347 - Hollywood: Winner Takes America (Patreon)

347 - The Secret Weapon

"There it is again: Callahan's falling-leaf throw! Donald Driver has it, and he's into the end zone. Los Angeles takes the lead!"

"Only once before this season have the Rams played from behind. Since their opener, nobody has kept them there. Now the defending champion's quarterback is making them chase him."

"And he's working for every yard. The Angels' protection has struggled against this front. The pocket keeps giving way, and Callahan has had to fight off rushers just to get the ball out."

Nolan came to the sideline and removed his helmet. His breathing had grown heavy.

The line's weakness was impossible to miss now. Waters had made a few effective blocks, but more often St. Louis had sent several rushers through before Nolan could settle.

Waters came off a step behind him, lips pale and sweat running down his neck. He sank to the bench and needed a moment before he could answer the coach checking on him.

The rest of the offense was tiring too. Their routes and decoys demanded constant running.

Andy had ordered those extra off-ball movements because Nolan rarely had time for a long read. If receivers could pull defenders out of position early, he might still find a throw before the pocket broke. It had worked, but it was costing them.

Midway through the third quarter, Los Angeles was ahead. If it could protect that lead, it would have beaten the league's most frightening offense.

Nolan didn't look relieved. St. Louis was taking the field with an entirely fresh group of wide receivers.

"Three new receivers for the Rams," the announcer said. "They've replaced the whole group at once. Are they going to keep attacking?"

"They can. That depth is one reason Martz can run this passing game for four quarters."

The replacements moved as if the game had just begun, and Warner pushed the pace higher.

Minutes later the Rams answered with a touchdown. Warner kept the offense on the field for a two-point try.

The fresh receivers found space again. St. Louis converted and took the lead.

Nolan looked toward his teammates. The brief rest hadn't been enough to restore their legs.

Football gave them one game a week for a reason. Even a sixteen-game regular season could wear down a roster; an NBA-length schedule was unthinkable.

The fourth quarter suddenly looked a long way off.

"Our depth is going to beat us," Nolan said.

The Angels had exceptional players: Nolan, Edgerrin, Champ. At too many other positions, they were still an expansion club.

Against an ordinary opponent, those stars could carry them. Sometimes the team around them only had to hold on.

Against the Rams, whose pressure made last year's Vikings look almost tame, every thin spot became a way in.

Andy could call a good game. He couldn't make exhausted receivers run like fresh ones.

The fourth quarter proved Nolan right.

Los Angeles slowed. Nolan broke free a few times on his own, but twice he put the ball in a receiver's hands only to watch the play die because the man had no burst left to escape.

St. Louis, by contrast, accelerated.

The Angels didn't score again. The Rams added two fourth-quarter touchdowns before the clock ran out.

Applause filled the Rose Bowl. The home crowd was disappointed, but it hadn't forgotten what an expansion team had done to stay with the Rams for so long.

For much of the game, Los Angeles had matched them and even taken the lead. That meant something.

"They lost, but there's plenty here for the Angels to build on," the analyst said. "They're the only team to put more than thirty points on St. Louis this season."

"And Warner just set another personal mark. Six hundred and ten combined passing and rushing yards. He may be looking at another NFC Offensive Player of the Week award."

"Callahan ought to be in the AFC conversation too."

"Would Warner have put up these numbers behind the Angels' line? Would Callahan have done even more with the Rams? We'll never know. That's the thing about sports: you play the game you have."

Nolan led his teammates through the tunnel. Across the field, St. Louis celebrated a victory that meant more than another entry in the standings.

It gave Warner the upper hand in the day's comparison with Nolan.

Warner himself barely smiled. Years of waiting for an NFL chance had taught him how quickly it could disappear. He was already turning to the next opponent. Until he held the championship trophy, there was no reason to ease off.

The Angels filed into their locker room. All three coaches were waiting.

After most games, they went position by position through what needed work. They had done it after wins too.

This time, instead of opening with criticism, they applauded.

"You played well today," Andy said.

"And we may get another shot at them," Holmgren said with a shrug and a grin.

The Rams played in the NFC; the Angels were in the AFC. The regular-season schedule wouldn't give them a rematch anytime soon.

One player started to point that out.

"He means the postseason," Nolan said.

There was only one place an NFC team could meet an AFC team in the postseason: the Super Bowl.

Holmgren was telling them he still believed the Angels could get there.

"Then I'll be the one who puts Warner on his back," a defensive end said.

The room laughed. Nobody made plans around it.

A Super Bowl berth still sounded impossibly far away.

The defeat didn't stop people from finding the Angels. Traffic to the team's site hit a new high as fans replayed the matchup online.

When Nolan later asked his brother about the numbers, he learned that many of the new visitors came from Texas. Houston hadn't received the expansion club, but Dallas fans still followed the quarterback who had brought their team a title.

The Cowboys' rough season and steady run of unwanted headlines had left plenty of those fans frustrated. They remembered what Dallas had looked like with Nolan under center, and some had begun watching Los Angeles too.

If a few of them bought officially licensed Angels cheer-squad merchandise, Nolan wouldn't object.

On Monday morning, he reached the practice facility two hours before the scheduled report time.

He wasn't alone for long. Andy arrived soon afterward.

"You don't look broken up about yesterday," Andy said.

"I'm not. We lost, but now we know what has to change."

The list was long, and Nolan wanted to start immediately.

The line came first. They couldn't rebuild it through the draft in October; for now they had to coach the players they had, look carefully at any available help, and keep Nolan upright.

The system came next. Andy and Holmgren had seen Martz's offense at full speed. They could borrow its movement and timing without pretending the Angels had the Rams' depth.

Once the protection improved, those ideas might raise the whole offense.

"Pittsburgh is next," Andy said. "That should tell us whether any of this is working."

After the Steelers came San Francisco and Tennessee.

The 49ers had fallen off badly that year. The other two would be hard tests.

Pittsburgh had joined the NFL in 1933 and won four Super Bowls in the seventies. The Rooney family had made the franchise one of the league's enduring institutions, much as the Hunts had done in the West.

Recent seasons had been less kind. The Steelers had missed the playoffs the year before, and their four-and-three start left them near the Angels in the standings.

"One more thing," Andy said. "That falling-leaf throw you told me about."

Nolan had complained that it was too difficult to teach. Almost a year after he'd first used it in a game, other quarterbacks still rarely attempted it.

"I have an idea. Wait here."

Andy returned with a pair of football gloves.

Receivers routinely wore tacky gloves. Quarterbacks were less consistent: some preferred the extra grip, while others needed the feel of bare leather.

Nolan belonged to the second group. Gloves changed his release, costing him touch and speed, especially on the stranger throws he liked to try.

"You said you need more contact with the ball," Andy said. "I can't make your hands grow. This is the next thing I can change."

Nolan put on the gloves and threw. The ball followed a path well away from his target. He shook his head.

"A little more grip isn't worth losing the feel."

"Then I'll change the padding and surface, within the equipment rules." Andy rubbed his chin.

His smile turned sly. "As for the feel, we can work on that."

Two hours later, the other players arrived to find Nolan still loosening his throwing arm. He looked as if he'd already finished a practice.

Neither he nor Andy told them what they'd been testing. If the modified glove worked, they wanted the falling-leaf throw to remain a surprise.

That afternoon Nolan turned his ankle during drills. It was the same ankle he'd had surgery on, so the trainers examined him and pulled him from practice. It seemed minor, but there was no reason to push it.

He left practice early. He didn't go home; Katherine, Grace, and Kelsey were all occupied with the move.

Instead he crossed the team offices and went downstairs, returning greetings from staff along the way.

The Angels' cheer squad was gathered there. Nolan had news for them.

"In two weeks, four guests from our modeling side are expected. We'll coordinate a session with you next week once the agency confirms their roles."

Gisele, Adriana, and Alessandra would join the adult squad for the planned appearance. Izabel's visit required Sarah's and her guardian's approval. She would attend only as a younger agency guest, not perform in the adult cheer routine or join its photo campaign.

"And it's time to plan an individual photo book for each member of the squad," Nolan added.