Tag Archives: New York Giants

AFL, NFL, ufl, wfl

Schottenheimer, Marty (1943-2021)

Card: Proset 1990
Acquired: TTM 1994, C/o The Kansas City Chiefs

Linebacker Marty Schottenheimer was selected in by both the AFL (Buffalo, 7th round) and NFL (Baltimore, 5th round) of their respective 1965 drafts out of the University of Pittsburgh. He spent 4 seasons on the Bills roster (where it was comically shown on the retrospective “Full Color Football” that Schottenheimer’s name was so long on his jersey the type ran off the name plate and onto his right shoulder). He’d earn All Star honors in 1965, and be traded in 1971 to the Pittsburgh Steelers and again to the Boston Patriots before retiring.

Schottenheimer went into coaching in 1974 and worked for the Portland Storm in the World Football League as a linebackers coach, but before you knew it, less than 10 years after he got drafted by the Bills- Marty was coaching linebackers for the Giants in 1975. He’d then coach for the Lions on another 2 year stint, before catching on in 1980 with the Cleveland Browns as defensive coordinator where he established a smash mouth defense. In 1984, he’d get his chance as head coach, when Sam Rutigliano was fired midway through the season. He’d then be the face of the Browns for the next 4 seasons through 1988. The Browns would experience a consistent slate of respect and success during the Schottenheimer era. He’d also establish what is commonly referred to as ‘Marty Ball’ and the team would lose two heartbreaking games in the playoffs, known as ‘The Drive’ and ‘the Fumble’. With the reemergence of the Oilers in 1988 as playoff contenders, the Browns hosted them in the first round of the playoffs. Although favored to win, the Browns lost by a point. After the season was over Marty was fired, which angered many fans. His legacy with the team over 4 seasons was a large one, as he finished with a 44-27 record and a 2-4 mark in the playoffs. The Browns also advanced to the deepest levels of the NFL playoffs since before the AFL merger under his guidance.

Schottenheimer was not on the market for long. He’d head over to the Kansas City Chiefs to coach there for the next 10 seasons turning the team from a laughing stock into playoff contender in the span of 2 seasons. He’d win over 100 games with the franchise and the Chiefs would make the AFC Championship game in 1993. The Chiefs won the division 3 times and made 7 playoff appearances over 10 seasons. After quitting due to a disappointing 1998 season, Marty served as an analyst for ESPN for a season or two, and then was hired to be coach of the Washington Redskins in 2001.

Sights were high for the capital city after Schottenheimer came to town that year and the media circus quickly circled Marty. With Deion Sanders ducking out the back door and quickly announcing his retirement to get away from Marty, controversy erupted. Schottenheimer installed his brand of Martyball and the team was off to a slow start out of the gate losing its first 5 games. The media portrayed Marty as being outdated and out of touch with the current league, both with players and in offensive philosophy. The Redskins would respond by winning their next 5 games- (a first in NFL history) and narrowly missed the playoffs at 8-8 . In fighting between Schottenheimer and owner Daniel Snyder,  led to Marty’s dismissal after one season.

Marty was quickly named coach of the San Diego Chargers, where he’d guide the team to two playoff appearances and named coach of the year in 2004. Despite posting a 14-2 record in the latter season he was fired. -The first coach to be fired after securing the home field advantage through the playoffs. The reason for his dumping ranged from the fact that he had a 0-2 playoff record with San Diego, to charges of nepotism as he brought on more of his family on board as coaches. A public fight between the Chargers and Deion Sanders didn’t help either, when Sanders announced his ‘unretirement’ to come back to the league to play for the cross state Raiders, Schottenheimer quickly nabbed his rights before the Raiders. Sanders tore the team for its archaic practices and swore never to play for the team. In the end, the Bolts continued to hold Sanders’ rights throughout the season. Anyway regardless of it all, Schottenheimer was fired in what was considered without cause and still collected his salary for the next season, which damned the franchise even more.

Marty was rehired to be an analyst by ESPN where he did an excellent job for the network. After the Jets victory in the 2009 playoffs last season over heavily favored San Diego Chargers, coached by Marty’s replacement, he received a game ball in the mail from the team. (His son coaches for the Jets and Rex Ryan felt his firing was an injustice to the game.) I really lobbied hard and hoped the Texans would hire Schottenheimer after they released Dom Capers, but they went with Gary Kubiak instead.

Marty wanted to return to coaching and was rumored to have been in line for the Buffalo Bills job in 2010, but the team went in a different direction. In 2011, Marty Schottenheimer created quite a buzz when he signed to coach with the Virginia Destroyers of the UFL. He won the UFL championship later that year, and as the league collapsed, he opted to retire.

I got Marty’s autograph after the 1992 season through the mail in a few week’s time.

Games 327     Wins 200     Losses 126     Ties  1       Pct .613%

UPDATE 2/9/21- Marty Schottenheimer has passed away from Alzheimer’s disease.

Schottenheimer’s greatest legacy besides the sheer number of victories is the impact of his coaching tree. A Lou Saban apostle, Schottenheimer has many notable coaches that have been under his wing including: Marvin Lewis, Bill Cowher and Tony Dungy. Marty Schottenheimer is the winningest coach in the NFL (retired), not to be inducted into the Hall of Fame with 14 winning seasons in a 21 year career.

CFL, NFL, WLAF

Feggins, Howard

Card: Wild Card WLAF 1992
Acquired: TTM 2010, C/o South Carolina State University
Sent: 9/21     Received:  10/2   (11 days)

An equally adept cornerback and safety in college at UNC, Howard Feggins would be signed by the woeful New England Patriots in 1988, where he played in 11 games, making an interception in 1989. After a preseason with the Giants in 1990, and his mind already on coaching,  Howard wasted no time joining the NFL’s Minority Coaching Fellowship in the summer of 1991, with the New York Giants.

The WLAF came calling and the London Monarchs had other plans for Howard in the team’s already dominating secondary. He’d earn a World Bowl ring playing for the team in 1991 and in 1992 would see his playing time increased, pulling down 2 interceptions for the Monarchs. After the reorganization of the WLAF, Feggins play for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL, but would continue coaching and return to the pros by 1999 as an assistant coach for the New England Patriots. In 2004, he’d take over at Northwestern, coaching wide receivers through 2006 at the university. Currently Howard is an assistant coach at South Carolina State. Under his tutelage at every stop since returning to the college ranks, Feggins’ teams have seen exponential growth at the receiver position.

I have turned to other methods to locate players from the WLAF recently, and was able to find Howard through a social networking site and ask for his autograph. He quickly responded in 11 days, signing this card I had of him from the Wild Card corporation. He wrote me a nice note, which always makes me feel good about my enthusiast hobby.  Below are Howard’s statistics from the WLAF.

G/Gs  N/a     Tac   N/a      Sac  N/a   Fum   N/a   Int  2      Yds  48    Avg 24.0   Td 0   Lg 46

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