Tag Archives: Atlanta Falcons

NFL, usfl

Sanders, Ricky

Cards: ProSet 1989, Action Packed 1990
Acquired: TTM 2020, C/o Home
Sent: 3/20 Received: 12/14 (269 days)
Failure: TTM 2012, C/o home

Wow! What a rare grab in former USFL and Skins receiver Ricky Sanders! I had most fondly remembered him of course as a member of the Smurfs or the Fun Bunch as he and the WR corps of the Redskins were called at the time. There was also his heroics in Super Bowl XXIII and also in the Tecmo Bowl series where he was elusive and electric as well. Ricky also had some great cards along the way, and I hoped eventually one day I’d get them signed.

A local sports star hailing from Belton, Tx- a straight shot up I-35 halfway between Austin and Waco, Ricky Sanders played collegially at SW Texas State. The Bobcats were located out of San Marcos, Tx- halfway between Austin and San Antonio on I-35. At 5’11”, 182, hailing from a tiny school, Ricky stood ZERO chance of getting on the NFL’s radar, but lucky for Sanders, the USFL was waiting.

He’d sign with the Houston Gamblers in 1984. With a Run N Shoot offense with Jim Kelly at QB, Ricky had an incredible year in his rookie season, posting 101 catches for 1378 yards and 11 TDs, including a career long 77 yard TD. After the USFL folded in 1986, Ricky found himself a home with the Washington Redskins. With the Redskins, he’d pair up with Art Monk and Gary Clark to form one of the most devastating trios in the NFL. Ricky posted back to back 1,000 yard seasons in 1988 and 1989, and scored a career high 12 TD catches as well in 88. Sanders played with the Redskins through 1993, and concluded his career on in 1995 with the Atlanta Falcons.

USFL GRECYDSAVGTDLG
28/21149191612.91877t
NFL GRECYDSAVGTDLG
134/66483647713.43771

NFL, University of Texas

Metcalf, Eric (3)

Cards: Upper Deck 1991 Browns Checklist, GameDay 1993, University of Texas Upper Deck 2011 All-Time Alumni, ProSet 1992, SkyBox Premium 1993-1994, Upper Deck College Legends 2011
Acquired: TTM 2020, C/o Home
Sent: 1/6 Received: 1/14 (8 days)
See Also: Eric Metcalf, Eric Metcalf (2)

Eric Metcalf is one of my favorite players during the heyday of my childhood, so I was happy to make him my first success of 2020. With so many cards signed by him at this point, you’d think that I’d written him more than once (successfully) previously- but no- the last time he signed for me was way back in 2014. How time flies!

Eric had some stellar cards over the years, and with me still needing him on his All-Time Alumni card, and his College Legends card, I figured I could shoot out a stack to him and take a shot.

Eric is one of the few pros that actually follows me on Twitter- which is very humbling. I’ve always felt that YFS guys do not get the love from the HoF that they should, and although he has been nominated on a few occasions, Eric has not gotten in.

Eric’s cards from this lot no doubt are again, epic looking. They always seem to catch him slashing out of the backfield into the open field. I loved his Upper Deck Legends entry from 2011. In fact I am surprised that they didn’t use this as his main shot on his UT cards.

The Skybox Premium came out at a time when dropping a color across a background was novel. Unfortunately these cards commanded too high a sticker price for me as I was exiting the market. I have slowly picked up one or two here or there over the years.

ProSet was done in my mind after a few packs at Cowboys training camp in ’92. I did not like how they changed the card design midway through the set and found it confusing and disorganized. I liked this version of the set and how they moved the ProSet logo down by the player name, allowing the canvas to be more free to showcase the player.

Upper Deck was a late entry into the football card market. I didn’t really think too much of their initial NFL set, however I loved their artistic subsets- especially their checklists which focused on team MVPs. The design of this card is just superb, and in a sense very timeless. I love the circle behind Eric. What possessed this artist to put that back there? It blends nicely into his helmet, and then the horizontal lines across it lower on the canvas- It’s just so delicate and well thought out.

AAF, CFL, NFL

Ross, Alex

Card: Topps 2019 AAF Certified
Acquired: 2019, EBay

Alex Ross put up some solid numbers at quarterback with Coastal Carolina from 2012-2015. He finished his college career with 72 touchdown passes and 9,918 yards while completing 64.7% of his passes. He was not selected in the 2016 draft, and saw time in camp with the Atlanta Falcons. He then saw time in the CFL for the British Columbia Lions (2017) and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2018).

In 2019, Alex signed with the Alliance of American Football. He was allocated to the Memphis Express., however during the Pick or Protect QB Draft, he’d be selected with the final choice of the draft by the San Diego Fleet. The Fleet had issues from the get go at quarterback. With Josh Johnson signing with the Redskins, and Mike Bercovici inconsistent, Philip Nelson stepped in, but he too was injured.

During Week 4, Alex came in to replace Nelson at quarterback against the Memphis Express. He’d toss a score on 8 of 18 passes, going for 80 yards on the day, but threw an interception and lost 2 fumbles. He’d back up Bercovici for the remainder of the season. Currently Alex is a free agent.