Two Minute Drill (Bases Loaded Jam Series #2)

Ch. 65: Fourth Quarter (Brett/Gordon/Kendra/Scout)

Brett

Dallas returned the kickoff as the third quarter ended. They then went on a drive that saw Brad Cummings pick apart our defense. He connected with his receivers on plays of eight, seven, six, eight, seven, ten, nine, and six yards that got Dallas inside our ten. My heart was nervous that I couldn't even watch because I was worried our defense wouldn't be able to hold them off.

But then, the Cowboys tried to get cute and pull off a reverse play, which Sammy Jimenez read and forced a tackle for a loss. On second down, Brad was flushed from the pocket by Najai McQueen and he threw a pass out of bounds. Third down was coming and we needed a stop to force Dallas to kick a field goal.

Brad barked out the signals and dropped back. He immediately, went to his right and looked for a receiver. He saw one and was able to throw the pass in the direction. But Xavier Grundy deflected the pass for the incompletion. Dallas then kicked a field goal to cut the deficit to 31-30.

As I look over to Luke's suite, the man with the red mark on his face was on the phone. I couldn't hear much, but I did catch him saying, "We are not kicking a field goal ever again. We are going to score touchdowns on fourth down from here on out. Is that clear?"

I knew he was frustrated by the field goal as his team was still down. But I didn't care. I knew he was tensing up.

"He does look good in red," I heard Scout say to which I smile. If only Scout could feel what I was feeling now.

Kendra

Gordon went back on the field to lead a drive and I could see he had the confidence that we would score. I had that same confidence myself and I knew we would score. It was only a matter of time. I always knew the fourth quarter was when he would shine. There were so many times he thrived in the fourth quarter. It was when he was at his best. He had a lot of comeback wins in his football career in the fourth quarter.

Dallas kicked off and were returned it to our 15 before a holding penalty brought us back to the five-yard line. Yet, that never seemed to phase Gordon, who opened the drive with a quick pass to Otis for eight yards. Kwame Alexander picked up six yards for the first down before Gordon connected with his tight end for seven. A rush by Matt Spencer would set up a first down completion of 10 yards from Gordon to Ryan.

After rushes of three and two yards by Kwame and his backup Kerry McGee respectively, Gordon managed to complete thirteen yards of passing on the next two plays to Bobby Waters and Ryan respectively. Then, Gordon surprised everyone by calling a bootleg in which he faked the handoff to Kwame and rolled to his left picking up 13 yards on the ground. Soon, Gordon found Otis open for 22 yards, which brought us down to the seven yard line.

Kwame had three yards on the next rush to put us four yards away from the endzone. That was when Dallas called their first timeout of the quarter. I knew immediately what was happening. Gordon was leading a drive that was not only killing time off the clock, but also making the Cowboys' defense tired. They hadn't been used to being in tight games like this nor face an offense that was not afraid to go on long drives to wear them down.

I glanced at the clock and saw that there were under six minutes were left on the clock and immediately, I knew that we were going to score. We had the momentum on our side and I knew our defense would be well-rested when they went on the field. As I'm watching this drive unfold, I happen to glance on the TV to listen to Al Michaels and Cris Collingsworth talking.

Al: Cris, what we're watching now is a young man who in one season when from backup that had miracle comebacks a year prior to suddenly becoming an NFL quarterback in our eyes.