One Dollar and Five Cents Pt. III: QB Carousel

Posted by cardboard hogs on May 7, 2013

I stopped by Marv’s table over the weekend to go through his nickel box of football cards and ended up buying 100 cards for a whopping $4. Thanks for the deal Marv!

As I was going through the cards, i kept pulling QB’s and thinking to myself…’what in the hell is going on here!’ I’ve seen the charts and understand the numbers of QB’s that the Redskins have had since their last Super Bowl winning QB, Mark Rypien…but DAMN! To see it through a card collector’s eyes was a little overwhelming and as a fan, quite disappointing. It’s no wonder why the Redskins have had so little success in the past 20+ seasons. I realize it doesn’t begin and end with the QB, but that’s one major part of the ‘Why’.

Here’s one group starting with Rypien. Shuler…ugghhh…and Frerotte. Gus actually had a pretty good NFL career and saw some success with the Minnesota Vikings as well as the Redskins. Just not enough to be a franchise QB

The next group included Brad Johnson. He had varying degrees of success before and after his Redskins career and nearly got the Redskins to the NFC Championship game in 1999…but not close enough. Jeff George was a freaking disaster and appeared visibly unaffected by his inability to complete a pass to one of his teammates. Todd Husak…i don’t even remember him…

Now for the really dark days. Sage Rosenfels never got a start for the Redskins and i’m not sure if he had any games played in the NFL and I don’t really care to look it up. Patrick Ramsey. The poor kid. I was really excited when the Redskins drafted him and thought he could be a franchise QB…unfortunately, the team around him, especially the O Line was terrible and he got knocked around like a punching bag which hindered his career as it would anyone. Tim Hasselbeck. The thing i know about him is that he’s one of the generalist talking heads at ESPN and his wife is quite obnoxious, although cute, but still obnoxious.

Brighter days are ahead with this next group. Brunell led the Redskins to the playoffs in 2005, well not really because he was terrible and could barely complete a pass. That team made the playoff because of the defense and the running of Clinton Portis. Insert Jason Campbell. I really, really thought he would be the guy and was extremely excited about him starting at QB. But, similar to Ramsey, he was in a very unstable environment which ended up stunting his growth. You can’t expect a guy to learn a new offense every season of his career and have any ounce of success. He has bounced around the past few years and never really gotten a fair shot a starting job. I’m hoping he can be the guy in Cleveland this year. The Browns have done a great job of rebuilding their franchise and I think he can perform better than Weeden at this point. Palmer…that’s it.

Here is a list of the men that have taken a snap from center since Mark Rypien was injured and eventually released from the Redskins in 1994.

Rich Gannon – 4 games

Cary Conklin – 2 games

Heath Shuler – 13 games

John Friesz – 4 games

Gus Frerotte – 49 games

Jeff Hostetler – 3 games

Trent Green – 14 games

Brad Johnson – 27 games

Jeff George – 7 games

Tony Banks – 14 games

Shane Matthews – 7 games

Patrick Ramsey – 24 games

Danny Wuerffel – 4 games

Tim Hasselbeck – 5 games

Mark Brunell – 33 games

Jason Campbell – 52 games

Todd Collins – 3 games

Donovan McNabb – 13 games

Rex Grossman – 16 games

John Beck – 3 games

RG3 – 15 games

Kirk Cousins – 1 game

That’s 20 QB’s that have bridged the gap between Rypien and Griffin. This hopefully makes it clear why us Redskins fans are so overly infatuated with Robert Griffin III. He’s brought some stability to a very unstable position…now, if he can stay healthy…but, if he can’t? I will take my chances with Kirk Cousins…or at least welcome a first rounder or two for Captain Kirk next season.

Playoffs??!!??!!!

Posted by cardboard hogs on April 24, 2013

I’ve been running low on card money of late, so i’ve been dime box digging. This can be fun and frightening as well. You find things you blocked out due to bad memories or traumatic events that should never be brought up again. Now, I present the 1994 Playoff Redskins cards. The scans are crappy and i apologize for that, but so were the Redskins in 1993. I like to think that i am a die hard fan and can name players from different generations and teams…but i have absolutely no freakin idea who Rick Hamilton is. Kind of looks like a special teams guy? Don’t know and don’t care. I do remember that the ’93 team was terrible and amassed a total of 4 wins and finished 5th. Yes, 5th. That means that the ~~Arizona~~ Phoenix Cardinals finished with a better record. Remember when the Phoenix Cardinals were in the NFC East? Geography is a bitch! But so are owners that move franchises to other cities.

Ernest Byner was pretty tough year and ‘…hung in there. He had 23 carries for 105 yard and 1TD.’ That’s what the back of his card says. My man Ricky Sanders worked through a tough 638 yards. Nearly every one of these cards say something about a tough year, yet they are in a set called Playoff. Such a misnomer.

Here’s that Hamilton guys card. He’s wearing LaVar Arrington’s number and running with splayed thumbs. Better watch out, those things will get broken on you. Frank Wycheck was a decent Tight End that had his better years with the Oilers and Titans. Wikipedia says he tested positive for steroids…remember all the fuss about the steroid era in football? Me neither.

Jeezy Creezy this guy. I dropped so much money on this kids card. At this point, i’m hoping his political career leads him to a Presidential election or possibly VP so i can sell his stuff on ebay and get my lost dollars back. Actually, I don’t really think that. If he politics like he played football, this country will be set back to the Bush era overnight. Shuler had so much hope and yielded next to nothing. I realize that being a professional athlete is a very special thing and few men and women get to be in that position…a position i’ve never even come close to touching, being a sports fan is such a soul crushing activity though and we have to put the blame on our sad demeanor at work on Mondays.