Bulldogs Bounced.

     There was a lot to mull over after the Stacy/Robin revelation. It was looking like our pal, Tompkins was holding out on us. The pieces did fit, to a good degree. If Jimbo had been banging the vic before she was a vic, or even was a vic, for that matter. It not only skewed our investigation, but might have skewed it back when the news was hot off the presses.
     By the time we were on the plane, quite a bit had happened. As the Boeing boing-ed into the early morning sky, a sort of elation took over. It was the feeling the dudes in 'Nam must have had when the Freedom Bird took off. Okey, that's not that fair, Vietnam is no Fresno.
     Lloyd was giddy. The game had gone so well, he was fidgeting. He was pretty much confined to his seat and was bopping like the kid who knows there is one more piece of birthday cake, but his mom has already said 'no' because kid's pupils are constricted and he says everyone around him looks like a cartoon character.
     "Do you think we should confront Jimmy-boy about dalliance with a disappearance?" I asked.
     Lloyd had powered up his tablet and was watching De'Morney Pierson-El highlights...again.
     Lloyd shook his head. "No way. He still wants to find the girl. His motives may not be as pure as he said, but he wants to find her."
     "It doesn't bother you that it seems like we were played to go on this case."
     "You were played. I'm just along for the ride. like usual. Does it matter to you how he got you in, as long as the check clears?"
     "It's not about the money," I said, giving Lloyd one of my dirtier looks. "If he held out on us--me, what are his motives? What is he hiding, besides what is now obvious?"
     "Dunno," Lloyd said, adjusting his seat so he could see his tablet, better. "Maybe that's why we don't confront him. Tell him this was a dead end. That we couldn't even find Stacy. Wasted trip. Big Zero. Dry Well. Tell him there are other leads we need to pursue."
     "That might work," I said, the synapses zip-zip-zipping along to what Lloyd was laying down. "He doesn't know what we know."
     "Right, you're getting it, now."
     We sat in silence for a little while. I was contemplating our next moves, and honestly had no idea what our play was going to be, other than running a misdirection on Tompkins. I closed the lid on that box in my noggin and decided that Lloyd could probably keep me entertained at least until the Rockies if I asked him about the game.
     "Happy with the game?" I asked Lloyd, who immediately brightened and sat up.
     "About as happy as could be expected. Overall, good game. Offense did pretty well, defense did a good job and special teams was amazing. Love this Pierson-El, kid. His 86-yard punt return for a touchdown  was longer than the entire return yardage for the team last season. I think he is a legit contender to be one of the greatest return men in Husker history."
     "I wasn't overly happy with the run game," I said. "Yeah, both Ameer and Imani had those big runs, but the production between the tackles wasn't consistent. Fresno was able to disrupt things with their run blitzes, and Ameer was limited to short runs, a lot."
       "That's the risk, playing a defensive scheme like that takes. You make it difficult to get a four or five yard run, but if a guy with Ameer's speed gets into the second level, he's gone."
     "How about the passing game?" I asked. "I thought Tommy did a good job, and distributed the ball pretty well."
     "Tommy was seeing the receivers pretty well. The long pass to Westerkamp was awesome. Great pre-snap read. It was good to see Kenny back out there. Also nice to see that the tight ends are getting into the mix. That will make the inside line-backers respect their presence, which will also help the running game. Moore and Allen need to shake off the rust, they are both getting open, just not coming up with catches."
     "Defense, now. Better than you expected?" I asked.
     "A little. That one, big, 66-yard run came late against the back-ups. The one guy who had an angle on him stumbled as he turned to pursue, so that didn't look good. I expected them to give up 17, and essentially, they did. The safety was just a weird play that I doubt if I ever see one like it again."
     "I know," I agreed. I was surprised when the official initially called it a touchback. I knew when they huddled up that the call was going to be a safety. I don't know what Josh was thinking," I said, shaking my head at the image of Banderas batting the ball into his own end zone. I have been watching football for a looooong time, and I have never seen a play quite like it.
          "How about Randy Gregory? He looked good when he had his legs under him."
     "Yes, he did. He wasn't in 'game' shape. He's in shape, but getting back into the kind of shape you need for game conditions is still a work in progress. Besides his play, his presence elevates the entire d-line. McDermott and Valentine, in particular, benefit from RG4 being a disruptive force, out there."
    "What's up with the linebackers?" I asked.
     "They are getting caught up in mis-matches. They are getting stuck covering receivers that are faster than them on the underneath routes. That and they are frozen by the zone-read action, they are still looking for the ball-carrier for too long after the d-linemen have absorbed the blockers. If it weren't for the big guys up front, doing a great job, the linebackers would be looking a lot worse."
     "Did the defensive backs play to your liking?"
     "Definitely. You don't see receivers running free on vertical routes. The one deep ball Fresno tried had two guys bracketing the intended receiver. The corners are doing well on the outside routes, and are getting better about recognizing and disrupting the bubble screen passes."
     I reclined my seat back, making sure the person behind me wasn't going to file a federal lawsuit or throw his vodka and Red Bull at me. I really didn't want to have an unscheduled stop in Denver. my skin crawled at the thought of it.
     I closed my eyes and tried to imagine keeping Tompkins at arms length while solving a case that might not be solvable. At the very least I had to decide if it needed to be solved.