It's late in season; the playoffs are fast approaching; and the Washington Sentinels have just gone on strike, Scrambling for a solution the Sentinels’ owner Edward O’Neil (JACK WARDEN) hatches a plan to bring in legendary coach Jimmy McGinty (GENE HACKMAN) to recruit a team of replacement players in exactly one week.
For fans and owners alike, the strike is a disaster. But for Shane Falco (KEANU REEVES) and a mismatched crew of outsiders, it is the second chance they’ve waited their whole live for.
Though Shane now works scraping boats in the harbor, McGinty sees in him a quality the pro guys lack-he plays not for the money, but for his genuine love of the game.
Also recruited to play are butter-fingered sprinter Clifford Franklin(ORLANDO JONES); over-zealous L.A. cop Daniel Bateman (JON FAVREAU); Welsh star kicker and chain-smoker Nigel “the Leg” Gruff (RHYS IFANS); Earl Wilkinson (MICHAEL JACE), who is already a guest of the state of Maryland…in their penitentiary; born-again Christian Walter Cochean (TROY WINBUSH); music industry bodyguards Andre and Jamal Jackson (MICHAEL “BEAR” TALIFERRO and FAIZON LOVE); young, talented and deaf player Brian Murphy (DAVID DENMAN); AND jumbo Fumiko (ACE YONAMINE), a huge Japanese sumo wrestler and the new team’s secret weapon.
These underdogs are not exactly pro football’s finest. But their passionate love for the game and trust in each other will bring something back to football yhat it has misses for a long time-heart.