Chapter 119 118: Playbook
For the first preseason game, Lu Ke found himself back in New Orleans, a rather strange feeling.
During the Rookie Training Camp, he had almost believed he would be joining the New Orleans Saints, following in the footsteps of Drew Brees to learn the skills of a quarterback. But in a final twist of fate, he joined the San Francisco 49ers, and now, in the first official game of his career, he was facing the Saints.
Granted, he was just a backup, observing from the bench. Granted, this was only a preseason game, where neither team was focused on winning, but rather on refining tactics and their rosters. But the coincidence still struck Lu Ke as quite peculiar.
This was especially true on the first night in New Orleans, when Lu Ke unexpectedly ran into Joe Lombardi as he was about to leave the training facility. Joe actually still remembered Lu Ke and greeted him first, and the two chatted for a while. It made fate seem all the more interesting.
Unfortunately, Lu Ke didn't get the start, so this "fated" showdown never truly came full circle.
Preseason games are scheduled strategically. Generally, in the four preseason games, the first two are for testing tactics and polishing coordination. The starting quarterback might play for a quarter or half a quarter to get a feel for the ball and warm up. The rest of the game time is split between two or three backup quarterbacks taking turns.
On one hand, there's competition among the backup quarterbacks. The second-string and third-string quarterback positions are meaningful, and the preseason is their best stage to perform. On the other hand, it's a chance to practice offensive plays, with the main starters, secondary starters, and first-string backups all rotating in to try out different combinations.
The third and fourth games are comparatively more important. The starting quarterback will likely play for a full half, and other starters might even play the entire game to truly test their form and abilities for the regular season.
But this year, the San Francisco 49ers' situation was a bit special.
Half the team was brand new. All the players had only gone through a single training camp together. The starting quarterback was a rookie, and even the coaching staff had been completely revamped. Every tactic, every play, every combination had to be built from the ground up.
This was especially true of the coaching style. Jim Hubble was a coach with a unique, distinct, and sharp approach. After taking the reins of the 49ers, he needed to find an effective method to lead the team to victory.
Thus, the preseason became the most important training ground, run entirely in Jim's style.
For Lu Ke, that meant he had to sit on the bench and watch. The entire team was being built around Colin Kaepernick as the core, not only to polish tactics but also to give Colin the opportunity to develop quickly as a rookie quarterback.
In the first preseason game, Lu Ke only got to play for six offensive drives midway through the fourth quarter. The reason was to give Colin and Kip time to communicate; afterward, Lu Ke finished his job, and Colin went back in.
In the end, the San Francisco 49ers were soundly defeated by the New Orleans Saints with a huge point differential of 3-24.
Colin Kaepernick's performance was nothing short of a disaster. Out of eighteen pass attempts, only seven were successful—a completion rate of less than fifty percent—for a mere forty-one yards. His rushing offense was relatively better, gaining thirty-eight yards on his own runs. He also threw two interceptions.
Throughout the game, the San Francisco 49ers barely had a chance, completely dominated on both offense and defense.
But for Lu Ke, his takeaways were more than just the playing time from six offensive drives. The game became the perfect vessel for him to observe live action and mentally simulate plays.
It was only his third day with the team, and he had only flipped through two-thirds of the playbook—merely flipped through, not understood, let alone mastered and applied. Lu Ke had to make use of every moment to adapt to the job of a professional quarterback as quickly as possible, and the playbook was the most fundamental and crucial first step.
So, Lu Ke sat on the bench and began to observe every single drive—not just the 49ers', but the Saints' as well. He then tried to understand and apply what he saw in the context of the playbook. For any plays he didn't understand, he noted down the game time of that drive, planning to go back and watch the game film for further analysis.
Not only that, but when Kip and Jim were discussing offensive tactics, Lu Ke would proactively stand behind them, listening closely. He would then watch the team's actual execution of the plays, truly adopting a professional player's perspective to deconstruct, re-examine, re-organize, and re-interpret the strategies.
The game started to become interesting.
When the final whistle blew, Lu Ke didn't notice the numbers on the scoreboard, nor did he pay attention to Colin's performance. Instead, he was already replaying the entire game in his mind, feeling that it ended too soon, and couldn't wait to get back to the playbook to study and review.
'Why do rookie quarterbacks seem so lost on the field? Why are rookies so prone to making mistakes when executing plays? Why does everyone say that NFL tactics completely blow NCAA tactics out of the water? Why do teams tend to give rookie players more time to learn during their first season?'
After truly entering the preseason and observing a game as a backup, Lu Ke finally saw the tip of the iceberg.
Over twenty thousand plays. It was like chess or Go, with tens of thousands of tactical permutations transforming the contest into an art form. But football took it a step further: it was a mental game combined with physical confrontation. Only by coordinating both, mobilizing them simultaneously, and leading your "army" of teammates could you achieve victory.
Before the snap, during the play-calling process, a quarterback's job can be broken down into three simple parts.
Part one: directing the Offense Line. This involves reading the Defense Team's formation, anticipating their movements, and then adjusting the Offense Line accordingly. For a traditional pocket passer, this is an essential skill, as the Offense Line is the barrier that forms the pocket, and they need more time to observe and throw.
Passing masters like Peyton Manning and Drew Brees can often "coach up" a stellar Offense Line through their audibles and adjustments, giving themselves more protection. As for ordinary quarterbacks, they can only pray for the best and hope the team manages to assemble a top-tier Offense Line for them.
Part two: directing the receivers. This includes the Wide Receivers, Tight Ends, and running backs. Different play combinations mean different Route Running for the players. Post routes, corner routes, out routes, slants, crossing routes—all of these routes can be combined in a rich variety of ways.
Take a post route, for example. The Wide Receiver sprints ten yards forward, then cuts inward toward the goalpost, running in the area corresponding to the goalposts to wait for the pass. This is just one basic route. The execution can be further distinguished by short, medium, or long passes, as well as by having other players provide cover, run pick plays, and so on.
Part three: coordinating the tactical assignments for the Offense Line and the receivers. In different plays, players have different assignments. The quarterback needs to have a clear understanding of the entire offensive system to make correct and appropriate arrangements.
Sometimes, every player's running route and blocking assignment is fixed—a specific role for each person. The quarterback and other offensive players just need to execute the plan: run, throw, and catch. That's it. This is called a "system quarterback," who benefits from the entire offensive scheme, with the real credit going to the coaching staff.
But other times, the situation on the field changes in an instant. The receivers run their routes and then improvise. The Offense Line makes corresponding changes based on their read of the defense. At the same time, the quarterback must also adjust, change the play, and choose a passing route on the fly, turning the coaching staff's play into something of their own and creating countless more possibilities.
If there are system quarterbacks, there are naturally system players as well.
Some coaching staffs prefer system players because their control over tactical arrangements has reached a state of perfection; system players are like chess pieces in their hands, capable of precisely achieving their objectives. Other coaches dislike system players because the game is too fast, complex, and full of unpredictable changes. Standing on the sidelines, they are helpless; in the end, the game still has to be won by the players on the field.
In the 2005 draft, scouts considered Aaron Rodgers a system quarterback, which directly caused his draft stock to plummet. But later events proved that the scouts had misjudged him.
However, regardless of whether one is a system player or not, the importance of the playbook is self-evident. Every link, every detail is tied to the tactics. Over twenty thousand plays is no exaggeration, and that's just the pre-snap strategy. Once the play actually begins, it's a whole other story.
Compared to the NCAA, NFL games are on a completely different level, to say nothing of the intensity of the competition, the physicality, and the pace of the game.
For a rookie, entering the Professional Alliance is like suddenly stepping out of a small room into an entire library. The amount of information is not just vast, but also tangled and completely overwhelming. This is true not just for quarterbacks, but for every other position. If a player on the Offense Line or a receiver misunderstands the play, the consequences are obvious.
If it's like that for other players, how much more so for the quarterback, who is responsible for directing the plays?
In a game of football, the quarterback is the only player on offense who communicates directly with the coaching staff. The coach's play calls and reads on the defense are all relayed first and foremost to the quarterback. If a quarterback doesn't have a thorough enough understanding of the plays, or worse, just wings it, the result is catastrophic for the team.
Even though Lu Ke had mentally prepared himself, and even though he was pouring all of his focus into it, standing before the vast library of plays, he still felt incredibly small.