Tag Archives: Jacksonville Jaguars

CFL, NFL

Christie, Steve

pset90 christieCards: Score Supplemental 1990, ProSet 1990, GameDay 1992
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o Home
Sent: 4/1    Received: 4/17   (16 days)

Steve Christie left William & Mary as the school’s All-Time leading scorer in 1989 with 279 points. He was signed as a free agent by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1990. The Bucs had a solid kicking game with Donald Igwebuike, but Christie beat him head to head in camp and won the job outright. Through Week 7 of the 1990 season Christie was the leading scorer in the NFL with 57 points and hit all of his XP, and was 14 of 16 of field goals.  By the end of the season Steve was named All-Rookie by the UPI, as he finished second in the NFC with a .852 field goal percentage.  After another solid season in 1991 with the Bucs, Christie was left unprotected by the team, controversially after he made promises not to leave the team.

The Buffalo Bills had finally decided that it was time for longtime kicker Scott Norwood to go. They offered Steve twice the salary he was making in Tampa to come to Buffalo.  Christie didn’t look back. scosup90 christieHe’d later cite that the ‘lack of winning tradition’ in Tampa as factoring into making his decision easier, because, “You get quite depressed only winning 3 games a season.”
Christie distinguished himself with the Bills almost immediately. and played with the franchise through the 2000 season, erasing many of the previous kicking marks held by Norwood. Steve set the franchise records that he set were the longest field goal (59 yards), the longest field goal in playoff history (54 yards), and the most career field goals in the playoffs (9). Steve is the franchise’s All-time leading scorer with 1,011 points, and set a franchise record with 14o points in a single season (1998).

In 2001, Steve signed with the San Diego Chargers after a somewhat contentious divorce from the Bills. A preseason injury forced the Bills to offer Christie an injury settlement- an offer that he rejected. So the team with no real choice at that point placed him on injured reserve, and then finally granted his unconditional release a few weeks later. He played with the Chargers through the 2003 season. From there he spent some time with thegday92 christie Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Giants in 2004.

Christie then entered a period of semi-retirement. He briefly played for the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL in 2007 as a favor to general manager Mike Clemons- a teammate from William & Mary. Afterwards he signed a one day contract with the Buffalo Bills to officially retire as a member of the franchise in 2008.  He’s done some football commentary since then and has worked in the CFL as a player agent. As of 2014, Steve’s 1,476 points ranks 16th in NFL history and his 336 field goals rank 13th.

In this day and age, kickers have become more interchangable between franchises, but the best clutch kickers such as Christie, Stenerud, Anderson, and Andersen, have just become more and more rare, especially when they were able to pull of long stints with one team.

G  229           XPA 473         XPM 468         PCT  98.9
FGA 431         FGM 336         PCT  78.0          PTS 1476

 

 

 

NFL

Martin, Kelvin “K-Mart”

gday92 kmartin flr90 kmartin
Cards: Fleer 1990, Fleer 1995, GameDay 1992
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o Home
Sent: 1/28    Received: 2/7   (10 days)

Kelvin Martin played for Boston College from 1984-1987 and is considered one of the finest receivers to play for the school. He graduated as the school’s all-time leader in receptions (134), and TD catches (28), as well as holder of various punt return records.  A shifty receiver with deceptive speed, K-Mart was part of a strong triumvirate of BC players drafted in 1987. He’d go in the 4th round to the Dallas Cowboys, probably because of his height (5’9″) and frame (163).

After a wash of a rookie season- thanks in part to the players strike, K-Mart went back to work as the team’s primary punt returner, working his way into the lineup as a slot receiver. Beginning in 1988 he began to see an increased workload. As the team transitioned from Danny White to Troy Aikman, Martin saw little drop off, in fact, increasing from 39 to 59, his average yards per game, from 1988 to 1989. His best season came in 1990, as the team leaned on Kelvin heavily while Michael Irvin recovered from his 3rd straight injury plagued season. He’d finish as the team’s leading receiver in catches (64) and yards (732), however Josh and I joked about his bottom line- zero touchdowns. (I believe that his 100+ total catches spanning 4 seasons is an NFL record for futility, as he did not score a TD from week 12 of 1989 to week 4 of 1992.)  He’d pick back up punt returning, and lead the league in yardage (532) and TD returns (2) in 1992 while Michael Irvin and Alvin Harper were seeing more and more targets.

flr95 kmartin1993 was the dawn of a new era in free agency. Kelvin signed with the Seattle Seahawks, where he’d be paired opposite Brian Blades in the lineup. A value pick up, Kelvin finished with a career high 798 yards and 5 receiving touchdowns that year. He’d record respectable 681 yards the following season before he was left exposed in the 1995 Expansion Draft held for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Carolina Panthers. Before Martin knew it, he selected with the 27th pick of the draft by the Jags. Oddly enough, the team cut him outright 2 weeks later- citing that his $800k price tag was too high to justify keeping him on the roster.

Enter the Philadelphia Eagles, who were burned by Martin, by denying the Eagles a playoff appearance in 1991, when Kelvin returned a punt 85 yards for a score. He’d sign with Philly and be one and done there before going back home to Dallas in 1996.  Kelvin scored a 60 yard TD against the Atlanta Falcons that season before hanging up the cleats.

I had never gotten Martin at training camp when the Cowboys were at St. Edwards back in the early 90s. It had almost appeared as though he preferred the anonymity rather than revel in the glory like guys such as Irvin did. Martin always reminded me of Houston Oilers slot man Curtis Duncan both in play, statistics, and overall class act. I was surprised at how fast I got a response from Kelvin and had seen that he averaged somewhere around 3 months per return. Kelvin lives in the Dallas area and has been involved in coaching at the college level.

G 139/66     Rec   367        Yds  4768     Avg  13.0      Td  15      Lg 60t    |
Kr  76      Yds 1453     Avg 19.1       Td 0       Lg 59  |
Pr  261     Yds  2567     Avg 9.8      Td  3     Lg 85t

 

NFL

Paup, Bryce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cards: Skybox 1995, Fleer 1996
Acquired: Canton Acquisition 2012

The Pack was aggressively going after the linebacker position to create some competition taking Tony Bennett in round 1 and Bobby Houston in round 3 before ultimately landing on a little known Northern Iowa Product, Bryce Paup with their 6th round pick in 1990.  He didn’t really get on the field his rookie season, but was a curious enough product at 6-5, 250 that the Packers suspected that he’d be worth giving a shot because of his versatility at linebacker and defensive end. Bryce ultimately got onto the field as a situational pass rusher in 1991 (- one of the first of the 90s to emerge,) and had 7.5 sacks and 3 FF in a misleading 7 games and 1 start. In his first game of the season, he tackled Eagles QB Randall Cunningham, effectively ending Randall’s more athletic days of scrambling fearlessly outside the pocket. As Paup began to really get a feel for playing the linebacker position at the pro level, he really gelled as a sack artist, and after the team’s switch to a 4-3 defense in 1994, he made 3 picks for 47 yards and a touchdown earning his first of 4 consecutive Pro Bowl berths. The Packers felt that Paup’s sack numbers were inflated because of the attention that  Reggie White and Tim Harris had gotten from the opposition and did not attempt to resign him. Bryce set out to prove them wrong.

The Buffalo Bills signed Paup to a free agent contract in 1995, and under defensive coordinator Wade Phillips in his 3-4 alignment, Bryce destroyed the NFL. Bryce led the NFL in sacks with 17.5, and was named Defensive Player of the Year that season, as he and Bruce Smith made a fearsome combo. He continued to play for the Bills through 1997 earning Pro Bowl berths in every season he was there, but a stinging groin injury from 1996, and his frustration over the ineptness of the offense, left bad blood between the team and Paup. Jacksonville, needing some outside pass rush help, signed Paup’s in 1998 to a monster contract that ranked second only to Junior Seau among linebackers.  He’d play two vastly underwhelming seasons there before finishing his career at  Minnesota in 2000.  Bryce currently lives in Wisconsin, where he’s begun a career in coaching football.

G/Gs  148/113    Tac  444    Sac 75    Fum 15     Int 6    Yds 55    Avg 9.2    Td 1   LG 30t