NFL, usfl

Fuller, William

Card: SkyBox Impact 1992
Acquired: In Person 1993, Houston Oilers Training Camp

Defensive end William Fuller would leap to the NFL after playing two note worthy seasons for the Baltimore Stars of the USFL. After leaving the USFL he would report to the Rams, but they subsequently traded his rights to the Houston Oilers as part of the trade that sent Jim Everett to Los Angeles. At first it appeared that the Rams got the better end of the deal, as while Jim Everett passed for good numbers and established himself as a top end quarterback Fuller’s sack numbers were slow to increase. Despite his slow production by 1988, Fuller tied for a team high with 8.5 sacks under coach Jerry Glanville. His 1989 and 1990 seasons would also show marked improvement.  1991 would be his best season as a pro as Fuller would finish 2nd in the NFL in sacks with 15, and be named to the ProBowl for the first time. After a down year in 1992, Fuller would return to double digit form again in 1993 making 10 sacks but Bud Adams made good on breaking up the Oilers, and let the venerable defensive lineman go via free agency to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1994.

William would pick up where he left off, making 35.5 and 7 fumble recoveries over the next 3 seasons for the Eagles. Each season he’d also be named to the Pro Bowl, but after 1996 he’d leave via free agency again for the San Diego Chargers, and retire after the 1998 season.  At the time of his retirement his 100.5 sacks ranked him top 25 all time.

Since retirement Fuller has been named to UNC’s sports HoF, the 50th Anniversiary team, and has is active in programs to help prevent diabetes.  He has donated time to coach at the local high school in Virginia Beach and is a real estate developer.

SkyBox too attempted to create a premium line of football cards in 1992. While Stadium Club was impressive, and Fleer was lowering the bar, Skybox’s Impact was just- well confusing. You just didn’t get which brand was actually the premium brand of SkyBox’s football line with a Primetime and Impact line that were both pretty nice looking. The real problem was Skybox didn’t trade for a year or two before they came out with a the premium line, so the market just got muddled down. While their team MVP cards and special mini poster insert cards were amazing, Skybox’s general design for their Primetime cards left much to be desired- much as in the William Fuller card above. It’s strictly okay by design standards with a generic shadow on a gray-silver plane, but what is up with the | | | | in the background? Skybox also had this penchant for gigantically displaying their logo on their cards, which was equally distracting, especially with the background isolated in a single color. The team name “Oilers” goes up the side on the right which is a complete design gaffe. Take one moment to look at your DVD collection. Do you notice on the spine of every DVD the type goes down the right?  It’s just easier to read that way and it has always been sort of an unspoken standard for many years. I like how they added the number, but it’s turned into a disastrous tangent with his fist slightly obscuring the 9 on the 95. William’s name is tracked out, which is maybe a bit much, but the other tangent as his name almost taps the top of his helmet is equally annoying. I wasn’t a big fan of this line of Skybox cards in the end, but the “Impact” series that they debuted earlier that year was cutting edge at the time.

G/Gs  194/160   Tac  483    Sac  100.5   Fum 19   Int  2     Yds 9     Avg 4.5   Lg 9   Td 0

NFL

Schaub, Matt

Card: Leaf Rookies & Stars Longevity 2009
Acquired: TTM 2009, Texans Blitz
See also: matt schaub (2)

Firmly entrenched now as the Houston Texans starting quarterback, Matt Schaub was originally taken in the 3rd round of the 2003 draft to be insurance for Mike Vick in Atlanta. An incredibly accurate passer at Virginia, Schaub held many Cavalier and ACC records upon graduation.  Schaub would quickly establish himself as a budding quarterback, starting 1 game in 2005 against the Patriots where he threw for almost 300 yards and 3 touchdowns in relief of the injured Vick. He’d also see playing time in mop up duty in 4 additional games.

In early 2007 the Houston Texans traded the Atlanta Falcons 2 second round choices (07,08) and swapped first rounders so that the Texans could lock up Schaub. The Texans’ and Matt Schaub’s timing coming together was fortuitous, as incumbent starter David Carr was released the same day as the trade was consummated (making Schaub the de facto starter), and shortly thereafter news broke about Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick’s dogfighting. Although early on the reviews on Schaub were mixed due to injuries, Schaub did establish team records for passing in a game (497), team record, (with marks of 8-8 and 9-7,) passing yards (4,770) and all of the other relevant Houston Texans passing records.  Schaub’s 4770 yards in 2009 led the NFL and he was Pro Bowl MVP in 2010.

Matt is a good mid-range passer- excellent for the West Coast System that the Texans employ. He’s got good vision and is a leader on the field. Matt stands tall in the pocket but has been prone to be completely oblivious to his surroundings (which is often just as much the fault of his line) checking down and rechecking down receivers instead of scrambling upfield. Defenses have already made this adjustment, daring him to scramble by dropping sometimes off into deep zones. I’d also like to see Matt be able to audible more to take advantage of mismatches at the line of scrimmage.

Otherwise, since Schaub has arrived the Texans have become a dangerous offensive team especially when paired with Andre Johnson. He’s a great budget buy in Fantasy Football leagues, and helped me win my fantasy football league 2 years ago handcuffed to Andre. Like many Texans I am still awaiting an autograph from Matt Schaub as part of a major autograph blitz. Things continue to look up for Schaub as the Texans in 2011 hope that he will lead them into the playoffs for the first time.

I really like this card and I think Donruss hit it out of the park with their design taking Leaf’s previous series and really ramping it up. It does feel very trendy for the time with the worn look, but is it timeless? There’s good use of white space and while I’m not the biggest fan of the type family “Birth of a Hero”, it suits the design well. The gold reflective surface is nice, but I have never been a fan of high gloss cards since they make players’ signatures smear and pool.

So I had a little fun at the end of 2008, putting the Apex Card together. -If only I had access to high resolution imagery. Oh well. It was still a fun exercise taking a Texans photo of Matt and then changing the colors of his uniform to my fantasy football team, the Pasadena Riders, who won the Fantasy Football Championship in 2009.  While my team did not fare as well in 2010 (4th out of 12 teams), I still managed to make the playoffs again despite not having Andre or Matt on my team. Futura and usage of small caps came in handy here with Pro Set being a definite influence on the design. I manipulated the uniform by placing Matt on a mask, then colorizing him separately utilizing the color tool in Photoshop. Originally it had FANTASY IMPACT written across the card too, but I thought it was a bit over the top so I removed it in the end. There’s still some artifact ‘bitmappery’ I still need to clean up, but overall not a bad first stab.

G/Gs 91/55   Att 1965   Comp  1270    Pct  64.6     Yds   15204    Td  81    Int  52    Rat  90.9

Arena, NFL, NFLE

Agee, Mel “Big Bopper” (1968-2008)

Card: Star Pics 1991
Acquired: TTM 1992, C/o The Indianapolis Colts

Widely regarded as one of the best defensive lineman to come through the University of Illinois at 6’5″, 300,  Mel Agee was a stand out player while playing for the Fightin’ Illini notching 15 sacks. With a nice burst and a good first move off the line, the Colts made the “Big Bopper” their 6th round draft choice in 1990, and he’d make the roster of the team making 29 tackles and a forced fumble mainly on mop up duty and starting in just one game his rookie season.   His 1992 season was pretty much lost in the lineup or injured as Mel suited up for one game but did not make a tackle.

1993 saw a shift of addresses to Atlanta for the Bopper. He’d have his best season playing in Atlanta’s 3-4 set up, making career highs with 43 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 7 starts.  1994 and 1995 would see Agee slide into the background again, and by the end of that season he’d retire.

In 1998 his number was dialed up by the Frankfurt Galaxy of the NFLE and Agee made 2 sacks before returning stateside to play for the Arena Football League. Over a 5 year career with the Tampa Bay Storm Mel made 8 receptions for 51 yards and 5 TDs. He’d also make 25 tackles, 9 pass blocks and 3 fumble recoveries before finally retiring in 2002.  Tragically, in 2008, Mel passed away of a sudden heart attack.

Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.

loading