the Houston Oilers. I considered him an ‘arch’ and he loved saying nasty things about the upstart Oilers, who by 1987 had started becoming bullies in the AFC Central under head coach Jerry Glanville. The Steelers had finally gone into a deep depression, and the Oilers were eager to take the stick to their rivals. Nobody expected much of the Steelers in 1989 as they had just come off of a 5-11 record from the previous year. Despite this they rallied down the stretch and put together a 9-7 record. The Oilers had thumped the Steelers twice during the regular season, but they’d be denied in the playoffs losing 26-23, causing Jerry to lose his job. I want to even say that Hoge said something to the media nasty about the Oilers, and it just stuck with me all those years.

I remember opening up my first packs of cards, and in a lot of cases, there was a Merril Hoge card to twist the knife just a little more. Even when I played Tecmo Super Bowl, I was reticent to use Merril because of the fact that he epitomized that Steelers working man mantra and the upset that made me so sore. Then after his playing days concluded, he became a commentator, and the Oilers left Houston even- I still got a furrowed brow when he’d come on ESPN. 


Dependable fullback Merril Hoge played for the Idaho State Bengals (a fact often repeated by national commentators almost every time he touched the ball) from 1983 to 1986. He finished his 4 years there with almost 5500 all-purpose yards, but more importantly the Big Sky Conference despite its trappings, prepared him for the rigors of pro level offenses.

After being selected in the 10th round of the 1987 draft, Merril played 7 seasons for the Steelers at fullback.  A versatile player out of the backfield, Merril was an excellent receiver and blocker who was rarely missed an assignment.  He had a career high 772 yards rushing in 1990, and a career high 487 yards receiving in 1988.

In 1994, Merril signed with the Chicago Bears, but suffered a terrible neck injury ending his career. Merril is also a cancer survivor beating non-hodskin’s lymphoma. 

Merril had a great selection of cards, so it was tough to even settle on just these 4. His Score 1990 is one of my favorite, and was from a rain soaked affair versus the Miami Dolphins that year. (Sammie Smith has a corresponding card from that game, and Mike Mularkey has been immortalized in a sports photo from that game that ProSet did.)  His Action Packed 1991 card does everything right in this one, and the determination on Merril’s face really makes you feel as though you are a part of the action.

G/GSRUSHYDSAVGTDLG
114/8482531393.82141
RECYDSAVGTDLG
25421338.41340
AAF, NFL

Kelly, Kameron

Cards: Topps AAF2019 Certified, Topps AAF 2019, Topps AAF 2019 Future Stars
Acquired: 2019, EBay. 2019, TTM C/o The Pittsburgh Steelers
Sent: 4/18 Received: 5/3 (15 days)

Kameron Kelly showed versatility playing at San Diego State over his college career, working in the defensive backfield at both safety and corner over his time there from 2014-2017. He had 164 total tackles, 8 tfl, 2 sacks, 15 pass deflections, and 9 interceptions for 122 yards.

He signed with the Cowboys in 2018, but was released before the season began. In October, Kameron was snatched up by the San Diego Fleet of the AAF. He was converted to WR by the Fleet, but then got transferred back to defensive back thanks to injuries. During Week 5 of the season, Kameron set an AAF record with 3 interceptions of Stallions QB Josh Woodrum. For his efforts Kelly earned Defensive Player of the Week Honors from the AAF. He finished the AAF 8 game season with 19 total tackles, and 4 interceptions for 22 yards and a TD.

After the AAF suspended operations, Kelly signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Kameron Kelly represents the first trifecta I’ve been able to achieve of an AAF player as I got his certified, base card, and Future Stars cards all signed. Now, I am completely baffled as to the difference in the autographs from the TTM versus the certified issues, but since he personalized it, I’m still pretty sure it’s him and Kelly has just changed his autograph. Maybe he signed it with his nickname? Who knows.

Kameron also probably got a good laugh out of the fact that he was born in Round Rock, Tx and I told him the traffic on I-35 is still terrible. Anyway I dashed this one out the door as soon as I heard he signed during the great AAF deluge after the Alliance collapsed in April of 2019.