American Football: King of the Bay Area

Touchdown! Another touchdown!

It all happened so fast. In the blink of an eye, the special teams unit came up big, giving the San Francisco 49ers the ball at the sixteen-yard line. Then came Lu Ke’s on-the-fly play-calling. Just two offensive plays, forty seconds off the clock, and his fifth passing touchdown of the night was in the bag!

The whole sequence took less than a minute from start to finish. The joy and clamor from the last touchdown hadn’t even had a chance to die down before the next one came crashing in. There was barely any room to breathe. One wave after another, this raging tidal wave left everyone utterly blindsided and dumbfounded.

In a high-intensity league like the NFL, for any team, any quarterback, in any game, to complete five passing touchdowns is an incredible feat. It’s something to be lauded, a performance that can only be described as firing on all cylinders with unstoppable momentum! Even the league’s most elite quarterbacks can’t throw five touchdowns in every single game.

And, with no interceptions!

Now, such a spectacular, outstanding, and flawless performance was coming from a rookie quarterback. A Chinese-American quarterback. A quarterback making his very first career start. This… this wasn’t just sensational; it was a monumental feat that would shake the entire world of professional football!

All the fans were cheering and roaring wildly, as if welcoming the coronation of their new king. All the commentators had fallen silent in astonishment, seemingly trying to process this unbelievable turn of events. Even Kirk Charleston was no exception, his eyes wide, overcome with sheer wonder.

At that moment, Lu Ke stood on the field, watching Marcus cross into the end zone. He saw the referee raise both hands, confirming the touchdown. Then, he raised his own right hand high, spreading all five fingers. Under the brilliant golden sunlight, it looked as if he were holding up the entire sky with that one hand—so slender, yet so firm.

Marcus rushed over, Logan rushed over, Crabtree rushed over... All the players, ecstatic, swarmed him, hugging and slapping him, wildly expressing their frenzied joy through their aggressive celebration. All the pent-up frustration from the preseason was being unleashed with exhilarating abandon in this regular-season afternoon!

But Lu Ke remained unmoved, his right hand still held high, resolute and determined, like the Statue of Liberty.

Gradually, his teammates noticed something was different about Lu Ke and started to back away. Then they could see it: Lu Ke’s bright, burning gaze was locked onto the crowd, which was erupting like a volcano. His black eyes, like obsidian, revealed a hint of ferocity and defiance. And then—

Slowly, Lu Ke closed his hand, leaving only his index finger pointing up, standing tall and proud against the world.

Five touchdowns. One victory. This was Lu Ke’s answer. This was his response to the doubt, the provocation, the insults, and the attacks.

How were all the fans in the stands feeling now?

In the stands, Lu Zhengze and Jiang Youning both stood up. They didn’t cheer, didn’t shout, didn’t jump. They just quietly watched Lu Ke on the field. From so far away, Lu Ke looked no bigger than the palm of a hand. It was impossible to see his expression, especially with his helmet on, but in that moment, they knew:

Lu Ke had done it. Shouldering his dreams, shouldering the pressure, Lu Ke had finally done it!

As her heart swelled with a wave of emotion, Jiang Youning’s eyes unexpectedly filled with tears. Standing beside her, Tiffany Newman opened her arms and gave Jiang Youning a tight hug. ”Sweetheart, that’s your son. Remember that. That’s your son, and he’s going to be a hero to this entire city! Believe me, he’s going to conquer this city! Of course, it would be even better if he was willing to throw the ball to my son a little more.”

That last bit of humor made Jiang Youning burst out laughing.

Standing on the other side, Austin Newman raised his right hand high and celebrated with a high-five for Lu Zhengze. Then Austin let out a whistle. ”Go, Bambi! Go on and show these country bumpkins what a real quarterback looks like!”

His unfiltered, unapologetic roar drew the attention of many nearby spectators, who turned to look. But Austin wasn’t scared in the slightest. He glared right back at them, eyes wide. ”What? You don’t like this quarterback? Got a problem? Wanna go a few rounds? What else can those jackasses do besides injuring our players! Look! Just look! This is his answer to all of you! You like that?”

Silence. A complete silence. All the cheering died down. People looked at each other, at a loss.

”Yeah, I fucking love it!” a rough voice chimed in, breaking the silence. Then everyone started nodding in agreement. ”Yeah, fuck yeah! Love it! Goddamn love it!”

The stands started getting noisy again.

The San Francisco 49ers’ offense left the field. The special teams unit, which had come up big forty seconds earlier, came on again and successfully kicked the extra point. The score was now 35-10. The gap had widened further. For the Seattle Seahawks, the deficit was now immense. They would need at least four scoring drives to catch up or take the lead, and with less than ten minutes left in the game, victory was only a theoretical possibility.

Nevertheless, ten minutes was still plenty of time. Even if the outcome was all but certain, the game had to go on.

On the sidelines, Pete Carroll was roaring, his face red as he yelled and gesticulated wildly, directing his team’s offense. As the game continued, he seemed to grow more and more agitated, his emotions spiraling out of control. But whether it was because the opposing quarterback was playing too well or because the Seahawks were losing, it was impossible to tell.

When the San Francisco 49ers defense took the field next, they seemed to let their guard down, appearing a bit lax. They actually allowed the Seattle Seahawks to get three consecutive first downs and cross midfield. The 49ers’ defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio, was furious, roaring and yelling at them from the sidelines. That finally seemed to whip the defensive players back into shape.

Aldon Smith, the 49ers’ first-round pick this year, hadn’t started the game and was only on the field as a rotational player. He had been nearly invisible for most of the game. It wasn’t until this drive that he showed some decent skill, stuffing a run by Marshawn Lynch and promptly shutting down Beast Mode. He finally made a bit of a name for himself in the first game of the season.

However, the Seattle Seahawks’ offense was finally starting to find a rhythm—even though it was late in the fourth quarter and their form had come a bit late, late was better than never. Despite a solid performance from the San Francisco 49ers’ defense, the Seahawks managed to keep their drive alive, converting two third downs and eventually reaching the end zone.

Marshawn Lynch went into ”Beast Mode” again. On second down, he completed a three-yard run for a touchdown, changing the score to 17-35.

Scoring the touchdown was good news, but the drive had eaten up nearly five minutes. With only 5:09 left in the game, that was terrible news. Even if the Seahawks’ offense had woken up, what could they do with no time left on the clock? Worse, they were still down by eighteen points, a deficit that would require three scores to overcome.

As expected, when Lu Ke led his team back onto the field, he gave the Seahawks no chance at all.

On first down, they came out in a Shotgun Formation. The Seahawks, on high alert, braced for a pass, but it was a run. Marcus Lynch rumbled for a solid eleven yards, picking up a first down.

On the next play, Lu Ke lined up in the Shotgun Formation again. The Seahawks hesitated. Lu Ke connected with Kyle Williams for a three-yard gain—a short pass. Lu Ke was deliberately choosing short passes, letting the wide receiver run with the ball to eat up the clock. Williams weaved through the defense, managing to turn it into an eight-yard gain while burning a lot of time.

Under Lu Ke’s command, the offense maintained a surprisingly balanced run-pass ratio. But unlike in the first half, the deterrent effect of three consecutive second-half touchdowns gave Lu Ke the absolute upper hand in the chess match between offense and defense. Now, returning to a balanced attack felt as easy as a walk in the park. Even Anthony Dixon, back on the field, was starting to get his rhythm back.

”The 49ers are already warming up for their next game,” Kirk commented in the broadcast booth. ”Their entire offense has opened up now. From here on out, it’s about the running backs and the quarterback padding their stats, keeping the players in rhythm, and practicing the tactics they’ll need for the next game. For number fourteen, Lu Ke, the time he’s had to gel with the offense is still too short. We saw a few coordination errors today, so they need to get on the same page as quickly as possible.”

”That’s right. Next week, they’ll face the Dallas Cowboys, and that’s definitely a tough nut to crack,” Teddy agreed. With the game now in garbage time, the commentators’ nerves had also relaxed a bit. ”We were expecting a clash of titans, but it turned into a showcase for the San Francisco 49ers’ rookie quarterback. That’s definitely something none of us saw coming.”

It wasn’t just the commentators from Fox Television. The other commentators in the booth were also starting to collect their thoughts, trying to figure out how to sum up this game.

Amid the rambling discussion, the offense led by Lu Ke went three-and-out after eating up four minutes of clock. In those four minutes, they had only advanced to midfield. Their inefficiency made it obvious they were just running out the clock.

After that, the Seattle Seahawks offense came back on the field and attempted two passing plays—two long, desperate heaves—but Travis couldn’t connect on either. With less than thirty seconds left, the Seahawks chose to give up and let the clock run out.

The referee blew the final whistle, declaring the end of the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks.

As the quarterback, Lu Ke jogged back onto the field. He shook hands with the opposing quarterback, Travis, as a gesture of sportsmanship, and then turned to leave.

He looked up. The stadium, holding 70,000 people, was boiling over with excitement. A tumultuous, roaring wave of shouts surged in from all directions. But before Lu Ke could savor the moment, all the players rushed him. His teammates from the offense, in particular, were frantically slapping his shoulders and back, expressing their joy with absolute ferocity.

A victorious start to the 2011 season!