Key Cards - Heads Up Quads #49

So here's the other card sent to me from a wonderful Blowouts forum user.  It's not "THE" key card to the set...I'd say that's the Bledsoe/Brady/Brown/Pass Patriots card, of which I've only ever seen one.  Or maybe the Hambrick/Wiley/Woodson/Wright Cowboys card, since I haven't seen any of that card yet.  But this one's still pretty dang good, and you'll often see people trying to sell it for $25-40, I got it for substantially less than that!

The main guy who puts the value on this card is guy #1, aka Emmitt Smith.  The guy's obviously a legend - he turned a 1st round selection by the 1990 Dallas Cowboys into a storied 15 year career where he finished 1st in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns.  Last two years in Arizona aside (and even then, his 937 yards and 9 touchdowns as a 35 year old in his final year was nothing to sneeze at), Smith was a beast, with eleven consecutive years of 1,000 plus yards, two 20 touchdown seasons,  six other seasons of 10+ touchdowns, and 8 Pro Bowl selections to his name.  He also added 515 receptions and 3,224 receiving yards, as well as nearly 300 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns in Dallas' 3 Super Bowl wins with Smith in the fold.

Ahman Green ended up with a 12 year career, which is actually longer than I remember it being.  His first two seasons he was stuck behind Ricky Watters in Seattle, but then Seattle traded him and a 5th round pick to Green Bay for Fred Vinson (who left the NFL after his one Seattle season) and a 6th round pick.  Advantage Green Bay, as Green then had five straight 1,000 yard seasons in Green Bay which included four Pro Bowl nods.  He was hurt in 2005 and was never quite the same RB again, but he did have 1000 yards in 14 games in 2006 to add a 6th 1,000 yard season to his resume.  Green then finished with a decent 22 games (including 6 starts) with the Texans and Packers to finish off his career.  He's currently 34th in career rushing yards.

Ricky Williams was awesome.  There's the Ditka draft debacle, his 2004 retirement, his 2006 yearlong suspension (which he spent with the Toronto Argonauts), and his 2007 reinstatement.  What other star player has ever had such ridiculousness surrounding his career, especially the idea of two missed years in his prime due to personal reasons?  Despite all that, Williams is still 28th in career yards, thanks especially to a glorious 2001-2003 peak where he ran for over 4,000 yards had nearly 50 receptions a year, and scored 34 touchdowns over three years.  Some years were down years - an injury in 2007 limited him to one game, he had only 13 starts over his final six playing seasons, but all things told Williams was an outstanding player, and I for one am curious how his HOF offs will sit once he retires.

The final guy on this card, Curtis Martin, is forever underrated among top running backs.  The guy is 4th all time in rushing yards, and was a model of consistency.  If you don't count his final year, he never rushed for less than 1,094 yards in a season, and even then his 735 final season yards came in 12 games, most of all he played with a major knee injury that finally sent him to the IR at the end of the year.  His rookie season was ridiculous, with 1,487 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns, and somehow despite 10 straight 1,000 yard seasons and about 45 receptions a year for the entirety of his career, he only made the Pro Bowl five times over the course of his career.  Underrated as he played as well, but thankfully he made the Hall of Fame recently and will be remembered fondly by future generations.

Who wins the card?  Smith has all the records, and Williams has all the stories, but I have to go with Martin.  Smith had another four full seasons on Martin, and though Martin probably wouldn't have caught Smith even with equal career lengths, I still am more impressed with Martin since he did what he did with less talent around him.  Plus Martin was a Patriot so a few years, so maybe I'l just biased.  Anyways, Smith is on other cards, so I'm sure he'll win a card somewhere down the line - so don't feel too bad for him!