Jim Hubble rubbed his temples and felt a faint headache.
As a head coach, tactical arrangements, court games, and player training are his strengths; however, interpersonal relationships and dealing with others are his weaknesses. Facing the media, facing bosses, and facing players are all his strengths. In this case, the locker room problem is even more difficult. He has no idea how to deal with it, and has no idea of taking over.
He didn't know what happened in the locker room, what caused these conflicts, and what happened. To be precise, he had no interest in knowing.
In Jim's impression, locker room issues are left to the team captain, and communication is completed between the players themselves. This is the most convenient and effective way. He can focus on coaching; while those trivial tasks are left to professionals, which is a win-win situation.
But now, things are clearly not that simple.
For the first time, Jim did not drive away the other coaching staff, nor did he continue to be stubborn. Instead, he asked, "If Lu Ke continues to be the starting quarterback, do you really think that the team's conflicts will worsen? Even if we Keep winning?”
This is an interesting way to ask the question.
Jim's focus is not on solving the problem, but on questioning the likelihood that the problem will get worse and, if he can, he will continue to ignore the problem. It's like after being injured, instead of carefully checking the situation and completing the bandage, you just put a band-aid on it casually and expect the wound to heal automatically.
However, this is at least a start.
Kip opened his mouth, not sure how to answer. He couldn't predict the future. "At least, the relationship between Vernon Davis and Lu Ke has been improved." Kip could only shrug. This roundabout way of explaining, "You mean, you still want to choose Lu Ke as the starting quarterback?"
Jim did not answer directly and changed the subject, "Has Alex started passing training?"
"Yes." As a quarterback coach, Kip regained his composure and said seriously, "It's still the Alex Smith that I remember." Kip also came to the San Francisco 49ers this season, but before that, Everyone in the league knows something about Alex, and Kip is no exception. "Short and medium passes are stable, his technical movements are in place, and his footsteps are light and solid; however, there is still no improvement in long passes."
It is true that Alex's arm strength is not outstanding, and the stability of long passes has plummeted; however, the bigger problem is that Alex has no confidence, and is even timid, and does not dare to attempt long passes easily for fear of being intercepted - - But in fact, Alex attempts too few long passes, and his number of interceptions is always controlled at an ultra-low number. Therefore, there is no situation where too many interceptions will affect his confidence.
Sometimes, the purpose of long passes is more to contain the power of the defensive team. If an offensive team can run the ball, pass short balls, or pass long balls, then the defensive team will naturally be exhausted; but without the ability to hit long passes, the defensive team can become slightly more focused.
This is Alex's problem; it is also Lu Ke's advantage. One is steady, the other radical, both of them are double-edged swords, full of countless uncertainties.
Jim retracted his chin to express his understanding, "Will Alex conduct confrontation training today? How is his knee injury and recovery?"
This question was not asked of Kip, but of Mark Uyeyama, the team's head coach of the strength and conditioning staff. In addition to the players' strength training, they are also responsible for recovery training, rehabilitation training, etc.
"The team doctor has given permission. Alex's injury has recovered, and he can proceed with confrontation training." Mark said simply and clearly, "The specific situation still needs to be seen during training."
Cruciate ligaments, one of the most vulnerable parts of the body for athletes. After many players return from injury, they are haunted by inner demons and often dare not make moves. This requires a process; a small number of players will never recover. They can live their daily lives, but their game state is gone forever.
Jim gently retracted his jaw and said nothing, but was carefully digesting what he just said, "Have you read all the tactical manuals of Kip, Craig, and Lu Ke? I mean, the second week's In the game, our tactical arrangements were still not rich enough, and we were obviously not well prepared for the Cowboys' specific arrangements."
"Lu Ke sent me an email last night. He has watched the game video of the second week of the regular season and then analyzed all the tactics. He also analyzed his own tactical mistakes and the Cowboys' tactical choices." Kip The content of his words brought surprises and surprises, but after thinking about it carefully, he accepted it with peace of mind. In just a few weeks, Lu Ke's consistent hard work and diligence are slowly becoming a habit.
"Did you receive it too?" Craig showed a surprised look, but then it turned into surprise and he nodded repeatedly, "He doesn't look like a rookie player at all. He asked a lot of questions, derivatives of tactics. and changes, some questions are stupid and are indeed for rookie players; but some questions are genius and really make people’s eyes shine.”
"Jesus Christ." Vic standing nearby couldn't help but sigh. Everyone's eyes were focused on it. Vic spread his hands and shook his head, "Lu Ke also sent me an email and asked me about some defensive teams. The tactical arrangement. Originally, I was watching a movie with my wife. After receiving the email, I went to the study to browse the game videos."
Vick is the defensive coach, and his interpretation and understanding of defense is naturally unique. Lu Ke not only interpreted the game from the perspective of the offensive team, but also tried to interpret the defensive team's tactical arrangements.
"You mean, did he understand the playbook? I mean, everything!" Jim interrupted the communication between the three coaches, widened his eyes, and emphasized his question.
For rookie players, after the draft, they have three months to read the tactical manual and integrate into the team; there are also four preseason games to practice specific tactics and adapt to the game. But for undrafted rookies, time needs to be further compressed, maybe not even one-third.
Entering the team as an undrafted rookie, Lu Ke only had six weeks to adjust to the team, which meant that Lu Ke only had six weeks to learn the tactical manual. Even if you are a genius, even if you have a perfect score on the Fonderrick test, the NFL's playbook cannot be fully understood in six weeks.
During the two weeks of competition, the range of tactical choices was relatively limited, which is inevitable.
Not only Jim's tactical choices still have certain limitations, but Lu Ke's tactical changes also have the same limitations. As the season progresses, the rookie quarterback needs to mature and the tactical arrangements need to be enriched. Before other teams can fully understand the San Francisco 49ers' offensive and defensive teams, they must always be one step ahead and strive for victory.
"Yes, I think it's not far off."
"He's trying."
"At least, he works harder than me."
Three people, three answers, each with different meanings, but Jim nodded meaningfully and expressed his understanding, "Then, we will continue to have Lu Ke as the starting quarterback."
As always, Jim was a tough coach, absorbing input and making bold decisions. There was no sloppiness or unnecessary hesitation. What may seem rash or even impulsive is actually the result of careful consideration and weighing of pros and cons.
"Jim, are you sure?" Craig asked with a worried expression.
Such a decision was too quick and too eager. In the past two days, all members of the coaching staff have been thinking about and discussing this issue, but they have never formally exchanged their opinions; now, they only met for a few minutes, and Jim has already made a decision. ?
this……
During this offseason, Alex first left the team and then returned. Under the decision of the head coach and team manager, he completed the signing with a salary of 5 million a year. In other words, now the San Francisco 49ers have spent five million to sign a starting quarterback. When the opponent returns from injury, they have to give up the "five million" and choose an undrafted rookie?
This doesn't seem like a good deal. At the very least, Jim should give it some thought. So, Craig finally asked.
Jim had gradually regained his composure at this time, and the blush on his cheeks gradually returned to normal. It seemed that there was finally no danger of explosion. "Have you heard of the Washington Redskins' playbook routine?"
"Redskins?" Craig frowned. He didn't know why Jim chose to change the topic at this time, let alone what the significance of this topic was.
"Yes, I've heard about it." It was Kip Chryst who spoke. The coaches all looked at him. Kip simply explained, "During the rookie training camp, the Redskins chose to Players who are interested, then distribute the training camp playbook to them, and during the interview, ask them if they have read the entire playbook.”
"Yes, I know, we do it too. In the entire league, more than half of the teams do it." Craig shrugged nonchalantly, "What does this have to do with the words we are discussing now?"
Kip's eyes fell on his colleagues, "The difference is that they pasted a hundred-dollar bill on the last page. Of course, everyone must say that they read the tactical manual, but not everyone will mention that. Hundred-dollar bills, and then the Redskins coach would bring up the hundred-dollar bill again and see how the players reacted."
The coaches suddenly realized, "This is an honest test!" Vic immediately understood, "This is really genius! Whoever came up with this idea is really a genius!"
Because rugby is an extremely violent sport, off the field, players will encounter some problems more or less, such as temper control, alcohol problems, party animals, petty theft, and so on. For teams, they take it for granted that their players can stay out of trouble and choose players with excellent moral character as much as possible.
In this way, the Washington Redskins' little test immediately showed its value.
"Why, did the Redskins test test Lu Ke?" Kip asked curiously.
