Official SCF Review: 2009 Playoff Contenders

[Enigma]

First and foremost, I'd like to thank our sponsors at Panini America for providing us with this box.



24 packs per box
5 cards per pack
Current Online Retail Price: 119.99 - 134.99

PER BOX ITEMS
- 4 Autographs (At least one on-card autograph)
- 1 Parallel
- 2 Rookie Of The Year Contenders
- 2 Round Numbers
- 2 Draft Class
- 2 Rookie Roll Call
- 2 Legendary Contenders
- 1 Other

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS - *All RPS Rookie Tickets and College Tickets will feature on-card autographs

Rookie Ticket Rookie Cards featuring Matthew Stafford, Mark Sanchez, Kenny Britt, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Knowshon Moreno, Donald Brown, Mike Wallace, Louis Murphy, Mohamed Massaquoi, Michael Crabtree, Brian Cushing, Austin Collie, LeSean McCoy, Julian Edelman, Clay Matthews, Pat White, Glen Coffee, Josh Freeman, Brandon Pettigrew, Hakeem Nicks, Shonn Greene, Mike Thomas, Nate Davis, Sammie Stroughter, James Laurinaitis, Jeremy Maclin, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Rashad Jennings, Javon Ringer, Rey Maualuga, Chris "Beanie" Wells and Aaron Curry

College Rookie Ticket Rookie Cards featuring Matthew Stafford, Mark Sanchez, Kenny Britt, Percy Harvin, Knowshon Moreno, Donald Brown, Mike Wallace, Mohamed Massaquoi, Michael Crabtree, LeSean McCoy, Pat White, Glen Coffee, Josh Freeman, Brandon Pettigrew, Hakeem Nicks, Shonn Greene, Mike Thomas, Nate Davis, Jeremy Maclin, Darrius Heyward-Bey, Javon Ringer, Chris "Beanie" Wells and Aaron Curry

Draft Class and Round # Dual Autographs featuring the following combos Matthew Stafford/Brandon Pettigrew, Mark Sanchez/Shonn Greene, Darrius Heyward-Bey/Louis Murphy, Jeremy Maclin/LeSean McCoy, Michael Crabtree/Glen Coffee, Mark Sanchez/Darrius Heyward-Bey, Brandon Pettigrew/Percy Harvin, Donald Brown/Hakeem Nicks, Kenny Britt/Chris "Beanie" Wells, Mohammed Massaquoi/LeSean McCoy, Shonn Greene/Glen Coffee

Legendary Contenders Autographs featuring Bart Starr, Brett Favre, Dan Marino, Deion Sanders, Dick Butkus, Earl Campbell, Emmitt Smith, Franco Harris, Frank Gifford, Gale Sayers, George Blanda, Jim Brown, Joe Greene, Joe Namath, John Elway, John Riggins, Lance Alworth, Marcus Allen, Michael Irvin, Mike Singletary, Paul Hornung, Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman

CARD SETS
Season Tickets (100)
- This 2009 Playoff Contenders Football base set captures the NFL's top playmakers on 100 Season Ticket.

Rookie Tickets (100)
- This 2009 Playoff Contenders Football base set also captures the NFL's top playmakers on 100 Rookie Ticket silver-foil cards.

Playoff Tickets (200)
- A parallel to the base set highlighted by silver foil on metalized film board and numbered to 99 or less.

Championship Tickets (100)
- This tremendous parallel to Season Tickets is accented in platinum blue foil and numbered to 1.

Championship Rookie Tickets (100)
- An autograph highlights this out-of-this-world parallel to Rookie Tickets with an autograph sticker numbered to 1.

RPS Rookie Tickets (34)
- The top rookies from the Class of 2009 are featured with on-card signatures.

RPS Rookie Playoff Tickets (34)
- RPS Rookie Playoff Tickets numbered to 99 or less.

RPS Rookie Championship Tickets (34)
- RPS Rookie Championship Tickets numbered to 1.

College Rookie Tickets (32)
- The league's top rookies of 2009 are featured with their collegiate team.

College Playoff Tickets (32)
- College Playoff Tickets numbered to 99 or less.

College Championship Tickets (32)
- College Championship Tickets numbered to 1.

Rookie of the Year Contenders (25)
- The league's top rookies from the Class of 2009 are featured on this silver-foil insert

Rookie of the Year Contenders Gold (25)
- Rookie of the Year Contenders Gold numbered to 100.

Rookie of the Year Contenders Black (25)
- Rookie of the Year Contenders Black numbered to 50.

Rookie of the Year Contenders Black Autos (25)
- Rookie of the Year Contenders Black Autos numbered to 10 or less.

Round #s (25)
- Top rookies selected in the same round of the 2009 NFL Draft are featured with silver foil on metallized film board.

Round #s Gold (25)
- Round Numbers Gold numbered to 100.

Round #s Black (25)
- Round Numbers Black numbered to 50.

Round #s Black Autos (25)
- Round Numbers Black Autographs numbered to 10 or less.

Draft Class (25)
- The NFL Draft Classes of 2009 are featured with silver foil on metalized film board.

Draft Class Gold (25)
- Draft Class Gold numbered to 100.

Draft Class Black (25)
- Draft Class Black numbered to 50.

Draft Class Black Autos (25)
- Draft Class Black Autos numbered to 10 or less.

Rookie Roll Call (25)
- This insert includes 25 of the top rookies from the class of 2009 with silver foil on metalized film board.

Rookie Roll Call Gold (25)
- Rookie Roll Call Gold numbered to 100.

Rookie Roll Call Black (25)
- Rookie Roll Call Black numbered to 50.

Rookie Roll Call Black Autos (25)
- Rookie Roll Call Black Autographs numbered to 10 or less.

Legendary Contenders (28)
- The legends of the NFL are featured with silver foil in this impressive insert.

Legendary Contenders Gold (28)
- Legendary Contenders Gold numbered to 100.

Legendary Contenders Black Autos (28)
- Legendary Contenders Black Autos numbered to 100 or less.

WHAT WE PULLED



Base: 98/100 (98%)
Dupes: 0
Playoff Ticket /99 (1): Eli Manning



Draft Class (3)
Round Numbers (3)



Legendary Contenders (3)
Rookie Roll Call (3)
Rookie Of The Year Contenders (3)
Rookie Of The Year Contenders Gold /100 (1): Johnny Knox



Deon Butler Auto (on-card)
Brooks Foster Auto
Sherrod Martin Auto
Julian Edelman Auto
Legendary Contenders Ted Hendricks Auto



FINAL RATINGS

Base - 4.75/5
Overall Design - 4.5/5
Fun - 4.5/5
Value - 4/5
Rebuy - 4.25/5

Total - 22/25 (88%)

Playoff Contenders is back for another year and does not disappoint. The base cards are designed to look like a ticket from a game. Instead of section, row and seat number, you get the player's position, jersey number and years in the NFL. There is a Playoff Ticket foil parallel for each base card that is numbered to 99 or less.

There are numerous inserts within this release, each with parallel versions. Draft Class features two players drafted by the same team in the 2009 NFL Draft. In turn, Round Numbers showcases two players drafted in the same round by two separate teams. Legendary Contenders highlights some of the distingushed players of the current and past era of football who's names are synonymous with greatness. Rookie Roll Call and Rookie Of The Year Contenders are built around the numerous individual rookies who have attempted to make a name or have established a name for themselves this season.

Playoff Contenders big claim to fame has always been the 4 rookie autographs per box. The Rookie Ticket series features 100 of the rookies from 2009, some of which are on-card autos. Out of a 12-box case, two out of every three boxes will yield a fifth auto.

Overall, Playoff Contenders is a great product as always. The base set stands out (though I do think that 2 more base cards could be inserted somehow to deliver a complete set). The insert sets are nice and focus mostly on the rookie class. However, I do miss that the Rookie Of The Year Contenders is not a contest redemption card anymore. Seeing that Panini has added a fifth auto to most of the boxes makes a great product even better. But the foil on the Rookie Ticket autos was not a solid idea. For the on-card autos, the auto is hard to see whereas the ones on a sticker do stand out.

Once again, I'd like to thank our wonderful sponsors at Panini America for giving us the opportunity to open and review this release. For more information on all their products, be sure to check them out at www.paniniamerica.net.

[CHillyDoggy]

Oooh, Sherrod Martin & Brooksie, was trying to buy them cheap on ebay tonight, ha.

[yankeesfan24]

sweet break

[WilyWestbrook0]

Hendricks has one of the nicest autos I've ever seen. Nice pull.

[garnett_21]

Nice break and review! 4 autos per box, and this box yeilded 5...nice! Can't beat that! Although, I would like to see the complete base set being pulled from a box of this...why leave it only 2 cards short? That seems a little ridiculous to me.

Thanks Panini!