Julio Jones stood to the right of the offensive line, adjusting his breathing. Through his helmet, he studied the positions of the opposing defensive players. They were still using a four-man rush and three-man backfield strategy, concentrating their power to pressure the quarterback and leaving only three players in the backfield to cover the three receivers.
Were they ignoring the receivers' abilities?
Julio stared intently at the player covering him, Richard Sherman. That arrogant, conceited guy thought he was the best cornerback in the world and looked down on everyone. Just a moment ago, he had successfully beaten him once. Now he could do it a second and a third time. He was more than happy to crush that guy's confidence again and again until the opponent completely broke down. He was sure he could do it.
But!
The quarterback announced a crossing route tactic. Although Julio couldn't see the necessity of using such a tactic—he could easily beat Richard one-on-one—the quarterback was the play-caller on the field, and he was just the executor, so he had to follow the instructions obediently.
He looked up, over the three offensive linemen, and immediately saw Jeremy and Logan getting ready to move. Logan seemed to have a telepathic connection, turning his head, and the two exchanged a look of mutual understanding. The next second, he heard the shout "Hut!" and Julio, without any hesitation, shot out like an arrow from a bow.
He charged forward, and in his line of sight, he could see Richard Sherman's muscles tense up. Like a crab, he lowered his center of gravity and stared intently at Julio's running route. But Julio didn't pay any attention, stopping and turning abruptly, and started sprinting toward the forty-five-degree angle to his left.
Julio and Logan's crossing routes created entirely different running paths. Jeremy, starting from the left side, was two steps behind Logan but didn't follow him. Instead, he moved horizontally to the right. The three players' running routes were completely intertwined and dazzling.
In the chaos, the three defensive players on the opposing team were momentarily stunned. In a regular team, they would have decided on a zone defense or man-to-man defense. After discussing it, they would execute the play. But in today's impromptu scrimmage, there was a lack of communication among the three secondary defensive players, so they didn't know how to move.
One player decided on man-to-man defense and began to move, following Logan's running route. The other two players decided on zone defense, staying in place and waiting for a receiver to run into their zone. But their different decisions led to the entire coverage area of the field being completely torn open. You could almost hear a loud "rip!" and then, the three defensive players all converged on one side, defending Logan and Jeremy, while Julio's side became a wide-open gap.
A pass. A simple seven-yard short pass was comfortably and easily delivered into Julio's arms. Then Julio started running head-down, sprinting forward. The path was wide open in front of him, and it seemed he could run straight to the end zone in one go.
This was a disaster, a complete and utter disaster! Fortunately, the disaster wasn't irreversible. Richard realized his defensive mistake. While sprinting toward Julio, he called out to his teammates, and they quickly ran over to form a double-team. Then, by committing a penalty, he grabbed Julio's helmet and pounced, tackling Julio hard.
In the end, Julio advanced twenty-one yards!
Incredible! The coaches on the sideline exchanged glances. They had to admit that in these two offensive downs, Lu Ke's performance was truly brilliant. The first down showed his composure and ability to survive a crisis, while the second down demonstrated his ability to read the field and arrange a play.
This was entirely the power of his intellect. He took advantage of the opponent's unstable footing and lack of coordination. A simple crossing route resulted in such a huge gain in yardage in one go. It even took the seven-on-seven man shortage into account. More importantly, a short seven-yard pass, thrown almost with a flick of the wrist, was completed before Von Miller could get to him after once again tearing through the defensive line. And he did it calmly and collectedly.
A perfect score on the Wunderlic Test? It seemed to finally be showing its power at this moment.
Julio was a little annoyed and punched the turf. He had been careless and hadn't sprinted at full speed. Otherwise, he would have run straight to the end zone, scored a touchdown, and ended the game. How could he have left them a chance? Lu Ke's play was truly too smart! But unfortunately, he had wasted it.
Running back, Julio looked at Lu Ke, shook his head, and apologized. "Sorry, man."
"Haha, then don't hold back on the next down." Lu Ke responded with a joke, glancing at the defensive players on the other side. They were arguing, their faces red with anger, barely able to hide their frustration. "There's a disagreement among them. What we need to do now is push them again and completely seize the victory! On this next down..."
Lu Ke hesitated a little. He had successfully completed two passes to Julio. One of them was against Richard, which meant he still had to complete one more pass to Julio and beat Richard once more. This was a serious challenge! And after two consecutive long-yardage passes, plus Richard's penalty for grabbing the helmet, they were now at the thirty-one-yard line on the other side of the field. The end zone was within reach.
"Short pass!" The requirements of the special mission were truly too strict. Lu Ke had to leave himself some room to complete the mission. Otherwise, a long pass to Logan at this moment would have ended the game and been the easiest thing to do. But he had no other choice now, so Lu Ke began to call the play.
Sitting in the stands, Adam Klein watched the scrimmage with great interest. This number eleven was like a treasure chest. The more he dug, the more amazing things he found.
The data didn't lie. Yesterday's test data and the first day's physical data all showed that number eleven was a quarterback whose physical abilities were far from professional league standards. He was barely good enough for NCAA games. This alone was enough to deter all the teams.
But number eleven's passing accuracy was truly stunning, and his fundamentals were very solid. His footwork and ability to escape tackles were truly spectacular. The key point was here: competing against defensive ends and defensive tackles required muscle explosiveness, the ability to change direction instantly, and body control. These are all part of physical talent, which was the area where Lu Ke performed terribly in the tests. So, what was going on?
Adam could tell that footwork, changing direction, and escaping tackles were not Lu Ke's strengths. This could be seen in the two-minute game at the Rose Bowl. In the first and third downs just now, it was also clear that his fundamentals were solid and his footwork was stable, but his explosiveness and ability to change direction were lacking. The question now was: what was going on in the second down? Number eleven's footwork was as if he was divinely inspired, even better than Cam Newton's.
Could it be a burst of potential in a crisis?
As he was thinking, the fourth down began again, and Adam's eyes lit up. This was it! This flexible and agile footwork, what in the world was it?
Absolute Footwork!
Lu Ke activated his special skill again, not only because Von Miller had once again broken through the offensive line's block but also because he needed to complete a pass to Julio. Richard had changed his strategy and was now playing tight man-to-man coverage, sticking to him like glue. He needed time. He needed time for Julio to shake off the coverage and time to observe alternative options.
This was not the time to be stingy with his skills. Lu Ke didn't hesitate at all and used the one special skill he had left.
In an instant, his footwork was as if it was divinely inspired, like a butterfly dancing in a field of flowers. He nimbly dodged Von Miller's determined sack and turned to run in the opposite direction. Unbelievably, Von started again, and even after losing his balance, he pushed off the ground and flew toward Lu Ke in the direction of gravity.
But what was even more unbelievable was that Lu Ke seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He shifted his body to the side with a simple step, skillfully and precisely avoiding Von's second sack. After two consecutive forced starts, Von finally ran out of energy and collapsed. You could even hear his angry roar.
Lu Ke didn't pay attention. He was focused on scanning the entire field, and his field of vision became incredibly clear, as if the whole world was in his sight. Then, Lu Ke raised his right hand and made a passing motion—Jeremy!
Not Julio, but Jeremy!
In an instant, the defensive players were all pulled out of position. They sprinted toward Jeremy and raised their hands, trying to deflect the pass. At the same time, another player on the defensive line broke through the offensive line and charged toward Lu Ke.
The next second, Lu Ke took a lateral step, avoiding the player trying to sack him. Then he pulled his right hand back and changed his passing target again—Logan!
The first time was a fake! This time, the three secondary defensive players all exclaimed in dismay. One of them had rushed toward Jeremy, and the one who was originally covering Logan had also moved. Now, trying to adjust their center of gravity again, they couldn't keep up. In desperation, Richard left Julio and rushed toward Logan.
They couldn't give up any more yards. The offense was practically at the goal line!
In the last second, Lu Ke paused his footwork, completely shaking off the out-of-position rusher. Then he took a big step forward and started the passing motion for the third time. The previous one was still a fake. He had once again intellectually dominated them. The real passing target was still Julio Jones!
Damn it, damn it, damn it! Richard Sherman's curses and trash talk poured out. He forced himself to stop his momentum and pounced toward Julio without a second thought.
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