Tag Archives: Washington Redskins

NFL, University of Texas

Metcalf, Eric (3)

Cards: Upper Deck 1991 Browns Checklist, GameDay 1993, University of Texas Upper Deck 2011 All-Time Alumni, ProSet 1992, SkyBox Premium 1993-1994, Upper Deck College Legends 2011
Acquired: TTM 2020, C/o Home
Sent: 1/6 Received: 1/14 (8 days)
See Also: Eric Metcalf, Eric Metcalf (2)

Eric Metcalf is one of my favorite players during the heyday of my childhood, so I was happy to make him my first success of 2020. With so many cards signed by him at this point, you’d think that I’d written him more than once (successfully) previously- but no- the last time he signed for me was way back in 2014. How time flies!

Eric had some stellar cards over the years, and with me still needing him on his All-Time Alumni card, and his College Legends card, I figured I could shoot out a stack to him and take a shot.

Eric is one of the few pros that actually follows me on Twitter- which is very humbling. I’ve always felt that YFS guys do not get the love from the HoF that they should, and although he has been nominated on a few occasions, Eric has not gotten in.

Eric’s cards from this lot no doubt are again, epic looking. They always seem to catch him slashing out of the backfield into the open field. I loved his Upper Deck Legends entry from 2011. In fact I am surprised that they didn’t use this as his main shot on his UT cards.

The Skybox Premium came out at a time when dropping a color across a background was novel. Unfortunately these cards commanded too high a sticker price for me as I was exiting the market. I have slowly picked up one or two here or there over the years.

ProSet was done in my mind after a few packs at Cowboys training camp in ’92. I did not like how they changed the card design midway through the set and found it confusing and disorganized. I liked this version of the set and how they moved the ProSet logo down by the player name, allowing the canvas to be more free to showcase the player.

Upper Deck was a late entry into the football card market. I didn’t really think too much of their initial NFL set, however I loved their artistic subsets- especially their checklists which focused on team MVPs. The design of this card is just superb, and in a sense very timeless. I love the circle behind Eric. What possessed this artist to put that back there? It blends nicely into his helmet, and then the horizontal lines across it lower on the canvas- It’s just so delicate and well thought out.

AAF, NFL

Martz, Mike

Card: Topps AAF 2019 Certified
Acquired: EBay, 2020

An offensive mastermind, Mike Martz has had a career in coaching that has lasted nearly 50 years, in stops through college and the pros. He’d make his mark after joining the Los Angeles Rams in 1992 as a quarterbacks coach, and after the franchise moved to St. Louis in 1995, he moved to coach the wide receivers. After a brief stay with the Redskins in 97 and 98, Martz returned to the Rams, as the franchise’s offensive coordinator in 1999 as they won Super Bowl XXXIV over the Tennessee Titans- with ‘The Greatest Show on Turf’.

“He was by far the smartest football mind I’ve ever been around. The things he was teaching was so far ahead of what others were teaching.”

– Rams QB Marc Bulger

In 2000, Mike would replace retiring Dick Vermeil as head coach, but the Rams failed to return to the Super Bowl, losing in the wild card to the Saints. Martz’s Rams rebounded in a big way in 2001, posting a 14-2 record and returning to the Super Bowl, but ultimately losing to the New England Patriots on a last second field goal. Mike coached with the Rams through 2005 and finished with a 53-32 record. His teams made the playoffs 4 times and finished in either first or second place every season.

Mike since then has coached with the Lions, 49ers, and Bears, as an offensive coordinator. He semi-retired from the sport in 2012, working as an analyst and occasional NFLPA Collegiate Bowl coach, before deciding to give it another shot in 2018.

Mike joined the Alliance of American Football in 2018, where he was hired to coach his hometown San Diego Fleet.

“It didn’t make any difference whether I was in high school. That’s what you do. You walk onto the practice field, and that’s who you are, that’s what you are. I can’t stop and go. That’s just where it is. To be any different would cheat these players. I love this game. I wouldn’t disrespect it by not being intense.”

-Mike Martz

Mike led the Fleet to a 3-5 record, dogged by quarterback issues. Still there were shades of the mad genius coming through with the Fleet as they finished second in total yards (2,649 yards), passing yards (1,798), and 4th in rushing (851 yards).

As previously discussed, AAF certified autographs from coaches are severely overpriced. Thankfully with all the XFL hoopla this autographed card snuck under the EBay radar set with a low bid. Typically Martz’s certifieds have floated around anywhere between 30-75 dollars. I think I sniped this one out under 10. It was doubly happy to nab this one, as Mike is not a great signer through the mail.

Mike was within two feet in the visitors’ endzone coaching his quarterbacks before the Fleet’s opener, but feeling his intensity, I chickened out on chatting it up with him or asking for his autograph. Charlie Ebersol came up to Mike and chatted with him about the league before they shuffled off to another drill.

NFL, University of Texas

Cash, Keith

Cards: UT Upper Deck 2011, Pacific 1991, Wild Card 1991
Acquired: TTM 2019, C/o Work
Sent: 12/13/19 Received: 12/27/19 (14 days)
Failure: TTM 2014, C/o Home

Keith and his twin brother Kerry both played tight end for the Texas Longhorns. Keith really stood out his Senior year catching 33 passes for 605 yards and 6 TDs. (That’s 18.3 yards per catch- at tight end!)

He’d be selected in the 7th round of the 1991 draft by the Washington Redskins. Keith hopped around the league from there, playing in 1991 with the Steelers and catching his first professional TD. It’d be in 1992 that Cash joined the Chiefs, where he spent his final 5 season with. Over that period he’d catch 111 passes for 1046 yards and 9 TDs.

It’d be in 1993 that the Houston Oilers hosted the Kansas City Chiefs in the playoffs. With Joe Montana at QB the Chiefs pulled off a comeback victory over the Oilers 28-20. During that game, Keith caught a TD pass from Joe, and immediately spiked it square on the face of then Houston defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan. It was the proverbial nail in the coffin, not only for the game, but for the franchise itself.

It was rumored that Keith was mad at the Oilers, because like many teams do, they called him up, and told him that they were going to select him soon. Instead they passed on him, and he was eventually selected by the Redskins. I guess he never let that go.

Keith retired after the 1996 season- and so did his brother. They went back to school at UT and finished their Sports Management degrees.

A friend of mine on Twitter who is a big Chiefs fan was kind enough to pass Keith’s address on to me after he got his autograph. While I’ve always felt sore about Keith sticking a dagger through my heart when I was an Oilers fan, I had some great memories of him with his time at Texas and watching him and his brother on Raycom. As of 2020 he works for the Chiefs Alumni Association.

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