American Football: King of the Bay Area

On the field, Newman cut inside to the left, disrupting the zone defense. Williams and Ginn Jr. ran streak routes, drawing away two defenders in man-to-man coverage.

As a result, the entire right side of the field—an area originally occupied by three receivers—was now wide open. Meanwhile, the left side, where there was initially only one receiver, was now packed with three Pirate Team defensive players swarming around Newman alone.

Finally, Crabtree, having completed his crossing route and short in-cut, entered a completely uncontested zone.

”The pass is away! Crabtree catches it on the 49ers’ right side! It’s a seven-yard short pass, and there isn’t a defender near him! He makes the easy catch, turns, and starts to run! The whole field is open!”

”To the thirty, the twenty-five... Crabtree is running with power, like a graceful cheetah! The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defense is in total chaos! A safety is trying to cover Logan Newman, while the linebackers and cornerbacks up front have to scramble back! With their run defense and blitz strategy completely failing, the Pirate Team is now on the defensive.”

Troy’s commentary was fast and fierce, a rapid-fire delivery with his strong personal flair that created an incredibly electric atmosphere.

”The Pirate Team’s number thirty-three cornerback abandons his coverage on Ted Ginn Jr. and scrambles back, diving at Crabtree! The 49ers’ number fifteen doesn’t slow down, not even a little! Right at the moment of impact, Crabtree executes a sharp spin move, like a ballet dancer, dodging the surefire tackle from number thirty-three! Their shoulders slam together, but Crabtree maintains his balance and keeps driving forward!”

”OHO! Kyle Williams comes up with a crucial block! The 49ers’ number ten Wide Receiver clears out another safety who was coming over to help, ripping open a lane! Crabtree stumbles but keeps pushing forward! Now Ted Ginn Jr. is running interference for him, advancing side-by-side with Crabtree! The two of them are building more and more momentum!”

”The twenty, the fifteen, the ten... Ginn shoves another safety away, but the Pirate Team’s players are closing in! Their number twenty-six safety wraps up Crabtree—wait, wait, Jesus Christ! Crabtree broke free! There’s a yellow flag on the play, a flag on the field! But after breaking the tackle, Crabtree is still going! He shook off the powerful tackle from number twenty-six, and now there’s no one in front of him! End Zone! End Zone! Crabtree charges unstoppably into the End Zone! My God!”

Troy grabbed his head with both hands, screaming in disbelief, ”Touchdown! My God, what did we just witness? Crabtree scored a Touchdown!”

After shouting, Troy himself gasped, his eyes filled with shock and excitement. ”The San Francisco 49ers started with a seven-yard short pass, then created a wide-open field through offensive and defensive mismatches, giving their big-bodied wide receiver, number fifteen Crabtree, the space to accelerate, sprint, and collide. With his powerful running and elusive moves, he narrowly avoided two tackles to get into the End Zone for the Touchdown!”

After that barrage of shouts, Troy couldn’t stop gushing, ”Incredible, that was just incredible! However, there was a yellow flag on the play. We need to see what it’s about. If it’s a penalty on the offense, this spectacular drive will be called back, and that would be a huge shame.”

...

”I think it’s a defensive penalty. Number twenty-six, Sean Jones, got shaken off by Crabtree after initiating the tackle. He had to grab Crabtree’s jersey, which is holding. Unfortunately for him, he still couldn’t stop Crabtree once he was at full speed.”

In the studio, Kirk offered his opinion on the flag while calmly beginning to analyze the previous play. ”In terms of the tactical setup, Lu Ke anticipated the defense’s focus. He deliberately used a crossing route concept, using Newman to draw most of the attention, which let Crabtree make the final catch.

”Let’s look at the release time—1.88 seconds. That’s fast. Incredibly fast. It gave the Pirate Team’s defense almost no breathing room. He lifted his arm and the pass was gone. You can tell this was all by design. All I can say is, that was brilliant!”

Teddy nodded in agreement. ”Three plays into the game today, and Lu Ke has completely dominated in reading the defense. He’s thoroughly deciphered his opponent’s defensive priorities and effectively called the plays. Two runs and one short pass, a clean advance, viciously tearing apart the Pirate Team’s defense to finally score a Touchdown—we’re still waiting on the flag, but this drive—wait, the referee is making the call...”

All eyes were on the field, waiting for the referee’s announcement. ”Holding. Defense, number twenty-six.”

It was a foul on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Since the San Francisco 49ers had scored a Touchdown, they chose to decline the penalty, accepting the result of the play instead. After finishing his announcement, the referee raised both hands high, making the touchdown signal. ”San Francisco 49ers, Touchdown!”

”A three-play drive, a total of one hundred and nine seconds, two runs and one pass, and the San Francisco 49ers have a dominant Touchdown at home. They’ve taken the lead before anyone could even get their seats warm. After last week’s loss, the 49ers are showing excellent competitive form back home. Quarterback Lu Ke is completely dialed in, aiming for victory to repay his coach’s trust,” Teddy summarized. They had barely warmed up their commentary, and the first Touchdown was already on the board. So fast!

”I can’t help but be reminded of the first game of the regular season,” Kirk added. He and Teddy were on the same wavelength, clearly thinking the same thing.

...

Only after the referee confirmed the Touchdown did the San Francisco 49ers’ offense begin to celebrate. Lu Ke pumped his fist hard, then saw a grinning Rupati jogging over, along with Davis and Hachar—

During that three-play drive, the Offense Line’s pocket was rock-solid, without a single gap. Even on the runs and the short pass, they didn’t let their guard down, giving the Pirate Team’s Defense Line no opportunities whatsoever. A truly great start to the day.

”How about it? Confident we can get another one?” Lu Ke took off his helmet, raising an eyebrow at his teammates on the Offense Line. But then he saw Crabtree rushing over, barreling right into him for a huge hug. ”Another one, what do you say? Let’s get another one!”

”Hey, get in line! Get in line!” Logan rushed over from nearby, pushed Crabtree away, and then stared at Lu Ke with a dead serious expression. ”Promise me, the next Touchdown is mine, okay?”

All the players on the offense burst out laughing. It was the kind of conversation you have when it feels like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Defense Team isn’t even on the field. But it also showed just how relaxed the entire offense was. The first Touchdown had come easier than any of them had imagined, sending everyone’s confidence soaring.

Laughing and horsing around, the offensive players walked off the field. All the players from the Defense Team stood up, high-fiving them in celebration. Patrick Willis was already teasing them, ”Hey, weren’t you guys a little too fast? We haven’t rested enough, and now we have to go out. You’re not trying to slack off on purpose, are you?” The other defensive players all chimed in, making for a rowdy, cheerful scene.

The special teams unit came out first and coolly kicked the extra point, bringing the score to 7-0. Afterward, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offense and the San Francisco 49ers’ Defense Team took the field to face off.

Lu Ke sat on the sidelines and began flipping through his playbook. ’Today’s system mission emphasizes the number of passing attempts and passing yards—two hundred yards.’ This meant the quarterback had to increase the proportion of pass plays, and those passes had to be successful.

’Two hundred passing yards—what does that entail? Simply put, many rookie quarterbacks can’t even break one hundred and fifty passing yards in a game, some even less than a hundred. Although my passing yards have exceeded two hundred in all four of the last games, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to do.’

’In that first touchdown drive, I only threw a single short pass.’

’I’m not surprised the system assigned this mission. During pre-game prep, we learned that the Pirate Team’s pass defense is weaker than their run defense. Over the last four games, their performance against the run has been solid, laying the foundation for their wins. But during that first drive just now, I sensed some instability. Marcus Lynch’s two runs both gained significant yardage. Does this mean our tactics today can be more varied?’

Before his thoughts could fully unfold, an earth-shattering roar erupted from Candlestick Park. Lu Ke looked up reflexively and saw Patrick Willis holding the football high in his right hand, striking a strongman pose to flex his muscles. All the other players around him were cheering and jumping.

An interception!

On second-and-six, a pass from the Pirate Team’s quarterback, Josh Freeman, went way off target, flying directly into the arms of a 49ers defender. Linebacker Patrick Willis made the interception and was finally stopped at the Pirate Team’s thirty-three-yard line. Turnover. The 49ers’ offense was taking the field again.

Watching the boisterous members of the Defense Team come off the field, Lu Ke was dumbfounded. He hadn’t even managed to take a sip of water yet. ’How am I supposed to go back on the field already?’

Willis walked up to Lu Ke, waggling his eyebrows in a deliberately exaggerated way. ”Hey, I think it’s time for you to put that helmet on and get to work. It’s all on you now.”