His routes were crisp, his timing was perfect, and Lance Parker and coaching staff could definitely see if it someone with so little experience as me could so easily.
This was good, this was very good. Drake was making a really strong case for making the team. On the other hand, Mike Sampson was not doing so hot. He had more than one drop, and his routes were off. Lance Parker definitely noticed, and instead of throwing to Sampson, normally his number 1 receiver, he was checking down to Drake more often than not by the 2nd quarter, and Drake was responding in kind, making some spectacular catches.
Just before the half, I stopped the wide receivers coach and managed to get a few seconds with him.
“How’s Drake looking?” I asked, already aware of the answer.
His eyes narrowed. “You know he’s having the game of his life out there.”
“Yeah, but I just wanted to hear you say it. Think he’s gonna make the team?”
“At this rate, and given how crappy Sampson is playing? I’d say he’s got a good shot. Did you say something to Rollins? What changed?”
I nodded. “He’s starting to believe in himself.”
The wide receivers coach laughed and shook his head. “Don’t give me that crap. As long as he keeps playing like this, I don’t give a shit what you said to him.”
He wandered away, off to talk to some of the players. I managed to flag down Coach Armstrong as he approached the tunnel.
“Coach Armstrong, how’s the game going so far?”
“We’ve done some good things, and some bad, we’re going to make some adjustments and see where those take us.”
“And Drake Rollins?” Coach Armstrong knew I and the Boston Globe had a special interest in Drake Rollins.
“He’s performing like we expected him to perform.”
“Could you be more specific?”
“No, Miss Pearson, I cannot. All I will say is, he is living up to expectations. And the Patriots have high expectations for all our players.”
With that, Coach Armstrong turned and headed into the tunnel off to the locker room to discuss the first half with his players and make half time adjustments that would give the team the edge needed to win the game.
Even though preseason games didn’t mean anything, Armstrong was known throughout the league for taking them very seriously and today was clearly no different.
I watched him head back into the tunnel and I couldn’t help but be thrilled. Drake was having an amazing game and even though it sounded like Armstrong was giving the most middle of the road and banal reaction to a player’s performance, for him that was actually extremely high praise.
Today was looking up indeed.
CHAPTER 26 - DRAKE
I was having a fucking awesome game, and I knew it.
Fuck, everyone knew it. Even Lance Parker came up to me during half time and gave me props for making all those catches. I sent it back to him, letting him know that his passes were perfect and dead on.
“Get a room you two!” someone shouted, and we both laughed before going back to our lockers.
Fuck, it felt good to be having this much fun during a game again. I had almost forgotten how great this felt. And throughout, all I wanted to do was tell Lily about it.
Back at my locker I pulled out my phone and saw that she’d sent me a flood of text messages, all telling me her observations of my catches.
It was really heartwarming to see how into it she was getting, and I scrolled through them all, reliving those moments as she expressed them in text form.
This girl was amazing! How had I enjoyed football before I met her? This was way better than normal.
Coach Armstrong came in the room and gave us a good talk, talking to the position coaches who came around and told their position groups the changes for the second half. We were behind, but the game was definitely within reach.
Before we knew it, the second half had begun and we were back on the field. The crowd, probably well liquored up by now, was really getting into it, cheering us on raucously.
This was the good stuff. This was where I was meant to be. On the field like this, with the crowd all around.
I saw Lily back on the sidelines and I waved to her. She waved back, a huge smile on her face.
The third quarter went much like the second - we made some gains but gave up just as many, leaving the score still close, but relatively unchanged.
It would come down to the 4th quarter. Coach Armstrong walked up and down the sidelines, talking to us, telling his in his own understated way just how important this was.
When he came up to me, I stood up, and he said 4 words to me, 4 words I knew I would never forget. “Rollins, make a play.”
That was all it took. That was all Coach Armstrong needed to say. I strapped on my helmet and went back out there.
Back in the huddle, Parker poked me in the ribs. “Wide Flip Six Three, got it?”
All of us grunted, but Sampson spoke up. “Give me the ball, Parker.”
Parker shook his head. “Nah, you’ve had the drops all day, Sampson. Drake’s first read on this one.”