For the first preseason game, Lu Ke was back in New Orleans, and it felt very strange.
During the rookie training camp, he almost thought he would join the New Orleans Saints and follow in the footsteps of Drew Brees, learning quarterback skills. But, with a twist of fate, he joined the San Francisco 49ers and then played against the Saints in his first official game as a professional.
Although he was just a backup, sitting on the bench and observing, and although it was just a preseason game where the goal wasn't to win but to get the plays and the team's lineup to work together, the coincidence still made Lu Ke feel a bit strange.
Especially when he was leaving the training facility on his first night in New Orleans, Lu Ke unexpectedly ran into Joe Lombardi. Joe still remembered Lu Ke and said hello, and they chatted for a while. That made fate even more interesting.
Unfortunately, Lu Ke didn't start the game, so this "fated" showdown couldn't come full circle.
The preseason schedule is strategic. Generally, in the four preseason games, the first two are for testing plays and getting the team to gel. The starting quarterback might play for a quarter or a half to get a feel for the game and warm up. The rest of the game time is split between two or three backup quarterbacks.
On one hand, there is also competition among the backup quarterbacks. The second and third-string quarterback positions are important, and the preseason is their best stage to show what they can do. On the other hand, it's also a chance to practice offensive plays, with the starters, second-stringers, and first-string backups all taking turns on the field to try different combinations.
The third and fourth games are relatively more important. The starting quarterback will likely play for a full half, and other starters might even play the whole game to truly test their form and ability for the regular season.
However, the situation for the San Francisco 49ers this year was a bit unique.
Half the team was brand new. All the players had only been together for one training camp. The starting quarterback was a first-year rookie, and even the coaching staff was new from top to bottom. All the plays, all the cooperation, all the combinations—everything had to be built from scratch.
Especially the coaching style. Jim Harbaugh was a unique, clear-cut, and sharp coach. After taking the helm of the 49ers, he needed to find an effective way to lead the team to victory.
So, the preseason became the most important training ground, conducted entirely in Jim's style.
For Lu Ke, that meant he had to sit on the bench and watch the game. The entire team was centered around Colin Kaepernick, and the goal was to not only work out the plays but also to give Colin a chance to grow quickly as a rookie quarterback.
In the first preseason game, Lu Ke only played for six offensive plays in the middle of the fourth quarter. The reason was to give Colin and Skip some time to talk. After that, Lu Ke did his job, and Colin was back in the game.
In the end, the San Francisco 49ers lost to the New Orleans Saints with a huge score of "3-24."
Colin Kaepernick's performance was a disaster. Out of eighteen passing attempts, he only completed seven, with a success rate of less than fifty percent, only advancing forty-one yards. His running game was a bit better, with him running for thirty-eight yards. He also had two interceptions.
Throughout the entire game, the San Francisco 49ers had almost no chance, and their offense and defense were completely overwhelmed.
But for Lu Ke, the payoff wasn't just the six plays he got on the field. The game became the best medium for him to observe a real game and figure out the plays.
It was only his third day on the team, and he had only read two-thirds of the playbook—just read, not understood, let alone mastered and applied. Lu Ke had to make the most of all his time to adapt to the job of a professional quarterback as quickly as possible, and the playbook was the most basic and important first step.
So, Lu Ke sat on the bench and started to observe every offensive play, not just the 49ers' but also the Saints', and then he combined that with the playbook to understand and apply them. If there were plays he didn't understand, he would write down the game time of that play so he could go back and watch the game film to analyze it further.
Not only that, but when Skip and Jim were discussing offensive plays, Lu Ke would also actively stand behind them and listen, and then he would watch the team's actual plays. He was truly looking at the plays from a professional player's perspective, completely starting over, re-examining, re-arranging, and re-interpreting the plays.
The game started to get interesting.
When the final whistle blew, Lu Ke didn't notice the score on the scoreboard or Colin's performance. Instead, he was replaying the entire game in his mind, and he couldn't wait to go back and read the playbook to start studying and reviewing.
Why do rookie quarterbacks get so flustered on the field? Why do rookie players have so many mistakes when it comes to executing plays? Why does everyone say that NFL plays are so much better than NCAA plays? Why do teams often give rookie players more time to learn in their rookie season?
After actually getting into the preseason and observing the game as a backup, Lu Ke finally saw the tip of the iceberg.
With over twenty thousand plays, it was like chess or Go, with thousands of different combinations, and the game became an art. But football takes it a step further. It's a mental game, but it's also a physical one. You have to be able to do both at the same time and lead your team to victory.
Before the snap, a quarterback's job in the huddle can be broken down into three simple parts.
The first part is to direct the offensive line, read the defense's formation, anticipate their moves, and then arrange the offensive line accordingly. For a traditional pocket quarterback, this is an essential skill because the offensive line is the shield that protects the pocket, and they need more time to observe and pass.
Passing masters like Peyton Manning and Drew Brees can often use play changes and adjustments to train an excellent offensive line to give them more protection. As for the average quarterbacks, they can only hope for the best and hope the team can put together a top-tier offensive line.
The second part is to direct the receivers, including wide receivers, tight ends, and running backs. In different plays, the players' running routes are all different. The gate route, the flagpole route, the sideline route, the middle gap, the crossing routes—all these routes have a rich variety of combinations.
For example, the gate route. The wide receiver starts and runs forward ten yards, then cuts in toward the goalpost, running in the area corresponding to the goalpost, waiting for the ball. This is just the most basic route. The specific execution can be broken down into short, medium, and long passes, as well as other players' assignments for blocking and distracting.
The third part is to coordinate the play assignments between the offensive line and the receivers. In different plays, the players' assignments are all different. The quarterback needs to have a clear understanding of the entire offensive system and then make the right and appropriate arrangements.
Sometimes, every player's every running route and every defensive route is fixed. Every man has his place, and the quarterback and other offensive players just need to follow the plan, execute, pass, and catch. This is called a system quarterback, who benefits from the entire offensive system, and the real credit goes to the coaching staff.
But sometimes, the situation on the field can change in an instant. The receivers run their routes and then improvise. The offensive line makes adjustments based on their reading of the defense. At the same time, the quarterback must also adjust accordingly, change the play, and choose a passing route on the fly, turning the coaching staff's play into their own and further creating countless possibilities.
Just as there are system quarterbacks, there are also system players.
Some coaches like system players because they have mastered the art of play design and can use system players like chess pieces to achieve their goals with precision. Other coaches don't like system players because the changes during a game are too fast, too many, and too complex. They are powerless on the sidelines, and in the end, it's the players who have to finish the game.
During the 2005 draft, scouts thought Aaron Rodgers was a system quarterback, which caused his draft position to slide. But later, it was proven that the scouts were wrong.
However, whether you're a system player or not, the importance of the playbook is obvious. Every step, every detail, is directly related to the plays. Over twenty thousand plays is not an exaggeration. This is just for the plays before the snap. When you actually get into the game, that's another story.
Compared to NCAA football, the level and intensity of NFL games are completely different, not to mention the physical toughness, intensity, and pace of the game.
For a rookie player, entering the professional league is like going from a small room to a huge library. The information is not only vast but also complicated and overwhelming. This applies not only to quarterbacks but to every other position as well. If an offensive lineman or a receiver misunderstands a play, the result is obvious.
If this is true for other players, how much more so for the quarterback, who is in charge of the plays?
In football, the quarterback is the only player on offense who communicates directly with the coaching staff. All of the coach's play calls and defensive reads are relayed to the quarterback first. If the quarterback doesn't have a thorough understanding of the plays or even messes things up, it can be a disaster for the team.
Even though Lu Ke was mentally prepared and had given it his full attention, he still felt small in the face of the massive library of plays.
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