by Pete Bowen
The following week, in week eight of the season, the Team again traveled. This time, it was to the much-anticipated Monday Night matchup of last year’s divisional championship game against an undefeated New York team. New York was a seven point favorite going into the game. The pre-game show had an interview with Reilly.
Host: Welcome Tony.
Tony Reilly: Thanks for having me.
Host: You’ve been an amazing story this year, taking over the team when two players in front of you went down with injuries, rallying your team in a big win over Baltimore, and then masterfully taking apart two strong defenses in Houston and Seattle. Where have you been?
TR: (Laughs) Stuck behind two good players on the bench.
Host: Do you think the Team knew what they had? You’ve certainly surprised a lot of people around the League with your poise and passing skills.
TR: Well, they kept me around. I had two seasons to learn how to be a quarterback in this league. I worked hard to be ready to play. You have to remember, this was a very good team, with lots of great players. The goal was to be Champion this year from day one.
Host: Well they just might get there with you showing what you have the last three games. Take me back to that Baltimore game and watching the two guys in front of you go down before the half. What was going through your head when you took the field that afternoon?
TR: Fear? (Laughs) I think I was on auto-pilot through the end of the half. I knew Baltimore was going to come after me, so I knew there were going to be open receivers if they did. I used to run the offense against our own defense every day in practice. I knew what I was going to do.
Host: You came out in the hurry-up offense in the second half and proceeded to take apart that defense. I heard you asked at half time for that.
TR: I did. What we were doing wasn’t working and I felt I could find receivers under pressure and the coaching staff let me give it a try. Fortunately, it worked.
Host: You’re four and two coming into New York against one of the premier undefeated teams in the NFL. What are you expecting tonight?
TR: I expect they’re going to blitz all night long against an inexperienced quarterback. That’s what I would do.
Host: How do you think you match up?
TR: We’ve got what I consider the best defense in the NFL. On offense, we’re going to take what they give us and what I think they’re going to give us is single coverage on our receivers. We are ready for this game.
Host: Good luck, Tony.
TR: Thank you.
New York took the opening kickoff and went 3 and out. San Francisco took the ball at their own 27 and ran the ball for two downs. On third and five in the hurry up offense in a spread formation, the New York showed blitz. At the last second, Reilly hand signaled to his wide receiver a go route. Jimmy Oliva hesitated for a moment on the line freezing the cornerback and then took off. With a full blitz on, Reilly lofted the ball in his direction before getting buried, delivering the ball perfectly in stride to Oliva who shook off the defender and took the ball for a 68 yard touchdown. A hush fell on the stadium.
New York went three and out on their next possession and again San Francisco spread the field in the hurry up. Reilly hit his tight end for 26 yards. When New York again showed blitz, Reilly dumped it out to Best in the flat for 17 more yards. San Francisco then ran it twice with Best finding the first down marker on a sweep. Reggie Robinson ran it eight yards up the middle for second and two at the 14-yard line. Reilly then found Oliva uncovered in the end zone.
“That’s just too easy, Tony Reilly and San Francisco are carving up the New York tonight,” said the color man.
On third and long the San Francisco defense intercepted the ball and ran it back to the six yard line. Two plays later, Reggie Robinson ran it in for 21 to 0 as the first quarter ended. The rout was on.
New York never got anything going and the best defense statistically in football could not stop the San Francisco offense. They put up 10 more points for a 31-3 half time lead. When New York came out throwing in the second half, San Francisco sat back in a zone defense and picked off three passes for a total of five interceptions in the game. Keiland Best had 134 yards and two touchdowns. Reilly had three touchdown passes and 320 yards passing. The final was 47-10 and by the fourth quarter, the stadium was half empty. San Francisco would never again be a Vegas underdog.
Chapter 29
The flight back from New York was a drunken affair with Oscar Tierney bringing on five cases of Dom Perignon before take off. The party was on. The flight got in to San Jose at 10 AM and the team had the day off. The normal practice schedule was thrown off for the week. By game time Sunday at home against Atlanta, the emotional high and confidence were there, but the same team that had beaten New York wasn’t. San Francisco got the ball and started driving, but after a holding and an offside call, they kicked it away. Atlanta came back with a 10-play scoring drive and went up 7-0.
San Francisco went 3 and out. Atlanta came back with another scoring drive and went up 14-0 at the end of the first quarter. Late in the 2nd quarter, a deflected pass resulted in Reilly’s first interception in 5 games. The defense held them and Atlanta kicked a field goal for a 17-0 lead.
With two minutes to go in the half, Keiland Best fumbled and Atlanta was able to put up another field goal as the half ended 20-0. At home, after a big win on Monday night, San Francisco was in a deep hole.
Tony Reilly went in with the offensive coordinator to look at defensive formations and discuss second half strategy as they usually did. He was unusually quiet. He listened to what his coach had to say, but didn’t offer any input. When he left the meeting room to rejoin the team, the mood was pretty sour in the room. As Coach Warren came into the center of the locker room, Reilly asked him if he could say something. Reilly looked around the room and you could see the anger in his face. “This is what happens when we come into a game unprepared,” he said. “We thought we could mail this one in because we beat the New York last week. Well, guess what? No one told Atlanta that. Every week we have to prove we’re the best team in football. We can’t just turn it on. Now we’re going to have to climb back into this one. Atlanta is going to sit back in zone and do what we did to New York last week. Three touchdowns down, we’re fucked.” He looked around at Keiland Best and said, “you drop the rock again and you’re going to be teaching PE in middle school next semester.” Reilly looked over at his tight end, “where do I have to put the ball Chester? Because when I put it in your hands, you ain’t fucking catching it. Catch the fucking ball!”
No one had ever heard Tony Reilly say anything to anyone that wasn’t positive. The room was in stunned silence. “I can’t tell you how much this horse shit effort pisses me off,” he yelled at the room. He then took his helmet and threw it as hard as he could at the water cooler where it bounced 20 feet away. He then walked over and further demolished the cooler with two kicks. He then walked into the trainer’s room and slammed the door.
Coach Warren started to say something, stopped, changed his mind. “Let’s go,” was all he ended up saying as the team broke for the field. Reilly sat on a table in the trainer’s room and one of the assistant trainers walked in and said, “Can I get you anything, Tony?”
Reilly looked at him and smiled. “How’s it going, Mikey?”
“Good, Tony.” He didn’t know what else to say. He’d been sent in by the head trainer to see if Tony was alright.
“How’s the wife?” Reilly asked him. “She went to UCLA same as Elizabeth, right?”
“Yup, both Bruins. They were talking after dinner the other night.”
“Yea, Liz told me.” Reilly just sat there smiling, dangling his legs.”
“You going back out there, Tony?”
“My helmet okay?”
“Yea, its okay.”
He smiled. “Yea, I’m going back out there.”
The on-field commentator for the network said just before the kickoff, “Tony R
eilly was the last man out of the locker room jogging with a trainer. We haven’t had any reports of injury. We’ll see if we can get any reports. Coach Warren refused comment which is unlike him, but an assistant said it had been an emotional half time. Back to you.”
Atlanta went three and out running the ball three times which announcers interpreted as “looking like they’re going to sit back and let San Francisco continue to make mistakes and burn clock. We’ll see what happens on this first series and whether they’ve made any adjustments."
Reilly was even toned and confident in the huddle. Jimmy Oliva said after the game, “When he talks that way he does, with the confidence and swagger, there is no doubt we are going to score.”
Atlanta was happy to give San Francisco the underneath stuff. Playing conservative, prevent defense, trying not to give up the big play, in a 10 play drive with 5 different receivers, Reilly went in untouched on a keeper. Atlanta came back and had a couple of first downs, but the drive stalled and they put San Francisco deep in their own end on the punt. Keiland Best was electrifying. On 2nd and two, with wide receivers throwing blocks, Best went for 27 and it took three guys to haul him down. Three plays later, he went for 17 yards on a dump off pass. Reggie Robinson came in for Best and ran for 11 yards. Jimmy Oliva just managed to touch his toes down (confirmed with a replay challenge) in the back of the end zone, for the score. Back in the game, 20-14, with the stadium rocking.
At the start of the 4th quarter, the Atlanta’ drive stalled on the San Francisco 45. Reilly took over at the 12 and again came out in the hurry-up offense in a four receiver spread formation. He picked the defense apart, taking what the defense gave him. Keiland Best in the slot fought his way for 33 on a flat pass. Two plays later, his Tight End got 19 more. San Francisco gave Best the ball four straight times as Atlanta sat back in zone trying to stop the San Francisco passing attack. With two more first downs, Reilly found his third option in the pattern all alone when the defender fell down in a crossing route for a touchdown. Reilly calmly walked off the field with a lead for the first time that day.
Atlanta didn’t roll over. They put on their own sustained drive and kicked a 36 yard field goal for a 23-21 lead with 3:30 to play. This was the first time that Reilly had been in this position all season, having to win a game with clock winding down. Reilly looked around the huddle and said, “Plenty of time boys.” He then called two plays. Saw the Corner back off Oliva, changed the play, took the snap and fired it out to him for 14 yards. He then handed it off to Best for another 9 up the middle. At midfield, he hit one of his crossing wideouts and then did it again on the next play for short gains and a first down at the two minute warning. Reilly walked over to the coach and said “the safeties are cheating trying to stop Best. Let’s go get it now with Oliva.”
“I want to manage the clock,” said the coach.
Reilly responded, “I don’t want a field goal. It may not be there closer in. The defense will hold them. They have all day.”
The coach waited till the last second. “Okay, don’t force it. Give it a shot.
On play action, the fake froze the secondary and matched a streaking Oliva one on one with the smaller cornerback. Oliva took a perfect pass over his outside shoulder. The defender managed to wrestled him out at the 4. Two plays later Reggie Robinson powered in with 1:20 to go. The defense intercepted an Atlanta desperation pass on 4th down and it was over. The crowd had seen a ball game.
Inside the locker room, a laughing Tony Reilly yelled over at Keiland Best, “I’m glad you decided to show up for the second half, rookie.”
The quiet, polite, deeply religious Best said smiling, “you hurt my feelings.”
Reilly walked over to him, “awwww,” then jumped on top of him followed by the rest of the team.
When asked about a report about an emotional halftime outburst in the locker room during the post game press conference, Reilly admitted, “I was a little hot that we weren’t playing very well.”
“I heard a water cooler was destroyed.”
“That damn water cooler. I asked them to move it half a dozen times. Too close to my locker. Always a lot of riff-raff hanging around there. Seemed like as good time as any to do something about it.” The crowded press room laughed.
“Do you think the Team came out flat today?”
“That’s excellent insight, Bob,” Reilly said sarcastically. “When you’re playing like we have lately, other teams are going to be up for you. We need to be prepared to handle every team at their best. I hope we don’t make that mistake again.”
They didn’t.
Chapter 30
On a cold wet November Sunday, San Francisco showed up to play a struggling Chicago team. Chicago had a rookie quarterback playing for their injured starter and a defense, uncharacteristically for the them, wasn’t stopping anyone. San Francisco established their running game and Chicago couldn’t stop it all day. Best had a hundred and forty yards and two touchdowns. Reggie Robinson had 63 yards and a touchdown. It wasn’t till two minutes to go that Chicago finally scored for a 28-7 San Francisco victory. It had been old time smash-mouth football all afternoon and it showed the offense was not just about finesse and passing. You had to respect the run from them.
The next week at home against Seattle, San Francisco again established a running game and forced the defensive changes that then opened the passing game for big plays. This was every team’s dream. Your running game is so good, it forces other teams to play run defense against it. As soon as Reilly saw the defense cheating against the run, he would change the play at the line and throw it to a receiver who was in single coverage. He would force the defense to show their hand by playing hurry up with no huddle. Seattle, like Chicago the week before, just didn’t have an answer. Neither did St. Louis the following week when San Francisco won their 8th in a row, in another easy win.
The Team was playing the best football in the league on both sides of the ball. The cover of Sports Illustrated for the week featured Tony Reilly.
Chapter 31
Mullins spent two hours returning phone calls and another hour on emails and then went to bed for a three hour nap. When he woke at 11 PM, Liz and Roger were playing backgammon in the living room. “I beat him two games, Tom.” Liz was drinking a glass of wine. Mullins grabbed a glass, opened the freezer, pulled a bottle of Stolie out, and poured himself two fingers.
“Roger, go home and go to bed. And take that fucking game with you.”
“Awwww,” said Liz. Roger packed up.
“What’s going on with the Muslims?” he asked Roger.
“Their lawyer says they didn’t do it,” Roger said, while gathering up his stuff.
“What does the news say?”
“Nothing, but their booking photos were released. The story is that they’re radicals and that they had been planning it for months according to unnamed sources.”
Liz took a sip of white wine. Mullins sat down next to her and stared at Roger. “Okay,” Mullins said. “And how did they know Tony was going to be at his house that night? Were they sitting outside his house for the last month?”
“I don’t know,” Roger said. Mullins sat there looking at Roger who sat down on the chair opposite him. Mullins opened his cell phone and made a call.
“Hey, Eddie.”
“Hey, Tommy.”
“What’s going on?”
“Well the FBI has the four guys somewhere and they’re probably sweating them.”
“That’s it?”
“Yea, the guys have no record. They were all part of the same mosque. They’re Intel Engineers and they live in Union City. That’s all we got. Just what I read on the Net.”
“Engineers? Not exactly Al Qaeda profiles.”
“Tell me about it. I wouldn’t put it past the FBI to just be on a fishing expedition.”
“Exactly.” Mullins sipped his drink.
“Just tell me how these guys knew Reilly was going to be at home that night?”
“We’re asking ourselves the same questions, Tom.”
“FBI won’t talk to you?”
“Nothing.”
“Let’s see if they’ll talk to Oscar Tierney.”
“Give it a shot. Tell him to say he needs answers. He’s trying to protect his team.”
“Eddie, do me a favor and send me the phone logs for Lydia Isackson.”
“Ummmm.”
“Come on, Eddie. My word, they don’t come back to hurt you.”
“I suppose so.”
“Excellent! Send them to Roger, will you?”
“Jesus, Tom!”
“I’ll get back to you, Eddie. Thanks.” Mullins got up and went to the kitchen to make himself another one and dialed Oscar Tierney.
“Good evening, Mr. Tierney, sorry to call so late.”
“Anytime for you, my boy. What’s going on?”
“Well, that’s what’s bothering me, sir. The police and I don’t know a thing about the arrests in the case and I was wondering if you’d heard anything.”
“The Regional guy, called me this afternoon when they picked them up and said they think they got the guys.”
“Did he say why he thought that? The big hole here is only a few people knew Reilly was in the area that night. Did they say how they knew?”
“Eavesdropping? These are some smart guys.”
“But who were the Muslims eavesdropping on so they’d know? Or is this just a big bunch of crap and the FBI has nothing?”
“You want me to make a call?”
“Yes, I would, sir, because I’ve been down this road before with these assholes and this is the type of thing they do. Specifically, how solid is the case against these guys? What do they have? Can we let our guard down?”