Tag Archives: Arizona Cardinals

NFL, NFLE

Moses, J.J.

sp2003 mosesud03 mosesCards:Acquired: IP 4/25/2013, 1300 The Zone Texans Draft Party. IP 9/1/2013, Houston Texans Kemah Boardwark Kickoff
See Also: Texans Ambassadors
Failure: TTM 2013, C/o The Houston Texans Ambassador Program

JJ Moses is another great rags to riches story from the halls of NFLE.  JJ was a burner at wide receiver for the Iowa State Cyclones from 1997-2000. Over his time at Iowa State Moses was a multipurpose monster recording 82 receptions for 1226 yards and 4 touchdowns, 73 carries for 405 yards and 3 TDs, 43 kickoffs for 950 yards and 45 punts for 411 yards. In addition, his efforts for the 2000 season earned JJ MVP honors from the school. Going undrafted, possibly due to his tiny size (5-6, 179,) Moses got into the NFL through helping another friend out with a tryout. He got the attention of the Chiefs scouts, was signed to a free agent contract, and named to the practice squad in 2001 thanks to a great preseason performance, that earned him the adoration of fans.

mem13 jj mosesThe Chiefs allocated JJ out to the Scottish Claymores of the NFLE in 2002. He was a jack of all trades for the team there and led the league in punt return yards. Returning to the NFL, JJ soon found himself on the roster of the Green Bay Packers that year. The Packers put him back at PR and KR on a limited basis, but he really didn’t see the field until 2003. Moses signed as a free agent with the young Houston Texans, -a team one year out of expansion status. It’d be here that he’d see his greatest success averaging 23.1 yards on 58 kick returns and 6.8 yards on 36 punt returns in 2003. His 1336 yards returning were a team record. He’d almost duplicate those numbers in 2004, with a 22.1 yard average on 59 kick returns, and 309 yards on 36 punt returns in 2004. After the season the team drafted speedster KR Jerome Mathis. Unfortunately it’d be the end of the Cinderella run for JJ. He’d get one final season in with the Arizona Cardinals, and then retire after the 2005 season. JJ however finished as the team’s all-time leader in punt and kick off return yardage.

ud03 moses BFGJJ has been pretty lucky since then to have survived the game in one piece due to his diminutive size.  He was also lucky not to fumble it as often as many little guys do. Still guys like JJ are the young faces of the Houston Texans franchise in the early years that really made you cheer on the underdog. I have met JJ now on two occasions. During the Houston Texans 2013 Draft Party in Austin, he was a last minute substitute for linebacker Darryl Sharpton. I could tell that many fans were a bit disappointed, but I knew who he was and as a fan from the beginning, I was very excited. When Brooks Reed and JJ arrived, I called out JJ’s name, much to his excitement. He and I briefly reminisced about the NFLE and his time with the Claymores. I did not have a card at the time for him to sign. Still I was very happy to have met him, and after signing his team provided postcard, he offered to sign any additional cards I had TTM via the Houston Texans.  I sent out the cards within 2 weeks and waited…. and waited… and waited…

leaf2003 mosesI didn’t expect to run into him at the Kickoff at Kemah. I knew the team was sending Ambassadors, but it was really the luck of the draw on the 3 that they’d send. So when I heard JJ was going to be at the event, I pulled out 4 of the 5 cards that I had sent to him earlier and bought duplicates of just in case.  When I finally got up to JJ, I introduced myself as ‘The Superfan from Austin’. He remembered me, but when I chided him about not signing the cards, he told me that he never got them. As Jamie and ND jeered him for ‘taking my cards’ JJ signed all 4, asked me where I got them from, and signed the Ambassadors card with “To Superfan”. We had a good laugh. I hope that he returns again next year to Austin for the draft, as I still have one more card of him. Unfortunately they never made a NFLE card so maybe I’ll kick the tires on making him one.

He currently lives in the Houston area and is a popular member of the Texans Ambassadors Club. In addition to his duties he’s also a motivational speaker, has spent time in radio, and is a devout Christian.

mosesmoses

G  34    Kr  128      Yds 2904       Avg 22.7      Lg 70      Td 0    |
PR  84         Yds  605       Avg  7.2       Td 0        lg 40

NFL, University of Texas

Metcalf, Eric (2)

pset89 metcalfap90 metcalfsco90 metcalf HC

Cards: Score 1990 Hot Card, ProSet 1989, Action Packed 1990, Fleer 1995

Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o Home
Sent:  4/4  Received: 4/21  (17 days)
See Also: Eric Metcalf
Failure: TTM 1992, C/o The Cleveland Browns

With these four cards, I pretty much have knocked Eric Metcalf’s cards off my list- that is his Browns cards. Getting Eric’s autograph in any other uniform other than a Browns uniform would be like asking for Brett Favre on a Jets card to me. When I ran out to get Eric at Third Base a few years ago, I grabbed as many cards as I could, but didn’t have these, since three of them were lost in the mail all those years ago.  I had forgotten how nice these cards that I missed out on were.I reloaded and waited for a suitable time to shoot these cards out. Eric is very good to TTM fans- at least since I scolded him about it a few years ago. He’s one of my favorites from my childhood, so it was fitting I come around for a TTM hit.

Eric’s been busy in Seattle since returning there. He’s been involved in coaching track and field, most recently joining the staff at Washington as a volunteer assistant for horizontal jumping. Eric had an amazing track career at UT, winning the NCAA Championship in the long jump in 1986, and again in 1988.  A four-time All-American and that still holds the Texas school record for the outdoor long jump with a best of 27-8.25, Eric qualified for the finals of the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials, placing eighth. 

 

NFL

Prentice, Travis “Touchdown Travis”

ud00spx prenticeCard: SP 2000
Acquired: 2013, Target Autographed Memorabilia

When the Miami (OH) Redhawks were really good, three names always come to mind on offense for the school over roughly the last 15 years: Ben Rothlisberger, Martin Nance, and Travis Prentice. Prentice was a touchdown machine, evidenced by a whopping 25 TDs his Sophomore season, 19 in his Junior season, and finally 17 as a Senior. At the time of his departure from Miami (OH) Travis was a multiple NCAA record holder, most notably with 78 career TDs, -shattering the record previously held by Ricky Williams. His career numbers included 5,596 yards on the ground and an amazing 862 carries without a fumble.

Travis didn’t turn in exactly Earth shattering combine numbers, and came in as the 9th rated back, but the perennially rebuilding Browns under Chris Palmer tabbed Prentice in the 3rd round of the 2000 draft. Behind Cleveland’s shoddy line, things were difficult for Travis. Expected to be the back of the future for the team, he played in all 16 games and rushed for 512 yards and 7 touchdowns- but only averaged 3.0 yards a carry.  The Browns finished at a dismal 3-13 and Palmer and his staff were dismissed. With a new coach in Butch Davis, Travis was cut and signed with the Minnesota Vikings in 2001, adding 2 more touchdowns to his resume by the end of the season. Again on the street after the season, Travis signed with the expansion Houston Texans in 2002. Reunited with his head coach Chris Palmer, who was offensive coordinator for the team, Prentice lost out on final cuts to veteran James Allen and 3rd rounder Jonathan Wells. He’d sign with the Cardinals later and looked to make the roster, but at the last second the team signed NFL All-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith. Tired of the journeyman life and the NFL business approach Travis elected to retire. He doesn’t look back on his time in the league with any regrets, and currently works as a professional health and rehabilitation specialist. While many of TD Travis’ records are now being broken, one would suppose it is only a matter of time before he gets into the College Football Hall of Fame with his impressive numbers.

This is a pretty nice card. I was surprised to get not only an autograph, but a patch card to boot.  For a profile shot, it appears that there was some care or design taken in creating it. The 2000 ‘limited’ print run on this card only underlines the circulation problem in the industry.  Overprinting players that are not high in demand is an issue still even today for many of the card publishers and hurts the collectible side of the market. Still I was excited to add TD Travis to my collection. It is these guys who have a heavily accoladed, yet short and rich history that sometimes really catch my eye, almost like a musical one hit wonder.

G/Gs   30      Rush 187      Yds 525     Avg 2.8          Td   9        Lg 17      |
Rec   38        Yds 201    Avg  5.2     Td  1    Lg   13