Tag Archives: St. Louis Rams

NFL, NFLE, ufl

Ragone, Dave

Card: SPX 2003  (0331/1100)
Acquired: 2017, EBay

Dave Ragone was one of the granddaddy’s of Louisville respectability when it comes to quarterbacks. He posted some good numbers there while with the Cardinals as a 3 year starter setting numerous records at the school, finishing 685/1180 for 8564 yards and 74 TDs to just 29 interceptions.  He was picked near the top of round 3 by the Houston Texans in the 2003 NFL draft.

At the time the young Houston Texans franchise were looking to groom a competent, low cost backup to incumbent starter David Carr.  (The sexy thing to do in the league during those days was to groom a 3rd stringer that had potential enough to entice other teams to drop draft picks in order to get after a one game audition.) The pick by the Texans was widely panned.  Dave got to start 2 games his rookie season throwing for 135 yards and an interception.

Ragone went to NFL Europe in the meantime. He’d play for the Berlin Thunder in 2005 and was named the league’s Offensive MVP, as he threw for 1,746 yards and 13 TDs en route to an appearance in World Bowl XII.  Dave returned to the Texans and backed up David Carr for the full 16 game slate, not seeing any action.

In 2006, the Texans team was completely scrapped, front office down. The Texans new head coach Gary Kubiak decided to go in another direction at quarterback and waived Ragone. He’d be claimed by the Bengals and quickly traded to the to the Rams, who cut him during training camp.

Dave has gone into coaching since his playing days ended, first being seen on the pro scene honing his skills as a quarterbacks coach (under his former OC from Houston, Chris Palmer) for the UFL Hartford Colonials, helping to turn Josh McCown into the biggest UFL success story.  He then had stops with the Titans (2011-2013) as both a WR and later as a QB coach, the Redskins (2015) as an offensive quality control coach, and finally with the Bears, who he has been the quarterbacks coach of since 2016.

NFL
G/GS 2/2    ATT 40    COMP 20    YDS 135     PCT 50.0
TD 0     INT 1      RAT 47.4
RUSH  6     YDS  51   AVG 8.5         TD 0              LG 14

NFLE
ATT 251   COMP 158  YDS 1746   PCT 62.9  TD 13   INT 2   RAT 97.5
RUSH 35    YDS 166    AVG 4.7    TD 1   LG 14T

NFL

Ellard, Henry (2)

Cards: Fleer 1990, GameDay 1992
Acquired: TTM 2015, C/o Home
Sent: 3/13   Received: 3/26  (13 days)
See Also: Henry Ellard

Henry Ellard gets no respect. At the time of retirement the highly decorated wide receiver was ranked 3rd all time in NFL history with 814 receptions and 13,777 yards. To boot he also had 65 receiving TDs, 15,718 total yards from scrimmage, and cracked the 1K barrier receiving 7 times. Still thanks to a logger jam at the position – even from Ram receivers from a different generation (Torry Holt, Issac Bruce), Ellard has not gotten the nod that he deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Henry enjoys coaching and has been doing it for sometime now at both the pro and at the high school level.

Great cards here of Henry.  I love the Fleer 1990 card of him leaning through the shot. Forget the fact that its obviously a warmup shot with his chinstrap undone. The yellow border helps frame the image well, and the ink of the autograph took to this card well. Ellard has a superb autograph with a unique ‘H’ and strong loops. It goes beyond saying that his signature also receives high marks for legibility and care.  The GameDay 1992 is a nice shot of Ellard going up for a grab. Graying out the background is a nice touch to get the subject to jump off the canvas. Now that takes all of 30 minutes and a mask to do in Photoshop, but back in the early 90s- it was still a creative feat.

After failing on Henry numerous times, I was able to track him down and knock him off on these two cards.  Other fans followed my initial request, with some abusing him for 8-10 autographs per request. As evidenced in the past, within a year he was returning mail and/or had moved on to a new location.

NFL

Green, Aaron (TCU)

Card: Sage 2016
Acquired: 2016, Gunderson Acquisition

Aaron Green played at TCU and while he set the NCAA on fire with 7.1 YPC on 129 carries and earned Second Team All Big 12 in 2014. His numbers increased to 1,272 yards on 244 carries, but because of a bevy or RB talent in the conference, he only received Honorable Mention.  Considered undersized at 5’10, 203, scouts were not impressed with Green, and he went undrafted. Aaron signed with the St. Louis Rams after the 2016 NFL draft.

He made the squad in part to his hard running during the preseason. With Todd Gurley resting, Green logged 23 carries for 111 yards and a TD.  He also displayed some handiness in the passing game catching 9 receptions for 76 receiving yards and another TD in only 3 preseason games.  Aaron was released during final cuts, but quickly assigned to the practice squad.

With a loggerjam at runningback heading into the 2017 season, Aaron was released in May.  Currently he’s a free agent.