Logo of a former National Football League team, the Rock Island Independents. They were founded in 1907 as an independent team and joined the NFL in 1920. The club played through the 1925 season but never finished higher than fifth place, and eventually folded. The club did have four Pro Football Hall of Famers on its’ roster over the years – Jimmy Conzelman, Joe Guyon, Ed Healey and Jim Thorpe.
Archive for December, 2014
Classic Sports Card of The Day
1972 Topps football card of former pro football offensive lineman Mike Montler, who played 10 seasons of pro football for 4 different teams. His most successful years as a player were the 4 he spent as the starting center for the Buffalo Bills from 1973 through 1976, anchoring the “Electric Company” offensive line that blocked for O.J. Simpson. That stint included Simpson’s record-breaking 2,003 yard season in 1973. A former Marine, Montler worked in the transportation business after retiring as a player.
Classic Team Logo of The Day
Logo of a long lost National Football League franchise, the Frankford Yellow Jackets, who played in the league from 1924 until 1931. They won the NFL championship in 1926. The team fell on hard times and disbanded operations after the 1931 season. In 1933, the league awarded an expansion franchise to Philadelphia, the Eagles, and that team wore the same powder blue and yellow uniforms that the Yellow Jackets had worn. Two Hall of Famers, Guy Chamberlin and Link Lyman, played for the Frankford franchise.
Classic Sports Card of The Day
1969 Topps football card of former pro football middle linebacker Mike Curtis, who played 14 seasons in the NFL for 3 teams. He spent the first 10 of those seasons, his most successful, with the Baltimore Colts. He was a four-time Pro Bowler and helped the Colts win a Super Bowl title in 1971. Curtis was one of the most active linebackers of his era, finishing his career with 22 sacks and 25 interceptions. He was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Year in 1970.
NFL – Bills’ Game Review
If the Buffalo Bills wind up missing the NFL playoffs for the fifteenth consecutive season, it won’t be due to the efforts of their defense. Coordinator Jim Schwartz’s unit put forward their best effort of the season, in a year that has included consistent, if not always dominant, efforts, in being the main reason for a 21-13 upset win over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. As with every one of their eight wins on the year, it was a great “team” win by the Bills, but the win wouldn’t have happened without the shutdown performance of the defense. On offense, the Bills were their usual pedestrian selves behind Kyle Orton. They did just enough with the running game, as Fred Jackson, Anthony Dixon and Bryce Brown made contributions, and completed a minimal amount of passes, just enough to account for four Dan Carpenter field goals. The special teams had a terrific day, with Carpenter’s field goals, a blocked field goal, some terrific kick return coverage highlighted by Marcus Easley, and a 75 yard punt return touchdown by Marcus Thigpen being among their accomplishments. It was the defense that owned the day, however. After allowing Eddie Lacey to run for 73 yards in the first half, they tightened up and limited him to only 24 in the second. They held Aaron Rodgers, whose trademark is accuracy, to 17 completions in 42 attempts for a paltry 185 yards. It was the second week in a row the Bills’ defense held a future Hall of Fame quarterback in check. Although Buffalo’s vaunted pass rush only had a single sack (it was a strip/sack by Mario Williams that caused a safety and basically ended the game), they kept Rodgers feeling uncomfortable in the pocket most of the day. It was a very un-Rodgers like performance, but credit the defensive effort by the Bills for causing it. Unheralded newcomer Bacarri Rambo, signed less than a month ago and pressed into the lineup due to injuries to safeties Da’Norris Searcy and Duke Williams, picked off a pair of Rodgers passes, and the secondary in general had it’s best day of the year covering receivers – maybe the best in many years in fact.
One thought from the game: Critics of general manager Doug Whaley have to give the guy his due. The Bills still have a fighting chance at a playoff spot because players he plucked off the waiver wire within the last month – Thigpen, Rambo and tight end MarQuies Grey, have stepped in and made significant plays to help the team pick up much-needed wins. Buffalo now finishes up the regular season with road games at Oakland and New England, and must win out and get help from a number of sources to qualify for the post-season. Chances are they won’t make it, but coach Doug Marrone and his staff, especially Schwartz, deserve credit for giving the fans some meaningful late-season games for the first time in a decade.
Classic Team Logo of The Day
Logo of a small college football program, the Abilene Christian University Wildcats, who play in the Southland Conference. The school first fielded a team in 1919, while this logo was used from 1975 until 2012. Former Wildcats who went on to play in the NFL include Wilbert Montgomery, Clint Longley, Danieal Manning, Johnny Knox and Bernard Scott.
Classic Sports Card of The Day
1982 Topps football card of former Buffalo Bills tight end Mark Brammer, who played five seasons for the team in the 1980s. He was known mostly as a blocker, but totaled 59 receptions and 6 touchdowns in his first 2 pro seasons. Brammer is currently a Western New York resident, and a member of the team’s Alumni Association.
Classic Team Logo of The Day
Logo of the University of Alabama-Birmingham Blazers, a college football team that until recently played in the East Division of Conference USA. However, they recently announced they are disbanding their football program. They began play as a Division III team in 1991, and current Blazer alumni playing in the NFL include Roddy White, Joe Webb and Matt McCants.