Chapter 426: Ups and Downs

Read the defense, read the defense, read the defense.

Once again in formation, Lu Ke methodically began to read the defense. It was still man-to-man coverage—no changes. But Lu Ke wasn’t happy or excited. His eyes scanned each defensive player, one by one, as if he were judging the intended direction of every man’s movement.

Every time his eyes met a defender’s, Lu Ke would subconsciously flick his gaze upward and to the left. It seemed like he was trying to hide his tactical intentions, yet he was also carelessly revealing his supposed passing target. Whether his opponents decoded that information or not, he was at least laying the groundwork for what was to come.

After the exchange of glances, Lu Ke took a big step forward and changed the play. Then, he retreated three steps, shifting from the Pistol Formation to the Shotgun Formation and posturing for an all-out passing assault. Marcus moved to the left, standing behind Gene and Crabtree to form an inverted triangle.

Despite this, the New York Giants’ defensive formation remained unchanged. They even completely ignored Marcus’s movement, committing fully to their man-to-man tactic. They were countering every potential change by remaining constant, rigorously sticking to the strategy that had performed so well for them in the second half.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Lu Ke called for the snap.

The entire San Francisco 49ers offensive formation began shifting to the left, like a floating island drifting bit by bit. It started with the Offense Line, whose footwork during their blocks subtly moved them leftward in unison, causing the entire pocket to slowly tilt.

Positioned on the left, Gene put his head down and charged forward, pushing his speed to its limits. Also on the left, Crabtree ran a short pass route, sprinting five yards before cutting on a small slant toward the left sideline, preparing to immediately get out of bounds after a catch.

Logan and Williams, positioned on the right, both cut inside to the left, the only difference being their timing. Logan charged forward just three or four yards before cutting left, moving horizontally along the line where the Defense Line had just been positioned. Williams, meanwhile, used his speed advantage, sprinting seven or eight yards before making a ninety-degree turn and surging to the left.

Thus, the entire offense developed a severe leftward slant, sweeping forward in the same direction like a massive tornado and turning everything upside down.

Instantly, every player on the New York Giants Defense Team began to shift their center of gravity, following the spearhead of the San Francisco 49ers’ attack. They all pushed in the same direction, and the field immediately became severely lopsided, as if a truck was about to tip over.

With that, the sole exception became glaringly obvious: Marcus!

Marcus was positioned on the left, three yards behind Gene and Crabtree. After the snap, he didn’t move, but stood his ground, drifting just a yard or two to the left along with the Offense Line. He looked like an idle vagrant, neither a lineman nor a receiver.

After a slight delay, Marcus finally started moving. He burst forward, stopped suddenly, made a turn, and then, at the five-yard line, began to drag horizontally to the right. He turned his body so his back was to the End Zone and he was facing Lu Ke, then raised his right hand high. He looked like a ring girl at a boxing match holding up the round card, trying to attract everyone’s attention.

‘Crap!’

Amid the unified push in one direction, Marcus looked like a lone rebel going against the current. He instantly drew the attention of two defenders, who both slammed on the brakes, violently changed their direction, and sprinted toward Marcus.

Just then, Lu Ke, standing in the Shotgun Formation, smoothly adjusted his footwork, raised his right hand, and instantly began swinging his arm to the left. The pre-snap feint and the post-snap flow finally converged. The players on the New York Giants Defense Team hesitated no longer, collectively surging to their right to stop the pass connection.

But…

“A pass to the left! Wait, no, it’s a pump fake! Lu Ke deceived the entire Defense Team! After pulling his arm back, he resets his feet and completes the throwing motion again, toward… the right! It’s a pass to the right! The target… is not Marcus Lynch! It’s a long pass! God, it’s a Rainbow Pass!”

Troy was practically jumping out of his seat. The diverse and multifaceted nature of the San Francisco 49ers’ offense was on full display, making it completely impossible to defend against. The New York Giants Defense Team was being led completely by the nose. Lu Ke’s form was finally back—at least in terms of his tactical setups and defensive reads. But what about his passing?

“The target is Logan Newman! Jesus Christ, when did Logan get over to the right side?”

Troy voiced the question that was on every commentator’s mind. Outside of their field of view, Logan had suddenly switched from the left side to the right and appeared in Lu Ke’s passing lane. This caught the commentators by surprise, and it also caught the New York Giants by surprise.

On a tactical level, Lu Ke had truly regained his intuition and feel for the game. But in terms of passing accuracy, the jury was still out.

“Thirty yards, forty yards, midfield… a long pass! Lu Ke’s Rainbow Pass soars unstoppably over the fifty, past the forty-five-yard line, the forty-yard line! Logan Newman!”

“Logan Newman found an opening, a massive opening, God! The 49ers’ number eighty-eight, Tight End Newman, makes the catch! Beautiful, that was truly beautiful! A precise catch while backpedaling. He lowered his center of gravity slightly and steadily secured the ball!”

…

The criss-crossing routes in the clash between the two teams had successfully created an open space, which became the perfect opportunity for the passing connection.

After the snap, Logan charged forward without hesitation and turned left, executing a familiar short pass route with ease. After cutting into the middle of the field, he stopped his feet again, completed a second ninety-degree turn, and began to powerfully push forward. This time, however, it wasn’t a straight arrow. He angled slightly to the right, his steps taking him bit by bit back into the right-side channel.

Two sudden stops, two changes of direction. Speed wasn’t Logan’s greatest asset, but his body control as a Tight End was impressive. After crossing the midfield line, Logan began to adjust his footwork, taking small, choppy steps while looking back to slowly get in sync with the trajectory of Lu Ke’s pass.

By the time he reached the forty-yard line, he was in a pocket of no-man’s-land. In the dense secondary, a vacuum had formed with Logan at its center and a radius of three yards, tearing a huge gash in the defensive formation. Facing no pressure at all, Logan merely had to adjust his steps slightly before making the catch.

Lu Ke’s control over the pass still wasn’t one hundred percent precise. The trajectory was a little flat, so the ball landed at Logan’s abdomen instead of his chest. However, his form and feel for the ball had clearly recovered. Logan only needed to lower his center of gravity into a half-squat to successfully and safely make the catch.

After getting to his feet, Logan adjusted his footing, spun one-hundred-and-eighty degrees to face the End Zone, and prepared for a second burst of speed. But he immediately saw three defensive players already closing in to surround him.

The first defender to arrive slammed into Logan’s right shoulder, staggering him. Logan only had time to take one large stride before he was caught in their closing trap. He didn’t try to force it, instead going down with the momentum, protecting the football, and successfully completing the advance.

“Facing a 2nd and 20, the San Francisco 49ers’ rookie quarterback once again showed his audacious side! With a forty-yard pass, he got the first down and also brought his team to near the opponent’s forty-yard line! Brilliant! That was truly brilliant!”

“People are always marveling that Eli Manning is perhaps the quarterback in the Alliance best at fourth-quarter comebacks; but they shouldn’t forget that Lu Ke is definitely another quarterback who thrives in tough games. His clutch performance in critical moments was the first impression he gave the entire Alliance! Unknown! The rest of the game is still unknown! Entering the latter half of the fourth quarter, the excitement of this clash of titans has finally set Candlestick Park ablaze!”

From the commentary box to the stands, everyone erupted over that crucial long pass. But on the field, Lu Ke was singularly focused, as if he couldn’t hear the shouts at all. He just kept making hand signals, waving his teammates forward while gesturing the play, and signaling for them to spread the call quickly. Every second truly counted.

After Logan caught the ball and was tackled, the game clock showed one minute and forty seconds, and it was still ticking down. The San Francisco 49ers didn’t call a timeout, because they had already wasted one in the second half.

Before one of their offensive plays, they had discovered a miscommunication in the play call. Forced into it, Lu Ke had to call a timeout to reread the defense and call a new play. It was an accident, one that nobody wanted to happen, but it had happened nonetheless.

If the game had been going smoothly, it would have been a minor hiccup. But now, with the game in a deadlock, it was potentially fatal.

So now, with two timeouts in hand, the San Francisco 49ers didn’t dare to make a rash move. They wouldn’t use another timeout unless it was the most critical of moments, otherwise they would only find themselves in a more passive position later.

They reached the forty-yard line. By the time they were in formation with the play set, the game clock had ticked down to one minute and twenty seconds, and was still running… nineteen, eighteen… Without any pause or hesitation, Lu Ke immediately called for the snap.

However, after the snap, communication along the Offense Line seemed to break down. Facing the sudden, compressing rush from the New York Giants’ Defense Line, the pressure wasn’t actually that fierce, but the pocket protection collapsed rapidly, and the speed of its contraction far exceeded Lu Ke’s imagination.

Disaster struck again.