Tag Archives: action packed 1990

NFL

Green, Jacob

sky92 greenpset89 greenap91 greenap90 greenamad91 greengday92 green

Cards: Action Packed 1990, Action Packed 1991, Action Packed All Madden 1991, GameDay 1992, SkyBox 1992, ProSet 1989
Acquired: In Person 5/19, 610 Houston Fan Fest 2013

Wow, not really sure what to say here other than Jacob Green: A man of few words. At the Fan Fest, I love to pepper players with questions. Green seemed so low key, it was almost distant, and his answers consisted of: “I think so.” “Yes.” “Thanks.” That sort of thing. I tried really hard to engage him, but in the end I felt that he might be uncomfortable or not really happy to be there. Still he signed 6 cards for me. Of all the participants at the Fan Fest in 2013, Green probably had the most underrated resume. At the time of his retirement in 1993, Jacob Green was only behind Lawrence Taylor, Reggie White, and Richard Dent on the All-time sack list.

A first round choice of the Seahawks way back in 1980 out of Texas A&M, Green was the 10th overall choice of the draft after Seattle traded up to grab him. While playing for the Aggies, Green set the school’s record for most career sacks with 37 (since surpassed by Aaron Wallace).  While sacks weren’t tracked until 1982, it didn’t stop him from actually sacking anybody for Seattle. In his rookie season Jacob posted 6.5 sacks and 58 tackles. He followed his rookie campaign up with a dominating 1981 season, notching another 12 sacks and 74 tackles before it became an official statistic. In 1983, Green posted a career high 16 sacks, while in 1985, he had 92 tackles. Over his 12 seasons with the Seahawks, Jacob posted double digit sacks 6 times, and narrowly missed the mark by 1 sack in two other years. He joined the 49ers in 1992, just in time to help the team win his only Super Bowl, but injuries only allowed him to play two games. Jacob retired in 1993.

A popular member of the Seahawks, Jacob is the team’s all time leading sacker and turnover maker at fumbles. His 176 games started ranks 3rd on the franchise only behind Steve Largent and Walter Jones, and Jacob was named to the Seahawks’ 35th Anniversary team.

G/Gs 180/176    Tac 716   Sac 116   Fum 17
Int 3     Yds  90    Avg 30.0    Td 2   Lg 73t

NFL

Reasons, Gary

AP90 reasonspset90 reasons 2nd place

Card: ProSet 1990, Action Packed 1990
Acquired: TTM 2013, C/o Home
Sent: 3/4 /13  Received: 3/22/13  (18 days)
Failure: TTM 2010, C/o Home

A beast at linebacker from tiny Crowley, Texas, Reasons joined the Northwestern Louisiana and had 394 tackles over his 4 year career for the Demons- a school record.  He also had personal highs of 24 in one game against McNeese St., and 172 tackles as a senior. Over his time at NW Louisiana, Gary was named three times as an 1-AA All- American.

The New York Giants drafted Gary with their 4th round pick of the 1984 draft, and the league collectively yawned. Gary always seemed to be underrated, but went out his rookie season and started 11 games at left inside linebacker, recording a sack, 2 picks, and 3 fumble recoveries.  He called the defensive formations for the Giants, but lost his job in 1987 after an acrimonious holdout. Still he came on strong as a reserve, and later reclaimed his starting role with the team. Gary played for the Giants through 1991, and one season for the Bengals in 1992.

He’s a player who always seemed to shine most when the Giants needed him. The cards above illustrate a perfect example, in what fans refer to as ‘The Hit’. In one of the greatest tackles in history, the Broncos were driving late and decided to go for it on 4th and one at the Giants’ one yard line. As the ball was snapped, Gary came through the hole and stuffed Broncos’ runningback Bobby Humphrey in the backfield. The hit was so jarring, that Humphrey’s mouthpiece came flying out. In addition, during the 1986 NFC Championship game, Gary recorded 12 tackles, a sack, and a pick against the Redskins.  Reasons is also remembered for taking a fake punt 30 yards for a first down against the 49ers in the 1990 playoffs. Finally to top things off, Gary recorded a team high 6 tackles against the Bills in the team’s 20-19 victory over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV.

Since retirement after the 1992 season, Gary’s number (34) has been retired by the Demons.  He briefly dabbled in color commentary for NBC in 1994 as well. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1996, and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1997.

G/Gs 134/88      Tac      Sac 3.5    Fum 9   Int 10     Yds 137    Avg 13.7    Td 0     Lg  40

 

 

CFL, NFL

Woods, Elbert “Ickey”

flr90 woodsap90 woods

ap91 woodspset89 woodsCards: Action Packed 1990, Action Packed 1991, Score Supplemental 1989, ProSet 1989, Fleer 1990.
Acquired: TTM 2012, C/o The Jovante Woods Foundation
Sent: 9/7      Received: 12/17      (102 days)*
*Donation required

So Ickey Woods was one of these indelible characters from the late 1980’s with a great personality, a good smile, and a wonderful post touchdown dance. Well you needed one back then if you were going to make a name for yourself during that era of the NFL right? Well the ‘Ickey Shuffle’ set the world on fire, and Woods became probably one of the league’s most popular players almost instantaneously with his almost bumbling bear dance.

Ickey played at UNLV, and was selected in the second round of the 1988 draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. His rookie season was nothing short of spectacular. He ran for 1066 yards on 203 carries, scored a whopping 15 touchdowns, and led the league with 5.3 yards per carry from the fullback position. Woods lost out to John Stephens of New England for Rookie of the Year Honors, probably because of the fact that the Bengals had a much better supporting cast  of Esiason, McGee, Holman, and Brown. It appeared that he was off to his same routine going into 1989, but during the second game of the season, Ickey critically blew out his left knee tearing his ACL.

sco89 woodsFor a bit there, it was thought that Ickey might never do the shuffle again. In those days, the surgery and the rehab time took a lot longer and was much riskier. Back then an ACL injury usually meant a certain ending to a player’s career. Ickey made a tremendous comeback however. He missed 14 games of the 1989 season but rebounded to return for 1990 and scored in his first game back against the Browns. The Bengals were content with using Ickey as a short yardage bam-back and he played 10 games that season, but the knee just kept flaming up. He returned for 1991 but by now the backfield was getting crowded with James Brooks and Harold Green back there. Still Woods managed to start 2 games. He’d retire in 1992 with new head coach David Shula taking the reins from Sam Wyche. Ickey’s Frankenstein zipper knees just kept him out of the lineup too much to allow him to keep playing and teams were staying away. He attempted to make a comeback with Jack Pardee and the Birmingham Barracudas of the CFL USA in 1995, but was unable to re-energize his career and finally retired.

Woods hit rock bottom for a while there, but found a home selling Pre-Paid Legal. Then he became a coach and owner of the Cincinnati Sizzle, a women’s professional football team. His son Javonte also tragically passed away a few years ago after a sudden asthma attack. In his honor Ickey set up a charity  for him that the proceeds of his autograph signings go to. Woods in the meantime remains an extremely popular alumni of the Cincinnati Bengals organization.

G/GP  37/20   Rush  332   Yds 1525   Avg 4.6      Td  27    Lg 56    |
 Rec 47    Yds 397   Avg 8.4   Td 0   Lg 25

The Ickey shuffle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f-m-Fmd1lY