SteVo+ 3,702 Posted December 12, 2014 Knights of Andreas Part II Chapter Sixteen – O Captain, My Captain Five hours and nine minutes after takeoff, the private nonstop flight from Los Angeles lands at Miami International Airport. Fifty-three players and twenty-three coaches exit the plane and feel the sweltering heat and humidity of September in South Florida. Per Coach Daniel's policy, the team lodges at a hotel within ten minutes of the stadium. For Jonathan Maverick, this is unfortunate, as Sun Life Stadium is about halfway between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, a solid half hour from South Beach. Not that it ruins his plans—just inconveniences them. He didn't get to fully experience South Beach on the Knights' trip here last year, and he's fortunate to get a second chance this season. The Knights settle into the hotel and eating preparations are made. Several players arrange to see a movie after dinner. Somewhere in between, Maverick slips out and catches a cab, riding it south. Through connections he made last year, he bounces between several clubs in what turns out to be a blur of a night. Around midnight, a team staffer at the hotel listlessly walks the hallway. His shift is almost up, but he hears some commotion down the hall. He sees Maverick stumble out of the elevator and head his way. Technically, he's supposed to report any players out after curfew to a coach, but he knows Maverick's routines. The apparently intoxicated Maverick notices the staffer and somehow remembers what to do. He yanks his wallet from his pocket—almost falling over in the process—and pulls out a crumbled one hundred dollar bill. Twelve hours later, Maverick throws passes in pads against the sun as the stadium fills in slowly around him. The pre-game excitement sets in, but in a different way. He feels sluggish, as if he just woke up, and his headache won't go away. He tries to focus on the throws and push everything else aside. The minutes drag until kickoff, and when the Knights first take the field on offense, they're already down 3-0. Maverick takes the snap and looks left to Johnson, on a simple out route. He fires, and the pass falls way short, hitting the grass five yards in front of the receiver. "That's on me," Maverick says once in the huddle. "Don't worry about it," Johnson says. McFadden takes a handoff on second down and gets four yards. On third down, Maverick lines up in shotgun. He surveys the defense and takes the snap. After a short drop-back, he looks to Wilkes on his post route. The coverage seems tight, but he wants to throw the pass anyway. Cameron Wake slams him into the grass before he can make a decision. He's sure he's about to puke for a second, but an offensive lineman helps him up and he staggers to the sideline, where Coach Daniel waits. "Hard hit. You okay?" Daniel asks. "Fine," Maverick says. He takes a seat on the bench and Tom Everett, offensive coordinator, approaches with pictures in hand. "You had D-Jam wide open," Everett says. "What were you waiting for?" "Couldn't see him." "You were looking right at him." "What are you saying, coach?" "I'm saying when you look and see an open receiver, you throw him the ball." Meanwhile, the Knights defense can't get off the field. Despite a confident game plan, the Dolphins offense finds ways to get first downs. After an overthrow by Ryan Tannehill, Miami faces third and nine. Briggs Randall hears the play call and relays it to his teammates. He feels he's supposed to say something inspiring, fire them up somehow, but he just claps his hands, screaming, "Let's make a play!" Tannehill takes the snap and Randall covers the middle. Tight end Anthony Fasano runs his way and Randall picks him up in coverage, hoping Tannehill throws. Instead, he looks to the other side of the field and lofts a pass to Brian Hartline, who hauls it in against tight coverage for a twenty-yard gain. Randall feels dejected as he jogs to the new line of scrimmage, across midfield. "Okay, gentlemen," Coach Daniel says to his entire roster in the small auditorium of team headquarters, "our first preseason game is coming up, and it's time to vote on our captains. You know the drill." Per Daniel's custom, one he brought from UConn, official offensive and defensive captains are selected first, and then alternates separately. As assistant coaches pass out slips of paper and pencils, several Knights contemplate their vote. As a long tenured veteran on the team, Chet Ripka knows players usually look to him for these kinds of roles, as they did last year. But Briggs has really come along in understanding the playbook; it's his time to be captain. Hopefully the rest of the team realizes that. Rookie Griswold Johnson contemplates that very decision a few rows behind Ripka. He's new to the team, and he has noticed Randall's command of the playbook, but he doesn't really seem like a leader. He pencils in Ripka as his vote. In the last row, Brian Penner doesn't contemplate anything. To him, the vote for offensive captain should be obvious to everyone. He pencils in the name without hesitation. Towards the front, Maverick unknowingly agrees with Penner's thinking, at least in principle: the offensive captain should be obvious. He's been in the league two years, he knows the playbook, he knows the coaches. He's the quarterback, and that makes him the captain. With three minutes to play in the fourth quarter, the Knights hold a 20-13 lead. Their ineffective offense has managed to take advantage of Miami turnovers, but not much else. Second and nine. Maverick studies the defense, more alert than ever. Over the course of the game, he has felt progressively better, and he's ready to end this game and go home 2-0. He takes the snap from shotgun, fakes a handoff to Jaxson, and looks deep. The safeties bite on play-action, and Wilkes breaks on his post route, the middle of the field wide open. Maverick throws for the would-be touchdown, but the pass is horribly off target. Wilkes adjusts and spins to catch the throw behind him, but Reshad Jones is there to intercept it. He runs back across midfield as the stadium erupts in celebration. Jones makes it to the Los Angeles thirty-eight before some linemen bring him down. Maverick, head down, can't find the bench before a hysterical Wilkes accosts him. He takes a seat anyway. "What the fuck was that, Mav?" Wilkes shouts. "What the fuck? Wide fuckin' open to end the game!" Maverick looks stoic, but dejected. Wilkes crouches down and gets in his face. "What's the matter with you? That's two weeks in a row you've tried to lose the damn game!" "That's enough," Penner says, coming between the two. "Man, this is bullshit!" "Enough, D-Jam. Sit the fuck down." Clearly unsatisfied but smart enough not to fight with Penner, Wilkes retreats to his own spot on the bench. On the field, Randall gets the defense in a huddle during a commercial break. The Dolphins are only thirty-eight yards away from a game-tying touchdown. "I don't want to see anybody look nervous," Randall says. "We've dominated these guys all day. They can't score on us. So let's shut this thing down and enjoy a nice celebration on the flight home. Let's go!" The Knights line up in their 3-4 formation against Miami's three-receiver set. Tannehill takes the snap from shotgun and looks; no one's open. Brock comes off the edge and flushes Tannehill out of the pocket; he throws it away. Second and ten. Grantzinger finds a hole up the middle and comes free on the rush, forcing Tannehill to throw early, to no one in particular. The pass falls incomplete. Third and ten. The Knights show blitz but back off. Tannehill has a clean pocket and looks, looks, looks. Nothing. Finally, he bombs it to the end zone, where Davone Bess is double covered. The pass sails out of the end zone. "One more play!" Randall screams as the players line up for fourth down. "One more play!" Tannehill takes another shotgun snap, looks, and again, nobody's open. He steps up to bomb it, but Grantzinger gets his hand on the ball. Tannehill clutches it, and Brock comes in to complete the sack. Also blitzing, Randall raises his arm in the air and runs back to the sideline in celebration. The Knights run out the clock and go into the locker room with a 2-0 record. While most players celebrate, Maverick slowly dresses, not in the mood for a party. He notices, though, when Penner walks by and gets up. "Hey, Brian." "What's up, Mav?" "Thanks for the help back there, on the bench, with D-Jam." "You know I got your back. However…" Penner looks around to make sure no one's listening, leans in, and speaks softly. "You ever show up for a game hungover again, and I'll break your fucking neck. You want to party? Do it in March. We don’t have time for that shit.” Maverick nods. The Knights coaching staff gathers in the conference room for Daniel to deliver the final count. "Gentlemen, our players have spoken. Our offensive and defensive captains are Brian Penner and Briggs Randall." "How close was the voting?" an assistant coach asks. "Very. Maverick and Ripka should be alternates with how many votes they got." "Coach, if I may," Coach Everett says, "I think we should deliver the news to Penner privately before announcing it to the team." Chance Phillips sits at the table, and he's not sure why Everett is suggesting this. He watches Daniel's response closely. "I don't see a problem with that. Coach," he says, addressing Harden, "any qualms about Randall as defensive captain?" Phillips feels apprehensive about the word "qualm." Harden doesn't move from his reclined position. "None whatsoever." The NFL can't help but overreact after week one, but every claim is always followed by, "…having said that, it's only one week." Barring something rare, everyone is either undefeated or winless. After two weeks, talk starts to get serious about teams who are 2-0 and 0-2. Which 0-2 team needs to bounce back? Which 2-0 team is a pretender? Such discussions are had about the Knights, but nobody inside team headquarters seems to notice. The week of preparation for the 1-1 Steelers proceeds without extremes. Coach Daniel delivers no extra speeches of commendation, and nobody runs extra suicides for any reason. With Thursday’s practice nearly done, Maverick takes a break and Chad Henne gets some reps with the first team offense. On the sideline, Jefferspin-Wilkes sees an opportunity to bust balls. “Better watch out, Mav,” Wilkes says, “Henne keeps throwing like that, you might be out of a job.” Maverick scoffs. “D-Jam, please. At least they didn’t find some scrub rookie for me to develop. Not wasting my time on that bullshit.” “You’re right. Besides, who would want to learn from you, anyway?” Maverick says nothing, taking more sips from a water bottle. Soon enough, practice ends, and the Knights dress and leave the locker room. Once it’s mostly empty, Briggs Randall seeks out a teammate. "Chet, can I talk to you for a second?" A mostly dressed Ripka surveys the locker room; most Knights have already left for the day. "Sure. What's on your mind, kid?" "Well, since I was voted captain this year, I wanted to step up." "And you have. Mastering the playbook after one year isn’t easy." "I know, but, I want to do more. You know, be a leader and all. So far, I'm not sure I'm doing that. Actually, I'm not sure I know how." Ripka thinks, not sure how to word what he wants to say. "You played with Urlacher, right? How was he?" "First of all,” Ripka says, “that defense had a lot of great players. Second, he was intense, but in a quiet way." "See, that sounds more like me." “And there’s nothing wrong with that. Let me tell you something, Briggs. Leadership isn’t about jumping around, all that Ray Lewis rah-rah stuff. Leadership is about leading by example. Leadership is about your teammates looking at you and saying, ‘That’s exactly how the game is supposed to be played.’ So don’t put extra pressure on yourself; just do your job, and the rest should fall into place.” "Okay, that makes sense. Thanks a lot, Chet." "See you tomorrow, kid." Sunday arrives, and Farmers Field fills for an undefeated home team. Chance Phillips breaks routine and wanders the field, eager to see old colleagues. It's a sentimental battle for him, facing the team where he built his resume. Through a crowd of players, coaches, and cameras, Phillips finds Kevin Colbert, his old boss. "Kevin!" Colbert spots his former protégé, and the two shake hands and embrace. "Great to see you, Chance." "Welcome to Farmers Field. Like the place?" "Magnificent. Even better in person. Congratulations on the 2-0 record. Off to a good start this year." "Maybe, but there's still fourteen games to go. We'll see what happens." Less than a minute remains in an extremely contentious first half. Poor officiating by the replacement refs has frustrated players on both sides and escalated tension. The Knights hold a 7-6 lead and operate the no-huddle offense in an attempt to add more before halftime. Maverick drops back and finds Bishop on an out route. He runs out of bounds, stopping the clock at 0:52. Maverick hurries everyone up to the line of scrimmage, eager to keep up the pace. He signals for the shotgun snap, and whistles blow everything dead. The referees need a conference, it seems. Farmers Field collectively boos the refs, not for the first time. "C'mon!" Maverick yells, walking towards the refs. "You're fucking up the momentum. Get it together!" The refs break up the conference and wind the clock; nothing changes regarding the game. A rattled Maverick takes the snap and looks—pressure forces him up the middle, and he has nowhere to go but run. He jukes a linebacker and crosses midfield. In the open field with defenders closing, he slides to the grass and takes a late hit. Maverick props up looking for a flag. "Where's the call? Where's the call?" A nearby referee attempts to explain the non-call, and Penner joins the conversation. "C'mon, refs, that's way late!" "Quit your bitching, pussy," a Steeler linebacker says to Maverick. "Oh, fuck you too!" Maverick forgets the ref and gets in the defender's face. The linebacker shoves him backward. Penner jumps in and shoves back. A crowd gathers and the refs fail to separate anybody. No punches are thrown, though a few players exchange healthy shoves, along with plenty of obscenities, and then a flag finally goes flying. The chaos takes minutes to sort out, the game clock frozen all the while at 0:35; it had run a few extra seconds while the fracas developed. Finally, two personal fouls are called, both on the Knights. Another round of boos commences as Coach Daniel pleads the case for offsetting penalties to the refs; this takes another few minutes. Play resumes with the Knights backed up in their own territory, so Daniel decides to just take a 7-6 lead into the half. Penner snaps the ball to Maverick, who takes a knee, and Penner looks for more. "Leave your vaginas in the locker room before you come out in the second half, pussies." This gathers another crowd, and Maverick wastes no time getting involved. The boos (directed at the refs) turn to cheers for another fight. It's all pushing and shoving, and despite players from the sideline getting involved, cooler heads prevail, and the teams head to their respective locker rooms. By request, Brian Penner heads to Coach Daniel's office. Daniel sits in his chair and leans on the desk. "You wanted to see me, coach." "Come in," Daniel says. Penner isn't sure if he should sit down, so he stays standing. "Let's get to the point. Congratulations, Brian. You've been voted offensive captain this year." Penner looks confused. "What do you mean?" "You got the most votes," Everett says. "No." "No?" Daniel says. "What’s the problem, Brian?” "Maverick is the captain, coach." "So you're saying you don't want to be captain?" "That's correct, coach." Daniel and Everett look at each other; Everett suppresses a grin. "Well, actually," Daniel says, "Maverick got the second most votes, so if you don't want the title, it should pass to him." "Brian," Everett says, "do you think this is the best decision for the offense? For the team?" "Absolutely." Daniel and Everett share another look. This meeting couldn't have gone better. "So be it," Daniel says. "Jonathan Maverick is our offensive captain. He received the most votes. We have an understanding, Brian?" "Yes, sir." The Knights come out in the second half with a pass-first offense. Maverick delivers the ball quickly, and Penner mixes it up with Casey Hampton long after the ball has gone. They reach midfield on a third and nine when Maverick drops back. Wilkes and Johnson are covered. He looks for Bishop, but a pass rusher obstructs his vision. Seeing no escape, he runs for it. He jukes Larry Foote in the open field and gets yardage for a first down. With defenders closing in, he doesn't bother sliding, lowers his shoulders, and absorbs a crunching hit from Ryan Clark. Maverick pops right back up and tosses the ref the ball. The next play, Maverick is forced from the pocket again and picks up eleven yards before taking another hit. The Knights are on the edge of the red zone. Maverick takes a shotgun snap and looks up the middle. A pass rusher comes free. Maverick sees Bishop about to break open, steps up, throws, and takes a big hit. He stays on the ground for a second and hears the stadium roar for a touchdown. Penner picks him up. "Nice throw, asshole," Penner screams against the crowd noise. "Nice protection." "Don't worry, we'll get 'em back on the next series." Into the fourth quarter, the Knights lead 21-6. While Maverick has been lighting up the highlight reel, Harden's defense has suffocated Pittsburgh's offense. Ben Roethlisberger hasn't found any receivers downfield and has been sacked four times. In the secondary, Malik Rose enjoys a dominating performance against the team that drafted him—and traded him. Covering Mike Wallace on deep routes has been easy, and Wallace's trash talk has been enjoyable. Isaac Redman catches a screen out of the backfield and runs upfield. He makes the mistake of juking back to the middle of the field, and Randall promptly punishes him with a vicious hit. Redman takes a second to get up. Randall, though, just walks back for the next play. He takes in the congratulatory slaps and fist bumps but says nothing. He looks back to the secondary, and Ripka gives him a look that, through the facemask, Randall's pretty sure he can interpret. Way to go, kid. Facing third down, Roethlisberger looks deep. Mike Wallace breaks for the end zone and Rose runs with him. Roethlisberger hurls it into the air and takes a hit. Rose tracks the ball, maintains position on Wallace, and jumps for it. They both get their hands on the ball, but Rose's grip prevails, and he comes down with the interception, albeit at the two-yard line. Rose jumps in celebration, and Randall is first to congratulate him. The crowd noise reaches deafening levels as the offense takes the field and continues through the commercial break. The offensive huddle forms and Maverick takes charge. "We gotta run some clock, but let's do it with complete passes. Ninety-eight yards, let's get every damn one of them and end this thing. Alright? Oh, and silent snap count. Let the crowd keep it up." Maverick calls the play, the commercial ends, and the offense sets up on their own two. Maverick raises his arms, enticing more crowd noise. From the sidelines, the coaching staff looks on in shock. "Coach," Everett says to Daniel, "you ever see a quarterback do that?" "Never in the NFL." Four first downs and fifty-two yards later, the Knights face third and three. Maverick hands off to Jaxson, who breaks a tackle and gets hit very close to the first down line. After prolonged deliberation, the referees signal fourth down. Daniel is about to signal the punt team, but Maverick is already shouting out a play call. "Timeout, coach?" Everett asks. "No. Let him do it." Maverick sets the formation as the Steelers hurriedly try to set up. Pittsburgh hesitates to waste a timeout; they'll need them if they hold here and have a two-possession game. Maverick fakes a handoff to Jaxson and rolls left. Everyone bites on the play-action, and he runs through green grass into first down territory. Wanting to keep the clock running, Maverick stays in bounds. Ryan Clark closes in again. Fuck it. Maverick lowers his shoulders and plows Clark to the ground. He falls forward for an extra five yards, and the crowd goes wild. Coach Daniel dials up another passing play despite his inclination to run out the final eight minutes. Maverick takes the snap and looks left. Johnson looks covered on a wheel route, but Maverick fires into the gap between the corner and safety. The bullet pass splits both defenders and hits Johnson in stride as he crosses the goal line. Maverick jumps as high as he can, and Penner holds him up. The entire offensive line mobs him in celebration. He jogs back to the sideline, in full party mode as the field goal unit comes on for the extra point. Maverick soaks in the adulation for a perfect pass. After it passes and the Knights defense takes the field with a 28-6 lead, Maverick traverses the sideline and high fives his offense, one by one. From his usual corner end zone seat, Jay Cooper boos the Steelers offense with renewed energy and an incredible sense of relief. After following the lowly Raiders for years and scoring inaugural season tickets at Farmers Field, he finally cheers for a winning team. 11 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
theMileHighGuy 656 Posted December 12, 2014 (edited) First! That was an awesome chapter! Really enjoyed the character building through this one, I think Penner may be my favorite character... well my second favorite . He's clearly become the team's rock, and seeing him push Maverick to the next level was pretty cool. With the offense clicking and dat nasty pass rush complimenting our shutdown corner, we goin 16-0 Edited December 12, 2014 by theMileHighGuy 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maverick 791 Posted December 12, 2014 A lot of Jonathan Maverick in this chapter so I loved it from a personal standpoint! What kind of team doesn't vote for their QB as the offensive captain? You're all a bunch of fools on this team! Glad to see Penner had my back, though. Oh and I kindly ask for my character to stop throwing balls to Wilkes, please. Solid outing from both the offense and defense against the Steelers. Maverick making shit happen to close out the game! And as per usual, very well written, Steven. You're developing my character exactly how I imagined it. Loved the part about bailing for South Beach lmao. I probably got hot bitches clubbing while the rest of the team were watching Hoosiers. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GA_Eagle 595 Posted December 12, 2014 I geek out about this on a weekly basis 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cherry 1,302 Posted December 12, 2014 Great chapter as always. Really happy to see the development of Briggs continue. Loved the interactions with Ripka. Briggs able to put in extra work with coach? Anyways, 3-0 motherfuckers. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sarge+ 3,436 Posted December 12, 2014 The Knights of Andreas truly have arrived. WHERE'S ADAM JAVAD. Great to see the team chemistry really starting to develop. You know things are going well when Jay Cooper is cheering. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RazorStar 4,025 Posted December 12, 2014 3-0, well shit son. This just keeps getting better and better for us. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zack_of_Steel+ 3,014 Posted December 12, 2014 Wonderful, wonderful chapter, Stevo, seriously. The "Fuck it" line was my favorite part. Penner and Mav really ingratiated themselves with the reader this chapter. Excited to see if Mav can avoid faltering. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vin+ 3,121 Posted December 12, 2014 Wilkes adjusts and spins Great stuff, SteVo. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BwareDWare94 723 Posted January 22, 2015 I love the way these characters are developing along with this team, and I like that you're breaking away from the way the Raiders seasons actually went. Some ideas: I wonder if you could venture into young players struggling with money, at some point? I'd like to see you split up some of the dialogue. Some of the longer run ons could be emphasized with pauses of some sort. Great work, per usual. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites