Chapter 970: A Wake-up Call

"Oh..."

A chorus of disappointed and frustrated groans erupted throughout Gillette Stadium. You could almost hear the sound of drums beating against their hearts. That feeling of being lost and depressed was surging like a muffled thunder, but it couldn’t be released.

For the fans, they seemed to not understand what happened. But for the players on the field, especially the quarterback, they knew perfectly well. Brady slumped to the ground in frustration, aimlessly adjusting his socks, trying to distract himself. But the anger and frustration still couldn’t stop surging—

As the commentators said, their offensive strategy was completely seen through by the opposing defense. One wrong step led to another. The entire fourth-and-one drive was like a chicken whose throat had been squeezed. All it could do was whimper and do nothing. From the moment of the snap, they had no chance.

Dmn it! Dmn it! D*mn it! Who would have thought that the New England Patriots’ offense had not scored a single point so far in the fourth quarter?

Now, the initiative was handed over to the opposing offense.

This was a crucial defensive stop, and it was also a crucial offensive failure. Even though Brady was battle-hardened, he still couldn’t calm down at this moment. It was precisely because of his desire for victory that his anger was surging, almost impossible to suppress.

On the sideline, Belichick was wiping his nose. The temperature today was not the lowest it had been recently, about five degrees Celsius. It hadn’t reached the lowest point of this winter, but with the wind and rain, and now with gusts of cool wind, his body was also starting to feel the strain.

Right now, Belichick still didn’t show any weakness. His expression didn’t show any special changes. His mind was starting to work quickly, while the defensive coaching staff behind him, who were clearly not as experienced, started to look anxious.

Game time left: 2 minutes and 10 seconds. That’s 130 seconds.

Score: "33-28." It was still a five-point difference.

Anything was possible.

It was still the case now. If the San Francisco 49ers’ offense made a mistake, the New England Patriots still had enough time to suppress them. Even though Lu Ke had shown an unstoppable momentum in the second half, the outcome of the game could only be known after the showdown. The focus now was:

At a crucial moment, Brady was forced to make a mistake. So, would Lu Ke be lenient?

A few scattered cheers started to ring out again at Gillette Stadium. They weren’t in a unified chant, but the fans were slowly coming to their senses. They also realized that they hadn’t lost the game yet. They had just put all the pressure on their defense, or perhaps... on the opponent’s quarterback making a mistake!

Even Brady was bound to make a mistake. After all, this was a sport where confrontation ran through it all. All the performances followed the law of conservation of momentum, where one’s gain is another’s loss. If the New England Patriots’ defense could be strong, then Lu Ke would also inevitably make a mistake. Furthermore, he was just a second-year quarterback. The chance of him making a mistake at a critical moment was multiplied.

They still had hope.

So, Gillette Stadium slowly started to get lively again. All eyes were on the San Francisco 49ers’ offense.

Especially Lu Ke!

Two minutes and eleven seconds.

This was a tricky time in the game. It was 11 seconds away from the official two-minute warning. This meant that the 49ers could at least complete one more play and then get an extra timeout. But the problem was that the art of clock management became subtle.

If the 49ers scored a touchdown too quickly, it meant that the New England Patriots still had time to make a comeback. A "Hail Mary" was not Brady’s strong suit, but Gronkowski was a weapon that could make the entire defense’s hair stand on end. If the 49ers were too slow and couldn’t score a touchdown in the end, then a field goal would not be enough to make up the five-point difference, and they would lose the game directly.

In other words, they needed to score a touchdown, but they also needed to kill enough time.

For the young Lu Ke, the difficulty was even higher than that of scoring a touchdown itself.

At this moment, Lu Ke had no time to think about these things. He knew that they were still behind in the score. Thinking about clock management after a touchdown was too luxurious. He needed to focus all his attention on the next drive. But this was not an easy task, especially when Jim Harbaugh and Brian Hampton were constantly emphasizing in his headset:

Run the ball; time. Time; run the ball.

It was not a monotonous repetition, but an omnipresent emphasis during the play-calling process. This made Lu Ke’s attention a bit distracted. The lack of game experience was inevitably exposed in the ups and downs of a long season. Although Lu Ke was mature for his age, he was still just a 23-year-old young man.

First and 10.

Lu Ke chose a fake pass and real run play. The first half was fine, but when he handed the ball to Frank Gore, the running rhythm didn’t completely match, which made Gore unable to control the ball immediately. He had to make small adjustments in place, which also delayed the timing of the run.

In the end, Gore only gained two yards before being completely swallowed by the New England Patriots’ layered defense.

The small mistake in the handoff directly led to the efficiency of this drive being severely affected.

After the run, the offense didn’t have time to line up again when the two-minute warning arrived. The offensive players all stayed on the field, and the ball boys came up to give them water. Meanwhile, Lu Ke quickly returned to the sideline and talked to Harbaugh in a low voice to plan the next play.

Just 25 seconds later, the game started again, and the two-minute countdown also restarted.

Second and eight.

Lu Ke stood in the pistol formation and chose a fake run and real pass. He faked a handoff, but Gore just ran past him without stopping. Then Lu Ke got a passing window.

The offensive line faced a serious challenge from the defensive line. The New England Patriots used five players against five players, but they used the advantage of a mismatch and a step forward. Instead of a strong head-on collision, they used a deflection of force to pull the offensive linemen, forcing them to move with them to block.

As a result, the entire pocket was torn apart and scattered around Lu Ke like satellites.

The 49ers’ players were doing their best to block. Lu Ke was not in danger of being sacked for the time being, but the pressure was coming from all directions, which still caused some interference.

After his observation, Lu Ke found the substitute, Michael Crabtree, on the left sideline.

Crabtree broke free from the cornerback’s coverage a beat early, creating a two-yard distance. As long as Lu Ke’s pass to his blind side was on the mark, he could make the catch and convert this second and eight, getting a first down. But... Lu Ke’s pass was off.

A pass to the blind side was supposed to be Lu Ke’s specialty, but the arc control had a slight deviation in angle this time, and it flew out of bounds before Crabtree could catch it. It wasn’t Crabtree’s mistake, but Lu Ke’s. The rare mistake happened at a crucial moment.

Another small mistake in a critical detail.

Third and eight.

Just as Lu Ke announced the snap, the referee’s continuous whistles stopped the game. A yellow flag was thrown.

Logan Newman, number 88 of the 49ers, was offside. The referee immediately called the penalty. The offense was penalized five yards, which put the team in a difficult third and 13 situation.

It was obvious that the entire offense was a bit excited and agitated, or rather, impatient. Logan even made a low-level mistake like being offside. Logan stood in place and cursed under his breath, very dissatisfied with his performance, because he, like all his other teammates, knew clearly that they were losing a great opportunity.

Originally, everyone was saying that they not only needed to score a touchdown but also needed to manage the clock.

Now, they had to face a difficult third and 13 situation. Let alone a touchdown, a single mistake could lead to a loss. It was very, very unlikely that the New England Patriots would make a mistake again. After one opportunity was gone, a second one might never be seen again.

For a moment, they seemed to have returned to their state before halftime. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Lu Ke also realized this.

Compared to the difficult third and 13 situation, the confusion and blurriness of getting into this difficult situation was the real wake-up call. For a quarterback, staying clear-headed was not an easy task, but it was the most important one. Once a quarterback didn’t know what he was doing, it was a disaster for the entire offense.

Harbaugh and Hampton’s chattering discussion was transmitted through the headset, like a swarm of flies buzzing around, constantly distracting Lu Ke. He had no way to focus. He had to yell into the headset, "Shut up! Please give me a moment!"

Finally, it was quiet.

"Sorry, I need a moment of silence now." Lu Ke knew that his words were too harsh and could be considered an offense to Harbaugh and Hampton. So, after closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he calmed down and apologized. "We need to go back to square one. Don’t think about what comes next. A touchdown is a must."

One second, two seconds.

Harbaugh and Hampton remained silent. Then Harbaugh took the initiative to break the stalemate. "Timeout, Bambi. Call a timeout."

"Jim! A timeout now? Are you crazy?" Hampton couldn’t help but shout. The official two-minute warning had just passed. Were they going to waste another timeout now? This would be very detrimental to clock management later in the game.

But Harbaugh did not argue with Hampton. "Bambi, timeout!"

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