As a starting quarterback, besides his physical and technical abilities, Lu Ke truly realized his shortcomings in today's game.
In fact, this is true for every rookie. The lack of game experience and football intelligence often becomes the fundamental constraint on their performance. They may have the talent, but they can only perform at a limited level on the field. They need time and space to grow. Rushing their growth could very well destroy a rookie's career.
This is a weakness not only for Lu Ke but for all rookies. There is no shortcut. They must learn through the grind of one game after another, even from failure. For Lu Ke, it was especially obvious, as he had missed four years of playing in college. Today was only his second start in his professional career.
Against the Dallas Cowboys, he won a lucky and nail-biting victory, but Lu Ke couldn't expect luck to continue to favor him in the next game. Ultimately, strengthening his own abilities was the only reliable way.
Now, Lu Ke finally understood the meaning of each mission.
The daily missions were for accumulation. The basic point rewards were limited, but their purpose was twofold: to cultivate the player's self-discipline and to gradually transform his body through real-life, hard training—not through points, but through actual training results.
The game missions were for explosive growth. The accumulation of basic points was very fast, allowing for a quick increase in ability. It also served as a form of practice, allowing him to accumulate experience and hone his courage.
The special missions were for guidance. By arranging and combining different special missions based on real-life situations, the system guided Lu Ke step by step on the right path to becoming a superstar.
For example, the first special mission seemed useless, but in fact, Lu Ke unexpectedly made friends with Aldon Smith and J.J. Watt, which opened up opportunities for him. He also made a name for himself among the rookies. Watt became Lu Ke's first professional friend in the league, and Smith became a key factor for Lu Ke to get a foothold with the San Francisco 49ers.
"Little Seven, back in the rookie training camp, did you already predict that I would come to the San Francisco 49ers?" Lu Ke suddenly realized that there was a loophole in his speculation. However, the question was not answered.
After a moment of thought, Lu Ke realized that even if it wasn't Aldon Smith, he had made many friends in the rookie training camp. If he had gone to another team instead of the San Francisco 49ers, the effect would have been the same. He was just overthinking it.
With that in mind, Lu Ke further asked, "Little Seven, will special missions appear during a game in the future? I mean, during the middle of a game."
"Special missions are mission options that are randomly adjusted and arranged based on real-time situations. Every special mission is unique, and the purpose and content of the mission can be explained in detail in the mission description." Little Seven's answer was very official and didn't reveal too much.
But Lu Ke's guess was preliminarily confirmed.
Today's special mission appeared during the game, and it was the first time. He would have to wait for the next one to see under what circumstances a special mission would appear. Then, he could further confirm his theory. The "special" in a special mission was not that simple.
Regardless, in addition to the victory, today's game was a huge gain.
During the training session the day after tomorrow, the entire coaching staff would be gathered to rewatch the game film, looking for their weaknesses and shortcomings. It seemed that Lu Ke couldn't miss this meeting and needed to prepare for it in advance.
Being a professional player was far from as simple as people imagined. On-field performance was one part of it, while long-term accumulation and pre-game preparation were another.
Putting his thoughts aside for a moment, Lu Ke's attention fell on the reward for completing the special mission: "+2 Special Points."
Lu Ke opened the unread message and first confirmed that the special mission was indeed completed.
In the second half of the game, Lu Ke didn't throw any interceptions, and a 65% passing completion rate wasn't easy to achieve because he had too many incomplete passes in the first half. But with his steady performance in the second half, he still managed to reach the goal.
So, the reward was in his pocket.
Special points were clearly a type of mission reward that was different from basic points. Lu Ke naturally thought of the hidden points that he had just unlocked last week.
He quickly opened the character attributes panel and found the hidden attributes category, which still only had "Prediction" as a single entry.
Sure enough, as he had guessed, the prediction option was no longer gray like it was last week. It was now a clickable white. With a thought, the prediction score immediately increased from 75 to 76.
Now, he had one special point left. Should he use it on prediction right now, or should he wait for the next hidden attribute to unlock and then decide?
After a moment of thought, Lu Ke made a decision. He decisively added the point to Prediction again. Now, this hidden attribute was at 77.
Not only was there no way of knowing when the next hidden attribute would unlock, but with Lu Ke's current situation, he was facing challenges and competition every week. He had to go all out and was far from being able to do things with ease. Since there was only one hidden attribute, it made sense to put all the special points into it.
The effect of Prediction would be reflected in every drive, and it would become an important bargaining chip for his play calls and reading of the defense!
Next up were the seven basic points. How should he use them? Lu Ke came up with a few different plans.
One was to continue increasing his physical abilities and improve his endurance based on last week's improvements. Although the physical transformation in today's game didn't seem to directly and effectively show up on the field, the physical confrontation was not strong enough. But as the season progressed, this was indeed a part that needed to be strengthened.
Another was to increase his mid-range passing accuracy and rushing ability. In today's game, his mid-range passing accuracy of 65 showed signs of instability. Especially against the Dallas Cowboys' coverage defense, the passing deviation caused him to get into a rut. This was even more true for his rushing ability. Even with the help of Bullet Time, Lu Ke's weakness in running was exposed, and he only managed to gain yardage with a little bit of luck.
The third was to increase his tactical awareness. This sub-category was at 70 points. Before today's game, Lu Ke didn't feel the difference, but as the two games progressed, Lu Ke was like a living target. The consecutive victories had focused all of the league's attention on him. The difficulties he would face in the upcoming games would be increasing, and the difficulty of grasping and controlling the situation on the field would also become greater.
After careful consideration, Lu Ke made his choice.
His physical abilities did need to be improved, that was a fact. But after last week's boost, the sense of urgency had been relieved.
For a quarterback, the offensive line is a shield. A top-tier quarterback like Peyton Manning's physical abilities weren't top-notch, and his rushing ability was average. But by reading the defense and making on-field adjustments, he was often able to make the offensive line more effective, providing a solid pocket protection. In that case, the number of hits a quarterback had to face was greatly reduced.
In other words, tactical adjustments and reading the defense could provide more protection for a quarterback, and it was also an important tool and way to increase the winning percentage.
Similarly, rushing ability and skills like dodging, pushing, and juking. For a pocket quarterback, these weren't the most critical things. Passing was their main skill. Rushing was for the running backs. An occasional run under pressure was more about a play call to distract the defense.
After his physical abilities had been improved a little, he should go back to his previous plan and focus on strengthening his quarterback-specific skills. This was the foundation for his success in the game, and it was also the key to getting a better handle on winning.
So, Lu Ke decided to concentrate on increasing his mid-range passing accuracy and tactical awareness. One was a direct skill that enriched his options in a game, and the other was an important ability that increased his game awareness.
Especially the latter, Lu Ke had never given enough importance to tactical awareness. To a certain extent, this was due to overconfidence. In the professional league, there were many hidden talents. A quarterback was not only competing against the defense but also against the entire coaching staff behind the defense.
First, Lu Ke decisively added five points to his tactical awareness, bringing it from 70 to 75. If conditions allowed, he should probably raise it to 80 first. After all, this was one of the most important foundations for Lu Ke to have won two consecutive games in the professional league. Combined with his 77 in Prediction, Lu Ke was gradually gaining the capital to influence the game.
Second, Lu Ke used the remaining two points on mid-range passing accuracy, bringing it from 65 to 67. Looking at his short passing accuracy of only 71 and mid-range passing accuracy of only 67, Lu Ke felt a sense of urgency. These were critical to a quarterback's ability to win, and he had to improve them as soon as possible.
In just the blink of an eye, the seven basic points were all gone again. Every time, Lu Ke felt like he was filling a bottomless pit. He had put in so many basic points, but it seemed like there were still holes everywhere. However, when he thought about the two victories, Lu Ke felt much better.
"Hoo-hoo-hoo," a wailing sound, interrupted Lu Ke's thoughts. He refocused and saw the men in the locker room, all excitedly waving their towels and shirts, their faces full of excitement.
Before Lu Ke could figure out what was going on, a tall and graceful figure walked in. In a room full of men, that beautiful sight lit up the entire locker room.
It was Sophie Brook.
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