Monday, September 26, 2011

Mr. Touchdown Update

If you started Eli 10.1 on your fantasy team this weekend, I have only two words to say to you: good decision.

On his team's first offensive play on Friday, Eli lined up wide left, but a few yards behind the line of scrimmage. I knew this meant that he'd be going in motion, and would either take a handoff from the quarterback or run out the fake.

The defense had no one in position on the right side past the tight end, and I realized that if he did get the ball, he was going to score.

The ball was snapped, and Michael handed it off to Eli, who was already almost running at full speed. I turned to Gloria and said, "He's gone."

I was correct. 30 yards later, Eli 10.1 had his first touchdown of the season.

Later that half, he caught a pass on a slant route, but there were a ton of kids around him and his flag was pulled immediately.

Early in the second half, he caught a punt, ran to the left sideline, then cut back all the way across the field, so close to the right sideline that he was only inches away from going out of bounds.

40 yard punt return. Touchdown.

The sixth-grade coach, who is both a very nice guy and a friend of Eli's, turned to me and said, "When I saw him start that cutback, I was thinking 'Don't try that garbage.' Now that he scored, I think I'll just be quiet."

About 10 minutes later, Eli caught a pass on a slant route, ran between about five kids, and scored. 30 yard touchdown.

He had four touches on offense for the game, and on three of them, he scored. Plus seven tackles, two passes defensed, and about a dozen quarterback hurries. He even blitzed on one play, almost sacked the quarterback, then made the tackle on the completed pass.

I think he may have warping powers.

His team won 19-0. After the game, he came over and I handed him a Gatorade. "I'm pretty sure you made the SportsCenter Top 10," I said, and he laughed. He drank the Gatorade for a few minutes, then said, "Okay, Dad, I'm good. Are you ready?"

Well, you know what happened next. We walked across the street and played tennis for an hour before we went home.

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