Tag Archives: ttm football autograph

AAF, NFL

Allen, Jared

Cards: Score 2009, Upper Deck 2009, Adrenalyn 2009
Acquired: TTM C/o Home, 2019
Sent: 4/6 Received: 4/18 (12 days)

Jared played college ball for the Idaho State Bengals from 2000 to 2003. It should be noted that Allen experienced exponential growth in almost every statistical field every year he played for the Bengals. In his Senior year of 2003, he started 12 games and posted 102 combined tackles, 28 tackles for loss, 17.5 sacks, 9 pass deflections, 6 forced fumbles, and 3 fumble recoveries- earning him the Buck Buchanan award for the nation’s best D-I defensive player. Despite Jared’s resume and imposing physique (6’6″, 265), he was not selected until the 4th round of the 2004 draft by the Kansas City Chiefs.

Jared played 4 seasons for the Chiefs and much like his college career, experienced a strong upward curve in his statistical production. In his final season in Kansas City, Jared logged an NFL leading 15.5 sacks and 19 tackles for loss, while catching 2 TD passes moonlighting on offense. He was named both to the Pro Bowl and an All-Pro.

Jared was traded by the Chiefs to the Vikings in 2008 in a blockbuster trade. Taking his talents to the NFC North, Jared again notched 2 more AP and Pro Bowl seasons with consecutive 14.5 sack seasons. After a ‘down year’ in 2010, Allen had a career high 22 sacks- missing the NFL sack record by just .5 sacks in the final game. He’d play two more years in Minnesota, and finish with an impressive 85.5 sacks in just 6 years.

Allen moved on to the Bears for 2014, but was moved to an OLB capacity in Chicago’s 3-4 alignment and record 5.5 sacks on the season. Jared was on the move again, traded to the Carolina Panthers 4 games into the season. He’d play in his first Super Bowl as the Panthers fell to the Broncos 24-10.

After the season, Jared retired but holds the NFL records for safeties (4-tied), consecutive games with a sack (11), and times leading the league in sacks (2). He has led a very interesting life post-retirement and has worked in charitable work with the Juvenile Diabetes Program, the NFL-USO tours, and the Wounded Warrior Project. Outside of that he’s an avid outdoorsman and curler, and put together a team of former NFL players to compete at a variety of national curling competitions.

I am so proud to be a part of @theAAF and be able to help change the game forever.

– Jared Allen

In 2018, Jared stunned the football world when he joined Bill Polian, Troy Polamalu, Justin Tuck, and founder Charlie Ebersol on stage to announce the Alliance of American Football. In the well rehearsed but quickly staged news conference Jared and Justin Tuck got up on a stage and sold the product like a tech start up. Forget the XFL. I was in and I was excited for the A-A-F.

Jared was in full throttle too, as both an investor and also in player relations. Oddly though, this was the most we saw of Jared for the remainder of the AAF’s short duration. He continued to strongly trumpet the league on social media, but as 2019 rolled around, this came to an abrupt stop.

In April of 2019, after hemorrhaging cash for most of its duration the AAF ended after just 8 games, as chief investor Tom Dundon pulled out his remaining investment.

Considering Jared’s through the mail track record, I was shocked to get this one back, little less in 12 days. I’d like to believe that the content of the letter matters and that players do read them.

Jared has a lot of great looking cards. It was very hard to trim it down to even 3 to send him, however I chose these 3 from his time as a member of the Minnesota Vikings. For once I was sort of underwhelmed by a Score 2009 entry, purely because it’s Jared celebrating after a sack. His hands both annoyingly go into the margin of the design and make the photo placement look careless. I really like the look of both the Upper Deck and the Adrenalyn cards while the Adrenalyn has a nice reflecting shine to it.

G/GSTACSACFUM
187/181642136.032
INTYDSAVGTDLG
6559,1136
NFL, NFLE

Moore, Lance

Card: Score 2009, Score 2011
Acquired: TTM 2018, C/o Home
Sent:  12/4     Received: 12/16   (12 days)

Lance Moore played college ball for the Toledo Rockets. The Rockets have become sort of a mid-school pipeline for really sneaky offensive talent over the years- and Moore was no different.  Posting strong numbers his Junior (103 receptions for 1194 yards and 9 TDs), and Senior years (90 receptions for 1189 yards and 14 TDs), Moore did not get selected in the 2005 NFL Draft.  Who knows why Lance wasn’t selected, but that didn’t stop him from signing with the Cleveland Browns.  After a quick stop there  he’d find himself signed to the Saints practice squad.

In 2006 the Saints elected to send Moore overseas to the NFL developmental league, the NFLE. He’d play for the Berlin Thunder and post a modest 12 receptions for 207 yards, a 68 yard long and 1 TD. He’d return stateside to the Saints and be active for 4 games, catching his first pass, a 10 yard reception from Drew Brees in a week 3 contest against the Carolina Panthers. Soon thereafter, Lance was sent back to the practice squad. 

Moore firmly established himself as a fan favorite and popular locker room presence. A consummate professional, Lance was continually working on perfecting his game. Maybe it helped that he was undrafted, but Lance is every man’s underdog story. 

Things finally stated paying off in 2007. As a situational starter, Lance played in all 16 games (starting 4) and posted 32 receptions for 302 yards and 2 TDs.  He topped those numbers in 2008 with a career high 121 targets that he converted into 79 receptions for 928 yards and 10 TDs.  Later in his career, Lance posted a career high 1041 yards in 2012, but he is perhaps best known for catching a two point conversion from Drew Brees cementing the team’s domination over the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV.  While experiencing some measure of success over the next few seasons, Lance was released by the Saints in 2014. 

He’d play the next two seasons for the Steelers (2014) and Lions (2015) before finally deciding to hang up the cleats. – He’d sign a  one day contract with the Saints, where Lance was most happy to retire.

Lance signed these two cards for me in a pretty quick snap. In 2018 he was inducted into the New Orleans Saints Hall of Fame alongside runningback Pierre Thomas. A key and unsung cog of the mighty Saints Super Bowl run, Moore posted 346 catches for 4281 yards an 38 TDs over his time with Who Dat Nation. Pretty good for an undrafted free agent.

Really love this Score 2009 edition of Lance. Can’t say more about the design of the card other than Panini had variants of this design across multiple sets. It forms a very nice diamond shape there in the center for the image canvas. It’s very subtle, because the design is masking it with the diagonal streaks across the corner, but regardless it is very strong. Lance’s autograph compliments it very well. Contradict this one with Score’s 2011 entry- a very plain and boring treatment. While it gets the message across of the player, his team, and a strong photo, the canvas design itself is very tired looking. Thankfully Lance’s strong autograph is there to rescue them both. 

NFL  G/GsRECYDSAVGTDLG
129/40389481612.44480T
KRYDSAVGTDLG
1835419.7036
PRYDSAVGTDLG
493887.9072
NFLERECYDSAVGTDLG
1220717.2168
AFL, NFL

Granger, Hoyle

Card: Topps 1970
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Home
Sent: 2/4 Received: 2/9 (5 days)

Over his college career Cajun Hoyle Granger ran for 1534 yards and 350 carries (7 TDs) for Mississippi State. He’d be selected by the Houston Oilers in the 5th round of the AFL draft, and the 4th round of the competing NFL draft in 1966. Opting to sign with the Oilers, Hoyle became more or less a fullback for Houston as not only was he a strong North/South runner but also an impressive blocker. After a subpar rookie season, when he rushed for 388 yards on 56 carries, Hoyle burst onto the scene for the first of two consecutive ProBowl appearances in 67 and 68. He’d run for a career high 1,194 yards (6 TDs) in 1967 and 848 yards in 1968 (7 TDs). His 1,494 combined yards in 1967 led the AFL. Although his numbers were in decline after that, Hoyle became the franchise’s all-time leading rusher (since surpassed) during the 1970 season. Afterwards he’d be traded to the New Orleans Saints along with a bevy of players and draft choices. (The Oilers in return received notably WR Ken Burrough whom they had wanted but NO had selected the pick before them.) After just one season in The Big Easy, Hoyle returned to Houston for his final swan song in 1972.

I was not familiar with Hoyle outside of his statistics and the fact he was #3 on the HOUSTON Oilers all-time rushing list, but after reading the book ‘Oiler Blues’ he was one of the more recognizable players from the brief silver Houston Oilers helmet era, and a few photos of him rumbling along really stuck out in my head. I decided to take a shot at him and was pleased to see a response in 5 days flat on his classic Topps 1970 card.

GRUSHYDSAVG TDLG
8380536534.51969
RECYDSAVGTDLG
134139910.0555