"Now, it's time to witness another skill for quarterbacks." Before the attack began, Kirk further explained to the crowd, "Control the time, control the tempo of the game, and also, hold the victory firmly in your hands." It's a basic, simple skill, but not every quarterback can master. ”

The game is about to end, there are three minutes and sixteen seconds left, the score on the court is "10:24", the San Francisco 49ers lead, and it must have two balls to catch up, which also means that the 49ers have the initiative.

In such a situation, the task of the attacking team is not to continue to score touchdowns, or to continue to score, but to consume game time. Generally speaking, the team's coaching staff will use a lot of running tactics, each running can consume six to ten seconds, and the quarterback can use up the forty-second countdown before the offense, tee off at the last minute, and then use the run to further burn the time.

Back and forth, there is not much need for tactics at all, even if the strikeouts are out, they can consume about a hundred seconds.

However, if one run the ball and run out of a large yard; Or maybe it's a surprise pass, and after completing the yardage, they get the first attack again, which means that the attacking group can continue to use the same trick and continue to consume time.

The more time consumed, the smaller the window left for the opponent.

What's more, the risk of passing is too great, and it can be intercepted or even counterattacked; The risk of running the ball is even smaller, and the running guard is focused on protecting the ball and not rushing greedily, so there is almost no danger of dropping the ball. In addition, the quarterback handed the football directly to the running back, which is also not the possibility of being tackled by a raider.

In short, it's the safest and most correct choice in every way.

Unless there is a small probability event, the running back drops the ball, and the opponent gets the ball and completes the return touchdown; Or maybe the quarterback and running back made a mistake in coordination, didn't take much time, and simply struck out - such a small probability event has really happened on the football field, and there are more than imagined.

So, as Kirk said, it's time to witness another skill of quarterbacks: game control. Instead of controlling the offense, it controls the pace of advancement of the entire offensive group, effectively consuming time.

After Lu Ke returned to the field, after the offensive group completed the formation, Lu Ke did not rush to kick off, but still read the defense according to his habits.

I kept thinking back to what Jim had just said, "Run, run, run." "All Lu Ke needs to do is kick off and then hand the football to the running back – not Marcus Lynch, but Kendall Hunter, and leave the rest to Hunter, like a tank opening the way, and that's it.

There are no tactics to speak of, and there is no skill to speak of. Jim kept repeating it, three times before and after, because he knew that rookie quarterbacks often have a strong desire to show and can't help but want to show off, only to make mistakes that can be irreparable.

But at this time, Lu Ke had a different idea, "Coach, the Tigers have put on a strong anti-run formation, and Hunter can't run two yards at all, and may even lose yards." ”

The familiar voice came from the headphones, not Jim Hubble's, but Brian-Hampton, who was sitting in the tactical analysis room above the court.

The tactical analysis room, known as "ar-room" in English, literally translates to "war room", and the smell of gunpowder smoke fills the air. There are two tactical analysis rooms above each pitch, which act like dressing rooms for the home and away teams.

It's the on-the-spot command fortress for each team, with data analysts, team managers, player management managers, and so on, all coming together – and if the team owner is in a good mood, they may also leave their VIP box and come to the tactical analysis room to boost morale.

For each tactical arrangement, the coach next to the court will communicate directly with the tactical analysis room, and then give instructions. Generally speaking, the head coach is the one who makes the decisions; Occasionally, the manager of a powerful team will take command and give tactical instructions directly during the game.

Among the San Francisco 49ers, Trent Balk is a person who knows how to measure, he did not interfere with the team's tactical work, and gave carte blanche to Jim Hubble; So, the one in charge of the analysis room is Brian Hampton, who is the team's tactical director, who is responsible for summarizing the data of all the data analysts, combined with the team's playbook, and giving real-time feedback during the game.

In the tactical arrangement, Brian, Jim and Lu Ke, these three people are on the same line, and they communicate directly; If the offensive coach, the defensive coach, the quarterback coach, the lineback coach, etc., need to communicate, they will interject through the intercom in their hand, switch channels, and then interject.

"Lu Ke, according to the plan, according to the plan!" Brian repeated the instructions, and it seemed that he had no intention of listening to Lu Ke's suggestion at all.

"I mean, if you choose a short pass and you take it by surprise, we can take advantage of the player's movement and spend more time with the success rate of the pass. This is far more reasonable than Hunter's running ball, directly encountering a wall-hitting interception, and then the offense is over. Lu Ke still expressed his opinion again.

This time, Brian looked condescendingly at the field:

The Tigers piled up seven players on the front line, like an impregnable wall, tightly blocking all the running routes; The four second-tier players stepped back a little and stood six or seven yards away to defend potential passes. Overall, they have almost abandoned the strategy of raiding, and the entire defensive center of gravity has shifted -

Everybody knew that the 49ers were going to run the ball.

Brian sighed lightly.

According to common sense, everyone knows the next plan of the 49ers, but all teams will still choose to run the ball and consume game time.

However, with three minutes and 16 seconds left in the game, the 49ers will not only need to consume time, but also need to make a first attack to further compress the Tigers' window.

"Jim, it's up to you." It's a five-to-five probability, Brian isn't the one who gave the order, Jim is.

Jim stood on the sidelines, with a headset on his head, pacing back and forth, he paused for a moment, his eyes fell on Lu Ke, and looked at it seriously, "Lu Ke, according to what you think." "At heart, Jim is a gambler, and always has been.

Lu Ke did not answer, but took a step forward and began to change tactics; However, the players of the 49ers did not move, and neither did the players of the Tigers, and everyone seemed to be convinced that this time the change of tactics was a smoke bomb.

After retreating again, Lu Ke stood in the pistol formation, and Hunter stood on his right-hand side, four yards away.

Without a fancy false shot, Lu Ke directly announced the kick-off, and after catching the rugby ball with both hands, he quickly stepped back and took a step towards the right, but after only two steps, his vision caught a Tigers player on the right.

It was an outside guard who unleashed a surprise raid, taking advantage of the 49ers' lack of offensive fronts — five against seven, and he quickly bypassed the players and slammed diagonally into the pockets of the 49ers.

"Hunter!" Lu Ke shouted, and then, regardless of whether Hunter noticed it or not, he quickly changed his running direction and moved quickly to the left, which consumed time back and forth, and then Lu Ke did not hesitate anymore, raised his hand and passed the rugby out. Even if there was a slight delay, it was still just a quick shot of about two seconds to two seconds and a half.

The football leaped high above the defensive guard's barrier and landed unmistakably between the defensive front line and the defensive second line, and in the middle of a crowd of defenders, a 49ers player came out and jumped lightly to catch the ball.

"Pass! It's a pass! In the studio, Kirk couldn't help but express surprise, "Eighty-eight, Logan Newman, easily picked up the football and then began to push strongly. The Tigers' defensive group was completely caught off guard and didn't keep up with the pace, and Newman completed a thirteen-yard push before being intercepted, beautiful! ”

'There have been small adjustments to the tactics of both teams. Teddy noticed the Tigers' perimeter linebacker Manny Lawson and circled him on the screen, "The Tigers used a one-man raid strategy in the most tense moments, and it worked very well; But Lu Ke keenly smelled the crisis, quickly avoided it, and then quickly completed the pass. Wow, this short encounter within a small range is still exciting! ”

"The 49ers started to organize the offense again, and they actually kicked off quickly?" Before Kirk and Teddy's commentary could end, the exclamation came immediately, and Kirk quickly explained, "Between the lightning and flint, Lu Ke jumped up lightly and completed a five-yard short pass again, this time it was Michael Crabtree who received the rugby, using his physical advantage to complete a nine-yard advance strongly, and he was only one yard away from getting the first attack again." ”

"Roar, roar, roar." Kirk couldn't help but laugh heartily, "Two consecutive surprise fast breaks only consumed less than thirty seconds, but the San Francisco 49ers have managed to advance twenty-two yards, and everyone thought they were going to be passive and consume game time, but they continued to push?" At this point, the Tigers' defensive team was completely scrambling. ”

"This really surprised everyone, did you hear that? On the commentary seat, the exclamations couldn't stop at all. Teddy laughed too, "Kirk, guess what, the next offense, will the 49ers choose to pass or run?" ”

"Just one yard to get the first attack again? Hmm, I guess...... Lu Ke ran the ball by himself. In the tense moment, Kirk made a small joke, the subtext was that no one could have predicted the next offensive options of the 49ers, "This is getting more and more difficult for the Tigers, and now they need to judge whether it is a time-consuming run or a continuous offensive pass!" ”