Heads Up Quads #29 - Pants!

I recently decided to make a little headway in my Heads Up Quads set, since I only needed 7 more cards.  A lot of the remaining cards are stupid expensive, but I was able to pick up two in my quest.  This post is about the weirder one.

So Heads Up Quads is a 50 card set.  A lot of the quads are four guys from one team, but there's also a few quads that have one team on each side.  Then there's also a sort of best of different positions part where you'll get like four random QBs or four random FBs or something.  So it's already sort of a weird set, with a few double representations of guys like Brett Favre and Emmitt Smith.

But then you get to cards #29 and 40.  Which on their own...aren't super weird.  But when you see them both together stand out a lot...because they're the same guys on the same team.  Just different clothing.

The jersey card is #29, the one I just picked up.  The pants card is #40, which I've owned for a while.  I knew #29 was a double of sorts, but I never noticed that #40 literally changes the wording of the card to "Pants."  That's hilarious, and I love it.  What's crazier is that there's actually a second pants card, #39.  So in a 50 card set, 48 say Game-Worn Jersey and 2 say Game-Worn Pants.  Ridiculous stuff.  I do like that they at least change the pictures used for the card though.

I also realized once I got #29 that I never did a writeup on card #40.  So with #29 in hand, it's time to hear a little more about the Greatest Show on Turf.

Marshall Faulk is definitely one of the best RBs of all time, and earned a well deserved HOF spot in 2011.  He had all the accolades - 7 Pro Bowls, an MVP win, Rookie of the Year, a Super Bowl title.  What I never really realized, however, was how good of a receiving RB he was.  The guy led his teams in receptions FIVE different times over the course of his career.  That's pretty impressive for a RB, and especially impressive considering some of the dynamic offenses that he was a part of.  The saddest piece of those stats?  The third time Faulk led his team in receptions was when he was utilized heavily by rookie Colts QB Peyton Manning.  I know things worked out pretty well for Manning and Faulk after Faulk forced his way out of Indianapolis, but one wonders how great that franchise could've been if Faulk had stuck around through Manning (And Marvin Harrison's) golden years.

Issac Bruce was always neat to me because he was the longtime Ram who finally got to cash in when Faulk and the boys came to town.  A 2nd round pick in 1994, Bruce was doing pretty great things for Los Angeles/St. Louis, including an insane 1995 where he had 119 receptions for 1,781 yards and somehow DIDN'T make the Pro Bowl (To be fair, that WR lineup was DEEP with guys like Jerry Rice, Sterling Sharpe, and Herman Moore).  3 of his 4 Pro Bowls came after Kurt Warner started throwing him passes, and Bruce probably owes Warner a lot of credit for his 2020 HOF introduction.  But it's still cool to see how well Bruce did prior to his new teammates as well.

Speaking of Kurt Warner, he made it on the back of the card, to no surprise.  Warner's story is obviously a crazy one as well - from undrafted Brett Favre backup to AFL superstar to NFL legend.  He's the only member of both the NFL HOF and AFL HOF.  He also had 2 MVPs and 4 Pro Bowls to his credit, including that real late career season with the Cardinals where he had them on the brink of a Super Bowl victory.  Not too shabby for the former QB4 behind Favre, Mark Brunell, and Ty Detmer.

Given that everyone else on this card is in the NFL HOF, you wouldn't think Torry Holt would have the most Pro Bowl appearances on anyone here.  But weirdly, he does - tied with Faulk at seven trips a piece.  Holt was a first round pick by the Rams in 1999 and helped them win that Super Bowl before going onto a really consistent career that nearly matched Bruce's.  He will probably make the HOF someday, even if it might take a little bit longer than his Rams teammates featured here.  What he does have though, which is also shared with Marshall Faulk, is an appearance in Nelly's 2002 Air Force Ones music video.  Which is certainly...something.

So who wins the card?  For me, it's all Marshall Marshall Marshall!  Warner is the more inspiring story, and Bruce had more longevity, but Faulk was a beast of a back, and his receiving prowess was 2nd to none.  Hard to go wrong with anyone on this card though - certainly one of the better quads in this set!