Category Archives: NFL

NFL

Arnold, Jim

sco90 arnoldflr91 arnoldCards: Fleer 1991, Score 1990
Acquired: Canton Acquisition, 2012

Jim Arnold played college ball at Vanderbilt for the Commodores and then made his way to Kansas City in 1983. He’d punt 98 times in 1984 and 93 times in 1985, probably setting the NFL record for most punts in consecutive seasons. Jim surprisingly was cut by the Chiefs in 1986, but was snapped up by the  Lions later in the season, playing in 7 games, cementing his legacy as the starter.  Jim then proceeded to place himself on top of many career punting marks in the Lions record books. Throughout his career, Arnold established himself as a good punter with a consistent, strong, accurate leg. He earned Pro Bowl nominations in both 1988 and 1989. He also has the team record for punts in a season with 97 in 1988. His 39.6 yard net punting average in 1987, is the highest in recorded NFL history.  During Jim’s eight seasons with the franchise, he punted more times (536) and for more yards (22,893) than any other punter in team history.  In 1994, he finished out his career playing in 12 games for the Miami Dolphins and then retired.

At the time of his retirement Arnold was ranked in the NFL top 10 for career punts and yards. He is a very active member of the SotL site. (Since the restructuring of School of the Legends, I am not sure of his activity, since I no longer go to the website.) Arnold made waves when he joined the NFL concussion lawsuit in 2012.

G  174      P    866    Yds  36637      Avg   42.3       Lg  71       Blk 5

NFL

Flannery, John

pset91 flannerysco91supp flanneryud92 flanneryspics91 flanneryCards: ProSet 1991, Score Supplemental 1991, Upper Deck 1992, Star Pics 1991, Classic 1991.
Acquired: TTM 2013, C/o Syracuse Alumni Association
Sent: 6/1    Received: 7/11  (40 days)

John Flannery was a multifaceted offensive lineman for the Syracuse Orangemen during the late 1980s. He played guard his rookie season and then shifted quickly towards center by his senior year, cementing his legacy as the college’s best snapper since Doug Marrone. The Syracuse offensive line was considered the best in the nation, and Flannery was considered the best of the bunch, helping the school challenge for the national title in 1987. At 6’4″, 304, John had the tools to excel at the next level, and an eye popping combine that helped cement his draft status running a 4.98 40. A decorated lineman, he received All-American honors in both 1990 and 1991 and was co-captain of the team, finishing as a semi-finalist for the Lombardi and Outland Trophies for the nation’s best lineman. As an added bonus he could play on special teams as a long snapper.

A solid prospect coming out of college, Flannery parlayed an excellent Senior Bowl game into becoming a second round choice of the Houston Oilers in 1991. Later in the 3rd round, Houston selected Kevin Donnalley as well. This draft actually proved to be a fairly solid one for the Oilers, with Darryll Lewis, Steve Jackson, Marcus Robertson, Gary Brown, Shawn Jefferson, Gary Wellman, and Mike Dumas– all seeing significant playing time and decent careers in the league. The Oilers were very deep on the line, but with the declining health of Dean Steinkuhler and Mike Munchak, there was always room for depth, so both Flannery and Donnalley made the team as well. Flannery drew the unenviable opening day task and trial by fire of blocking Los Angeles Raiders’ defensive end Howie Long.  John in the end performed well limiting him to only 2 tackles, while opening up running lanes for both Allen Pinkett and Gary Brown. He started 8 games for the team that year, as Bruce Matthews moved to center to cover for Doug Dawson. For his efforts, Flannery earned All-Rookie team honors that season.

cla91 flanneryA knee injury sidelined Flannery for the entire 1993 season, but he came back and started the entire 1994 campaign for the team, replacing retired Mike Munchak. As the salary cap ratcheted up on the Oilers in 1995, the team cut many players in order to stay afloat. In order to keep Bruce Matthews in the mix, John and his 900k salary was cut. Flannery signed with the Green Bay Packers, over the Jaguars, where he was expected to start at left guard- but a failed physical due to his knee injury, sent him packing back to Houston for more rehab and another medical opinion. Given a clean bill of health, John signed as an UFA with the Dallas Cowboys in 1996. The team decided to roll with Flannery at right guard, (allowing the team to shift Larry Allen from guard to tackle,) but injuries limited John to 1 game. Returning in 1997, he started 4 games for the Cowboys. 1998 saw John make one final change of scenery, as he moved to St. Louis to play center for the Rams. In that final season he’d start 15 games for the team and make his first and only reception for 2 yards. After tearing his ACL in training camp in 1999, John finally decided to hang up his cleats.

He currently lives in Houston as where he works in the oil industry as an estimator.  He kindly signed these cards for me care of the Syracuse alumni association. While John is not the most recognizable of names, he did have a fairly long, respectable, and battle scarred campaign in the NFL.

G/Gs  80/46

 

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.