In the first game of the preseason, Lu Ke came to New Orleans again, which felt quite amazing.
During the rookie training camp, he almost thought that he might join the New Orleans Saints, follow in the footsteps of Drew Brees, and learn the skills of a quarterback; but, in the end, he joined the San Francisco 49ers. Then in the first official game of his career, he played against the Saints.
Although, he is just a substitute, sitting on the bench and observing; although, this is just a preseason game, and the purpose of both sides is not to win, but to adjust the tactics and team lineup; but, Such a coincidence still makes Lu Ke feel quite strange.
Especially on the first night after arriving in New Orleans, when he was about to leave the training base, Lu Ke unexpectedly met Joe Lombardi. Qiao unexpectedly still remembered Lu Ke and took the initiative to say hello, and the two chatted for a while. This makes fate even more interesting.
It is a pity that Lu Ke did not start the game, and this "fateful" duel failed to form a real circle after all.
The arrangement of preseason games is strategic. Generally speaking, of the four preseason games, the first two games are a process of testing tactics and polishing coordination. The main quarterback may play for a quarter or half of the game to find his feel, Warm up; for the remaining game time, two or three backup quarterbacks will take turns playing.
On the one hand, there is also competition among backup quarterbacks. The second quarterback and third quarterback are all particular about their positions. The preseason is their best performance stage; on the other hand, Practice the tactics of the offensive team, and the absolute main force, secondary main force and first substitute players also take turns to play, trying different permutations and combinations.
The third and fourth games are relatively more important. The main quarterback is likely to play half of the game, and other main players may even play the entire game to truly test their status and abilities during the season.
However, the situation of the San Francisco 49ers this year is somewhat special.
Half of the team is brand new. All the players have only been running in one training camp. The main quarterback is a freshman. Even the coaching staff is brand new inside and out. All tactics, all coordination, All combinations must be made from scratch.
Especially the coaching style. Jim Harbaugh is a unique, distinctive, and sharp coach. After taking charge of the 49ers, he needs to find an effective method to lead the team to victory.
Therefore, the preseason has become the most important training ground. Totally Jim's style.
For Lu Ke, that means that he has to sit on the bench and watch the game; the entire team is fully developed around Colin Kaepernick as the core, not only polishing tactics, but also giving Colin opportunities. , allowing the rookie quarterback to grow up quickly.
In the first game of the preseason, Lu Ke only played six offenses in the middle of the fourth quarter. The reason was to give Colin and Kip time to communicate. Later, Lu Ke completed his work and Colin went into battle again.
In the end, the San Francisco 49ers simply lost to the New Orleans Saints with a huge score difference of "3:24".
Colin Kaepernick's performance was a disaster. Only seven of his eighteen pass attempts were successful. The success rate was less than 50% and he only advanced 41 yards; the performance of the running ball offense. Relatively good, he rushed for 38 yards; he also had two interceptions.
Throughout the game, the San Francisco 49ers had almost no chances, and were completely suppressed on both the offensive and defensive ends.
But for Lu Ke, the gain is not just the playing time in the sixth gear. This game has become the best carrier for him to observe actual combat and interpret tactics.
It was only the third day after joining the team, and I had only flipped through two-thirds of the tactical manual—just reading, not understanding, let alone thoroughly understanding and applying it. Lu Ke must make full use of all his time and adapt to the job of a professional quarterback as soon as possible. The tactical manual will be the most basic and important first step.
So, Lu Ke sat on the bench and began to observe every offense, not only the 49ers' but also the Saints', and then combined it with the tactical manual to understand and apply it. There were some tactics that he didn't understand, so he would write down the game time of this attack, and prepare to watch the game video after returning, and then conduct further analysis.
Not only that, when Kip and Jim were discussing offensive tactics, Lu Ke also actively stood behind, listened carefully, and then watched the team's actual tactical use, truly overturning everything and starting over from the perspective of a professional player. Review tactics, rearrange tactics, reinterpret tactics.
The game started to get interesting.
When the whistle sounded to end the game, Lu Ke did not notice the numbers on the scoreboard or Colin's performance. Instead, he replayed the entire game in his mind and couldn't wait to go back and read the tactical manual. , start learning and reviewing.
Why might a rookie quarterback be at a loss when he stands on the field? Why might rookie players be full of loopholes in their tactical execution? Why does everyone say that the NFL's tactics have completely destroyed the NCAA? Why do teams tend to give rookie players more learning time during their rookie season?
After truly entering the preseason and truly observing the game as a substitute player, Lu Ke finally got a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg.
There are more than 20,000 tactics, just like chess or Go. There are thousands of tactics permutations and combinations, and the game has become an art; but rugby goes one step further. Mental games and physical confrontations can only be played at the same time. At the same time, they mobilized and led their own troops to win the game.
Before the official kickoff, during the tactical layout process, the quarterback's tasks can be divided into three simple parts.
The first part is to direct the offensive line, read the defensive team's formation, predict the defensive team's trend, and then arrange the offensive line in a targeted manner. For traditional pocket quarterbacks, this is a necessary skill because the offensive line is the barrier to pocket protection and they need more observation time and passing time.
Passing masters like Peyton Manning and Drew Brees can often switch and change tactics to train/teach an excellent offensive line and provide themselves with more protection. As for those ordinary quarterbacks, they can only pray for themselves and hope that the team can piece together a top offensive line.
The second part is to direct the receiving players, including wide receivers, tight ends and running backs. Different tactical combinations have different running routes for the players. Goal route, flagpole route, sideline route, middle gap, cross running, all these running routes have rich combinations.
A simple example is goal line. When the outside receiver starts, he rushes ten yards first, then cuts inward towards the goal, runs inside the area corresponding to the goal frame, and waits for the ball. This is just the most basic route. The specific execution can also be divided into short passes, medium passes and long passes, as well as the matching and screening of other players, as well as mutual pick-offs, etc.
The third part is coordinating the tactical distribution of offensive linemen and receivers. In different tactics, players are assigned different tasks. The quarterback needs to have a clear understanding of the entire offensive system and then make correct and appropriate arrangements.
Sometimes, every running route and every defensive route of every player is fixed and arranged, one carrot after another. The quarterback and other offensive players only need to follow the plan, execute, pass, and receive. The ball, that's it. This is called system quarterbacking. It relies on the entire offensive system to profit. The real credit belongs to the coaching staff.
But sometimes, the court changes rapidly, and the receiving players run according to the route and then play freely; the offensive line makes corresponding changes based on the defensive interpretation; at the same time, the quarterback must also adjust accordingly, change tactics, and make temporary choices Passing routes evolve the coaching staff's tactics into the quarterback's own, further diverging into countless possibilities.
There are system quarterbacks, and naturally there are system players.
Some coaching staff like system players because they have reached the highest level of control over tactical arrangements. System players are like chess pieces in their hands and can accurately achieve their goals; some coaches do not like system players because they have so many problems during the game. The changes were too fast, too complex, and they stood helpless on the sidelines. After all, the game still needs players to complete.
During the 2005 draft, scouts believed that Aaron Rodgers was the quarterback of the system, which directly led to the draft picks falling; but later facts proved that the scouts were wrong.
However, whether you are a system player or not, the importance of the tactical manual is self-evident. Every link and every detail is closely related to tactics. There are more than 20,000 tactics, which are definitely not just words. These are just tactics before kick-off. After the game is actually played, it is another story.
Compared with the NCAA, the level and level of NFL games are completely different, not to mention the intensity of confrontation, competition intensity and game rhythm.
For rookie players, entering the professional league is like suddenly entering an entire library from a small room. The information in front of them is not only huge, but also complicated and completely overwhelming. Not to mention quarterback, every other position is also covered. In this way, if the offensive linemen or receivers understand the wrong tactics, the consequences will be self-evident.
This is true even for other players, let alone the quarterback who is responsible for tactical arrangements?
In a football game, the quarterback is the only player on the offensive team who communicates directly with the coaching staff. The coach's tactical arrangements and defensive interpretations are all summarized to the quarterback immediately. If the quarterback doesn't understand the tactics thoroughly enough, or even acts randomly, it can be disastrous for the team.
Even though Lu Ke was mentally prepared, even though Lu Ke had devoted all his attention, standing in front of the huge arsenal of tactics, he still felt insignificant.
