349 - Hollywood: Winner Takes America (Patreon)

349 - Trouble at Three Rivers

Rachel hadn't objected when Belinda first raised the idea of a photo book. Now Nolan understood why. "You're in trouble financially?" he asked. After a halting start, she told him her mother had a rare illness and the treatment was expensive.

"When you've done everything you can and nothing is changing, sometimes you have to let go," Nolan said. "God would understand."

Rachel offered no answer.

In the end, Nolan agreed to lend her the money. Most of what she earned would go toward repayment. After she left, he called Peter, his assistant and driver.

"Look into someone for me," he said.

The next day the squad's practice room stood empty. Even heavily pregnant Kelsey had gone with the women to oversee the Mexico shoot. Nolan remained with the team to prepare for Pittsburgh.

"Aaron Smith and Kevin Henry can bring pressure," Andy Reid said during practice. "The Steelers have speed, strength, and a scheme built to get downhill fast. Rhodes would love a front like that."

It was a joke at Ray Rhodes's expense. Pittsburgh had talent, but it had not shown the precision or menace of the Rams, which made Andy's planning easier.

"Easier than St. Louis?" Nolan asked, wiping sweat from his face.

"By a fair margin. If we ever wanted to test something new, this is the week."

Andy was not yet one of the league's celebrated head coaches, but Nolan liked the way he thought. He could rebuild a familiar West Coast concept into something opponents hadn't prepared for. The long strike Nolan had tried before owed something to Andy's suggestions. Give him time and buy-in, and the Angels might develop an offense no other team quite resembled.

"Let's hear it," Nolan said.

"I call it the jet screen." Andy leaned over the play sheet.

The idea was simple enough: use motion, a quick throw, and the line's position to screen pursuers from a back already moving into space. The timing between the back and the blockers was not simple at all. Nolan called over the skill players and the offensive line to walk through it.

By afternoon, the offense and defense were running live drills around the new call.

"This is Andy's great new play?"

Mike Rucker laughed after reaching Nolan for the eighth time. Practice rules had kept the quarterback from taking eight full hits, but the sacks were there on the tape.

Nolan let his teammates pull him up. Even he was beginning to wonder whether the play was worth the trouble.

"Why leave him exposed?" Holmgren demanded. "The back should block, not pretend to block."

Nolan could hear him clearly from across the field.

"We want the rush to commit," Andy shot back. "Once the ball is out, the linemen become the screen. The back has to show protection and release, or he can't be there to catch it."

"How does Nolan get the ball out if the back doesn't protect him?"

"Once he's thrown it, he doesn't need protection."

The players traded looks as the two coaches argued over each other.

"Don't use it on Sunday," Holmgren told Nolan, turning away from Andy.

"Don't listen to him. The game is our best chance to find the timing. We'll need this against the Rams when we see them again," Andy said.

Nolan waited until both men had stopped talking.

"The play suits a line that can't hold forever," he said. "That sounds like ours. If we're comfortably ahead, we'll try it against Pittsburgh."

It was a compromise with a purpose. A game rep would tell them more than another clean practice rep, but there was no reason to gamble the score on an unproven call. Every play carried risk; they could choose when to take it.

For the rest of the week, Nolan arrived early. Andy was usually waiting in the indoor facility, ready for an hour of private throwing work before the team gathered. After the regular session came more installation and drills.

Holmgren trusted a complete system and disliked changing course in the middle of a game. Andy liked surprises. Nolan didn't think either instinct was wrong. His job was to take the discipline from one and the invention from the other without giving either man a chance to wreck the offense.

On Sunday afternoon, the CBS booth welcomed viewers to Three Rivers Stadium and the Angels' visit to Pittsburgh.

"Los Angeles has been one of the surprises of the year," the analyst said. "Nolan Callahan won a Super Bowl last season, and now he's holding an expansion team together. After the Rams loss, the Angels are three and four. In a division with Oakland and Kansas City in the race, they can't keep giving games away. Even a wild-card place could get tight."

"Pittsburgh is four and three," his partner replied. "The Steelers missed the postseason last year, and their line has needed rebuilding. A home win today would put them in much better position."

The Angels opened with the West Coast timing they had used against St. Louis, mixing in an occasional deep shot. Without the Rams' relentless offense on the other side, Los Angeles's defense had room to breathe. Kordell Stewart still demanded attention.

Stewart, known as "Slash," could play more than quarterback. He had lined up as a receiver and a runner in college and the NFL, giving Pittsburgh options most teams lacked.

He had played in the Steelers' Super Bowl loss to Dallas after the 1995 season. In 1996 he broke an eighty-yard scoring run against Carolina, and his mobility remained a calling card when he became Pittsburgh's starter in 1997.

The Steelers used him less often all over the formation now, and Rhodes had prepared his defense for a more conventional passing game. Stewart could still punish a careless front with his legs, but Pittsburgh had struggled to push the ball deep.

Andy had also warned Nolan about the designed runs. Brendon Ayanbadejo, a linebacker Nolan had brought in, stayed patient in Stewart's likely lanes and twice threatened to blow up a play before it developed.

Nolan, meanwhile, kept the Angels moving. His throws led them to two first-half touchdowns.

At halftime Los Angeles led 14-3.

Andy was already arranging the next series in the locker room. He wanted the jet screen in the third quarter.

When the teams returned, Pittsburgh changed its look completely.

"A direct snap," the announcer said. "We haven't seen the Steelers pull out this package in a long time."

"The Angels have controlled the first half. Bill Cowher is searching for another way to put pressure on them."

On the sideline, Nolan watched Stewart leave the quarterback's spot and split out wide.

A running back would take the snap. From there Pittsburgh could run, throw, or get the ball to Stewart for another pass. The extra option forced defenders to account for more than the man standing behind center.

Rhodes's surprise lasted only a moment. He looked down at his play sheet.

"Different personnel from the last time they tried it," Holmgren said. "Cowher must be out of answers."

If the package worked every week, every team would use it. Holmgren doubted Pittsburgh had enough practice with this group to execute it consistently.

The back took the direct snap and curved toward the weak side instead of throwing.

Rhodes held the rushers back a beat. Once the back committed, they moved to contain him.

Nolan saw Stewart retreat from his wide alignment.

"Watch the second pass!" he shouted.

Too late. The back pitched the ball backward to Stewart, who caught it with no defender close enough to disrupt the exchange.

Champ Bailey stayed with the receiver assigned to him. Rhodes had anticipated the second pass and positioned help to take away Stewart's first read.

Stewart saw no opening downfield. He tucked the ball, slipped past the defender closing on him, and crossed the line of scrimmage before a linebacker could recover.

The safety finally brought him down after a gain of twenty-eight yards.

"Pittsburgh's best offensive play today," the announcer said. "Stewart read the coverage, then made them pay with his legs."

The home crowd roared. On the next snap, the Steelers showed the same look.

The back again swept toward the weak side. This time a slot receiver blocked for him, and Stewart's retreat drew the defenders' eyes without a second pitch.

Eleven more yards. The formation had created room for the back as well as Stewart.

The Angels had not expected Pittsburgh to revive this package, and their defense was a step late. Rhodes and the other coaches searched for an answer between plays.

Pittsburgh finished the drive with a touchdown. Its extra point skimmed the upright but went through: 14-10.

"They have a new look," Andy told the Angels' offense as it prepared to take the field. "So do we."

"Los Angeles has changed personnel too," the CBS announcer said. "A fullback and a running back are flanking Callahan."

At the snap, both backs broke from Nolan's sides. It looked as if they were staying to protect a deep drop. Instead they slipped toward the space behind the line, where one of them was supposed to take a short throw.

Nolan saw the running back reach his mark. He lifted his arm, and the field lurched sideways.

From the stands, it was clear what had happened. Without a blocker in the backfield, Nolan was exposed. A defender drove into him as he lifted the ball to throw, before his arm came forward.

He tried to secure the ball on the way down. It slipped across his fingertips.

"Fumble!"

Both teams converged. A Pittsburgh defensive tackle got there first and scooped it up as blockers turned to escort him.

Bodies collided around the loose-ball return. He held on through the traffic and found daylight.

"Touchdown, Steelers! Pittsburgh takes the lead!"

"The Angels tried something new, and the risk caught them. Callahan seldom loses the ball like that, but the defense had a free run at him."

The camera found Andy and Holmgren arguing on the sideline. They had coached together before; now they couldn't agree on what the failed play meant.

"Los Angeles is in trouble," the analyst said.

"That play is garbage," Edgerrin James muttered. "We never should have called it there."

A teammate helped Nolan up. He heard the complaint but said nothing yet.

The sideline dispute had drawn players between the two coaches, and the television cameras were fixed on them.

Nolan headed over.