Scott Hicks mentions (commentary at 28:50) that the dialogue between Ted and Bobby for Bronko Nagurski's comeback game is a complete invention by Screenwriter William Goldman (who saw the game) and was not mentioned in Stephen King's text. It provided Hicks a cinematic means of emphasizing the bonding between Ted and Bobby, achieved through the performances of the actors, the camera slowly dollying in, and faint sounds of the action being described.