"Crabtree versus Scandrick."
Scandrick was highly focused. He was having a great day. The only interception of the game so far was made by him, and it was the most important reason why the Dallas Cowboys were still in the lead. So, he was not distracted at all, keeping his eyes on Crabtree and maintaining tight, close coverage.
But Scandrick still had to glance at the quarterback's movements in his peripheral vision, observing the arc and angle of the football.
In that fraction of a second, Crabtree slightly widened the gap between them to half an arm's length. At the same time, Scandrick caught the pass trajectory. It was a bullet pass, spinning rapidly toward Crabtree's right shoulder.
Immediately, Scandrick made a judgment and dove out, attempting to break up the pass. He then realized that the distance was too far for him. His fingertips couldn't reach it, and even if he threw his whole body out, he wouldn't be able to break up the pass. But the problem was, it looked like Crabtree couldn't catch the pass either.
The pass was too high, a little above his chest and on his right shoulder. At such an awkward position, a wide receiver would have no way to catch the ball!
Then, Scandrick saw Crabtree raise his hands near his shoulder, turn clockwise, and, as if catching the wind, caught the football firmly with a swift grab and pull. Then, following the momentum of the turn, he ran directly out of bounds!
"Ah! Aaaah!" Chris Wilson suddenly exploded, like a spring that had been compressed to the maximum and then suddenly released. He jumped up high, pointing his right finger toward the field, though he wasn't sure whom he was pointing at. He was just screaming, his eyes wide open, "Aaaah!"
But behind that scream, Chris was roaring inside: Catch successful! Catch successful! Damn it, that was a successful catch! And he even got out of bounds! That pass was so f*cking brilliant! Go, go, keep running! 49ers, go!
All the words were unspeakable, turning into a roar, "Aaaah!"
"Snap, drop back, pass!" Troy was like a fully drawn bow, tense to the extreme. He twisted into a strange position and shouted into the microphone, "The pass! The 49ers' quarterback Lu Ke didn't hesitate or pause. He just passed the ball. The Cowboys' defensive line didn't even have time to react before the football was already gone!"
"Left side! It's a pass to the left side! Lu Ke chose the one-on-one on the left, Crabtree against Scandrick. Tight coverage, no foul, no mismatch, the football is flying! Oh, my God, it's a back-shoulder throw! A back-shoulder throw! Lu Ke completed the pass, and Crabtree made the catch!"
Troy could no longer control himself. His voice became sharp and piercing, but his words were a continuous stream.
"Both feet! Crabtree's feet were in control. Both feet were in bounds, no suspense, no doubt! This is a legal catch! A successful catch! In a one-on-one situation, Crabtree had almost no room to catch the ball. At the slightest bit of space, Scandrick was waiting to break up the pass, or even get an interception. But Lu Ke chose a back-shoulder throw, ignoring Scandrick and connecting with Crabtree! Unbelievable, God, unbelievable!"
A "back-shoulder throw" might sound complex, but it's not.
When the receiver is facing the quarterback, the sideline is to their right. The quarterback chooses to throw the ball to the receiver's right shoulder. The receiver uses the momentum of a turn to catch the ball as it falls. Because the catch is made in the "shadow" behind the right shoulder, it gets its name.
This type of pass goes over the defender to the receiver's left. Also, after the receiver turns, their back is to the defender, which further helps them block the defender and make the catch. More importantly, the receiver can use the momentum to go straight out of bounds.
This technique requires extremely precise passing from the quarterback. If it's too high, it flies out of bounds. If it's too low, it hits the receiver's right shoulder. It also requires incredible chemistry between the quarterback and receiver. If there's a slight error in timing, power, or angle, the result could be an incomplete pass.
"Unbelievable! Lu Ke completed an extremely difficult pass, leading the 49ers forward in an almost impossible situation! Twelve yards, a full 12-yard pass! He easily got a first down and then got out of bounds to stop the clock! Could we ask for anything more?"
Troy summarized with a series of amazed gasps. "The speed of the entire drive was so fast, there was barely time to blink. Let's look at Lu Ke's release time, 1.93 seconds. My God, the Cowboys' defenders didn't even have time to react before the quarterback had already passed the ball."
"This play was truly brilliant! Scandrick's defense was great, Crabtree's catch was great, but Lu Ke's pass was even better!" Troy paused, trying to find the right adjectives in his mind, but in the end, the simplest and most effective one came out. "Brilliant! It's truly brilliant! God, I can't breathe!"
"Quick, quick!" Lu Ke constantly waved his hands, like a seal greeting someone, signaling his teammates to hurry up. Then everyone gathered at their own 42-yard line, quickly getting into formation. The playbook in his mind was running like a high-speed maglev train.
The Dallas Cowboys changed their defensive formation again. It was now man-to-man coverage. Four players were assigned to the four receivers. No matter how Lu Ke arranged his players, their coverage was tight and focused, with no slacking off.
The question was, how were they assigning the man-to-man defenders? Two cornerbacks and two linebackers.
What did this mean? It meant that in the front line, there were only three defensive linemen and two linebackers, a total of five players for the blitz and run defense. In the secondary, there were two safeties, waiting to defend against a potential deep pass.
This was one of the key changes from the first half: Lu Ke's ability to hit deep passes had made the Cowboys hesitant. Their defensive focus had to be different.
Lu Ke's eyes landed on DeMarcus Ware and Sean Lee. These two players were the key to the Cowboys' front-line defense. Now, both of them were highly focused, their eyes sharp, staring intently at Lu Ke, showing a powerful blitz stance.
But was it really a powerful blitz?
With his 75-point ability to predict, Lu Ke sensed something was off, but he couldn't make a more accurate judgment. So, Lu Ke chose to trust his gut. "Hut!"
The offensive line, the defensive line, the receivers, and the defenders all started moving, and the sounds of collisions were everywhere, like a scattered bouquet of flowers.
Ware and Lee didn't get distracted for a moment. Their eyes were fixed on Lu Ke. At the first moment of the snap, both of them started dropping back. This wasn't a blitz; it was a full-coverage strategy for short and intermediate passes. With man-to-man coverage, the Cowboys had the entire passing area tightly covered, returning to their winning strategy from the first half.
While dropping back, Ware's pupils suddenly constricted. Lu Ke was dropping back, dropping back further, and then faked a handoff.
But why fake a handoff now? Everyone knew that Lu Ke was faking a run to pass. He was going to pass the ball anyway! With only about 60 seconds left in the game, a run would consume too much time. The offense couldn't afford to waste time. A pass was the only reliable option. So, a fake handoff was completely unnecessary.
Wait, it wasn't a fake handoff!
It was a pistol formation, not a shotgun, and Marcus was standing to Lu Ke's right. This was a real handoff! Lu Ke had handed the ball to Marcus Lynch!
"Damn it! Damn it!" Ware cursed angrily through gritted teeth.
Who would have expected that with only 62 seconds left in the game—the first play had only taken four seconds—the San Francisco 49ers' rookie quarterback would choose to run the ball? Was this too bold, or too conservative?
Regardless, Ware and Lee had misjudged. By dropping back to defend the pass, they had left the run defense open. The entire defensive line was completely exposed.
"Crap!" Ware only had time to hear Lee's curse before both of them started sprinting toward Marcus. But it was too late.
Marcus clutched the football tightly. He glanced in his peripheral vision and saw a huge gap on his right. The Cowboys' defensive line hadn't even started to blitz and had already created a gap as big as a canyon. For Marcus, it was a wide-open path.
Marcus charged forward like a bull, running a diagonal route to the right.
A cornerback lunged at him, but Ted Ginn was there to assist, blocking the defender. A linebacker charged forward, but Marcus sped up, then sped up again. The linebacker only had time to tap Marcus's shoulder before falling down, unable to make the tackle. A safety also charged forward. Marcus didn't waver, running full speed on his diagonal route to the right. He bent down, lowered his shoulder, and hit the defender hard, using the momentum to continue advancing to the right.
Behind him, Marcus could see a string of players following him like a kite, but the Cowboys' defense was a half-step slow, so everything was a half-step slow.
Marcus wasn't greedy at all. He ran straight out of bounds, voluntarily ending the run, stopping the clock, and completing a 10-yard gain. It was exactly 10 yards, past the red marker on the sideline—the marker for the first down—and he went safely out of bounds.
First down, achieved. Out of bounds, completed. Time consumed, six seconds.
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