[08.23.04]
Written by: Bob Pinter

For the Love of the Game, Part 4
Vick Runs, Passes, Wins

[08.23.04] (Somewhere in Hawaii) -- Michael Vick had been waiting for weeks to do it.

So he ran.

But in the third game of the PWFFL's summer tournament, the Detroit Drive quarterback was met by a crowd of West Palm Beach defenders for no gain on the game's second play.

"Man," Vick mumbled as he got up, "maybe I should just quit now."

But he didn't. He would run again. And so would his new teammates, Jamal Lewis and Eddie George. With no fullbacks on the Drive to speak of, Lewis played tailback and George fullback for most of the afternoon, looking for holes in the Chads' defense.

And when there weren't any, they created plays of their own.

It began in the second quarter, with the game still scoreless. Lewis took the ball from the Drive 20 and broke off a 16-yard run to get things going. From there, Lewis got the ball again, but this time, the defense saw it coming.

"Ain't happening, baby!" he yelled, as he slipped, reversed his field, and broke two tackles for another 16 yards, putting the Drive in Chad territory.

"WHOOOO!" George shouted as he picked himself up.

Suddenly, it was third and seven, with Detroit on the 16 yard line. Vick, drawing out the play on his hand like a schoolboy on the playground, directed Lewis and George on a sweep.

"Set...hut...hut!"

And with the grin in his eyes that he had during the last few weeks of the 2003 campaign, Vick broke away from his backs and scampered into the end zone for a 7-0 Drive lead.

With his legs seemingly recovered, Vick would then test his arm. "You ready?" he asked his number one receiver, Laverneus Coles, in the huddle after halftime.

"Always," Coles said.

Vick broke the huddle and nodded to Lewis, who came up the middle. Almost immediately, the West Palm Beach defense closed in on him. Then, the Drive's field general stepped back and pulled the ball off his hip.

"Not today!" he shouted as he let it loose to Coles, 56 yards away. Coles smiled as he caught the ball and jogged into the end zone.

"Damn!" whispered Chads' quarterback Matt Hasselbeck from the sidelines. "We are NOT going to lose today!"

"Vick's gonna have a helluva year, you watch," observed Bengals signal-caller Donovan McNabb.

"Well, the year doesn't start for another two weeks," Hasselbeck quipped back.

Chad wide receiver Derrick Mason broke away from the Drive's kickoff coverage to get to Detroit's 45. When Hasselback got to the field, he already knew what he wanted to do. "Don't get tired on me," he told Mason.

The Chads jogged out to the line of scrimmage. Mason, still trying to catch his breath, slowly began to trot downfield as Hasselback dropped back.

Drive cornerback Patrick Surtain followed. "What's the matter?" he joked. "That return wear you out?"

Mason smiled as Surtain slowed up. "You should have known better," he cracked back.

"Oh, bleep!" was all you could hear as the players gathered around the field watched Mason sprint downfield, all alone. Hasselbeck heaved a pass, Mason caught it, and pointed to Coles and Vick on the sideline.

"It ain't over yet, you two!" he yelled.

He would point again as the fourth quarter began. After a Jay Feely field goal extended the Drive's lead 17-7, Hasselbeck came out and threw one as far as his arm would allow.

And Mason, like a kid in the backyard, caught it for a 74-yard touchdown and trimmed the lead back to 3.

Detroit couldn't score on their possession, and Feely had to come back onto the field to punt. West Palm Beach promptly drove down the field and tied the score with a Doug Brien field goal with about half a minute left in the game.

"What do you think?" Vick asked his kicker. "We got enough to win this one?"

"Just get me close," Feely replied. "I'll get it for you."

Coles, playing return man, got the Drive to the 39. From there, Vick threw a pair of passes to Lewis and the newest member of the Drive, Joe Horn. And with six seconds left, Horn stood up and grinned.

"I gotta call my mama," he joked.

"Hold that thought!" yelled Feely as he ran onto the field for the final time. Off in the distance, Keyshawn Johnson called out the time.

"Five...four...."

"HOLD IT!" Feely yelled as he kicked one over the makeshift field goal, a ski rope stretched across two telephone poles, to seal it for the Drive, 20-17.

"How's it feel?" he asked Vick.

"Like I never left," the signal-caller replied with a smile.

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