In the early morning of the candlestick park, bathed in the warm morning light, the sound of the wind sent the gentle waves, the surging light green and mint blue melted under the golden light, the pores that slowly opened because of running, greedily breathed the refreshing and clean oxygen, and the body muscles involuntarily relaxed.

After the first week of the regular season, the daily training tasks arranged by the system have changed dramatically, and the schedule of the game has been adjusted; Correspondingly, Lu Ke also made a small adjustment, and the warm-up running task every morning was no longer completed in the training ground, but chose to be carried out in the Candlestick Park.

In just two weeks, Lu Ke has already begun to get used to this new way.

Suddenly, Lu Ke began to slow down his running speed, change his pace, stand on tiptoe, move flexibly, and keep tossing and turning in small broken steps as he continued to move forward, and at the same time, his hands were clenched into fists and placed on both sides of his cheeks, like a boxer, taking a defensive posture, cooperating with his steps, his eyes were highly focused, waiting for an opportunity to punch.

It's not a systematically arranged drill, it's a trick from quarterback coach Kip Kleist.

The quarterback's pocket footwork is crucial, moving and dodging within the confined space, there is no room to think, and there is no time to observe - not to mention, the quarterback's eyes must always keep an eye on the vision ahead, and it is even less likely to concentrate energy under the soles of the feet, so the footsteps are often done through the conditioned reflexes of the body and the motor memory of the muscles.

To put it simply, it's the instinct/ability.

It's similar to a boxing ring, where you dodge, defend, and then attack and hit your opponent in a boxy pocket. On the surface, it's the hands that are the key to victory; But footsteps are the foundation that cannot be ignored.

From a purely technical point of view, pocket footwork and speed, explosiveness, acceleration, strength, agility, etc. all have an interplay relationship; But in addition to these factors, repeated daily training can implant more muscle memory, which can have unexpected effects at the last moment.

However, the specific effect is not known in a short period of time. It's like yoga, after a year of continuous exercise, the effect is gradually revealed.

By the way, the yoga in the daily training task is still 30 minutes long, but the difficulty of the movements has been updated twice, and it seems that his progress rate is really good. However, the difficulty of the action seemed to have increased a little too quickly, and Lu Ke was not sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing - he felt that he was torturing himself.

"God. You're still here slowly, are you Rocky? Hurry, hurry. The training base was already close at hand, Logan Newman trotted over with a speechless face, looked at Lu Ke, who was still training boxing pace, and couldn't help complaining-

"Rocky", the protagonist of that classic inspirational boxing movie, is called Rocky.

Lu Ke's footsteps were not disordered, meticulously completed the final training, and then sprinted, entered the training base, overtook Logan, and moved towards the locker room, his footsteps slowed down slowly, slowly, slowly, tore off the towel on his waist, wiped the sweat that kept slipping, and saw Logan who was following up in the corner of his eye, "Why is it so early today?" ”

I looked down at my watch, and it was still five minutes before eight o'clock.

In professional teams, there are strict rules for each week.

Wednesday is the basic recovery training day, as well as the media interview day, and players who are troubled by injuries or have personal matters to deal with are allowed to be absent, and the reporting time is 9:30; Thursday is a normal training day, and the preparation for this week's game begins, and the reporting time is 8:30; Friday and Saturday are the days for the preparation of the game, with an all-round increase in speed, and the reporting time is 8 o'clock.

If it's an away game, the timing will be different; In the case of a night race, the itinerary will also be changed.

It's Thursday, and with thirty-five minutes to go, Logan is a little earlier than expected.

Looking at Lu Ke, who was so calm and calm, Logan's eyes widened, "Brother, you won't forget, will you?" Today is that day! ”

"So what? Yesterday the reporters were concerned, and today it is your turn to worry about it? Lu Ke still had the heart to joke at this time, his tone was relaxed, his mind was relaxed, and in the face of Logan, who looked urgent and nervous, Lu Ke looked like an outsider, "Relax, today is just an ordinary day, there is no need to make a fuss." ”

Today, the San Francisco 49ers' three quarterbacks will face off for the starting spot.

Colin Kaepernick successfully passed the league's concussion test; Alex Smith has also officially recovered from his injury, having had a simple passing session last week without any abnormalities, and on Monday and Tuesday of this week, Alex was accompanied by Kip for further recovery training and performed well.

Now, the quarterback spot for the San Francisco 49ers is suddenly crowded — in addition to the three quarterbacks, there's also a Scott Tolcin, so they have a total of four quarterbacks in the 53-player roster, which is really too many.

The coaching staff must make a decision as soon as possible to identify the starting quarterbacks and then move one of the quarterbacks out of the 53-man squad to free up a spot to fill in the more desperate need.

As for the quarterback who was removed, whether he was temporarily placed in the sparring team, or directly fired, or used for another purpose, they also need to consider comprehensively. After all, Alex and Colin have just returned from injury, and they are still uncertain about their status, and if necessary, keep four quarterbacks on the roster, even if they have to, but there is no other choice.

Therefore, the competition for three quarterbacks is not only for starters, but also to look at the player's condition, and then measure the player's squad strategy in the long run, and even Scott will be included in the scope of inspection.

Yesterday's media day, where Alex and Collin were both quarterbacks on the scene, was a sure signal that they were ready to compete, and the San Francisco 49ers were ready for formal consideration.

As an undrafted rookie, Lu Ke dedicated a wonderful three-week game and led the team to a three-week victory, which is an ironclad fact; But it should not be ignored that the whole season is very long, and the performance of rookie players is up and down, and it is difficult to be stable, which is also the consensus of everyone, and the loss of rookies is even more uncertain.

On the positive side, one can choose Lu Ke, and three wins are the best evidence.

But from a negative point of view, giving up Lu Ke is also a reasonable choice, Alex is an experienced veteran, and it is undoubtedly a very wise decision for him to lead the rookie players and grow slowly, and Colin, as a second-round pick, has the momentum and vitality of a young man, and his personal ability has also been recognized by scouts and coaches.

In the final analysis, Lu Ke's historical record is still too weak, and his persuasiveness is still slightly insufficient.

The lack of NCAA experience and reference data as an official player is still too obvious even with the addition of three regular-season victories — Alex has a career of nearly a decade; Colin, on the other hand, started as a freshman and has an excellent four-year resume.

It seems that there are enough reasons to choose any quarterback, and there are enough worries. How the San Francisco 49ers' coaching staff will decide has also become the focus of much media attention. As one of the parties involved, Lu Ke also accepted the bombardment of the media yesterday.

In the NFL, quarterbacks are always the ones that bear the most attention and the most pressure. In history, there are countless quarterbacks who appeared as substitutes, turned the tide, and wrote miracles; But most of them lost their starting positions and slumped and gradually buried.

It is never easy to gain a foothold in the league, and it is not enough to have a flash of inspiration.

Whether it is a rookie or a Chinese player, after a magical three-game winning streak, Lu Ke is indeed standing on the cusp. Now, all the media are starting to pay attention to Lu Ke's future prospects, and the discussion has always been hot.

If Lu Ke said that he was not nervous at all and didn't care at all, he would definitely be lying. At the end of the season, everything was full of chaos and surprises, starting with Alex Smith's injury, then Colin Kaepernick's concussion, and Lu Ke was called upon to take over the burden of quarterback, but no matter how you argue, luck did play a big role.

Now, Lu Ke is back on the starting line, competing with Alex, Colin, and Scott, and fighting hard with their absolute strength to fight for their own starting position. Deep down, it's inevitable that I'm still a little nervous.

However, tension can be turned into motivation, pressure can be turned into motivation, and in competitive sports, competition is everywhere and duels are all the time. Lu Ke once again remembered Tony Romo's words: The entire career of the unselected rookie will be burdened with the burden of self-proof.

For the champion show, the performance is slightly less than expected, and people may shout "parallel goods"; Similarly, for the undrafted rookie, any setback and failure may be taken for granted as "inherently weak". They all have to keep proving themselves and pushing themselves through.

After three weeks of regular season – not just three wins, but three real games. Now facing Alex Smith and Colin Kaepernick again, Lu Ke is burning with fighting spirit, and he also wants to know what his current strength is.

The battle for the starters, for Lu Ke, is a battle of life and death, and it is also a touchstone! Since it is destined to fight from this, then it is a real competition, and the last laugh will always be the strong and the brave.

Lu Ke is convinced of this.