Tag Archives: tecmo super bowl

College Football HoF, NFL, Pro Football HoF

Smith, Bruce


Cards:Action Packed Rookies 1992, ProSet 1991 League Leader
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Pro Football Hall of Fame
Sent: 3/21  Received: 4/16  (26 days)

One of the most dominant and complete defensive ends in NFL history, Bruce Smith holds the NFL career record for sacks with a flat 200 playing in 19 seasons for the Bills and Redskins. He is though most remembered as a key player for the Buffalo Bills tremendous SuperBowl runs during the 1990s and part of a stalwart defensive alignment that included Cornelius Bennett, Darryl Talley, and Shane Conlan. An 11 time Pro Bowl selection, 9 time first team all pro, a member of both the 1980s and 1990s All-Decade Team, Defensive Player of the year 1990 and 1996, and 1987 Pro Bowl MVP, Bruce amassed a tremendous amount of accolades over his playing time.
Highly decorated coming out of college at Virginia Tech, Bruce Smith was a shoe in #1 pick being named the Outland Trophy winner in 1984 and a 2 time All American in 1983, and 1984. Drafted by the Buffalo Bills, Bruce quickly established himself as an outside rushing force and within 5 seasons had become the all time sack leader of the franchise. In 1990 he made 19 sacks, and was named NFL defensive MVP. Bruce would lose his 1991 season to a knee injury but would return in full force by 1992. He would transition from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defense successfully under then defensive coordinator Wade Phillips later in 1995, where he again would be named defensive MVP in 1996. He would be allowed to sign via Free Agency in 1999 where he became more of a designated pass rusher, and passed up Reggie White for the record in his final season in 2003. In 13 of his 19 seasons he made double digit sacks. Bruce was enshrined into the NFL HoF in his first year of eligibility in 2008 and also to the Bills Wall of Fame that same year. A member of the College Football Hall of Fame as well, he spends a good deal of his time working for charities.

I had heard that Bruce was a great TTM signer, but I couldn’t believe it till I tried it since he was the NFL’s career sack leader. He responded in very little time via the Pro Football HoF (Canton,OH) roughly in 30 days.  Always well represented in Tecmo Super Bowls, Bruce when he was in excellent condition would dominate any offensive lineman and on occasion was so fast could cover wide receivers down the field, and 9 times out of 10 his quickness allowed him to be around any play with the computer.

G/Gs 279/267    Tac 1225      Sac 200    Fum 43    Int 2    Yds 0   Avg -.-   Td 0

NFL

Cook, Marv

Cards: SkyBox 1992, Proset 1991
Acquired: TTM 1992, 1993, Patriots Blitz

Marv Cook was another underrated player out of the University of Iowa, finishing second on the school’s all-time list with 126 catches. Drafted by the New England Patriots during their darkest times in 1989, Marv Cook would lead AFC tight ends in receptions  in 1991 when the team bottomed out. Surprisingly in 1991 he’d also be named first-team AP as his 82 receptions ranked 4th in the league that season. At the time Tecmo Super Bowl rewarded him by- making him one of the slowest receivers EVER. It didn’t help that Cook offered up a woeful 8.8 yards a reception over his career with the Patriots, but he could be counted on to make the catch in those 4 seasons with the team. Among his other accomplishments with the Patsies was that he was the first tight end in the history of the franchise to finish 3 consecutive seasons with 50 or more receptions. In 1994 Cook would head over to the Bears, starting 8 games and then finish out his career in 1995 with the St. Louis Rams in two lackluster seasons. While with the Patriots Marv wore two different jersey numbers: 46 and 85. At the time of this post Marv currently is coaching football and associated with a financial advisor network.

G/Gs 112/77   Rec  257     Yds   2190    Avg  8.5      Td  13   Lg 49

NFL

Butts, Marion

Cards: ProSet 1989, ProSet 1990, Fleer 1990, Action Packed 1992
Acquired: TTM 2010, C/o Home
Sent: 2/3  Received: 3/26  (51 days)

The Chargers found a steal when they reached in the top of the 7th round of the infamous 1989 draft for little known Marion Butts out of Florida State. In his rookie season in 1989 he’d come in off the bench during the last 5 games rumbling for  683 yards and 9 touchdowns, including a game in which he single-handedly dominated the Chiefs rushing for 176 yards. Slipping under the radar when he was drafted, many had pegged Butts as purely a blocking fullback or perhaps special teams hitter (with his 6-1 248 frame)  however his style would define the Chargers run game for nearly 5 seasons. Marion’s sophomore season would prove that his surprising rookie season was not a fluke as he galloped for a career high 1225 yards making his first ProBowl.  Butts would follow this season up with an additional ProBowl in 1991- but would only start 8 games. With the emergence of Natrome Means, Butts would play for the Chargers through the 1993 season and finish up his career there with around 4300 yards. In 1994 Marion would hop over to play for Bill Parcells and the New England Patriots helping the team make the playoffs with his stout running and 1995 would see Marion’s final season played with the vagabond Houston Oilers where he started 2 games and retired after the season’s conclusion. Since football Butts has tried his hand at coaching the sport at the high school level.

Marion is apparently a great through the mail signer and although I had to wait sometime, he graciously signed 4 cards for me. Butts had some great cards, and the ProSet franchise really framed his running style well. The Tecmo SuperBowl franchise represented him well. One of the vaunted and feared ‘popcorn’ runningbacks, (Heyward, Mack, and Okoye also come to mind) you could literally run at or dive at Butts and he would throw you up in the air like popcorn.

G/Gs 104/73    Rush 1345   Yds  5185   Avg 3.9    Td  43    Lg  52 |
Rec  68    Yds  471    Avg 6.9   Td  1   Lg  46