Chapter 973: Chapter 973: The Interception

Chapter 973: The Interception

"A 35-yard deep pass! Lu Ke challenges the end zone!"

"What a pity!"

"The biggest hero of this game, Chad Hall, was not able to catch this pass. His explosive power was still a little lacking, and his ability to accelerate at the last moment was insufficient. In the end, he could only watch this game-winning catch slip away from him. It was almost a fingertip miss."

"By continuously using a fast-paced and high-density offensive strategy, the San Francisco 49ers have raised their offensive rhythm and intensity to a whole new level. This has forced the New England Patriots’ defense to rely on their game instincts to make defensive plays. All of a sudden, Lu Ke chose a 35-yard deep pass, trying to find Chad Hall for a fatal blow."

"Unconsciously, the San Francisco 49ers have already reached the opponent’s 44-yard line, and Lu Ke seized the opportunity to change the offensive rhythm again."

"The New England Patriots’ defense was completely unprepared, and their defense was out of position. The safety, Devin McCourty, didn’t actually lose his defensive position and was still tightly covering Hall, but his positioning and footwork were clearly out of sync, and he wasn’t able to cut off all of Hall’s receiving routes in time."

"If it wasn’t for Hall’s slight lack of speed at the last moment, this would have been a game-changing pass."

"The New England Patriots must be on high alert. They have now officially entered Lu Ke’s full-coverage passing range. As long as a receiver can get to a corner of the field, Lu Ke can complete the pass! Every defensive play now is crucial. Any small mistake could cost them the game!" 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Watching Hall miss the catch at the last moment, Lu Ke did not wince or get frustrated. Instead, he carefully thought about it. The wind on the field still had a slight effect. The power from his wrist was not strong enough, and the end of the pass was a little weak, which made the rhythm of the ball’s final descent not full enough.

Lu Ke called the offense back together, still using a no-huddle offense. There was no play-calling or motivational speech, but the light in his focused eyes showed an unquestionable determination, which firmly brought the offensive players’ scattered attention back under control.

Second and 10.

Seeing that the New England Patriots had given up on blitzing the quarterback, and only three defensive linemen were left to confront the offensive line, all the other players had retreated and were in a pass-defense formation. This meant there was an opening, and Lu Ke handed the ball to Marcus Lynch without hesitation.

Marcus, who had just been rotated in for Gore, noticed that Gore had already made a good run. He was also highly focused now.

After taking the ball, Marcus quickly bypassed the area where the offensive and defensive lines were entangled without facing any resistance. He had already accelerated within five yards. He faced the outside linebacker, Tracy White, who was running toward him. He still instinctively chose to break to the right.

Without any fancy footwork, Marcus went head-to-head and ran straight into White.

This time, White finally made the tackle, but both of them were running at high speed, so they couldn’t stabilize their center of gravity. As a result, both of them were in a wobbly state and slammed into each other, which prevented White from making a solid tackle. In the next second, Marcus pushed White forward with an absolutely dominant posture.

White’s footwork immediately became chaotic. He instinctively kept adjusting, but he was in a mess as he continued to retreat. After a few big steps, White’s tackle had loosened, and then he was dragged like a discarded rag before being completely shaken off.

Marcus’s feet were still moving forward. The momentum of his run was absolutely strong, and he instantly ran past the 10-yard first-down mark.

Then, Marcus could see at least three defenders running toward him. Other players were also quickly following, and the entire circle was rapidly shrinking. If he continued to push forward, he could at least gain three or four more yards, or even more. But Marcus knew that this was not the best time.

In a normal game, a running back needed to relentlessly look for space to advance. But now, the game had entered the final countdown. The running back needed to stop his momentum in time and make the most effective advance at the most appropriate time, instead of greedily advancing one or two yards and wasting more offensive opportunities for the team.

So, Marcus immediately went down.

On the sideline, Harbaugh immediately called a timeout.

The entire game process and the coaching staff’s cooperation were perfect. Just now, Harbaugh had called a timeout for Lu Ke, which meant that the 49ers’ clock management had become passive. They had no way out. So, now that Harbaugh noticed Lu Ke’s tactical choice, he didn’t hesitate. He watched Marcus go down and immediately called a timeout.

Game time: 48 seconds.

Line of scrimmage: 33-yard line.

The scale of victory seemed to be tilting little by little toward the visiting 49ers. The offense’s momentum was slowly building up under the high-speed operation of the no-huddle offense. In less than 70 seconds, they had already reached the 33-yard line, and they were getting closer and closer to the end zone.

Even worse, the defense seemed to have never found the right rhythm. Whether it was a pass or a run, they were now in a passive defensive state and couldn’t make an effective interception. The entire situation seemed to be one-sided, and things were getting worse.

The game of chess, the game of chess was now in progress.

They had now entered Lu Ke’s long-pass attack range. So, when would Lu Ke choose to throw a long pass? At the same time, the New England Patriots’ defense had to improve their defensive quality. If they continued to let Lu Ke pass the ball comfortably, the situation would definitely not get better.

First and 10.

At the snap, the New England Patriots’ defense suddenly changed their speed. Two linebackers and four defensive linemen all stepped forward at the same time, turning passive into active. They immediately put pressure on the offensive line. They were not in a hurry to sack the quarterback. Instead, they used their strong compression power to shrink the entire pocket, just like crushing a soda can with one hand.

Crunch, crunch.

The 49ers’ offensive line retreated and shrunk.

But Lu Ke, who was in the pistol formation, was even more compact. He made a quick direct pass before the pocket shrunk, finding Jean who was cutting inside in the middle. It was a short five-yard pass. Jean instantly completed the catch.

The Patriots’ middle linebacker, Mayo, also came up in time and accurately made the tackle as soon as Jean made the catch. He went down on the spot.

Second and five.

Without any pause, from the moment Jean went down to the out-of-position offensive line, the entire offense took less than five seconds to line up again. Then Lu Ke was ready to snap the ball again, which forced the Patriots’ defenders to hurry up and line up quickly.

Sure enough, as expected, the defense’s strategy was still to blitz the quarterback. In this tight situation, they had to put more pressure on Lu Ke and disrupt his pass to break the play at the source. At the same time, the backfield defense also put in more resources to prevent any possible long passes. Unconsciously, it seemed to have returned to the first-half strategy.

They gave up on the ground defense and reinforced the front and back of the defense, leaving the middle area open.

The New England Patriots’ biggest reliance was that the 49ers couldn’t kill more time. The cost of choosing a running play was too high.

In the face of the raging offensive line, Lu Ke once again made a quick release. He found Logan Newman with a five-yard short pass at a 60-degree angle to the side.

This was a pass to the blind side. Logan used his body to block the position of the opposing cornerback, Talib. After easily catching the ball, he didn’t greedily continue to advance. He ran straight out of bounds, stopping the clock again.

The two quick offensive drives only used 15 seconds. There were still 33 seconds left in the game. The stage for a head-to-head battle had finally arrived.

To everyone’s surprise, the one who made the first move was the retreating New England Patriots’ defense.

"Attack!"

Lu Ke could clearly feel that the offensive line was struggling because the opposing defense used six players again to rush the pocket. The numerical disadvantage made the offensive line a bit overwhelmed. Then, he could see the outermost outside linebacker of the defense, who had originally lined up to blitz the quarterback, fooled the entire offensive line and then turned around to help with the pass defense.

In his sight, white and blue figures were crisscrossing quickly. Lu Ke immediately saw the crisscrossing runs of Randy Moss and Ted Ginn Jr.

The two players were originally standing on the left and right, but after a five-yard run, they both cut into the center and then started to run in a spiraling, intersecting route after meeting.

First, Ginn Jr. slammed on the brakes and turned around, making a motion to catch the ball, which attracted the attention of two defenders. Then, Moss cut into the red zone within 10 yards and used his shoulder to push the safety, McCourty, out of position and then tried to make a catch.

The time difference between the two players created an opportunity for Lu Ke. Although the pocket was in a precarious state, he still paused for half a beat and then threw the ball.

Ginn Jr.? Or Moss? Lu Ke chose... Judging from the direction of the pass, it seemed to be Randy Moss!

But no one expected that there was a slight deviation in the connection between Moss and Lu Ke. Moss had run too far ahead, and the ball was behind him. He didn’t have time to turn around, and then he could only watch the ball fall quickly. Just as it was about to hit the ground, McCourty scooped it up from below.

Interception.

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