Tag Archives: Washington Redskins

NFL

Settle, John


Cards: ProSet 1990, ProSet 1989, Fleer 1990
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o The Carolina Panthers
Sent: 5/10   Receieved: 5/20   (10 days)

Nobody cared when John Settle graduated from Appalachian State in 1987. The knock on him was primarily based on the fact he went to a small school so he didn’t face ‘big time’ competition and that he just wasn’t big enough to play at 5’9″, 207. (I mean the only thing John did was set the school’s rushing record mark and finish ranked 3rd all time in 1-AA history.)  John would contact a few suitors and the Falcons would sign him to a free agent contract.

Behind starters Gerald Riggs and Rick Badanjek,  John didn’t get much playing time under head coach Marion Campbell his rookie year. He’d carry the ball 19 times for 72 yards and also grab 11 receptions out of the backfield for 153 yards in 1987.  1988 however was a totally different deal for Settle, as he’d start at runningback for the Falcons (after the team traded Gerald Riggs to Washington). John started all 16 games for the team and ran for 1066 yards. In addition Settle also had 68 receptions for 570 yards. His rushing totals were the highest for a free agent RB since the AFL-NFL merger and John was named to the Pro Bowl squad. In 1989, as the Falcons virtually abandoned the run, Settle rushed for 689 yards. He’d have his second season with 1000+ yards from scrimmage when you included his 316 yards receiving.

1990 saw a coaching change for the Falcons though as former Oilers head coach Jerry Glanville came to town. Glanville installed the Red Gun offense, signed Mike Rozier, drafted Steve Broussard, and decided to give 1989 prospect Keith Jones more playing time.  Settle suited up for only 6 games that season. He’d sign with the Redskins in 1991 winning a Super Bowl title there but didn’t suit up during the season. Settle retired after the 1992 season and went into coaching in 1994 working with his alma mater at Appalachian State.

He’d join Bill Belichick in Cleveland on his offensive staff working with runningbacks in 1995 serving the team through 1998, and in its transition to Baltimore. Settle then joined the Fresno State Bulldogs as their runningbacks coach- a position he’d hold for 8 seasons. Afterwards John’s next stop was in Wisconsin with the Badgers where Settle helped coordinate the first ever trio of 1,000 yard runningbacks in the same season. Finally, in early 2011, John was be hired by new head coach Ron Rivera to coordinate runningbacks for the Carolina Panthers.  He responded to my TTM request in a quick 10 days.

Of note about John is that while Appalachian State he played for little known then head coach Mack Brown his freshman year. He is considered a member of the Bill Belichick coaching tree and while playing for the Falcons did not appear in Tecmo Bowl or Tecmo Super Bowl.

John had some nice cards here and these 3 were his most solid and complete looking cards. The ProSet 1989 card is a really nice full body shot of him dodging a would be Ram tackler while the 1990 card is a shot featuring his running style gunning to place a stiff arm. I also liked his Fleer 1990 card and how he bursts out of the top of the card borders.  Also on a side note, I’d love to see the Falcons return to the ‘red look’ from the 80s, but they seem quite content with their current black look.

G/Gs    46/29    Att 439      Yds  1801     Avg 4.1     Td  10   Lg 62  |
Rec  118     Yds  1039       Avg   8.8     Td  3      Lg  36

Arena, NFL

Emtman, Steve “The Machine”

Card: Star Pics 1992
Acquired: TTM 1993, Colts Blitz
Failure: TTM 2010, C/o The Spokane Shock

As I was pawing through the stack of autographs I got back in 1992/3, I was disappointed to see that I didn’t get one from Steve. When I flipped the card over later by accident, I noticed the autograph on the back scrawled in ball point pen. Despite this, I was still happy to add “The Machine” to my collection.

Steve Emtman was the #1 pick of the 1992 draft.  An impressive specimen who was the total package, he and overall #2 pick Quentin Coryatt were to be the cornerstone for the future Indianapolis Colts defense. Overall, despite holding the first 2 picks in the draft, this would be another painful round of picks for the Colts as Ashley Ambrose would be the most successful member of the Colts’ draft class. (Of defensive linemen only Joel Steed and Sean Gilbert would be the only ones to make the Pro Bowl from the entire 1992 draft.)

Steve Emtman is difficult to peg, but it’s hard for me to have labeled him a bust. He does qualify certainly as cursed though. I think most teams would have taken him if presented the opportunity. He played far and away at a level above most other college linemen at Washington and won numerous accolades to back it up. All signs pointed up for The Machine as the Colts named him their number one pick.  As the new season dawned Emtman flashed some potential right out of the gate, making his first sack against Cleveland in a 14-3 win. Perhaps in his finest highlight moment, he picked off a Dan Marino pass and returned it 90 yards for a touchdown in a 31-20 win and make another sack, but week 9, blew out his knee- ending his 1992 season on injured reserve. His 1993 would start out just as promising. After 5 games he had a sack and 22 tackles, but once again this time blew out his patellar tendon ending his 1993 season and perhaps his career. Determined to make a comeback Steve returned in 1994 almost a full year later, with his rehabilitation paying off. He played in 4 games, making a fumble recovery and 3 tackles, but unbeknown to most- Emtman had suffered a ruptured disc in his neck in his first game back heroically playing through the pain for the next 3 weeks. Steve finished his third season on the IR.

In 1995, Steve signed with the Miami Dolphins where he started one game, making a sack, a fumble recovery and 10 tackles. 1996 would see Steve start the most games since 1993. He’d see action starting 4 contests making 2 sacks, 2 FF, and 33 tackles.  The Redskins would sign him in 1997 where Steve would suit up for 3 games and make 4 tackles and retire after the season at the age of 27.

Steve after football was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006. He also spent some time coaching defensive line with the AFL’s Spokane Shock and is a successful real estate developer.  I sent off for Steve’s autograph courtesy of the Shock on his Action Packed Rookies card, but it appears that by the time my card had arrived, he was no longer coaching with the team. It has been well over a year now and thus logged as a failure.

G/Gs  50/19     Tac  121  Sac  8.0    Fum   3     Int   1         Yds   90      Avg  90.0      Td   1    Lg  90t

 

NFL

Mitchell, Brian

Cards: ProSet 1990, ProSet 1991, GameDay 1992
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o home
Sent:  4/25    Received: 5/5  (10 days)

Brian Mitchell was a quarterback originally at Southwest Louisiana. An amazing athlete, he owned virtually all the quarterback records when he left the college and was the first NCAA player to throw for over 5,000 yards and rush for over 3,000 in their career. After graduating from college, he was drafted in the 5th round of the 1990 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins. The Redskins were deep at quarterback so the team decided they’d throw him back there as a return specialist, runningback, and as emergency quarterback. Brian would rack up the return yardage playing for the Redskins through 1999. An electric returner, Mitchell led the league in punt return yards with 600 in 1991,  and was a ProBowl selection in 1995 for the team. In 10 seasons with the Redskins Brian left holding virtually all the Redskins special teams records, racking up over 16,000 yards from scrimmage and 7 punt returns for touchdowns.  After leaving the team, he’d play for the Eagles from 2000-2002 and continued his assault on the record books, setting a league record at the time with 206 kick return yards in a single game.  Brian would play one final season for the New York Giants in 2003, before retiring as a member of the Redskins.

When I initially started this project, Brian was one of the players that I really wanted to honor. Incredibly upon retirement, Mitchell was ranked 2nd all time in yards from scrimmage, had 4 seasons of over 2000 yards, and holds the NFL records for kick returns (607), combined return yards (19013), punt return yards (4999), career kickoff return yards (14014), career fair catches (231), fair catches in a season (33), and punt returns (463). Still most people are unaware of the legacy Mitchell left upon the game and he probably won’t see the Hall of Fame, because of the lack of respect for special teamers. In the meantime, he was inducted into the Redskins Hall of Honor in 2009, works on his foundation (Brian Mitchell Foundation), and has been involved in broadcasting. I was pleased to get Brian’s autograph in 10 days flat from his home in Louisiana.

Great cards of Brian here. ProSet really did their homework and had a card of him before the end of his rookie season in their 1990 update set which was far and ahead of anything anybody produced by at least a year.  Oddly he’d appear in both of Pro Set’s 1990 and 1991 update as the last card in each set. (Sure there were additional inserts after him, but he was the last actual player card.) Mitchell was pretty decent in the first Tecmo Super Bowl, but by Final Edition, he was a dangerous threat in the game. Much like Mel Gray, Brian was a threat to return the kickoff every time he touched the ball and the secret to utilizing him correctly was basically to put him in the starting lineup.

G/Gs 223/16      Rush 388     Yds  1967      Avg  5.1     Td  12     Lg 85t   |
Rec  255      Yds  2336       Avg 9.2      Td  4       Lg 69  |
Kr  607   Yds   14014    Avg  23.1     Td   4       Lg   101t  |
Pr  463     Yds   4999     Avg  10.8     Td   9       Lg  84t