American Football: King of the Bay Area

First second, dodge Ville.

Second second, dodge Scandrick.

Third second. What would Lu Ke do now?

Lu Ke’s nimble and light steps carried him past the Defense Line’s blockade. After dodging two consecutive tackles, the entire field opened up before him like never before. It was a wide-open plain, and it seemed like he could just keep running and advance the ball.

But Lu Ke’s mind remained perfectly clear. He was a quarterback, not a running back, and his running ability was nothing to write home about. Besides, there was only one second left of his Special Skill. He couldn’t afford to waste it.

So, Lu Ke faked a run. He used the third second of Absolute Step to quickly move laterally, catching the panicked Dallas Cowboys defenders in his peripheral vision. They clearly hadn’t expected Lu Ke to actually run the ball himself. This unexpected move completely shattered their entire defensive formation.

The defenders reacted instantly. Two linebackers charged in, along with two players from the Defense Line. The safety roaming the backfield to his left also rushed forward. Pursuers were visible in every corner of his vision, madly closing in with Lu Ke as their focal point.

Without any hesitation, Lu Ke moved laterally, and then laterally again, throwing the entire defensive formation into chaos. Tick... tock...

Just as the third second was about to end, Lu Ke raised his head, taking in the entire field from his commanding view. He then spotted a figure in the upper right—a red jersey, gold pants, number eighty-eight—sprinting at full tilt. The player was rapidly approaching the middle of the field, his charge so fierce it almost seemed to kick up a slipstream.

He lifted his arm, cocked it back, gathered power, took aim, and fired the pass.

The entire motion was seamless. The football sailed high, high into the air, tearing through the sky without resistance as it streaked toward the far end of the field. It was a bullet pass with a slight upward trajectory; the football was moving incredibly fast!

”A pass? He actually threw a pass?”

Chris Wilson’s eyes went wide as he stared at the field in disbelief. A stream of curses escaped his lips; he just couldn’t believe it! The San Francisco 49ers’ rookie quarterback was an idiot, a complete and utter idiot!

At that moment, any spectator could see it. The 49ers’ number fourteen, their rookie quarterback, had already found an opening. All he needed to do was run. Run straight ahead! There was nothing in his way! He just had to run, and he could get the first down in two seconds flat! The closest defender was still some distance away; there was no way he could make the tackle in time!

But this quarterback chose to pass?

Stupid! Brain-dead! Fool! Idiot!

By choosing to pass, the advantage created by the quarterback’s run was completely wiped out. More importantly, what if the pass was incomplete? What if it got intercepted? He gave up a surefire first down that was right there for the taking, and instead chose an audacious, insanely risky pass? This... this was just...

He wasn’t an idiot, he was a lunatic!

Chris felt as if his heart was about to explode!

As a loyal San Francisco 49ers fan, the Wilson family’s support and love for the team could be traced back to Chris’s grandfather. Chris himself had been running around the backyard in a red and gold jersey since he was just five. As a child, his daily pastime was watching game tapes of the San Francisco 49ers, over and over again, never missing a single key game in their history.

Chris knew this week’s matchup against the Dallas Cowboys like the back of his hand. The two teams had a long and storied rivalry. This year, both sides were showing rare signs of a resurgence, and the pre-game atmosphere was tense. Chris was filled with anticipation.

But once the game started, the San Francisco 49ers’ offense was a disaster! A complete and utter disaster! Being scoreless in the first half was shameful enough. Even worse, they had only managed a single first down in the entire first half! This had to be one of the worst first halves in the history of the San Francisco 49ers!

Now, just when they had finally shown a spark of momentum, the quarterback chose to pass?

Chris felt that if he were a pufferfish, he would have exploded by now!

Inside Candlestick Park, Chris wasn’t the only one who felt this way. The entire stadium held its breath, completely baffled, with question marks hanging over everyone’s heads. Curses and insults were already on the tips of their tongues, but the action on the field unfolded in a flash. Before a single sound could erupt, in the very next second, their questions were answered—

Number eighty-eight, Logan Newman.

But when did Logan get there? Why hadn’t anyone noticed? A wave of astonished gasps swept through the crowd.

Logan sprinted like an arrow released from a bow, crossing the thirty, the forty, and then the fifty-yard line. But he didn’t stop there. Instead, he made a sharp turn and cut inside, rapidly advancing toward the center of the field. His route was a sharp, diagonal line toward the middle.

The forty-yard line, the thirty, the twenty-five... Logan’s sprint was incredibly aggressive. At this point, if any player had collided with him, Logan could have bulldozed right through them and kept advancing. His run was powerful and dominant. Suddenly, he slammed on the brakes and spun around. The football was right there, within arm’s reach.

All Logan had to do was position his hands and secure the ball against his chest. ’Catch it! Catch it! Catch it!’ It was the only thought in his mind. But the force of the pass was slightly stronger than he’d imagined, and he couldn’t quite control his forward momentum. Logan stumbled back two large steps, then did a backward roll and fell to the ground.

The advance was stopped. But he wasn’t injured, and he didn’t drop the ball. Pass complete!

The entire stadium erupted!

”FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!” Chris exploded, truly exploded. He leaped to his feet, completely lost in the moment, but his knee caught on something and he fell hard back into his seat. He paid no mind to the pain, the curses spilling out one after another. His eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head as he just roared, roaring like a madman.

In that instant, all confusion and complexity vanished, leaving only the wild rush of adrenaline.

Chris leaped up again, joining all the other fans in Candlestick Park in a wild celebration. ”FUCK!” he roared toward the field at the top of his lungs. His face was flushed and the veins on his neck were bulging; he looked like he was about to spontaneously combust. It was as if his earlier shock and anger had never happened.

Proven wrong? Chris welcomed it with open arms; he was always ready for it and happy to see it happen. If being proven wrong like this a few more times could get the San Francisco 49ers a victory, he would gladly offer up his own cheek. First the left, then the right. If necessary, his ass was on the table too.

”GOD! GOD! GOD!” Troy Ball roared from the commentary booth, his words firing like a machine gun. ”THE CATCH IS MADE! THE CATCH IS MADE! Jesus Christ! Newman! San Francisco 49ers Tight End Logan Newman makes the catch! That’s a fifty-yard pass! A deadly long bomb!”

”The second half has just begun, and the San Francisco 49ers have pulled off the most spectacular passing play of the game! Fifty yards! In one fell swoop, the 49ers have advanced to their opponent’s twenty-two-yard line. God!” Troy was absolutely electric, unable to believe what he had just seen. ”What happened? What in the world just happened! Let’s take a look at the replay right now!”

Troy stared intently at the screen, rewatching the previous down.

”The San Francisco 49ers snap the ball out of a T-formation. Gene and Newman both run to the right, with Crabtree on that side as well. Suddenly, there are three receivers on the right. The Cowboys’ Defense Team reacts quickly, assigning three linebackers and a cornerback to cover them.”

”Meanwhile, Lu Ke and Lynch are moving to the left, with Williams on that side as well. But at the snap, Williams also takes off, cutting out to the right. Just like that, they’ve stacked four receivers on the right side, and the entire Cowboys Defense Team starts to contract, shifting heavily to their own left.”

”Both Williams and Crabtree get open and start calling for the ball. The Cowboys’ Defense Team responds immediately, with the secondary pushing up. That whole side of the field becomes congested. But all the while, the 49ers’ quarterback, Lu Ke, and Lynch are still pushing to the left. It’s completely unclear whether it’s a pass or a run.”

”Ville comes in for support, but Lynch blocks him! Scandrick comes over—whoa! Lu Ke’s footwork is just perfect, elegantly and nimbly avoiding the tackle! He keeps moving laterally, he’s still moving! It’s a quarterback scramble! His light-footed movement has completely disrupted the opponent’s defensive formation. The safety in the backfield and the linebackers up front all start to close in, trying to make the tackle, but in the blink of an eye, Lu Ke decides to pass!”

Troy’s commentary was in full-on machine-gun mode, rattling off words without a single pause. Hundreds of words poured out in just over ten seconds, a flow that would put a rap artist to shame. Only after the replay analysis was complete did Troy finally have a moment to catch his breath.

Then, he continued.

”The entire play was dazzling, a whirlwind of constant change. From the first second to the last, the San Francisco 49ers’ quarterback was in complete control. He never let the Dallas Cowboys defenders decipher his intentions. To be precise, was it a pass or a run? A run or a pass? With every step he took, the answer remained ambiguous, keeping both possibilities alive. And that completely dismantled the Cowboys’ defensive strategy.”

”Wow!” Troy couldn’t help but exclaim. ”Let’s recap: after the snap, a total of four receivers ended up stacked on the right side of the field, two of whom even managed to get open. This forced the Dallas Cowboys’ defenders to all swarm to that one side.”

”But in the next second, Lu Ke showed signs that he was going to run it himself! With that agile footwork, he moved five yards laterally, and there was nothing but open field in front of him! He could have easily run for a first down. To cut their losses, the Cowboys’ defenders immediately started shifting to cover the run. Not just the players on the line, but even the secondary started pressing forward!”

As he kept on with the commentary, Troy himself was getting worked into a frenzy. It was just so unbelievable!

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant!