Tag Archives: green bay packers

NFL

Cecil, Chuck

Card: Topps Stadium Club 1992
Acquired: In Person, Houston Oilers Training Camp 1995

Hard hitting Cecil came from the Cardinals to replace former defensive back Bo Orlando in 1995, and played for the Oilers for one season. He retired due to numerous concussions. After a few years away from the NFL as a color commentator at the college level, Cecil returned to the league as an assistant with the Tennessee Titans for Jeff Fisher.

In 2009, he took over for popular defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz,  while Chuck had to deal with man-mountain Albert Haynesworth jumping ship to Washington. The had a difficult year defensively as the Titans suffered a 59-0 shellacking to the New England Patriots.  Cecil later was fined $40k for being caught on camera giving the middle finger to the referees during a contested game against the Denver Broncos in 2010.

In his career, Cecil made one ProBowl while with the Packers and was a favorite of the All Madden Team. He was also recognizable for his oversized ‘Gazoo’ helmet he wore to protect against further concussions. Despite his reputation as a hard hitting free safety, Chuck did more damage to himself, sustaining bloody noses and concussions on a regular basis, all for forcing 1 fumble in 445 tackles. A 2009 College Football Hall of Fame inductee, Chuck’s 100 yard interception return was voted the greatest Wildcat play of all time.

G/Gs  95/61    Tac 445  Sac  0  FF  1
Int 16  Yds 235   Td  1  Lg 33

Arena, NFL

Del Greco, Al

Cards: Topps Traded 1989, Upper Deck 1992
Acquired: In Person, Houston Oilers Training Camp 1992, CGA Youth Golf Tournament 1993.

The Oilers were searching for the replacement to Tony Zendejas whom they lost in Plan B to the Los Angeles Rams. Passing by established names such as Mike Lansford and Raul Allegre, the Oilers brought Teddy Garcia into camp. Unimpressed, the Oilers sent out an APB for a replacement, and found the feel good story of the year in Ian Howfield who won the job with an impressive preseason, but after 9 games it was obvious that he was not the answer, missing 4 extra points and quite a few field goals.  The Oilers called up Al Del Greco, who had lost the kicking job in Phoenix earlier that year. He had a decent enough resume and was the starting kicker for Green Bay (after Jan Stenerud) from 1984-1987 and Phoenix from 1987-1990. (He was also ironically replaced by another Zendejas in Green Bay.)

Del Greco would win the job outright in Houston, (and at that time I wasn’t really impressed,)  providing the Oilers with the consistency and clutch kicking that the team direly needed. He played for the Oilers the next 6 seasons, two for the Tennessee Oilers and then his final two seasons with the Titans- retiring after 2000 and 17 seasons. Del Greco currently stands at number 14 on the all time scoring list with 1592 points (as of 2010).

Al has since been inducted into the Alabama sports Hall of Fame. He briefly got into coaching and was a kicking coach in the AFL for the Birmingham Steeldogs as well, and does some radio and motivational speaking on the side. Del Greco is quite the golfer I hear, and was the winner of the CGA tournament that I went to way back in 1993.

G 248    XPA  543       XPM  551       FGA 449      FGM 347    PCT 77.3%

NFL

Buckley, Terrell

Cards: Action Packed Rookies 1992, Sky Box 1992
Acquired: TTM 1994, C/o The Green Bay Packers

When Buckley came out of Florida State, he had a lot of buzz surrounding him as the second coming of Deion Sanders; Rightfully so since he was a dazzling punt returner and cornerback. The Packers quickly nabbed him with the 5th pick of the first round of the 1992 draft. He’d have 3 picks and 4 fumble recoveries his first season, and be an electrifying punt returner. He’d average 10 yards a return and be the youngest player in the league to score a touchdown on a punt return. With luck getting quite a few Packers through the mail in those years I made a stab at Terrell Buckley in 1994, his final year with the Packers. Within a month or two I got these two back in the mail.

Buckley’s career was underrated to say the least.  After three seasons in Green Bay, he headed out for greener pastures in Miami and played there for the next 5 seasons, pulling down 22 picks and 2 touchdowns. In 2000, he’d hop ship for the Denver Broncos for an impact year with 6 interceptions, and then New England for the next two where Buckley would earn a Superbowl ring. Terrell bounced around for the next three seasons playing again for the Dolphins in 2003, the Jets in 2004 and the Giants in 2005, where he retired at the age of 34. Buckley’s statistics are surprising as he had 50 interceptions in his career, but no Pro Bowl appearances or Hall of Fame nominations to his resume. (He currently is the only defensive player in the league with 50+ interceptions not to be enshrined, ranking him 31st all time.)  After football Buckley returned to Florida State, where at the time of this post he is working on their staff as a strength and conditioning coordinator. Buckley signs his cards ‘TBuck’, a name affectionately given to him by radio and tv personality Jim Rome.

Games 209     Tac  465   Sac 2    FF 15
Int 50        Yds  793       Avg 15.9       Td  6       Lg 91T

Pr  79          Yds 748        Avg  9.4     TD 1      lg 58t