Jim Hubble rubbed his temples and felt a faint headache.

As a head coach, tactical arrangement, stadium games, and player tuning are his strengths; However, interpersonal relationships and dealing with the world are his weaknesses, facing the media, facing the boss, facing the players, all the same, and the locker room problem is extremely tricky, he has no idea how to deal with it, and he has no idea of taking over at all.

He didn't know what was going on in the locker room, what caused these conflicts, and what was going on. To be precise, he was not interested in learning either.

In Jim's impression, the locker room issues are left to the captain of the team, and the players and the players themselves complete the communication, which is the most convenient and effective way. He can focus on coaching; And those trivial jobs are left to professionals, which is a win-win.

But now, it's clear that things are not that simple.

For the first time, Jim did not drive away the rest of the coaching team, nor did he continue to be stubborn, but asked, "If Lu Ke continues to serve as the starting quarterback, do you really think the team's contradictions will worsen?" Even if we continue to win? ”

It's a fun way to ask questions.

Jim's focus is not on solving the problem, but on questioning the possibility that the problem will continue to get worse, and if he could, he would continue to ignore the problem. It's like if after an injury, instead of carefully checking the condition and completing the bandage, you just put a band-aid on it and expect the wound to heal on its own.

This is at least the beginning, though.

Kip opened his mouth, unsure of how to answer, and he couldn't predict what was going to come, "At least, the relationship between Vernon Davis and Lu Ke has improved." Kip could only shrug his shoulders and explain in this roundabout way, "You mean, you still want to choose Lu Ke as the starting quarterback?" ”

Jim didn't answer positively and changed the subject, "Alex started passing drills?" ”

"Yes." As a quarterback coach, Kip retracted his thoughts and said seriously, "It's still the Alex Smith in my impression." Kip also came to the San Francisco 49ers this season, but before that, everyone in the league knew something about Alex, and Kip was no exception, "The short and medium passes are stable, the technical movements are in place, and the steps are light and solid; However, the long pass still did not improve. ”

Admittedly, Alex's arm strength is not outstanding, and the stability of his long passes plummets; However, the bigger problem is that Alex has no confidence, even timidity, and does not dare to try long passes easily for fear of being intercepted - but in fact, Alex's long pass attempts are too few, and his number of intercepts is always controlled at an ultra-low number, so there is no situation where too many intercepts affect self-confidence.

Sometimes, the meaning of the existence of long passes is more to contain the strength of the defensive group. If an attacking group can run the ball, can make short passes, or can make long passes, then the defensive group is naturally exhausted; However, without the ability to strike long balls, the defense of the defensive group can become slightly concentrated.

This is Alex's problem; At the same time, it is also Lu Ke's advantage. One is steady, the other is aggressive, and both are double-edged swords, full of countless uncertainties.

Jim tucked his jaw in understanding, "Will Alex be training for the confrontation today?" How is his recovery from his knee injury? ”

The remarks were not made to Kip, but to Mark Uyeyama, the team's lead coach in the strength and conditioning group. In addition to the strength training of the players, they are also responsible for recovery training, rehabilitation training, etc.

"The team doctor has cleared it, Alex's injury has recovered, and he can continue to train against him." Mark said simply and clearly, "The specific situation still needs to be seen in training." ”

The cruciate ligament, which is one of the most vulnerable parts of the athlete's body. After many players return from injury, they are haunted by demons and often dare not make moves, which requires a process; A small number of players will never recover, they can go about their daily lives, and the game form is gone.

Jim gently retracted his jaw and didn't speak, but was carefully digesting what he had just said, "Kip, Craig, and Lu Ke's tactical manuals, have you read them all?" I mean, in the second week of the game, we still didn't have enough tactical arrangements, and we were obviously not prepared enough for the Cowboys' plan. ”

"Lu Ke sent me an email last night, he has watched the game footage of the second week of the regular season, and then analyzed all the tactics, but also analyzed his own tactical mistakes and the Cowboys' tactical choices." The content of Kip's words brought surprises and surprises, but after thinking about it carefully, he accepted it with peace of mind, and in just a few weeks, Lu Ke's consistent diligence and diligence were slowly becoming a habit.

"You got it too?" Craig showed a look of surprise, but then it turned into surprise, nodding again and again, "He doesn't look like a rookie player at all, he asks a lot of questions, derivations and changes in tactics, some of the questions are stupid, he is indeed a rookie player; But some of the questions are very genius, and they are really eye-catching. ”

"Jesus Christ." Vic, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but sigh, everyone's eyes were focused, Vic spread his hands and shook his head, "Lu Ke also sent me an email and asked me about the tactical arrangements of some defensive groups." Originally, I was watching a movie with my wife, and after receiving the email, I went to my study to view the video of the competition. ”

Vic is the coach of the defensive team, and his interpretation and understanding of defense is naturally different. Lu Ke not only interpreted the game from the perspective of the offensive group, but also tried to interpret the tactical arrangement of the defensive group.

"You mean, did he read the playbook? I mean, all! Jim interrupted the three coaches, his eyes widened and his problem emphasized.

For rookie players, they have three months after the draft to read the playbook and integrate into the team; There are also four pre-season games to rehearse specific tactics and adapt to the game. But for the undrafted rookies, the time needs to be further compressed, and maybe a third of them will not be available.

Entering the team as an undrafted rookie, Lu Ke's run-in time with the team was only six weeks, which meant that Lu Ke only had six weeks to learn the tactical manual. Even if it's a genius, even if Von Derrick tests it with a perfect score, the NFL's playbook is definitely not something that can be eaten in six weeks.

Over the course of two weeks, the choice of tactics was relatively limited, which was unavoidable.

Not only Jim's tactical choice still has certain limitations, but Lu Ke's tactical changes also have the same limitations. As the season progresses, the rookie quarterbacks need to mature and their tactical set-up to stay one step ahead of the San Francisco 49ers before the rest of the team fully understands the San Francisco 49ers' offensive and defensive teams.

"yes, I don't think it's that far off."

"He's working on it."

"At least, he's working harder than I am."

Three people, three answers, and different meanings, but Jim still nodded meaningfully, indicating understanding, "Then, we will continue to be the starting quarterback." ”

As always, Jim is an iron-fisted coach who takes his opinion and makes bold decisions. There is not the slightest dragging mud and water, and there is no superfluous foresight. It may seem sloppy, even impulsive, but it is the result of careful consideration and weighing the pros and cons.

"Jim, are you sure?" Craig asked, with a worried expression.

Such a decision was too quick and too urgent. For the past two days, all members of the coaching staff have been thinking about this and discussing it, but there has been no formal exchange of opinions with each other; Now, they've only been in the meeting for a few minutes, and Jim is already on the move?

This......

In the middle of this offseason, Alex first left the team and then returned, and under the decision of the head coach and team manager, he completed the signing with a salary of five million a year. In other words, now the San Francisco 49ers have signed a starting quarterback with five million, but when the opponent returns from injury, they have to give up the "five million" and choose to lose the rookie?

It doesn't seem like a good deal. At the very least, Jim should have thought it through. That's when Craig opened his mouth and asked questions.

Jim had gradually regained his composure at this time, and the flush on his cheeks had gradually returned to normal, and it seemed that there was no danger of explosion at all, "Have you heard of Washington's Red Skins' tactical manual routines?" ”

"Redskins?" Craig frowned, wondering why Jim chose to change the subject at this time, and even less knowing what the point of the topic was.

"Yes, I've heard of it." Kip Kleist spoke, and the coaches looked at him, and Kip explained simply, "At rookie camp, the Redskins selected the players they were interested in, and then handed out the training camp playbook, and during the interview, they asked if they had read the entire playbook. ”

"Yes, I know, we do. Across the league, more than half of the teams do it. Craig shrugged nonchalantly, "What does this have to do with the discourse we're discussing now?" ”

Kip's eyes fell on his colleague, "The difference is that they pasted a hundred-dollar bill on the last page. Of course, everyone must have said that they read the playbook, but not everyone will mention the $100 bill, and then the coach of the Redskins will bring up the $100 again to see how the players react. ”

It dawned on the coaches that "this is the honesty test!" Vic immediately understood, "This is genius! What a genius who came up with this idea! ”

Since rugby is an extremely violent sport, off the pitch, players will have some problems to a greater or lesser extent, temper control, alcohol problems, party animals, petty theft, and so on. For the team, they take it for granted that their players will stay out of trouble and choose players with good moral character as much as possible.

In this way, the small test of the Washington Redskins immediately showed its value.

"What's the matter, the test of the Redskin team tested Lu Ke?" Kip asked curiously.