Chapter 418: Comeback from the Brink

“Hike!”

The entire San Francisco 49ers offense burst forward as one. The heavily stacked right wing, in particular, surged with unstoppable momentum, pushing forward with thunderous force.

After the snap, Logan, Marcus, and Crabtree simultaneously arced out like a rainbow bridge, starting from the left and curving toward the right, carving out parallel rainbow paths.

Logan was on the inside, Marcus in the middle, and Crabtree on the outside. The three of them looked like Olympic runners hitting the curve in a 400-meter race, each separated by about four to five yards, all sprinting with everything they had.

This wasn’t the start of a 400-meter race; it was the final curve before the 100-meter dash to the finish.

Logan had no intention of looking for the ball. He lowered his head and slammed into the linebacker covering the second level of defense. Then, his feet stopped as he firmly sealed off the linebacker’s coverage zone. Clearly, on this down, Logan’s role was to block as a tight end, not to receive a pass.

So, who was Logan blocking for?

A half-beat later, Marcus came rumbling over like a bulldozer. There wasn’t a single defender in his path. He immediately raised his right hand high, signaling that he was open.

This move sent a cold sweat down the spines of the New York Giants’ midfield defenders. One player was positioned perpendicular to Marcus, while another was further down his route. The two of them started moving at the same time, trying to double-team him. But something even more terrifying was yet to come.

Crabtree, with the force of a thunderclap, came from behind and was gradually overtaking Marcus, who had slowed his pace. He too raised his right hand. His unstoppable momentum was like a force of nature, sweeping mightily across the entire midfield and surging toward the left sideline like a tornado tearing across the field.

So, should they let Marcus go, or should they let Crabtree go?

And on top of that, there was still Logan Newman!

In terms of matchups, Logan had an advantage against a linebacker. If the zone defense focused all its strength on Marcus and Crabtree, it was entirely possible for Logan to make a short catch and use his physical advantage to gain ten, maybe fifteen yards.

At that moment, the San Francisco 49ers gave the New York Giants no time to think. Lu Ke raised his right hand, preparing to throw.

Instantly, two players closed in on Marcus, and another two closed in on Crabtree.

Wait, it was a fake!

Lu Ke adjusted with a few small steps, turned his body a little more to the right, and then went into a second throwing motion. Inside the impenetrable pocket, Lu Ke’s motion and footwork were completely unaffected. Amid the chaos, he exuded a sense of ease and leisure, as if he were on a calm stroll.

The right side. Who was it? The target was… Williams! That damned Kyle Williams!

By now, the New York Giants’ secondary was in complete disarray. In the middle of the field, three 49ers players had tied up five Giants players. There was one defender left on the left and another on the right, with a safety waiting near the end zone to provide backup.

This meant that only one player was covering Williams. So, the safety near the end zone immediately shifted toward the 49ers’ right, preparing to provide backup in case his teammate missed the coverage.

After the snap, Williams had charged forward relentlessly, head down. No cuts, no change of direction, just a straight sprint down the sideline as if he were in no man’s land. He accelerated, then accelerated again. In the blink of an eye, he crossed midfield and pierced the opponent’s 30-yard line. With a sudden stop and a turn of his body, he raised his hands, signaling for the catch.

Immediately, the zone defender sprinted toward him. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the safety nervously shuffling his feet, closing in.

Just then, Lu Ke swung his right arm forward, and Williams simultaneously made the catching motion. Instantly, panic swept through the secondary. The players who had been covering Crabtree and Marcus forcibly shifted their weight toward Williams’s side, trying to create a numerical advantage and surround him.

But… there was no football. The ball wasn’t in the air. It was another fake!

Lu Ke came back into view. A third set of small, adjusting steps, moving slightly to the left, facing the end zone. He raised his right hand a third time. No hesitation, no looking. His arm drew a full, powerful arc. He poured every ounce of his strength into the throw, and as he unleashed it, the football shot out of his hand like a rocket, climbing, climbing higher and higher.

But this wasn’t a Rainbow Pass. It was a pass with a slightly flatter trajectory, a laser that cut through the air across the entire half of the field. It soared over every player’s head, speeding toward the deep end zone.

Who was the target?

…

“He changed the play! Lu Ke changed the play for a second time before the snap! This rookie quarterback is unbelievably audacious! To change the play twice under this much pressure—is it a smokescreen, or has he really found a hole in the opponent’s defensive formation? The ball is snapped! Lu Ke has officially started the play!”

Troy Ball’s eyes were glued to the field, but the action was a dazzling, overwhelming blur. The route combinations were like a kaleidoscope, and he couldn’t help but feel that his eyes couldn’t keep up. So, he forced himself to focus solely on the quarterback.

“The pocket is solid! Absolutely no problems with the pocket! The New York Giants have given up on the blitz. With five offensive linemen blocking, the defense has no chance. This Lu Ke has bought himself plenty of time to survey the field. A calm lateral move to the right, Lu Ke has moved to the strategically important right side, looking for a target.”

“He throws! To the middle of the field! No, it’s a fake! He throws again! To the right! No, that’s another fake! Wait, he’s throwing, this one is real! Back to the middle of the field!”

It all happened in a flash. Even Troy, whose speech was already at superhuman speed, was struggling to keep up. He could only manage to describe the basic details of Lu Ke’s actions.

“The pass is headed for… past midfield, the forty, the thirty, the twenty… The target is Ted Ginn Jr.! God, when did Ginn get there? He’s only got one defender on him!”

“Number twenty-two, safety Derek Martin, is trying to provide help, but he’s lost his balance. He’s not going to make it in time! This is a one-on-one battle between Ginn and cornerback Will Blackmon!”

“Blackmon leaps high into the air! He’s positioned behind Ginn, trying to jump in front of him for the interception! Ginn is accelerating, he’s sprinting, his positioning was a half-beat slow, and he jumped half a step behind! Both men are airborne, their vertical leap is absolutely incredible! This looks more like a basketball game than football! Right now, Blackmon has the high point, he has the advantage!”

“But… Ginn! Ginn boxed him out! Ginn made the perfect read on the ball’s trajectory from Lu Ke! Blackmon overran it! He’s off by about half a yard! Ginn extends his arms, makes the catch! He grabs the ball just before Blackmon’s fingertips can graze it!”

“Ginn caught the football! Ginn made the reception! He’s done it! In an extreme one-on-one showdown, Ginn successfully makes the catch! Both men tumble into the end zone! Does he have control? Does Ginn have control of the ball? Is it a successful catch? Yes! It is! The referee is signaling a secure catch! It’s a touchdown!”

“God! Oh, my God! It’s a touchdown! Touch… down…”

Troy started to roar. No extra words, just a pure, satisfying roar. His hands clenched into fists unconsciously as he bellowed with uninhibited joy, “Touchdown! A successful touchdown!”

“Facing a dire third-and-seventeen, the San Francisco 49ers had almost no choice but to go for a long pass. The New York Giants had set up their defense specifically for it, tightly blanketing the entire passing field and leaving Lu Ke almost no room to throw. But even in a situation like this, the 49ers used their receivers’ nimble route running to rip a hole right through it!”

“They weren’t just trying to convert on third down—they were aiming straight for the end zone! Lu Ke once again showed off the legendary long-pass skill that’s making his name in the league! A sixty-one-yard super-bomb, delivered like a missile, right on target to the end zone! And he found the team’s number two receiving target, Ted Ginn Jr., to deliver the fatal blow!”

“God, this is just incredible! We don’t even know how Ginn ended up in the end zone, but it’s a touchdown! Ladies and gentlemen, the home team, the San Francisco 49ers, have once again turned a disadvantageous situation around! They’ve pulled themselves back from the brink of the cliff, found new life, and landed a heavy blow right to their opponent’s face! Jesus Christ! Touchdown! Touchdown! The second touchdown of the game, and once again, it comes from the San Francisco 49ers! Once again, it comes from Lu Ke!”

Troy’s commentary was on fire, because the entire Candlestick Park was on fire. Almost everyone thought the 49ers were in a hopeless situation. Third-and-seventeen was a nearly impossible task, but Lu Ke had achieved another impossibility, throwing a sixty-one-yard touchdown pass! He had completely turned the tables!

The New York Giants defense, which had just started to show signs of a comeback, was hit by a stunning blow. All the defensive players stood in place, looking inexplicably bewildered. They couldn’t seem to remember how they had given up those two touchdowns. Weren’t they the ones with the advantage? Weren’t they the ones who had pushed their opponents to the edge of a cliff? Why, then, did the final result end up with the opponent scoring a touchdown both times?

How did any of this happen?