Dominate the Super Bowl-Chapter 685 - : The spear is not a spear

Chapter 685: The spear is not a spear

“Get on the field, get on the field.”

“Oh ho, it’s our turn again.”

“Come on, come on!”

With Houston, Jones, and the rest of the Defense leading, everyone stood on the sidelines, cheering on their teammates as the Offense took the field once more.

The pressure was still there.

But the mental state had subtly changed.

...

The players of the Offense opened up their shoulders, held their heads high, their mouths relaxed into a state of alert calmness, readying themselves for battle.

By stark contrast, the faces across the field were solemn, grave, tense, bristling with a menacing air of determination.

Indeed, for the Baltimore Ravens, although they had not lost, the outcome was still uncertain, and their mood was no different from having walked through hell itself.

In the fourth quarter, they finally broke the tie to take the lead, and then, strangling Li Wei’s performance, victory seemed within reach. But then the tide turned; first, they lost the touchdown and returned to a tie, followed by a series of strikeouts leading to their expulsion. Entering overtime, they were the first to lose the offensive right.

They retreated, over and over. Although it wasn’t as bad as misfortunes piling up, it wasn’t far off.

Now, stepping onto the field again, the conviction of certain victory thundered in their minds. Led by Saggs, Mosley, and the defensive players, they exuded a desperate and solemn determination, their bodies burning with a ferocious fighting spirit, their sharpness unavoidable, challenging the Offense head-on.

On either side of the Chu River and Han border, the contrast was stark—

The spear was not a spear, the shield was not a shield, what was clearly a spear gave off the feeling of a shield, what was clearly a shield displayed the might of a spear. The contradictory confrontation was still as such, but the essence of the contradiction underwent a silent transformation, pushing the atmosphere of the Arrowhead Stadium to its peak in an instant.

Hush!

It wasn’t a booing sound, but a signal for silence, as Arrowhead Stadium fell completely quiet, making space for their Offense to set up their tactics.

Mahomes regained his focus.

This young quarterback showed his resilience. After two painful failures, he was once again faced with a similar situation. Nervousness was inevitable, and demons of doubt lingered, but it was just for a moment. With Li Wei’s help, he quickly returned to the game state—

Though it was not easy.

Then.

The stadium was dead silent; only the thudding of hearts against chest cavities buzzed in the ears, getting faster and faster, nearly to the point of explosion. Standing still, one couldn’t help but tremble slightly uncontrollably.

As time seemed to slow down, down to a tenth, a hundredth of its pace.

All eyes were locked onto the field.

The Baltimore Ravens Defense maintained their familiar formation. It was evident that Harbaugh was consciously disrupting their placements. The linemen, cornerbacks, and safeties were scattered, but all stood within a narrow area of fifteen yards, in this manner disrupting Mahomes’ defensive reading.

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

Everything was possible. Because of the linemen’s incorporation into the formation, it was impossible to discern whether Harbaugh would opt for a blitz, run defense, or pass defense, in sharp contrast to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ deliberately distinct layered positioning.

However, the surprise was that the Kansas Chiefs Offense changed their formation.

Shotgun Formation.

Rarely, Reed didn’t position Li Wei beside Mahomes but sent Hunter in with a “Five Wide Receivers Formation,” pushing all five receivers up front, indicating a pass play from the formation itself.

But was it really so?

If it were any other team’s Shotgun Formation, maybe that would be the case; but for the Kansas City Chiefs’ Shotgun Formation, it could also be seen as a transformation of the double running back formation. Thanks to Li Wei’s presence, Reed often hid many different tactics.

Including the “Chiefs Special” that shone during the early Super Bowl.

“Offense VS Defense.”

From the start of overtime, one could feel the smoke of war between Reed and Harbaugh, both coaches throwing smoke bombs to confuse the opposition, their intense dispositions clashing forcefully, the temperature rising by the minute.

Ironically, the actual temperature of Arrowhead Stadium was dropping, with cold air colliding with hot air. The next step might just be… an explosion.

Just as he was on the verge of suffocation, about to give out, Mahomes’s voice cut through the sky—

“Offense!”

Thump thump, thump thump thump.

Arrows released from a bow, horses breaking free from their reins.

In an instant, one could see a red storm surge out from the Kansas Chiefs’ side.

One two three four five.

Five figures!

The Shotgun Formation, not a smoke bomb, was indeed a true Shotgun Formation! Including Li Wei and Hunter, they all ignited off the line at the first opportunity.

Barging forward without looking back.

So what about the Baltimore Ravens Defense?

Unexpected, yet not unexpected.

Clearly, Harbaugh’s strategy was slightly different but still retained its advantage.

Four men on the pass rush.

The Baltimore Ravens didn’t place all their forces on the front defense line; after maintaining pressure across the front line throughout the game, they suddenly… let go at the start of the overtime; instead pouring the pressure onto the receivers.

Man-to-man coverage combined with zone defense.

No fewer than seven players retreated, constructing an impenetrable net in the short pass region, and the widely open short pass areas throughout the game were now shut tight within Mahomes’s passing view.

Harbaugh’s strategy wasn’t to create direct pressure with a pass rush but to create indirect pressure on Mahomes through blockading the middle and short pass areas.

At the final moments just before the end of regulation time, the Kansas Chiefs had used such a defensive strategy to throw Jackson off his game, fully exposing his rough passing technique deficiencies. Now the Baltimore Ravens were using the same tactic to trouble Mahomes.

For a moment, the short to middle passing regions were densely packed with people, red and black intertwined and colliding, dazzling to the eye.

The Baltimore Ravens defense strategy, serendipitously, matched up perfectly with Reed’s offensive tactics.

But were Reed’s tactics so simple to decipher?

Hill, rush forward.

Watkins, rush forward.

Hunter, rush forward.

Hill and Hunter on the left wing and Watkins on the right wing, all three players charged forward right after the ball was snapped, sprinting towards the midfield line and even deeper territories without hesitation.

Among them, Hill took the lead, fully unleashing his light and agile speed, displaying incredible vertical striking power.

In just a breath, Hill’s steps had crossed the midfield line.

The Baltimore Ravens Defense had to follow the pace immediately. When they relaxed the pressure on the front line, the defense had to be ready to defend the deeper areas because they knew about Mahomes’s long-passing capabilities, which is also the biggest difference between Mahomes and the former quarterback, Smith.

In the blink of an eye, Hill had entered the long-pass area, while Watkins and Hunter, after moving into the long-pass area, both retreated back into the middle passing zone, creating open spaces with different routes and positions.

Just then, another figure quietly broke through from the short-pass region—

Li Wei!

Dazzling and overwhelming, the Kansas Chiefs’ Shotgun Formation took full advantage of the strategic movements of the Wide Receivers, with five players joining together to set off waves in the Ravens’ secondary.

Like Nezha stirring the sea.