CHAPTER 87

The following day the mood was light around the practice facility, it was always nice to win. We met as a team, then broke down into groups and watched film. We were released shortly before one o'clock, we were not due back until Wednesday morning. I arrived back at my condo around two o'clock. I was a bit sore in my lower back, probably due to the awkward way I had landed on my spine in the game. I put on shorts and a tee shirt and walked down to where the hot tub was located near the pool. Since it was still every afternoon, most of the tenants were at work, I had the place to myself. I soaked in the tub for close to thirty minutes, then swam in the pool for a while. The water was nice, the temperatures were in the low eighties. I was laying out on one of the recliners near the pool, when I noticed that people became arriving home, I am guessing it must have been close to three o'clock , several people waved hello, I returned the gesture, most appeared just wrapped up in their own lives to notice. I decided to head back to my unit, since I had the TV being delivered a short time later. I closed the gate to the pool area and was headed to my condo when a young woman came around the corner, beach towel in hand. I almost ran head long into her, I had to stop short.

"Oh I am so sorry.", I exclaimed.

"It's ok, I wasn't paying attention.", she replied, "You're new here ?"

"Yes, I sublet a unit in building two hundred.", I replied.

"Oh you're in Jessica's unit, you're the football player ?', she asked, her eyes widening.

"Yes I am.", I answered.

"Well, I am Helen, welcome to the buidling.", she laughed, walking off.

The TV arrived about an hour later, the delivery people hooked everything up perfectly, within the hour I finally had TV. True to what the salesman had told me, the picture was magnificent. It must have been close to seven o'clock in the evening when I heard a knock on the door. I got up, opened the door and found Alexis standing there.

"Hey, I just wanted to stop over and congratulate you on the touchdown yesterday, it was quite a catch.", she smiled.

"Thanks, I appreciate it. Would you like to come in ?", I asked.

"Sorry, I have a meeting with a client this evening, some other time maybe.', she replied, walking off.

"Sure, thanks again.", I responded, closing the door.

The next few weeks rolled on rather quickly, we were playing well only having lost one game thus far. We sat tied for the lead in our division, everything was going well. I was still relegated to a part time player, mostly around goal line situations, I had caught several more passes, but had not scored since the first game. Billy had been playing well, he deserved to be ahead of me at this point. He had scored several times thus far this year, I think the competition was doing him good. I was always one of the first to congratulate him on a big play, something that always seem to catch him by surprise, no matter how often it happened. He had just caught a touchdown in week four, when he came over and sat down next to me. For a second, you could cut the tension in the air with a knife. I looked over at him, his eyes were looking down at the turf. Finally he spoke, it was not what I expected to hear.

"I was wrong about you kid, I'm sorry. The fact is I was afraid, when we drafted you in the first round, as a tight end no less, I thought my days were numbered. But in fact, as my wife told me just the other day, you make me better. So, what I am trying to say is, I hope you can forgive an old man for treating you like shit. I am truly sorry.", he finished.

"It's not a problem, consider it forgotten.", I answered, shaking his hand.

From that moment on, Billy and I got along well, he became a friend, but more importantly, he worked with me instead of against me. He taught me a lot of the little details that I needed to know, he taught me things that the coaches couldn't, especially about blocking.

Going into week five morale was high, we were playing good ball, our next opponent would be Atlanta, it would be a road game. We left town on Friday and flew to Atlanta for Sunday's game, road games were always tougher. You didn't sleep in your bed, you didn't eat your normal meals, your schedule was just screwed up. We had a late game that Sunday so we knew before we kicked off, a win would put us in first place in our divison, our rival had just lost.

We scored an easy, quick touchdown on a long run giving us the lead at 7-0. Halfway through the first quarter, we were up 10-0 and driving again. I was standing on the sidelines watching the defense, as I always did, trying to get a feel for what they were doing. We had just crossed the fifty yard line, Josh was picking them apart. On first down he dropped back, threw a perfect hook route to Billy. Billy caught the pass and was turning up field, when the linebacker hit him head on, driving him backwards, his knee on his plant foot buckled. He collapsed under the large defensive player, both hands immediately clutching his left knee. The trainers sprinted out onto the field, along with the team physician to check him out. Coach Reed motioned me over to him, Josh had already walked over to the sideline.

"It didn't look good from here guys, I think he's out. Brian, I need you to step up son, it's time.", he said looking in my direction.

I ran back out onto the field with Josh, stopping where they were loading Billy onto the cart to take him back to the locker room to be checked out. He reached up and took my hand in his, his grip firm and tight.

"Don't get comfortable rookie, I'll be back.", he said, a smile on his face.

"I hope so.", I replied to him, winking.

We huddled up together, the ball was now on the thirty eight yard line. Josh leaned forward, his face was more serious than usual.

"I want that fucker that took Billy out, if we get to run to his side, somebody blow him up, if you get the chance.", he started.

"Sixty two, trap right, double zoom, fire left.", he called.

Several plays later we were on the twenty one, it was third and eight. They had been sitting in cover two for the last few plays, Josh had a feeling they may come with the heat on this play. He let me know in the huddle if he saw either of the outside linebacker's creep up, he would call shift. I would move to that side, looking like I was going to block him, but I would release him. I would then run a quick post behind him and in front of the safety.

Josh was right, but it was the linebacker on my side who came up strong, right on my outside shoulder. As Josh barked cadence, he pointed to the linebacker number fifty six who had moved up. I then pointed to him and back at Josh as if I saw it, I would pick up the block. I then looked in the middle of the field at the free safety who slid over away from me once I motioned the blitz pickup.

On the snap, I laid a shoulder into the linebacker to slow him down for a second, then released him, ran five yards, looked inside the ball was there just out in front of me. I pulled it from the air quickly, tucked it inside my body and turned up field. The free safety squatted at the ten, bracing for the impact. I accelerated and made absolutely no attempt to avoid him. I hit him head on as I was taught as a youngster, to simply run through him. He went down hard on his back, reaching up with both hands trying to grab anything he could. He managed to catch the top of my left foot causing me to stumble forward, but I quickly regained my balance and crossed the goal line. Once again, I went to the goal post following my ritual from the first score. I picked up the ball and carried it off the field with me, this one was sweet.

Later in the game I scored again on a broken play, Josh just tossing it up high to me in the back of the end zone. We left Atlanta with another win, but it was bitter sweet. Billy had sprained his knee, he would be out at least four to six weeks. We arrived back on the west coast close to midnight, we were due back for film in the morning.