“Krueger wants us to slow things down, again,” Hudson says as they announce we’re ten minutes from landing.
I nod. “It makes sense. They’re a fast team.”
“We’re faster.”
I smirk. “Hell yes we are, and Palmer will run circles around their defense.”
“But, they’re expecting that.”
I meet his eyes, recognizing his indecision. “They’ll try to blitz.”
“We’ve only run the trick play in practice.”
“Plus, Peters will lose his shit. He was an asshole all week over us changing direction last weekend,” I remind him.
“But Florida won’t expect it.”
“You should be having this conversation with Grey. He’s better at thinking through the logistics and understanding the PC bullshit.”
“You see opportunities on the field no one else does.”
I shake my head. “I just tell you what I’d do.”
Hudson nods. “Because you played defense all through high school.”
“Half the guys on the team did. You were the only prodigy.”
He glowers. “I don’t want to make decisions based on Peters or fearing his retaliation. I want to make decisions that ensure we’ll win.”
“We’re a passing team because you’ve got a cannon for an arm and because that’s what Peters knows to coach but we could be one hell of a running team. It isn’t worth risking our positions or Peters’s wrath because we’re going to win, despite his thirty-year playbook.”
“If Peters wasn’t a consideration?”
I release a long sigh. “Florida’s going to crowd the line of scrimmage. If we attacked the entire field, we’d force mismatches. We could run traps, power plays, isolations, pick passes, and leads to exploit the hell out of them. They wouldn’t know what hit them.” I’m only reiterating what he already knows.
“We’re good enough. We’ll still have this win. Let’s pull these risks against a tougher team.”
“I thought you liked risks?”
“And I thought you were the nice one in our group.”
Hudson chuckles then inclines his head as my phone vibrates with a text. “Hadley?”
I confirm the message is from her and then nod.
“You’re worried about Katie?”
“Her first rule for allowing me to live there was I can’t date, flirt, or hook up with her roommates.”
Hudson laughs jauntily, enjoying my predicament. “So you can have the girl or live off campus?”
“I don’t know if this is the right time.”
“Right time for what?”
I shake my head. “You know how busy shit gets.”
“I also know you encouraged me to make things work with Evelyn.”