Chapter 152 150: Competitors
In the NFL regular season, the Thursday, Sunday, and Monday night games are undoubtedly the main events.
The final week of the regular season is an exception. To prevent collusion when playoff berths are on the line, all games kick off at the same time. But at all other times, the night games are the main attraction. Thursday Night Football, in particular, boasts sky-high ratings and garners immense attention, and is widely considered to feature the most intense and explosive matchups of the week.
But in reality, this is nothing more than a promotional gimmick by the League.
This is because, according to an agreement reached by all thirty-two teams, every team is required to appear in at least one nationally televised primetime game during the seventeen-week regular season. This excludes their bye week and the final week, where games are played simultaneously to preserve competitive integrity for playoff contention.
The reason is simple: a nationally televised primetime slot is crucial for commercial promotion, brand recognition, sponsorship deals, and more. It's something every team fights tooth and nail for.
Of course, when the League schedules these primetime games, factors like team strength, current season performance, matchup potential, historic rivalries, and fanbase size are all taken into consideration. For example, the annual "Steelers-Ravens showdown"—the Pittsburgh Steelers versus the Baltimore Ravens—is always a marquee matchup.
Naturally, it's also quite common for a select few teams to be scheduled for at least two primetime games over the course of a season.
Despite this, the schedule must still maintain a balance among all thirty-two teams. As a result, a primetime slot might occasionally feature a snoozer between two weak teams.
However, as important as the exposure is, coaching staffs tend to dislike primetime games. They disrupt the rhythm of training schedules and tactical preparations.
First, there's the intense spotlight, immense pressure, and media distractions. Players often underperform—getting either too nervous or too hyped up, or facing constant harassment. For rookies especially, a primetime game is a test of a completely different caliber.
The League has official statistics tracking players' on-field performance in nationally televised versus non-televised games. The results show that a certain subset of players are dynamic and perform exceptionally well in non-televised games, but are a complete mess and play terribly when the cameras are on. It's similar to the performance disparity some players show between home and away games.
Second, the preparation schedule gets thrown into disarray, especially for Monday and Thursday night games.
Playing on a Monday night means the team only has four days to prepare for the next game. Playing on a Thursday night means having only three days to recover and adjust after the previous game. The entire training cycle is completely different.
However, coaches and players have no power to refuse. Both for the good of the team and for their own financial prospects, primetime games are an unmissable, important stage.
Before the start of every regular season, the League dispatches a team of experts to evaluate the offseason preparations of all thirty-two teams. They then compile a team strength chart for the upcoming season and use it—along with team status, star players, historical matchup data, and more—to arrange the entire season's schedule.
The San Francisco 49ers, having missed the playoffs for eight consecutive years, were once again not favored in this year's preseason evaluation. What's more, the National League West had been weak for a long time; last year, the Seattle Seahawks actually made it to the playoffs with a losing record, becoming the laughingstock of the entire Alliance.
Therefore, the San Francisco 49ers weren't given any favorable treatment in this year's primetime scheduling. However, thanks to their franchise's powerful and deep historical legacy, they were still scheduled for one Thursday night game and one Monday night game. Fortunately for Lu Ke, a rookie, neither of these games was in Week 2 of the regular season. This was a good thing.
Lu Ke still hadn't adapted to the pace of the NFL—not just the intensity of each game, but also the weekly preparation routine. Everything was brand new, everything was fresh. He needed time to adjust, especially since his physical conditioning still wasn't up to handling the prolonged physical toll of a full game.
In Week 2 of the regular season, the San Francisco 49ers' matchup against the Dallas Cowboys wasn't considered a marquee game for the week and was scheduled for one of the Sunday afternoon slots.
On Monday, the team had the day off.
But Lu Ke had no time to rest. He had to start reviewing the playbook again. At the same time, he also contacted scout Adam Klein to find game film from Jim Hubble's time as the coach at Stanford University, as well as Peyton Manning's career highlight reels. This wasn't for entertainment; it was to study on-field tactics.
On Tuesday, the team had a partial day off.
A "partial day off" meant that while it was officially a day off, players could come to the training facility on their own to do a recovery workout, get a massage, or watch game film.
Lu Ke didn't go to the team facility. Instead, he held a small film session at his home, spending the entire day watching game footage of the Dallas Cowboys. This included their Week 1 regular season game, all four preseason games, and film from their entire previous season.
Aside from the three jokers—Logan, Marcus, and Aldon—other rookies from this year's class also came over, including Kendall Hunter, Daniel Kilgore, Ronald Johnson, Colin Jones, and Bruce Miller. To be more precise, it was a "rookie" film session.
On Wednesday, the team held voluntary practice.
Attendance was not mandatory; players could decide for themselves. However, most players would still show up at the facility for recovery and relaxation workouts. During other times, they could meet with the offensive or defensive coaches to continue watching film.
Generally speaking, the coaching staff began their game prep on Tuesday, while the players started on Wednesday. Strictly speaking, however, full-team game preparation began on Thursday. The schedules for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were incredibly rigorous, and required mandatory team participation.
Early Wednesday morning, Lu Ke drove to the training facility. Yesterday's little film session had been incredibly fruitful.
Even though they were all rookies, their different college backgrounds and on-field positions meant they all interpreted the game differently. As the team's field general, Lu Ke listened attentively, absorbing all the different opinions. His perspective gradually broadened as he took in a flood of information. Today, Lu Ke planned to discuss it all with the quarterback coach and offensive coordinator, hoping to sort through his thoughts and truly make all that new knowledge his own.
Not only that, but on Monday, Lu Ke had successfully completed two Quarterback Training Skill Packages and claimed their rewards. He had also restarted his daily training missions, gradually easing into a strength training regimen. Furthermore, Lu Ke also needed to adapt to his current throwing power.
Although his Throwing Power stat was still 79, with no change, his Strength had increased to 61, Explosiveness to 70, and more importantly, his overall Physical Fitness had also risen to 70. This was a transformative, bone-deep change and growth. Lu Ke needed time to adapt to his body's new condition; his throwing motion and finger control would require corresponding adjustments as well.
The past two days had been incredibly packed, and he foresaw today being no different. Tomorrow was Thursday, when the team would officially begin preparations for their second game. He needed to get in the zone ahead of time.
Pulling into the parking lot, Lu Ke was surprised to see another car already there. He'd arrived at a slightly different time today, but it still wasn't even seven o'clock. Someone on the team had actually gotten here before him? That was truly... a rarity.
'Who could it be?'
With that thought in mind, Lu Ke entered the locker room and saw Alex Smith, who had just finished changing into his workout gear.
In what felt like the blink of an eye, eight weeks had passed since Lu Ke joined the San Francisco 49ers, yet this was the first time he and Alex had ever met.
Due to his injury, Alex had spent the first few weeks shuttling between the hospital and his home, never coming to the training facility. As his injury gradually healed in recent weeks, he had started coming to the facility, but the building dedicated to injured player rehabilitation was on the other side of the complex. Alex had been to the main facility twice during that time, but by a strange twist of fate, the two had never crossed paths. Until today.
Lu Ke was a little surprised.
Alex's reputation was immense. He was the number one overall pick in the 2005 draft. Although the San Francisco 49ers' record had never really improved under his leadership and his own performance could only be described as unremarkable, he was still, by far, the most famous, high-profile, and seasoned player Lu Ke had met.
Moreover, they were both quarterbacks—direct competitors. Incidentally, Alex's Fonderick test score was a forty.
The air grew quiet for a moment before Alex took the initiative to break the silence. "Hey, Lu Ke, right? I'm Alex." He walked forward, extending his right hand in a friendly gesture, a kind smile on his face. "I've heard you're an incredibly hard-working player. It seems the rumors are true."
Lu Ke shook Alex's hand, returning the smile. "Welcome back. How's the injury? Are you doing okay?"
Alex glanced down at his right leg. A torn ACL. An injury like that could be minor, or it could be a career-ender; plenty of athletes have had their careers cut short by serious damage to that ligament. But judging from Alex's stance, the impact didn't seem too severe. "This is my first week back at regular practice, so I still have to take it slow and see how it goes."
As he spoke, Alex raised his hands and crossed his index and middle fingers in a gesture for good luck. "This is about all I can do right now." His lighthearted words carried a hint of self-deprecation; it wasn't particularly witty, but it made him seem approachable.
Lu Ke mirrored the gesture, a confident and determined smile spreading across his face. "Injuries are never a good thing for any professional athlete. I hope you make a full recovery. Welcome back to the field, ready to rejoin the competition at one hundred percent!"