Review: 2014 Score Football 24 pk Box

Score football kicks off the 2014 NFL football card season with rookies with their team names and some players in their new team uni's. However, this years product is not at all like last years. Check out my review:

 

BOX BREAK DOWN: 

• 24 Packs Per Box, 12 Cards Per Pack 
• Autographs and Jersey cards despite what's stated on most sites fall 1:36 packs so don't be fooled!

PRICE: You can find most boxes around $40

 

BASE CARDS: After seeing the amazing photography on last years Score football, I was really looking forward to this years. I must say, it's a bit disappointing. There are a few action shots, but nothing like last years. There is also more of a border on the card taking away from photo as well. On a positive note, I do like how they did the rookies this year choosing head shots (they can't show college team logos due to Upper Deck's exclusive with NCAA) and putting the NFL team logo below (so much better than when companies put players in team jerseys with 00 jersey numbers) and making them the same design as rest of the base. It fits together nicely.

This years is a big set with 440 cards including 110 rookies and 100 Top 100 along with the base cards.

Each pack of Score comes with 2-3 rookies, 1-2 inserts and the rest base. You get quite a few cards in a box but probably not enough for a set. It may take a few boxes.

INSERTS: In every box of score you will find six Hot Rookies, four Scorecard parallels, four Numbers Game inserts and 12 additional inserts.All inserts have a basic design but fall in landscape of what Score usually offers for these. I like the themes that this years Score used such as Brothers In Arms showcasing teammates, Numbers Game with two great players from different teams with the same jersey number, and Field Commanders with top QB's in the game.  All of the inserts also appear to have colored parallels as you can see above with a couple of examples I pulled of The Brothers In Arms and Behind The Numbers gold parallels of each. It's not something I noticed til after I started to sort them then I noticed they didn't match up. I checked out the wrapper and found  out that there were parallels for the inserts. Gold isn't the only color for the inserts, there are other colored parallels as well such as red, green, etc. Some are rarer than others.

My favorite designed insert is the Hot Rookie one.I like the layout and bold color on the card. This is a set I am thinking about chasing cause it will be HOT looking in my collection!

Also in this years Score for inserts are parallels to the base cards. Above you see the SCORECARD parallel (Vernon Davis) that's not numbered but does have a rainbow foil on the players name and the word writing across the top. Other parallels not shown in my box break include Showcase (#’d to 99), Gold Zone (#’d to 50), Artist’s Proof (#’d to 35), Red Zone (#’d to 20), End Zone (#’d to six), Gem Masters (#’d to only one).

AUTOGRAPHED CARDS:  N/A

MEMORABILIA CARDS: N/A

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Why did Panini have to change something that was so good in 2013? Last years Score football was amazing! I know they were celebrating it's anniversary but boxes were loaded with fun and had great configuration. They did jumbo packs and every pack had a ton of inserts (a lot of them had color and were numbered including low numbered ones as I pulled two /5), great action-shot packed base cards and every pack was like digging for buried treasure! It also had 3 hits per box and prices of a box were decent and stayed under $80. Flash forward to this years, no hits guaranteed, no numbered parallels per box guaranteed, less action photography and a break that doesn't seem that exciting. I didn't even hit key rookies in this box like Bridgewater and Manziel. This by far was a HUGE letdown from last years product. I really hope that 2015 goes back to what last years brought or at least with one guaranteed hit.

Don't take my review the wrong way however, as I am not at all turning you away from Score completely. It is still the first NFL release of the year and still has a lot to offer just at a tougher rate. I would however recommend not buying the 24 pk boxes like I did. Go buy a blaster box. That has a guaranteed hit per box and seems to have much more to offer than these boxes. (I will show you what I mean now that I have bought one)