In the first game of the preseason, Lu Ke came to New Orleans again, and it felt quite amazing.

In rookie camp, he almost thought he might join the New Orleans Saints and learn the skills of quarterbacking in the footsteps of Drew Brice; However, at the end of the round, he joined the San Francisco 49ers and then faced the Saints in the first official game of his career.

Although, he is just a substitute, sitting on the bench, observing; Although, this is just a pre-season game, and the goal of both sides of the game is not to win, but to hone in tactics and team lineups; However, such a coincidence still made Lu Ke feel quite amazing.

Especially on the first night of arriving in New Orleans, when he was about to leave the training base, Lu Ke unexpectedly met Joe Lombardi. Qiao still remembered Lu Ke and took the initiative to say hello, and the two chatted for a while. This makes fate even more interesting.

It's a pity that Lu Ke didn't start the game, and this "fateful" duel failed to form a real ring after all.

The arrangement of the preseason is strategic, generally speaking, the first two games of the four preseason games are the process of testing tactics and polishing cooperation, and the main quarterback may play a quarter or half of the game to find a feel and warm up; For the remainder of the game, two or three backup quarterbacks take turns playing.

On the one hand, there is competition between the backup quarterbacks, the second quarterback, the third quarterback, these positions are exquisite, and the preseason is their best stage; On the other hand, the offensive group tactics are practiced, and the absolute main team, the secondary main team and the first substitute players also take turns on the court, trying different permutations and combinations.

The third and fourth games are relatively more important. The main quarterback is likely to play the full half of the game, and the rest of the main players may even play the full game, to really test the form and ability of the season.

But the situation of San Francisco's 49ers this year is somewhat peculiar.

Half of the team is brand new, all the players are just running into a training camp, the main quarterback is a first-year freshman, even the coaching staff is new inside and out, all the tactics, all the combinations, all the combinations, all have to start from scratch.

Especially the coaching style. Jim Hubble is a unique, distinctive, and sharp coach, and with the 49ers at the helm, he'll need to find a way to lead the team to victory.

Therefore, the pre-season has become the most important training ground. It's exactly Jim's style.

For Lu Ke, that meant he had to sit on the bench and watch the game; The whole team revolves around Collin Kaepernick as the core, not only to polish the tactics, but also to give Colin a chance to grow the rookie quarterback quickly.

In the first game of the preseason, Lu Ke only played six gears of offense in the middle of the fourth quarter of the game. The reason is that in order to give Colin and Kip time to communicate, subsequently, Lu Ke finished his work, and Colin went into battle again.

In the end, the San Francisco 49ers lost to the New Orleans Saints with a huge score difference of "3:24".

Collin Kaepernick's performance was a disaster, with only seven of his eighteen pass attempts succeeded, a success rate of less than 50 percent, and only 41 yards advanced; The running ball was relatively better, and he rushed the ball and scored 38 yards; There were also two interceptions.

Throughout the game, the San Francisco 49ers had few chances, and the offensive and defensive ends were comprehensively suppressed.

But for Lu Ke, the gain is not only the playing time of the six-gear offense, this game has become the best carrier for him to observe the actual combat and deduce the tactics.

On the third day of entering the team, the playbook was only two-thirds of the way through – just reading it, not understanding it, let alone understanding and applying it. Lu Ke must make the most of all the time and adapt to the job of a professional quarterback as soon as possible, and the tactical manual will be the most basic and important first step.

So, Lu Ke sat on the bench and began to observe every attack, not only the 49ers, but also the Saints, and then combined with the tactical manual, to understand and use it. If he didn't understand some tactics, he would write down the time of the offensive game, and then watch the game footage and analyze it further.

Not only that, when Kip and Jim discussed offensive tactics, Lu Ke also took the initiative to stand in the back, listen attentively, and then watch the actual tactical use of the team, and truly overturn the whole from the perspective of a professional player, re-examine the tactics, rearrange the tactics, and reinterpret the tactics.

The competition is starting to get interesting.

When the whistle blew for the end of the game, Lu Ke didn't notice the numbers on the scoreboard or Colin's performance, but replayed the whole game in his mind with great intent, and couldn't wait to go back and read the tactical manual and start learning and revisiting.

Why might a rookie quarterback be overwhelmed when standing on the court? Why are rookie players likely to be flawed when it comes to tactical execution? Why does everyone say that the NFL's tactics are completely NCAA? Why do teams tend to give rookie players more time to learn during their rookie season?

After really entering the preseason and really watching the game as a substitute player, Lu Ke finally got a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg.

There are more than 20,000 kinds of tactics, which is like chess or Go, thousands of tactical permutations and combinations, and the game has become an art; But rugby goes one step further, the game of the spirit, and the confrontation of the body, only when it is running and mobilizing at the same time, and leading its own thousands of troops to win the game.

Before the official kick-off, the quarterback's task can be divided into three simple parts during the tactical set-up.

The first part is to direct the offensive front, read the formation of the defensive group, predict the trend of the defensive group, and then arrange the offensive forward line in a targeted manner. It's a must-have skill for traditional pocket quarterbacks, as the offensive front line is the barrier to pocket protection, and they need more time to watch and pass the ball.

Passing masters like Payton Manning and Drew Bliss can often switch and change tactics to tune/coach an excellent offensive forward line to provide more protection for themselves. As for the average quarterback, they can only pray for themselves, hoping that the team can piece together a top-notch offensive line.

The second part is directing the receivers, including wide receivers, close forwards and running backs, and the players have different running routes depending on the tactical combination. Goal routes, flagstick routes, sideline routes, middle gaps, cross runs, all of which have a rich combination of combinations.

A simple example, the goal route. The wide receiver starts and dashes forward for ten yards, then cuts in in the direction of the goal, running inside the area corresponding to the goal frame and waiting to receive the ball. This is only the most basic route, and the specific execution can also be divided into short passes, medium passes and long passes, as well as the combination of other players to cover, as well as mutual dismantling and so on.

The third part is to coordinate the tactical distribution of offensive forwards and receivers. Players are assigned different tasks depending on the strategy, and quarterbacks need to have a clear understanding of the entire offensive system and then make the right and appropriate arrangements.

Sometimes, every running route and every defensive route of every player is fixedly arranged, one turnip and one pit, and the quarterback and other offensive players only need to execute, pass, and receive the ball according to the plan, which is called the system quarterback, relying on the entire offensive system to make a profit, and the real credit is the coaching staff.

But sometimes, the pitch is changing in a flash, and the receiver runs according to the route and then plays freely; The offensive forward line makes corresponding changes according to the defensive interpretation; At the same time, the quarterback must also adjust accordingly, change the tactics, temporarily choose the passing route, and evolve the coaching staff's tactics into the quarterback's own thing, further dividing the possibilities.

There are systematic quarterbacks, and naturally there are systematic players.

Some coaching staff like system players because they have reached the perfect level of control over the arrangement of tactics, and system players are like chess pieces in their hands, which can accurately achieve their goals; Some coaches don't like the system players, because the changes in the game process are too fast, too many and too complicated, they stand on the sidelines and are helpless, and the game still needs players to complete the game.

In the 2005 draft, scouts identified Aaron Rodgers as a system quarterback, which led directly to a decline in the draft pick; But as it turned out later, the scouts were blindsided.

However, regardless of whether you are a system player or not, the importance of the tactical manual cannot be overstated. Every link, every detail, is closely related to tactics, more than 20,000 tactics, definitely not just talking, this is just the tactics before the kick-off, after the real game, that is another story.

Compared with the NCAA, the NFL games are completely different in terms of grade and level, not to mention the intensity of confrontation, the intensity of the game and the pace of the game.

For rookie players, entering the professional league is like suddenly entering an entire library from a small room, and the information in front of them is not only huge, but also complex, completely overwhelming, not to mention quarterbacks, and the same is true for every other position, if the offensive forward or receiver understands the tactics wrongly, the results speak for themselves.

Even the rest of the players, let alone the quarterbacks who are in charge of the tactical arrangements?

In football, the quarterback is the only player in the offensive team who communicates directly with the coaching staff, and the coach's tactical arrangements and defensive interpretations are all summarized in the quarterback's first place. If the quarterback doesn't know the tactics well, or even messes around, then it can be disastrous for the team.

Even though Lu Ke was mentally prepared, even though Lu Ke had poured all his attention, standing in front of the huge tactical arsenal, he still felt his insignificance.