Chapter 771: Steady Growth
Starting the new season with a five-game winning streak!
Everything is undoubtedly perfect, from the offense to the defense to the special teams, from the game status to the locker room atmosphere and the fans' attention. Starting a new season in this way is truly impeccable.
However, Lu Ke is not complacent or smug. Instead, he has become even more vigilant because of a task, a target mission.
"Target Mission: The transformation of a strong team's game temperament."
Mission Description: Achieving a winning streak is the best way to maintain a team's form and confidence. Each victory is a quantitative accumulation of a weak team's transformation into a strong one. The so-called game temperament and strong team style are completed through a series of continuous victories. In the regular season, try to continue the winning streak as much as possible.
Mission Requirement: After a three-game winning streak, continue to win.
Mission Reward:
Four consecutive wins: Base Points +1
Five consecutive wins: Base Points +3
Six consecutive wins: Base Points +6
Seven consecutive wins: Base Points +10
...and so on, accumulating continuously.
Failure Penalty: None.
This is a very familiar mission. To be precise, it's an identical mission. Last season, after defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in the third week of the regular season, the target mission appeared.
But the problem is that the mission's completion was not very good last season.
Lu Ke's highest record was a five-game winning streak. The first three-game winning streak ended with a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. The second five-game winning streak was ended by the Arizona Cardinals, and then he lost to the Baltimore Ravens twice in a row. The third five-game winning streak ended at the end of the regular season. The playoff wins are not counted in the target mission.
This season, after defeating the Minnesota Vikings in the third week of the regular season, the same target mission appeared again. And now, after five consecutive wins, they are about to face the New York Giants. Will this become their fatal hurdle?
In the 2011 season, the San Francisco 49ers and the New York Giants faced each other twice. In the tenth week of the regular season, the two sides had a back-and-forth battle. In the final seconds, the 49ers made a last-second pass to win the game, which was an incredibly difficult victory. In the NFC Championship game, the two sides once again had a brilliant back-and-forth battle. In the end, in overtime, the New York Giants had the last laugh.
In other words, the New York Giants can be considered the 49ers' nemesis. Every matchup is a close one, and the outcome is unpredictable.
What's more, this is a matchup after a five-game winning streak. The laws of "pride goes before the fall" or "winning streak pressure" have already been proven in the last season. So what about this season?
As the league says, are the upgraded 49ers "seemingly" upgraded or "substantially" upgraded? Can they withstand the test this time? Moving from a five-game winning streak to a six-game winning streak requires more than just a little bit of good form. It also requires the confidence of believing that they have transformed into a strong team!
However, for Lu Ke, he does have confidence now. He firmly believes that they can win!
Because, in the past four games, with four victories, the mission completion rate is 100%, and Lu Ke's ability has improved at a visible rate.
First, for the game missions, Lu Ke received a total of 49 base points in four games.
Second, for the daily missions, after the game against the Buffalo Bills ended, Lu Ke successfully received one base point.
Third, a special mission appeared in the regular season's third-week game against the Minnesota Vikings.
In that game, at halftime, the score was a "10-10" tie. The 49ers were actually facing a certain amount of pressure, and their offense wasn't flowing smoothly in the first half. This made the offense a bit impatient, including Lu Ke, who was also a little anxious.
The hidden "status" attribute also showed that Lu Ke's status for the day was only 73% and was constantly fluctuating and unstable.
After the special mission came out, Lu Ke calmed down in the second half and took it one step at a time. He sped up twice, left the opponent behind, and finally won the game.
To others, it seemed like another simple victory, but for Lu Ke, it was the first scare of the season. After successfully persevering, his status was further improved, which led to the two consecutive strong performances of sweeping the opponents in the following games.
At that time, after the special mission was successfully completed, Lu Ke received a total of three special points and a special skill, "Amplification Aura." However, Lu Ke stuck to his usual plan for the season, using the points exchange system to exchange the three special points for nine base points, further strengthening his various technical sub-items.
In total, Lu Ke accumulated 59 base points in the past four weeks.
Of course, each point allocation was completed immediately after each game ended. After accumulating them one by one, when reviewing them now, one can clearly see that Lu Ke's ability has once again been upgraded and transformed since before the regular season began.
First, overall attributes, a total of 2 points were used.
Mental attributes: 88 points were raised to 90 points.
Second, various specific sub-items of physical attributes, a total of 20 points were used.
Strength: 73 points were raised to 80 points.
Explosiveness: 75 points were raised to 80 points.
Agility: 73 points were raised to 75 points.
Speed: 71 points were raised to 73 points.
Acceleration: 66 points were raised to 70 points.
Third, various specific sub-items of quarterback skills, a total of 37 points were used.
Throwing power: 83 points were raised to 85 points.
Short-pass accuracy: 83 points were raised to 90 points.
Mid-pass accuracy: 83 points were raised to 90 points.
Tactical area accuracy: 90 points were raised to 95 points.
Wrist control: 90 points were raised to 95 points.
Fake pass action: 80 points were raised to 90 points.
Field vision: 95 points were raised to 96 points.
All 59 base points have been added without reservation. The most obvious part is obviously from Lu Ke's quarterback basic technical sub-items.
All the relevant skills for a passing quarterback have been upgraded to 90 points, with the only exception being the pass on the run, which currently has a score of 77. However, the 49ers' offensive line has performed well so far this season, and a pass on the run at this level doesn't show any weaknesses for now. It is good enough, so Lu Ke is not in a hurry to add points to it.
This also means that after two years of accumulation and refinement, Lu Ke has now truly completed a complete transformation. It's not just about tactical awareness and game-reading. It's not just about his composure and decisiveness. In every pure technical sub-item, he has also successfully entered the ranks of excellent quarterbacks.
The reason for saying "excellent" and not "top-tier" is twofold. First, Lu Ke still has many skills that have not been upgraded to 95 points, which is another threshold. Second, the scores for his left and right side awareness are still too low. Third, the lack of game experience is undoubtedly a fatal weakness, and it is also a key weakness that cannot be directly added through the system.
The main reason Lu Ke didn't immediately improve his left and right side awareness was because of the offensive line's excellent performance.
So far this season, Joe Staley and Mike Iupati's performance on the blind side has been perfect. Although the opponents' defenses are not top-tier, it is undeniable that their tight protection has still provided Lu Ke with an irreplaceable sense of security, allowing him to open up and attack. At the same time, the improvement of his side awareness has not been so urgent.
Ultimately, experience and status are the key right now.
When top-tier players face each other, on-the-spot performance becomes crucial. It's not just about the core player's form, but also the leader's game temperament, the ability to play without reservation, and the ability to elevate the entire team's form and lead them to victory. This is the core essence of team sports.
Otherwise, having all the skills but not being able to use them is useless.
The current Lu Ke, who seems to have all his main technical sub-items at 90 points, is still not considered a top-tier quarterback.
Just look at Lu Ke's past few opponents.
In the first week of the regular season, Aaron Rodgers, almost all by himself, fought against the firing-on-all-cylinders 49ers for the entire game and only missed the victory at the very last moment.
In the divisional round last year, Drew Brees, without the help of his defense and offensive line, was almost on the verge of victory by himself, just one step away.
In fact, Eli Manning can also be considered in this category. In the playoffs, he successively defeated the Green Bay Packers, the San Francisco 49ers, and the New England Patriots. Manning's gambler-like temperament at crucial moments, when he completely destroyed the other team, also became the key person to turn the game around and win it all. It's just that his performance is not very consistent. He is a wild card, like Duan Yu's Six Meridians Divine Sword from the novel.
Lu Ke's skills have reached a sufficient level, but the weaknesses in game experience, game temperament, and leadership temperament are still parts that need to be further developed.
Unfortunately, this is the part that the system cannot help with. There are no shortcuts or other ways. The only way is to accumulate it slowly, one game at a time. Fortunately, Lu Ke is still young, and he can continue to refine himself, growing steadily one step at a time. After all, this is only his second professional season.
Now, all the talk about the Super Bowl, the playoffs, and even the division rivals is too far away and can be put aside for now. Lu Ke needs to focus all his attention on the next opponent.
The New York Giants!
He knows that this is not a repeat of the NFC Championship because he is different, his teammates are different, and the opponent is also different. This is a brand new game. The only thing that is the same is the ambition to move toward victory, which has never faded.
He is determined to win this one!
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