Patrick Peterson refuses to defend passively. Instead of passively waiting for the opponent's quarterback to start making moves, he should take the initiative to disrupt the opponent's running route and gain the upper hand in defense.
Sure enough, with one step up and one collision, Peterson successfully knocked Williams away. At the same time, using the inertia of the reaction force, he approached Logan, who was speeding up, with two long strides.
One second, one and a half seconds, two seconds.
Peterson's speed increased to the extreme, and he rushed towards Logan with lightning speed. Then he saw Lu Ke's pass rushing towards him. The entire process of prediction, shot and passing was completed smoothly and in one go. Even though Peterson struck early and moved early, he was still half a beat behind.
Logan completed the ball at the perfect position on his chest, but Peterson's attention was not distracted at all. After lowering his center of gravity, he rushed towards Logan fiercely.
The small cornerback rushes into the big tight end, which is a very skillful move. Peterson's helmet and shoulders were aimed at Logan's hands protecting the football instead of his shoulders, and he hit hard upwards. The vertical impact instantly overturned Logan's center of gravity. At the same time, Peterson himself also lost center of gravity.
But at this moment, Peterson noticed the timely defense of outside linebacker O'Brien Schofield, who collided with Logan from the other side for the second time.
Two waves of collision, one left and one right, created the effect of a stormy sea. Then Peterson saw the football flying out of Logan's arms. He subconsciously stretched out his hands and tried to complete the interception; but then he realized , after losing his center of gravity, he was slowly moving away from the rugby ball, and could only watch helplessly as the rugby ball fell into a no-man's land, forming a dead ball.
"damn it!"
Peterson expressed strong frustration. Although the pass was incomplete, he was not able to complete the interception further. This is really a huge regret.
Standing up, Peterson ignored Logan, but turned his head, raised his chin towards Lu Ke in demonstration, a hint of provocation flashed in his eyes, then turned around and returned to his defensive position again.
The provocation just now was intentional. He is not afraid of Lu Ke passing the ball in his direction. On the contrary, if Lu Ke is afraid and passes the ball to the other side, he will have no stage to perform, and he will be extremely disappointed.
As a rookie, he needs such a performance stage to prove his strength and then become a starter. Since the league wants to promote Lu Ke as the representative of Asian players, then he doesn't mind stepping on Lu Ke and proving that he is an excellent cornerback.
Ten yards in second gear.
This time on defense, facing the situation of long yardage in the second gear, the Cardinals' defensive position was obviously advanced, further shrinking the entire pressure, putting more pressure on the opponent's offensive line and creating more opportunities.
After the kickoff, Peterson once again took the initiative to rush forward, completing a cross-change with safety guard Adric Wilson who was in an advanced position, and then Wilson faced Williams, while Peterson cut inside , rushed towards Logan, compressing Logan's running route. Just when the two were about to collide, Peterson once again misplaced his body. Instead of intercepting and hitting Logan, he headed towards the crowded pocket. Running away——
At this time, defensive end Calais Campbell successfully got into the pocket, and Peterson's sudden pressure came forward to create an absolute advantage in numbers, allowing the 49ers to attack with a powerful contrast beyond the three. The striker was in a hurry, and then Lu Ke was exposed to Peterson's sight.
Step back, step back quickly, facing the double attack of Campbell and Peterson, as well as the entire fragmented pocket, Lu Ke had nowhere to escape and could only step back quickly.
But there’s a reason why a pocket quarterback is a pocket quarterback and not a running quarterback. Lu Ke's running steps were neither flexible nor light enough, and even seemed a bit clumsy. Almost as soon as he took a breath, Campbell and Peterson had already rushed over and saw that the sack was about to be completed.
At this moment, Lu Ke stumbled under his feet and fell to the ground in embarrassment.
Before the sack was completed, Lu Ke created a dead ball by himself, and then he only had time to turn around and protect the football under him. The next moment, Campbell and Peterson both rushed over and patted Lu Ke's body. , after confirming that the ball was dead, he did not continue to embarrass Lu Ke——
It's embarrassing enough to fall down while holding the ball. They don't need to continue to humiliate the quarterback.
There was a sound of mocking laughter in the University of Phoenix stadium, mercilessly ridiculing Lu Ke for his embarrassment and clumsiness. After the start of the second half, the Cardinals' performance finally picked up in the first two defensive plays, which allowed the fans to regain their confidence and their attention returned again.
Peterson stood nearby and danced a battle dance like an Australian native. With his eyes widened, he unscrupulously provoked Lu Ke's bottom line, as if to say: Did you see it? see it! This is my strength, I can complete the crushing easily! The first half of the game has become history. Now on this field, I am the master.
After showing off arrogantly, Peterson ignored Lu Ke's reaction, turned around, and swaggered back to his position.
Sixteen yards in third gear.
After the start of the second half, the San Francisco 49ers not only failed to open up the situation and complete the advance, but also lost yards. The Arizona Cardinals, who had only one incomplete pass in the entire first half, exerted unparalleled pressure and immediately put the San Francisco 49ers in trouble.
But in the blink of an eye, they were trapped in a third-speed extra-long yardage dilemma.
In a football game, this situation is completely normal. Often just one or two small details can lead to a strikeout. This is the same as in football games - not every offense can make progress. As for the ball, in the back-and-forth competition, there is always something against each other.
Lu Ke stood up again, and Jim Hubble's tactical arrangements came through the earphones, "Run the ball and hand the football to Marcus."
In the first wave of offense in the second half, the 49ers' offensive starting position was their own 20 yards. After losing six yards just now, they had retreated to their own 14-yard line. It was too close to the end zone. Don't use force. It's not easy to push forward either. If you're not careful, you may get a safety score; and this is still an extremely long distance of 16 yards in third gear.
Hubble chose to run the ball, and his intention was obvious: to run the ball forward a few yards, find a more suitable punt position, give up this wave of offense, and then rearrange the offensive tactics to make a comeback. Firstly, it was just the beginning of the second half, so there was no need to take risks; secondly, they still had a huge advantage in the score, so there was no need to rush.
But Lu Ke had different ideas.
The Cardinals can definitely guess this idea. With more than 60% or even 70% probability, the 49ers will choose to run the ball. They will definitely pay more attention to running the ball; at the same time, they can also complete the coverage of the short passing area, and further The pressure from the surprise attack did not give Lu Ke a chance to complete the long pass.
In other words, when the Cardinals face a third-and-16 defense, they can be more calm and further increase their aggressiveness. The 49ers' conservatism will further fuel their arrogance.
In Lu Ke's view, the opponent's defense should focus on raiding the quarterback and intercepting running balls, assisting in covering the short passing area. Naturally, he won't have too many long pass opportunities, so he can choose a surprise short pass to find Logan or Crabtree, or even Marcus, tearing apart the defense in a fast and powerful way, and achieve better results. punt position.
This is bolder and more radical than running the ball, but it is also more varied and unpredictable for opponents.
Lu Ke explained his meaning clearly in just a few words. Hubble rolled his eyes speechlessly and complained mercilessly, "Honestly, you just don't want to admit defeat in front of Peterson, right? I I thought you didn’t care?”
Without waiting for Lu Ke to explain, Hubble made a decision immediately, "Then, just do what you said. But, pay attention to the interception! If there is an interception, Alex Smith will be replaced in the next game. "
Hubble has always been an adventurous coach. From a negative perspective, this is the first wave of offense in the second half, and there is no need to rush for quick success; but from a positive perspective, even if this wave of offense fails, the worst result is an interception and return touchdown, then they still have enough time. Regain the advantage again.
Hubble belongs to the latter, and has the blood of a gambler in his bones.
"No problem." Lu Ke agreed quickly and quickly called his teammates over to complete the tactical deployment.
Such an unexpected offensive tactic, but the offensive team players were accustomed to it and were not surprised at all. After confirming the instructions, they calmly turned around and completed the formation and were ready to attack.
Then Peterson noticed something unusual. The San Francisco 49ers actually set up a shotgun formation!
Vernon Davis came on, replaced Kyle Williams, and formed a double tight end tactic with Logan. Vernon was inside and Logan was outside. Both players were on the right side, two The tall and strong tight end suddenly made this side bloated; correspondingly, on the left side, Crabtree and Gene still completed the formation one outside and one inside.
What's even more outrageous is that Marcus simply gave up his plan to hide his identity, and as a slot receiver, he positioned himself between the offensive line and Vernon, slightly two steps behind, and blatantly put on a show of full strength. The formation is a passing attack, and it does not hide its strong confrontation in the short passing area.
Now, the San Francisco 49ers have five receivers, so what should the Arizona Cardinals do?
Five defensive players, corresponding to five receiving players; four defensive linemen, against five offensive linemen; two defensive second line, defensive backfield raids.
If this is the case, the defensive formation will be completely led by the opponent, and the initiative will be lost before the attack. What should we do? What should they do?
