Chapter 971: Chapter 971: Fight to the Death

Chapter 971: Fight to the Death

"Bambi, timeout!" Harbaugh’s unwavering words showed a decisive and ruthless determination. He made a clean and simple decision, and Hampton in the headset also shut his mouth.

On the field, Lu Ke immediately raised his hand and called a timeout. All the offensive players stood in place and looked at Lu Ke.

During the game, Harbaugh had the authority to call the plays and command the team on the field. All the plays had to go through him. He was the only one who had this power and also took on all the risks and responsibilities. Although Hampton had the same tactical position as Harbaugh, at a critical moment, Hampton could not give a command that bypassed Harbaugh.

But for the offensive players, the only person they trusted and relied on was Lu Ke. At this moment, when they sensed something was wrong, they did not look at Harbaugh, but at Lu Ke.

This is called camaraderie. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

After the timeout, Lu Ke still didn’t speak. Harbaugh didn’t rush him either. He waited quietly, leaving enough time and space.

After two seasons of working together, Harbaugh had a good enough understanding of Lu Ke. He knew that this quarterback was never soft at a crucial moment. If Lu Ke said there was a problem, then there was a problem. Lu Ke was definitely not a rookie player who would panic easily. The bigger the occasion, the better he performed. Now, since Lu Ke said he needed to be quiet, he would give Lu Ke some quiet.

Ten seconds of the forty-second timeout had passed in a flash, but Harbaugh and Lu Ke remained silent and didn’t discuss any plays at all.

At this time, the coaches’ booth was in a mess. Everyone looked at Hampton, asking with their eyes: What’s going on?

Hampton felt like he was going bald. He tried to come up with some solutions but could only spread his hands and slam his headset on the table. "How should I know?"

"Bambi, how should we attack now?" Harbaugh finally spoke, but he was not calling a play.

Lu Ke let out a long breath. His restless emotions finally calmed down completely, and he said calmly, "Okay, I’m fine now. Coach, you can start calling the plays."

"In the last two plays, their defense was clearly pulling back into the backfield. They’re defending against a long pass. At the same time, the intensity of their blitz has also increased. How should we respond?" Before Harbaugh called the play, Lu Ke used the simplest words to describe what he had gained from his quarterback’s perspective. These things were ultimately different from what a person watching from the sideline could see.

Unlike the strategy in the first half, although the New England Patriots’ defense was also pulling back into the backfield now, the first half was more about control, weakening the ground defense, and cutting off Lu Ke’s passing lanes.

But now, it was more of a typical two-minute-drill defense.

Cutting off the possibility of a long pass and creating a trap. Almost every team facing this situation had a similar defensive strategy, but in terms of play-calling and player rotation, each team had its own style.

"Mmm, I understand." In and out of a breath, countless plays surged into Harbaugh’s mind, but he suddenly found that he and Bill Belichick were both calculating each other. The more they thought about it, the more complicated and profound it became. It was like a game between masters, so dazzling that it was impossible to see clearly.

So, instead of the coaches calculating on the sideline, it was better to let the players on the field fight for it. Of course, the prerequisite was that he was willing to trust the commander on the field.

"Bambi, listen up. There are 103 seconds left in the game. You’ll use a no-huddle offense. As for the clock management, you decide for yourself. If something goes wrong, I’ll call a timeout in time from the sideline. You just go for it without any hesitation. Remember, a touchdown is our only goal. There’s no difference between a third down conversion and a fourth down conversion. A touchdown! I want a touchdown!"

Belichick was a gambler, and so was Harbaugh.

Belichick had just lost his gamble. Now it was Harbaugh’s turn.

Hampton in the coaches’ booth finally couldn’t hold back and started cursing. The endless profanities were simply unbearable, but he had already thrown his headset away, so it didn’t affect Harbaugh and Lu Ke at all.

But everything was under the supervision of the team manager, Trent Baalke. As long as Trent didn’t say anything, Harbaugh’s tactical choice would not be questioned. Although, at this moment, Trent also started to sweat in his palms because he knew more clearly than anyone what Harbaugh was doing.

A no-huddle offense.

This eliminated the huddle for the offense and completely relied on the quarterback’s on-the-spot improvisation and the chemistry of the offense. In college, a no-huddle offense was a way to give full play to the talent of the offense. But in the NFL, a no-huddle offense was the ultimate test of a quarterback’s ability to call plays.

In the past two seasons, Harbaugh had given Lu Ke the utmost trust. During the game, when Lu Ke changed a play on the fly or proposed a play, Harbaugh was willing to let Lu Ke try. They had also executed similar plays many times to improve the offense’s rhythm and speed by reducing the huddle time.

But a complete no-huddle offense was the first time.

In the past two years, the no-huddle offense had gradually become popular in the NFL. It was originally thought to be just a lazy tactic in college, but after entering the NFL, it became a stage to showcase the quarterback’s ability.

For example, Peyton Manning had put up amazing numbers since joining the Denver Broncos this season. The biggest reason was that the quarterback coach, Adam Gase, took the initiative to propose the no-huddle offense, which completely unleashed Peyton Manning’s play-calling ability. It was not just about advancing quickly, but about putting the offensive rhythm in Peyton Manning’s hands. This also magnified Peyton Manning’s strengths to the extreme, and this was only his first season back from injury.

In a sense, this symbolized that the head coach and offensive coordinator were giving their "tactical decision-making power" to the quarterback. Either it was a top player in the league like Peyton Manning, or it was the coach’s unconditional trust in the player. No matter what the possibility was, the prevalence of the no-huddle offense meant a shift in the center of power.

In other words, for any coach, this was not an easy choice.

But now, Harbaugh decided to give Lu Ke full control of the offense in the last moments of the game. In this game between the old fox and the young fox, Harbaugh once again became the one who first broke the situation.

This was because Harbaugh realized that his and Hampton’s thoughts were too many and too complicated, which made it easy for them to fall into Belichick’s rut. This was because they were spectators. They had to control the game. But the ever-changing situation on the field was too complicated to be accurately controlled. This was also the reason why Lu Ke’s emotions had been a little out of control just now.

If that was the case, then why not hand over the power to Lu Ke?

Harbaugh was willing to trust Lu Ke, or rather, he was willing to go all in and make a big gamble.

Lu Ke did not refuse.

First, there was no time, and second, there was no need. This was the moment to fight to the death. Either they would successfully make a comeback and win, or they would fight to the last second and lose the game. Lu Ke would rather choose the latter. Even if he failed, he would straighten his back and lift his chin to calmly accept their fate!

So, Lu Ke said without hesitation and chose his basic offensive formation, "Moss, Jean, Hall, and Newman, and also Lynch."

Since it was a no-huddle offense, rhythm and speed were the lifeblood of the entire drive. There would still be player rotations. Some were for physical endurance, and some were for specific situations like third-down conversions. But overall, the offense needed to maintain a relatively stable structure so that the quarterback could get into a high-speed operating state.

So, Lu Ke chose his offensive formation.

Without any hesitation, Harbaugh waved his hand and sent the corresponding players onto the field.

In fact, this was also the most stable receiving group on the 49ers’ team at the moment. If they needed to be replaced, Marcus’s and Gore’s rotation could bring positive effects. The cross-positioning of Manningham and Moss could also change the rhythm. Now it was up to Lu Ke to line up the players on the fly.

Third and 13.

This was an opportunity for the New England Patriots’ defense and a crisis for the 49ers’ offense.

Lu Ke stood in front of the offensive line, and his thoughts had completely settled down. He was not thinking about whether it was a third down or a fourth down. His only thought now was: they were on the edge of a cliff. Every play had to be treated as the last play. Only with this kind of fighting spirit could they take the initiative.

The defense’s positioning was still as expected. The two safeties had retreated to the backfield, at least 20 yards away from the line of scrimmage. They were not letting their guard down because this was a very long third and 13. Lu Ke’s long pass was still the biggest weapon at a critical moment.

And the linebackers and cornerbacks’ defensive line also clearly pulled back, stretching out the entire defensive space and making corresponding adjustments based on the offense’s positioning. Only four defensive linemen were left at the front.

The 49ers lined up in a non-traditional two-by-two formation.

In a general sense, there were still two receivers on the left and two receivers on the right, but the players’ positioning was very specific.

On the left were Randy Moss and Logan Newman. Logan stood shoulder to shoulder with the offensive tackle, Joe Staley, looking like a sixth offensive lineman. Moss stood in a relatively central position on the left, so he could cut inside or go outside.

On the right were Jean and Hall. Both players’ positions were closer to the inside. Jean’s position was next to the slot, but there was still a slot channel left open. Hall was less than three steps away from Jean and was basically symmetrical to Moss on the other side.

Logically, they should be closer to the sideline—after all, time was not on the 49ers’ side. So why were the receivers’ positions now moving inward? What was going on?

But Lu Ke did not leave any more time for the defense to think.

"Attack!"

Chapter 1002: A City Mobilized