I had finally made it back to my place for some sack time. Running around with Lloyd, catching the game and trying to come up with something that slightly resembled a plan for tracking down Susan.
The game had gone better than expected. Taylor Martinez played what I like to call a STFU game. When the media, fans and opposition are all taking shots at you, you step up and through your play tell them to Shut The F*&k Up.
He did that.
And how.
He completed more than 75% of his passes. To ten different receivers. With five touchdown passes. He even pulled it down and ran, but when he had to. He kept plays alive with his feet. Of all his passes, there was only one that was really bad, and that only resulted in an incompletion.
I really expected the offense to have to wear down the Eagles in order to get untracked. The I-backasaurus Rex proved me wrong. Fourth play of the game and the Mighty Therapod scored on a 57 yard run. He did hurt his knee shortly after that, which I'm sure has Huskerfan hoping it is just a slight sprain and he'll be back to full strength for UCLA.
With Rex down, it was up to Abdullah, Heard and Cross to step it up for the running game. They did. They did it with good, old-fashioned isolations and dives. Nothing cute, nothing silly, just pound.
The receivers all stepped up, from every unit. The wide-outs caught half of the passes and two of the five touchdowns. The tight ends added nine catches and two more scores. The backs added four catches and the final touchdown, an outstanding athletic effort by Abdullah on third-and-goal that capped off the scoring.
The o-line acquitted themselves pretty well. They opened the holes they need to get the ground game going, and protected Taylor very well. Taylor got dropped for one sack, and an end around was blown up by good defense penetration. The line also got good push on short yardage situations and it was nice to see the fullback used the way he's supposed to be. Picking up that yard or two when you need it.
With the way Beck's offense operated, opposing defensive coordinators are going to have to start popping no-doze. If Taylor keeps playing at this level, defenses will have to start picking their poison on what they want to try to stop. Not ready to come out and say it, yet, but this offense is almost scary.
The defense did well enough, considering they had no game-film and no history to go on. There were a couple of plays that USM left on the field that could have been scoring plays.
Against the run the Blackshirts did pretty well. There were a few times when they guessed wrong on the zone-read, and the quarterback did some damage with his feet. The USM o-line was pretty good, and opened up some holes, they averaged almost four yards a carry. Not great for the defense, but not sky-is-falling terrible, either.
Against the pass, the 'Shirts looked pretty good. One TD and no Int's, only 15 yards passing allowed in the second half. USM wasn't trying to bomb away in the second half, but they didn't complete the passes they needed to to sustain drives.
The third-down conversion is not where "Puch" wants it, but again, is decent enough to improve upon with minor adjustments.
Will Compton has really stepped up, continuing his trend from the second half of last season. Making plays, getting the dudes fired up, showing great leadership. The Blackshirts have a force in the middle.
Special teams was almost short-bus special. Two missed field goals, a shanked punt and a kick return for touchdown. It seems to me that Maher just had a bad day. He's a proven performer and I'm sure he'll bounce back. The coverage unit will improve, too. They had better with all the times they're going to have to cover kicks if the offense keeps scoring with this frequency.
Intangibles. Very good. No false start penalties. No holding penalties. Only one 'Drive Killer' and that was an offensive pass interference call, where the receiver started blocking too early, away from the ball.
One other intangible. I'm digging the white shoes.
I had just finished reviewing the results from games around the country when there was knock at the door.
Effie was outside with four guys.
I opened the door, "Effie, Sweetheart, come on in," I said.
The five visitors piled into my rooms. "Sam," Effie said, "Meet the lads. This is the band."
Four guys, early twenties, all skinny, less than average height the big one probably topped out at 160. I was having a hard time deciding which was worse, their skin, or the miasma of ozone-killing hairspray they reeked of.
Effie turned and introduced them all in turn, there was Theo, lead vocals, Chas on bass, Dave on keyboards and Nigel on drums.
They all had kit bags and looked like they were going to stay for a while.
"Effie?" I asked.
"Don't worry," she said. I've got the van downstairs and have been arranging their next gig. They're scheduled to play someplace called Club 1984 in L.A. Susan had the contracts signed and everything."
"How Orwellian. Are they Opening for the Ministry of Love?" I asked, smirking.
"Don't be such a smart-butt. Besides, I know that's your nickname for Homeland Security."
"No, that's GeheimatStaatspolizei, but no-one gets it."
"Anyway, we are heading west, tomorrow, they just need a place to crash, 'cause we need the money for gas rather than a hotel room."
"Two things. Let me call Lloyd and see if he is in the mood for a road trip. Secondly, give me the contact info on this club. I'll do some digging around and see if I can't unearth a clue."
Effie leaned in and gave a quick peck on the cheek. Hopped and squealed a couple of times and disappeared in a flash.
I eyed the four guys. They looked like they needed food, baths and rest. Not necessarily in that order. "So, what are we going to do with you lot?" I asked.
Theo stepped forward. "Do you get football on your telly? I mean proper footy."
"Dunno", I said. "There is a channel that's showing the Arsenal and Liverpool fixture, today."
"Too right," Nigel interjected.
"On one condition, that judging from your accents, you'll only be too eager to meet."
"Whazzat, then?" asked Chas.
"We support the Gunners in this place."
Dave laughed and rolled up his sleeve, revealing a tattoo of a cannon, the Arsenal logo. "Do, you fink that's a birfmark, mate?" he asked with a huge grin.
Me and the band are going to get along just fine.
Husk-husk and on the qb.
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