"Good morning", "What time did you go back last night", "There is still training today, you actually went to the bar last night", "You shouldn't be weak today", ......

All kinds of jokes and jokes, gliding along the breeze to the ears, seem to be able to smell the leather smell of rugby, the smell of grass on the pitch and a hint of comfort before the start of the season, so that the heart can't help but want to jump over the barbed wire, enter the field on the other side, and peek into the space where the miracle was born.

Lu Ke retracted his gaze, slowed down the car, gathered his mind, and began to look for a vacant parking space in the parking lot.

The San Francisco 49ers' home stadium is Candlestick Field in Candlestick Park, and the training base is on the other side of Candlestick Park, which is beautiful and beautiful.

In the parking lot of a professional league training base, the scene in front of me is not the appearance of luxury cars everywhere in Hollywood movies, to be precise, a simple and casual scan, there is not a single luxury sports car, the most beautiful car is just a black BMW coupe, and most of the others are pickup trucks or SUVs. It's a lot more low-key than you think.

After parking the car in an orderly manner, Lu Ke left the parking lot with his equipment backpack, asked two staff members, and then found the spare locker room with ease. In the past three months, after participating in the trial training many times, Lu Ke has become familiar with the whole process and will no longer panic.

At this time, it was ten o'clock in the morning, and the team's formal training had begun for an hour, and the warm-up was ended one after another, and the next group training was about to begin; And for the players who participated in the trial, the time has also come for them to go on the field to be tested and evaluated.

It's another ordinary trial, compared to every previous one, there is nothing special, it is still an occasion to assess the ability of players, it is still a competition between unselected rookies and free agents, and it is still a challenge with many obstacles and difficulties; However, this is not a casual tryout, as it is a tryout opportunity from the 49ers in San Francisco.

The preseason of the 2011 NFL season kicks off next week, and on Friday, the San Francisco 49ers will kick off their season at the Louisiana Superdome against the New Orleans Saints.

At this point, all the trials have basically come to an end, and in the final week, the team needs to further develop their tactics, and then work out the items and content that need to be tested in the preseason, and have a clear understanding of the goals and plans of the preseason. But at such a critical juncture, Lu Ke received a call from San Francisco 49ers to invite him to tryout, and Kip Kleist called in person.

Such behavior is absolutely extraordinary. However, the action of the 49ers is no secret, just open the web page, browse the rugby-related news, and you can easily find the answer on the front page headlines:

Alex Smith, the main quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, suffered a cruciate ligament strain during preseason training, and after a consultation with doctors, it was preliminarily determined that he would need to miss the game for at least six to eight weeks; After that, we will need to observe further and decide the playing time according to the state of recovery.

With less than six weeks to go until the season officially kicks off, the news is like a bolt from the blue!

After missing the playoffs for eight consecutive years, this offseason is undoubtedly a tumultuous and ill-fated one for the 49ers, with the top brass firing the team manager, head coach, and main quarterback, hoping to overturn the reorganization, bottom out, and be reborn.

As the top pick in the 2005 draft, Alex started 50 games in the first six seasons of his career, winning only 19 of them, and not a single one of them was able to lead the team to the playoffs.

The quarterback's arm strength is his biggest weakness, he has never completed 23 touchdowns in a single season, his passes average just 6.8 yards per advance, his percentage of long pass attempts is the lowest among the league's quarterbacks, and his turnover is also the lowest among the league's quarterbacks.

It can be said that he is a steady quarterback with a conservative style and stable passing, but the lack of middle and long passes lacks the ability to kill and the ability to decide the winner in the game.

In that year's draft, the scouting report commented, "Aaron Rodgers is a system player, and the excellent running back in college takes most of the pressure off his shoulders, and he usually plays screen short passes and quick shots, avoiding real confrontations and leaving the task to offensive forwards and wide receivers." In contrast, Alex Smith was the one who led Utah to victory, and he was the key man. I don't think California won with Aaron Rogers. ”

As a result, the San Francisco 49ers, who had the top pick, chose Alex Smith and missed out on Aaron Rodgers. Six years later, Rodgers reached the Super Bowl, and the 49ers management team finally lost patience, and when his contract expired, he chose not to renew his contract and fired Smith from the team.

Alex Smith became a free agent.

However, in the offseason, Alex never found a home. Instead, Jim Hubble and Trent Balk reached out to Alex after discussion, saying that the team would welcome him back whenever he wanted. After much deliberation, Alex opted to return to the 49ers and signed a one-year contract on the condition of only $5 million.

On top of the draft, the 49ers selected quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the intention is already obvious, Alex is just a transitional quarterback, they need to develop their rookie, but they don't want to pay the huge price like 2005, so in the end, they used the second-round pick, and aimed at the target, decisively traded up, and selected a rookie with potential.

But what is certain is that in the 2011 season, Alex will still be the main quarterback of the 49ers, giving Colin enough time to grow slowly; Even veteran quarterbacks like Alex passed on their experience to first-year rookies to help Colin quickly adapt to the pace and intensity of the professional league.

After such ups and downs, the 49ers have started the new season with a concerted start, and now they have encountered such bad news again, the entire plan of the past three months has been overturned, and the coaching staff and management staff have to start working on alternative plans -

The question is, will Alex be out for six weeks, eight weeks, or longer? If it's only six weeks, then just missing the first game of the season doesn't have a big impact, but if you continue to delay, it's different.

So, should they forcefully push Colin Kaepernick to the main quarterback position? Or pick a seasoned veteran from the free agent market to come over and be a tinker?

What is certain, though, is that picking another backup quarterback is imperative. Make up for the void left by Alex's injury, and if Alex recovers from his injury in time, they can fire the backup quarterback at any time and get back on track; But if Alex's illness dragged on longer, they wouldn't be overstretched.

The tryout was born in this context: the San Francisco 49ers needed a firefighting backup quarterback.

Such an emergency is not uncommon on the extremely physical confrontation of rugby fields. Generally speaking, teams tend to favor experienced veteran quarterbacks who can be on the court at any time, who can adapt to the pace of the game at any time, and may not be impressive enough, but at least they are experienced enough to not need to be hand-in-hand like a rookie.

As an undrafted rookie, Lu Ke knew his disadvantages, but he still seized the last chance and returned to San Francisco.

The only consolation is that the 49ers selected Colin in the draft in the hope that Colin can become the future pillar of the team, even if they don't want to help the seedlings, but under special circumstances and special treatment, they still have a good chance of choosing Colin as the main quarterback. Then, if you pick a backup quarterback, the free agent and the rookie have an equal chance.

Take it easy, take it easy, take it easy......

"Hey, Lu Ke." A greeting sound sounded in the locker room, Lu Ke turned his head to look over, and then saw an absolutely unexpected figure, "Scott?" ”

Scott Tolsing, the quarterback of the University of Wisconsin Badgers, was also a buddy he met in rookie camp. However, after the end of the training camp, Lu Ke broke off contact with Scott, but today they met again in the 49-person trial camp.

"Are you coming over for a tryout?" Scott walked over and gently patted Lu Ke's shoulder, smiling, "Me too." Lu Ke showed a look of surprise, and Scott immediately smiled, "I'm also a rookie." ”

A total of 12 quarterbacks were selected in this year's draft, which means that a total of nine quarterbacks in the rookie camp were not selected.

Lu Ke smiled dumbly, "It seems that our competition will continue today." ”

Scott also smiled and left the locker room side by side with Lu Ke.

Not far away, that is the training ground of the 49 official players, the noise and noise are endless, but the trial venue is not here, but another court next door, so, the two of them reluctantly took a step, did not speak, but their eyes showed similar envy and helplessness, exchanged a glance with each other, and both laughed.

"You know what, there were a lot of free agents today." Scott arrived at the scene a little earlier than Lu Ke, and the information was more comprehensive, "I just saw Matt-Hasselbeck, I can't believe it!" ”

Matt Hasselbeck, who entered the league in 1998 and spent three seasons with the Green Bay Packers, moved to the Seattle Seahawks, where he stayed for a full decade, a true league veteran. The strength is not top-notch, but it is also above the average level.

Lu Ke's eyes widened, and then a smile appeared, "It seems that today is another hard battle." ”