Tag Archives: Atlanta Falcons

CFL, NFL

Smith, Tony (RB)

 Cards: GameDay 1992, Action Packed Rookies 1992, Classic 1992
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent: 4/10      Received:  4/28  (18 days)

A speedy and dangerous all-purpose man while at Southern Mississippi, Tony Smith got to play alongside the likes of Brett Favre and Michael Jackson on offense. Over his career at the school he set school records, returning 2 kickoffs and 2 punts for touchdowns. In 1991 he ran for over 1,000 yards, (5.1 yards per carry) despite wearing a cast on his hand for half the season. Tony culminated his college career when he was named the Senior Bowl MVP after rushing for 72 yards on 12 carries.

The Falcons were in their 3rd year of the Glanville era. They traded away Brett Favre to the Packers, and cut future CFL career leading rusher Mike Pringle. The Falcons had an age purge at RB and the previous season they had failed to have any runningback reach 500 yards rushing. Steve Broussard and Erric Pegram would be the top backs out in the Red Gun offense. The team felt it still had a lot of needs, so Glanville was pretty unhappy when the team selected Tony Smith with the 1st round pick that they had gotten from the Brett Favre trade. You see Glanville didn’t have power over the draft and really thought the team should select a defensive back. (To put salt in the wound, Dale Carter, Darryl Williams, Ashley Ambrose, Darren Woodson, and Steve Israel all came off the board after this selection and had solid defensive back careers.) Much to Tony’s credit though- he was the highest rated tailback in the draft.

Smith was slow to get into camp- and was considered a holdout. He’d be the last first round pick to sign from the 1992 draft.  He was also the wrong style of back. Glanville liked smashmouth in-your-face backs, but Tony was a studder-step and make them miss back. He got out there his rookie season and started 6 games posting 87 carries for 329 yards and 2 TDs, but oddly enough, he’d never start another game again for the Falcons in the next two seasons.

Fans clamored to see more of Tony, and I am sure Tony was ready to show them what he had, so he put some time in on special teams where he demonstrated his capability as a dangerous return man. He finished 1993 with 38 kick returns for 948 yards and a 97 yard touchdown. Smith also returned punts- putting up a respectable 32 returns for 255 yards and a 51 yard long.  He saw even less activity in 1994- putting up only 408 total yards from scrimmage. Tony just couldn’t get out of Jerry Glanville’s doghouse.

It looked like a new start for Tony in 1995. The Falcons left him exposed in Free Agency and the expansion Carolina Panthers were providing him a new chance. While Tony had an impressive preseason, he suffered a gruesome injury against the Bears breaking both his tibia and fibia bones. He spent the entire ’95 season on IR. After rehabbing and spending a year away from football, Tony attempted a comeback with the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL in 1998. He returned to the NFL in 1999 with the Philadelphia Eagles- but tore his hamstring in camp ending his career.

It is a shame that Tony’s career ended the way it did, but at least he is at peace with it. He had some great cards over that short run, with these 3 representing some of my favorites.

G/GS 33/6   RUSH 87      YDS 329        AVG 3.8      TD 2           LG 32
REC 2      YDS  14              AVG 7.0               TD 0          LG 8
KR 61      YDS 1453         AVG 23.8            TD 1          LG 97T
PR 56      YDS 485            AVG 8.7                TD 0         LG 51

NFL

Ambrose, Ashley (2)


Cards: Action Packed Rookies 1992, Classic Blister 1992, GameDay 1992
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Colorado
Sent:  3/16   Received: 3/29  (13 days)
See Also: Ashley Ambrose

So Ashley’s autograph has come a long way since 1992 or 1993, when it more or less represented a signature, at least compared to what I got through the mail in 2018.

Since his time as the defensive backs coach for the Golden Bears of Cal, Ashley has been quite busy. He worked as an intern for the Saints in 2013, and followed that up with one year stints with the Idaho Vandals (2014) and Texas State (2015) as their cornerbacks coach. From 2016 to 2017, he coached for the Broncos of Boise State, and currently is at Colorado as their defensive backs coach- a capacity he held with the Buffs way back in 2010.

Ashley gets no respect. The venerable cornerman finished with 42 career interceptions, which is quite respectable in this day and age of football. He had some great cards over the years. After I got his autograph on his Star Pics cards, I had always wanted to get back around to him and get his Action Packed Rookies card signed- really as a set need, however his GameDay card really takes the cake in this spectacular action shot. It’s well framed and the action barely breaks the image plane at the top of the card.

Ashley’s TTM trail had grown cold. I noticed a few attempts through colleges he had previously coached with, so I made sure I had his current whereabouts in mind before I sent this out.

NFL

Broussard, Steve

Cards: Score Supplemental 1990, Score 1990, Action Packed Rookies 1990, SkyBox 1992
Acquired: TTM 2017, C/o Work
Sent: 10/9/17 Received: 1/17/18 (100 days)
Failure: 2011, C/o Arizona State

Steve Broussard has some great cards. His Skybox is exceptional. The resolution on the shot is so high you can make out the expression on Steve’s face. After nabbing him for my set need in Action Packed Rookies 1990, his two Score entries make the list for me, just barely over his Proset 1990 draft card. I tend to lean more full body shot if I can, especially if it is one where the player is in the open field. Anyway, I am very pleased to get him. I took a shot in the dark at his work address, knowing fully that in the past he has pulled any number of hijinks on autograph requesters, including having his kids sign for him. I did not count on getting these back also based on my previous experience, but after 100 days flat, the enigmatic back kindly signed these 4 cards for me. The autograph is in ball point pen- a disappointment, considering the amazing loops and varying size of his graph.

Steve finished second all-time on the Washington State career rushing charts with 3,054 yards and first in total touchdowns (41). During his Senior year in ’89 he had a career high 41 carries for 205 yards against Oregon. He also displayed his versatility by winning the WAC rushing title in 1989 (1237 yards) and receiving title in 1987 (59 receptions), distinguishing himself as only the second player in Conference history to do so.

He’d be selected in the first round by the Atlanta Falcons in 1990. Steve had a bumpy rookie season as injuries limited his campaign to 13 games. Still the compact halfback showed promise chewing up 454 yards on the ground and making 24 receptions. With a crowded backfield in the Red Gun system, Broussard continued to demonstrate himself as a nice change of pace, 3rd down back throughout his time in Atlanta- however he saw his playing time decrease every year after his rookie campaign.

After the 1993 season, Steve played one year in Cincinnati and recorded a career high 621 yards from scrimmage (403 yards rushing and 218 yards receiving). He then returned to his home state and played for the Seahawks for the remainder of his career in the NFL. With the Seahawks, Steve was used primarily as a kick returner where he demonstrated that burst of speed that made him so dangerous. After the 1998 season, Steve retired.

Steve went into coaching first at the high school level. He then moved on to the college level with stops at Portland State, Washington State, ASU, SMU, ICLA, and Pasadena Community College. In 2017 he returned to Washington and coaches at a local high school in Vancouver.

G/GS 121/21    RUSH  578      YDS 2625       AVG 4.5      TD 19    LG 77T
REC 126       YDS 882       AVG 7.0       TD 3      LG 25
KR  175       YDS 4060     AVG 23.2     TD 1    LG 90T