Tag Archives: Denver Broncos

AFL, NFL, NFLE, WLAF

Taylor, Lionel

Card: Upper Deck Legends 1997
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o Home
Sent: 6/4/14  Received: 8/13/16  (801 days)

Lionel Taylor had an amazing career that began in 1959 playing for the Chicago Bears.  He didn’t record a reception for the team during his rookie year and opted to join the upstart American Football League during its inaugural season in 1960 for the Denver Broncos. Taylor went on to endear himself as one of the most dominant receivers in the history of the league, leading the AFL in receptions 5 of the next 6 years.  In 1961 he set a modern era record with 100 receptions (which was broken in 1964 by Charlie Hennigan at 101). He played for the Broncos through 1966- joining the Oilers for the 1967 and 1968 seasons.  Lionel retired from the gridiron in 1969.

Taylor established himself quickly as an up and coming assistant coach with the Steelers as a receivers coach in 1970.  He’d remain there through 1976, cultivating a reputation as a Super Bowl winning positional coach.  He joined the Rams from 1977-1979, where he was offensive coordinator in 1980 and 1981.  Lionel then applied his trade at the college level for Oregon State, and then as head coach at Texas Southern through 1988.  Returning to the NFL in 1989, Taylor worked with the Cleveland Browns tight ends and as a pass coordinator.

Taylor joined the World League of American Football in 1995 as offensive coordinator to the London Monarchs. As the league rebranded to the NFLE, he’d take over as head coach of the franchise in 1996 and shepherd the franchise through to become the England Monarchs. It was a tough run for Taylor as head coach at the end, as his team was a vagabond franchise playing all over England looking for a new home. Since there was no established fan base, this gave the Monarchs no home field advantage.  The Monarchs finished with a 3-7 record during their swan song season.

Taylor has fully retired from the sport and lives in New Mexico.  At a clip over 800 days, I had fully given up on getting a response from Lionel, so this one came as quite a surprise to get back. It’s a shame, as with many American Football League players, Lionel has gotten little to no traction in Hall of Fame circles, despite his impressive numbers.

AFL
G/GS 121/NA      REC 567     YDS  7195    AVG 12.7   TD 45    LG  80T

NFLE
W  11     L 17       PCT .393

NFL, University of Texas

Jammer, Quentin

pp02-qjammer ud02mvp-qjammer
Cards: Press Pass 2002 JE, Upper Deck MVP 2002
Acquired:  TTM 2016, C/o Home
Sent:  8/28   Received:  9/12    (14 days)

Quentin Jammer is another member DBU at the University of Texas. A big physical corner, Jammer’s draft stock shot up dramatically during his senior season, prior to the 2002 NFL draft.  Quentin was a shut down corner, and finished with 56 career pass breakups (a school record) and 7 interceptions. A complete package, Quentin had great closing speed and really knew how to ‘jam’ receivers off the line of scrimmage. He also was a fine tackler- for a defensive back.

Drafted by the San Diego with the 6th overall pick, a holdout stymied Jammer’s assimilation of the Chargers’ defensive system. He’d get onto the field in 2003 as a starter and not look back, holding down the starting LCB spot for the next 10 seasons, starting a total of 161 games for SD. Over his time there he had 10 straight seasons of 10+ pass breakups. A physical defender, Jammer had a hard time transitioning to the NFL system which favored receivers and prevented Jammer’s style of play. He recorded his first career TD in 2012 against Denver, returning a pass 80 yards for a score. Later in the year, he recorded his first fumble recovery for a TD against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The next season he’d join the Broncos where he dabbled at safety. He’d retire after the season.

While interceptions and turnovers are sexy stats, I’ve always felt that pass breakups are criminally underrated. Jammer’s numbers were tracked extensively over his career and his is credited with an astonishing 141 PBUs. Jammer as of 2016 lives in California, and is still a big University of Texas fan.

G/GS 183/162       TAC 630        SAC 0.0        FUM   10
INT 21      YDS 210        AVG 10.0       TD 1        LG   80t

NFL

Brooks, Michael

flr90 mbrooksCard: Fleer 1990
Acquired: TTM 2016, C/o Home
Sent:  3/16    Received: 4/23    (34 days)

One is better than none- I always say as Michael Brooks returned only this Fleer 1990 card from among the four cards I sent. You never know why he decided to only send one back, but I will assume that it is because he didn’t have the other cards in his personal collection.

Michael Brooks was a 3rd round pick of the Denver Broncos from the 1987 draft.  His draft stock plummeted after Michael had a major knee injury during his final year at LSU. It took Brooks some time to recover, and the Broncos brought him along slowly his rookie year.  Michael eventually made a really nice compliment to Karl Mecklenburg in the linebacking corps. From 1989 to 1992 Michael logged at least 120 tackles in each season, including 2 seasons with over 170 (1990- 175, 1992- 170).  He earned his only Pro Bowl appearance for his 1992 season.

Brooks career continued with the New York Giants in 1993, where he put together 3 more solid 90+ tackle seasons. He’d play 4 games in the 1996 for the Lions, retiring after the season. Brooks is immortalized in Tecmo Super Bowl, and was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 2009.

G/GS   138/113        TAC   962              SAC 7.0               FUM   9
INT 4          YDS  34          AVG 8.2          TD 0            LG 17