Take a deep breath, a deep, deep breath, as if you'll never stop. Inhale for a long time. Everything in your line of sight slows down. All the movements in the world play in slow motion, ten, twenty times slower. The path of the wind, the players' warm-up movements, the ball boys' running...
Everything is so slow, yet so clear and real. Even when using the special "bullet time" skill, the view isn't this high-definition.
Everything is different. He can feel every detail, every link, and every part is different.
Paul Brown Stadium is more open and spacious. The semi-open stadium blossoms like a flower. Standing on the field, his peripheral vision can catch large sections of the sky and buildings. The sense of space and location of the entire stadium is completely different, and even the angle of the light and the halo of the light's refraction are different.
The stands at Paul Brown Stadium are more open. The white, black, and orange jerseys spread out like a mighty army, which is more muted and unfamiliar than red and gold. Even the cheers and support from the audience seem different. Lacking the sound-focusing effect of the stadium's architecture, the echo is more pronounced.
Everything is different, like wearing a pair of shoes of a different size. You can wear them, but you feel uncomfortable all over.
Objectively speaking, the environment at Paul Brown Stadium is milder than at Candlestick Park because there is less wind and the view is more open. More importantly, the weather here is more comfortable. It's truly a crisp autumn day in September, not too humid, not too dry, not too hot, and not too cold. After a simple warm-up, his muscles quickly get into the zone.
But Lu Ke still couldn't get used to it. He was used to Candlestick Park—the wind speed, wind direction, lighting, space, and temperature. As they say, there's no place like home. He still preferred to play at Candlestick Park.
Before he left, after he arrived, and even before he took the field, Lu Ke didn't realize this. This was his first real away game of his career.
Against USC and against the University of Wisconsin, the home field was the Rose Bowl. Against the Seahawks and against the Cowboys, the home field was Candlestick Park. Everything was familiar—the locker room, the tunnel, the environment. He trained on the same field and played on the same field.
The reason a home field is a home field is not because it is a better stadium but because the environment is more familiar. Lu Ke had never thought that playing on the road would be a problem. The media, coaches, and all his teammates had been saying it, but it's different when you experience it yourself.
Before, when he went on the road, Lu Ke was a spectator, sitting on the bench and observing everything from the sidelines. But today, Lu Ke was on the field, a part of the game, even one of the ones controlling the game. Being in the middle of it all, everything changed and suddenly became clear.
Lu Ke thought he had been through a lot and that his strong heart didn't know what it was like to be nervous. But at this moment, he felt nervous again, just like when he was called upon to play against the USC Trojans. He couldn't control or suppress that emotion, but he could use it and turn it into motivation for the game.
"Bambi! Bambi!" a shout, from far away and close, exploded in Lu Ke's ears. The deep breathing finally stopped. Lu Ke turned his head abruptly and saw his teammates, standing in a circle, waiting for Lu Ke to give the command.
The one who shouted was Logan. "Bambi? The clock is counting down! Are you okay?"
Lu Ke's peripheral vision glanced at the countdown clock at the end of the end zone. The forty-second countdown had reached thirty-seven seconds. Everything just now happened in just three seconds, but it felt like an entire century had passed.
Lu Ke clenched his fingers, took the towel hanging from his waist, and wiped away the warm sweat. Then he straightened his fingers again to ease the tension.
The game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the San Francisco 49ers had been going on for three minutes and forty-eight seconds.
The Bengals started on offense, and Andy Dalton led the offense onto the field, launching a decent attack, steadily moving past midfield. Unfortunately, the drive stalled there. It was three-and-out, and the field goal was too far, so the Bengals had no choice but to punt.
Then, Lu Ke led his team onto the field.
"Listen up!" Lu Ke called out to his teammates, but he heard a rumbling sound in his ears, like thunder, a storm, or a heavy rain. It wasn't a deafening explosion but a chaotic noise of a storm rocking the mind. Even worse, Lu Ke's voice was completely drowned out, as if it had hit an invisible wall, and he couldn't project it at all.
Even though Paul Brown Stadium wasn't full and more than a third of the seats were empty, the home fans who were there didn't back down. They gave the San Francisco 49ers a show of force with their overwhelming support, intimidating every player on the offense.
Lu Ke frowned slightly, calling his teammates to huddle closer. They formed a circle, with their heads close together. Lu Ke knelt on one knee in the middle and shouted with all his strength, "Guys, this is our first away game of the season. This means the season has truly begun. I need a victory! Who's with me?"
His words were simple but powerful. Then, Lu Ke extended his right hand. Logan and Marcus extended their right hands almost at the same time, stacking them on top of Lu Ke's hand. Then the other players joined in, one after another, and soon, everyone's hands were stacked together.
"Good! Then let's go get some touchdowns!" Lu Ke shouted with all his might. "On three! One, two, three, game on!" On the third count, everyone's arms shot up into the air.
Afterward, according to Jim Harbaugh's pre-game plan, Lu Ke quickly called the play. It was not easy to call a play amid the uncertain shouts at Paul Brown Stadium. Simple commands and simple hand signals were used to ensure every player received the signal.
Soon, the San Francisco 49ers' offense lined up.
"Hut!"
The screaming and cheering were truly overwhelming, hitting Lu Ke's eardrums like thunder. He couldn't even hear his own voice, struggling to survive in the middle of a roaring tsunami. He felt weak and unable to continue. Just as he began to wonder if his snap count was heard, he felt the football in his hands. Without time to think deeply, his feet instinctively took a quick step back.
He raised his chin high, taking in the defensive formation and running routes on the field, but he only saw a thick iron curtain. Players in white jerseys, black pants, and orange tiger stripes looked like an impassable chasm, completely separating the offensive line from the receivers.
He moved his feet quickly, scanning from left to right, but he didn't have time to look for an opening for a receiver. In a flash, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of the collapsing offensive line. The defensive linemen were like bulldozers, pushing the 49ers' offensive line back. The pocket was collapsing quickly.
Back up!
The warning signal had just gone off, and his backward step was a quarter beat too slow. A pair of hands wearing orange gloves appeared in his sight, slapping down like a fan.
Lu Ke crouched, trying to dodge, but his movements were a little too slow. His shoulders and arms were firmly grabbed by the opponent, and a burning pain came. A crisp "snap" was not solid, but it was tight enough. In the next second, Lu Ke felt a powerful force and the call of gravity. He was dragged down to the ground. The fresh grass clippings and the fervent cheers were like a slap in the face, hitting him hard on the cheek.
But this was not the end.
In the next moment, the 49ers' offensive pocket completely collapsed. A few players lost their balance and fell to the ground like a collapsing mountain, one after another. There were Bengals players and 49ers players, all falling on Lu Ke, piling on top of him.
"Damn it!" Lu Ke clenched his fist and punched the turf hard. A dull, tingling sensation came from the blow, and his stiff, tense muscles were slightly relieved. But the anger in his chest could not be vented at all. It was just gurgling and hitting his chest, causing a faint pain.
Sacked. The San Francisco 49ers' first offensive drive of the game ended with a sack by the Cincinnati Bengals.
The anger was not directed at the offensive line but at himself. Just now, because he was nervous, his judgment was wrong, his reaction was slow, and his performance was terrible!
In his defensive read, he had read the opponent's blitz intention. The "4-3" formation was correct, but he had ignored the fact that the opponent's entire defensive line had pushed forward. They had boldly and crazily abandoned the deep coverage and put a lot of players into the blitz.
The safeties were covering the deep passes, the cornerbacks were covering the short passes, and the linebackers had given up on covering short passes and runs, throwing their weight into the quarterback blitz. This meant that the entire front line was attacking the 49ers' offensive line.
Faced with such a defensive scheme, quickly handing the ball to the running back was the best choice for a pocket quarterback. But Lu Ke's neglect in reading the defense led to a wrong judgment. Then, in the face of a collapsing pocket, his brain's reaction was a quarter beat too slow. This split-second difference meant that his feet didn't have time to step back, and he was sacked directly.
One mistake led to another. And it all ended like this!
It was only at this moment that Lu Ke truly understood what an away game meant. But he was incredibly angry and disappointed with himself. He had seen a lot of things, yet he still made a series of mistakes in judgment because of his nervousness.
"Damn it!" Lu Ke punched the turf hard again.
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