Tag Archives: Washington Redskins

NFL

Allen, Terry

Cards: ProSet 1991 Update, ProSet 1992, Action Packed 1992
Acquired: TTM 2015, C/o Clemson
Sent: 12/31/15    Received: 4/20/17  (477 days)

Well it sure did take a while for this one to get back around so I was quite surprised to see this one show up in my mailbox at a bit under 500 days. I had sent out for Terry back in 2015, but it was the end of the year, right before Clemson lost the National Championship game. Allen and the rest of the coaches probably had a lot to do, and after winning the National Championship game in 2016, this gem showed up in the mail a few months later.

Terry Allen played his rookie season in 1991 for the Minnesota Vikings at fullback, blocking for Herschel Walker. He had a pretty solid year rushing for 563 yards on 120 carries. Allen took over fulltime runningback duties the following year in 1992 setting the Vikings’ single-season rushing record with 1201 yards. After losing his entire 1993 season to injury, Terry returned to form in 1994 rushing for 1031 yards.

Terry joined the Redskins in 1995, and in 1996 rushed for a career high 347 carries for 1353 yards (Redskins single season record) and a league leading 21 TDs. During that stretch from 1992 to 1996, Terry rushed for nearly 5,000 yards and 52 TDs. (He was also a very sneaky fantasy football pick in the early days of the sport.) Although he’d not see the same success over the remainder of his career, Allen remained a solid and dependable runningback, playing for New England (1999), New Orleans (2000) and Baltimore (2001).

Originally a 9th round pick of the Vikings in 1990, Terry sat out all of the season rehabbing an injured knee.  He finished second at Clemson with 2,778 career rushing yards- including  1,139 yards as a Junior in ’88 earning All-Atlantic Coast Conference Honors.

Terry has some really nice entries here. His rookie card was from the ProSet 1991 Update. It’s a pretty nice shot, but had a heavy amount of artifact in the photo so it wasn’t completely clear. On the other ProSet card, they made an ugly switch midway through the 1992 set, but the ugly design really lent itself to this dynamic photo of Allen’s running style. The vertical gray gradient is not necessary and the stair step action for the Vikings logo makes absolutely no sense. We don’t really need to talk about the ProSet logo.  Action Packed went more for this as well with the vertical gold stripe. It makes sense because of the embossed canvas that the attempt was to make players look as though they were leaping from the card but among Action Packed from when I was collecting the set, it was my least favorite.

G/GS 130/114     RUSH 2152    YDS 8614     AVG 4.0      TD 73     LG 55
REC 204      YDS 1601     AVG 7.8    TD 6      LG 38

NFL

Robinson, Keenan (2)

sage12 krobinsonCards:  Sage 2012, Upper Deck 2012
Acquired: IP, Aaron Williams Lone Star Showcase 2015
See Also: Keenan Robinson

The Redskins took the training wheels off Keenan Robinson in 2014 when he replaced longtime starting linebacker London Fletcher. Keenan had 71 tackles (33 assists), 1.5 sacks, 6 TFL, 3 passes defensed, and a fumble recovery in 13 games this last season.  In back to back seasons, Robinson had season ending injuries before the season began, but he took the best from it and decided to play relentlessly- because any day it could all be over. With an increased fire for the game, Robinson had assumed duties as the defensive play caller in the huddle in 2015.

ud12st krobinsonIn 2016 Keenan was surprisingly allowed to sign with the division rival New York Giants. He dressed for all 16 games and started 6 at middle linebacker putting up 79 total tackles and 7 pass deflections. An athletic and speedy defender, Keenan has the speed to keep up with runningbacks and tight ends in pass coverage. He also has the odd honor of picking off Tom Brady twice in his short career.

Robinson was being interviewed off to the side at the Lone Star Showcase. He was very happy to sign anything that anybody had at the event and patiently talked to every fan if they had something to say. The Showcase was fun, but listening to kids participating in the Showcase chide and heckle fans and adults who wanted autographs was a disappointing sight. It’s easy to bite the hand that feeds you if you do not understand that: Simply put, fans dollars are what keep the sport going and fan patronage is what pays for camps for kids.

 

NFL

Cousins, Kirk ‘Captain Kirk’

Cards: Leaf Draft 2014, Sage HIT 2014, Upper Deck Star Rookies 2014
Acquired: TTM 2015, C/o The Washington Redskins
Sent:  11/16/15     Received: 6/7/16     (204 Days)

Kirk Cousins gets no respect.  While at Michigan State, Cousins played in 45 games, completing 723 passes for 9131 yards and 66 TDs.  He had solid measurables and the stats to back it up as a solid, traditional dropback passer.

The 2012 Draft is shaping up to be one of the best quarterback crops in recent memory.  Among the 11 quarterbacks selected, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III went off the board 1 and 2 overall respectively.  Next was: Ryan Tannehill at #8, Brandon Weeden at #22, Brock Osweiler at #57, Russell Wilson at #75, Nick Foles at #88,  and Kirk Cousins at #102. All of these players saw significant starting playing time or have been named to the Pro Bowl/ AP at their position.  The problem with Cousins, was, he was selected by… The Washington Redskins- who had already selected Robert Griffin III at #2 overall.  Critics were aghast at why the Redskins selected 2 quarterbacks in the 2014 draft.  It turns out that it was a shrewd move by then coach Mike Shanahan.

Unlike Griffin, Cousins was afforded the luxury of honing his skills while sitting on the bench. Griffin was thrust into the fire immediately. Kirk saw mainly scrub duty in 3 games while starting only one game his rookie year.  He’d finish with a 101.6 QB rating, throwing for 466 yards and 4 TDs.  Because of Griffin’s aggressive style of play, (which consequently got him injured,) Cousins saw more starting duty over the next few seasons.

Cousins eventually eclipsed Griffin as the starting quarterback entering the 2015 season. During a memorable game against the Buccaneers, Cousins led the Redskins to the largest comeback in franchise history. After the team came back from a 24-0 deficit to win 31-30, Cousins was caught on camera screaming, “YOU LIKE THAT!”, multiple times. It became a rallying cry for the franchise as they pulled off a division title with a 9-7 record. His 69.8 completion percentage led the NFL and his 29 passing TDs rank second as a single season franchise mark.

Washington in the meantime opted to kick the can down the road on Cousins, opting neither to trade him or to give him a franchise QB contract.  Kirk responded by upping the ante, throwing for almost 5,000 yards- shattering the single season mark he set for the Redskins in the previous year.  When he led the Redskins a tie against the Bengals, he addressed his general manager by saying, “How do you like me now?” – an apparent dig at the team for their current growing contract brouhaha.  To cap things off after the 2016 season, Kirk was named to his first Pro Bowl.

Although teams have again asked the Redskins what price they’d be willing to part from Cousins with, Washington used the franchise tag on him to keep him with the team for the long term.

As it became apparent that Kirk was the man in Washington, and he was responding at a decent click, I went ahead took a shot out to the ‘Skins in 2015. Knowing that I might have missed the bus on this one, I didn’t hold out much hope, especially after watching a lot of successes come back. It wasn’t until about 6 months later I got a response from Kirk. Checking responses on sportscollectors.net in early 2017, it looks as though I was lucky and got in on the last group to get him, as the requests are piling up. Much like some other pros, Kirk started off as a great signer TTM, but as the requests pile up, it’s no surprise that he’d have a hard time responding now.

Really some great photos here from ‘the big 3’ of college cards. While I liked the photos on both the Upper Deck and the Leaf entries both are plagued by annoying design decisions. The Leaf card is original in its execution, almost audacious in the placement of the Leaf Draft logo in the bottom middle of the frame, but the jaggies on the left and right are distracting from the type. I also am not the biggest fan of the typeface used.  The Upper Deck is as usual, full of a lot of bling. The silver is nice and the typeface is grandiose, but it is just too small. His first name, college, and position just basically disappear off the canvas. The silver is nice, and credit should be given to making the STAR ROOKIES label legible in metallic silver.  I like the design of the Sage the best. It’s clean and simple and communicates the player’s name efficiently without any frills.