Chapter 230 228: Teamwork
A defender was closing in!
A figure appeared in his peripheral vision. With unprecedented calm, Williams's mind went clear. He followed his body's instincts, slightly lowered his center of gravity, then threw his body back hard. With a dull THUD, the two players collided. Williams felt his insides churn, his body nearly sent flying.
But this was precisely the effect Williams was going for.
Using the recoil, Williams's center of gravity shifted slightly to the side, carving a small arc. The end zone was right in front of him. Stumbling, he continued to push forward, but he was falling too fast. The pull of gravity seemed to double, and in the blink of an eye, the ground was right there.
'My knee can't touch the ground! My knee, my knee, my knee!'
This was the only thought in Williams's mind. He had to use his free left hand, scrambling on all fours in an utterly wretched state to keep moving forward. But he didn't care. All his focus was on his knee. After pushing forward a few more steps, the pull of gravity and the fatigue in his taut muscles finally became too much to bear, and he crashed heavily to the ground.
"HUFF... HUFF... HUFF..."
His lungs began to burn, and the oxygen he breathed in felt scorching hot. Every inch of muscle in his body was screaming, but the feeling of pure, cathartic release instantly shot to the tips of his limbs, and he roared, "AH! AHHHH!"
Kirk didn't even realize he had shot to his feet. His headset cord pulled taut, stopping him from standing up fully and leaving him in an awkward half-squat. But he paid it no mind, maintaining the posture as his passionate commentary reached a fever pitch, "Touchdown! It's a touchdown! Lu Ke completes a fifty-five-yard touchdown pass! The San Francisco 49ers' number ten wide receiver, Kyle Williams, on his second reception of the game, scores the touchdown!"
"Fifty-five! Touchdown! Fifty-five! Touchdown!" Kirk kept shouting, his passion surging. His roars became noisy and shrill, but then, following the referee's touchdown signal, a tidal wave of cheers from the away fans surged forth, completely drowning out Paul Brown Stadium, the entire studio, and the entire commentary booth.
A long-bomb touchdown! A dagger!
Jeff Locke leaped up, completely forgetting himself. He waved his arms wildly, screaming like a madman.
He saw people everywhere but didn't care who they were. He just opened his mouth and screamed in ecstasy, "AHHHH!" 'A touchdown, did you see that? A touchdown! The team scored another touchdown! Bambi completed another long-bomb touchdown! A touchdown!' But none of the words would come out. All he could do was scream, "AHHHH!"
Everyone was hugging each other, everyone was screaming, everyone was unleashing their passion. In the stands, the section belonging to the away fans completely erupted. In that moment, all barriers between people melted away. Even total strangers were unabashedly hugging, throwing their arms around each other's shoulders, and celebrating wildly.
A fifty-five-yard long pass! A fifty-five-yard touchdown! An absolutely dominant, field-spanning strike!
The away fans had lost their minds; the home fans had their spirits crushed. One unexpected run for six yards; one powerful run for twenty-five yards; one fatal long pass for fifty-five yards. The San Francisco 49ers had only used three downs, and in less than eighty-five seconds, they had once again widened the score gap.
A dominant running game, a dominant passing game, and more importantly, a dominant offense! Under Lu Ke's leadership, the San Francisco 49ers' offense was suddenly projecting an image of invincible power. This completely destroyed the home fans' confidence. Their cheers grew sparse, their curses fragmented, replaced mostly by a sense of bewilderment and helplessness.
Kyle Williams lay on the ground, not getting up for a long time, just lying there quietly.
Ted Ginn Jr., Michael Crabtree, and Logan Newman all ran over at once. They had been ready to celebrate, but seeing Williams lying motionless, they thought he was injured and rushed forward to ask with concern. Instead, they saw Williams raise his hands to cover his helmet, shielding his face as he began to sob uncontrollably.
He had been holding it in for too long. Williams had truly been holding it in for far too long.
It was only the third week of the regular season, and Williams was in a bit of a slump after a strong start.
In the first game, he had contributed a touchdown with an impressive performance. But in the second week's game, he was practically invisible the whole time and didn't get many opportunities to shine. Today had been the same.
Among the San Francisco 49ers' receivers, Williams's strengths were never particularly obvious. Over the past two weeks, the internal quarterback controversy had created a lot of uncertainty. Almost every player was choosing sides, further intensifying the competition among the receivers.
Everyone knew that Logan, Marcus, and Lu Ke were the three musketeers from UCLA, and their chemistry had become a key weapon for the team in making crucial plays over the past two weeks. Crabtree was a big, strong wide receiver, while Ginn's advantage was his speed.
As for Williams? His speed was decent, his route-running was decent, and his catching was decent. It seemed every aspect of his game was merely average, with nothing that truly stood out. Moreover, he was on good terms with Alex and had naturally chosen to support him, which was why he had hardly gotten any chances to perform.
Until today, until this very moment, Lu Ke had set aside their past differences and chosen him as the passing target. And he had completed this fifty-five-yard reception, proving himself once again!
Seeing Williams so emotional he was moved to tears, everyone fell silent for a moment, empathizing with him.
For the past two weeks, the atmosphere in the locker room had been lifeless. A hostile energy was being suppressed—it never erupted, but it also never went away. It wasn't just Williams, and it wasn't just the other receivers. There was also the conflict just now between Logan and the Offense Line. These surging undercurrents were putting the team's cooperation in jeopardy.
But in today's game, facing the Fierce Tiger Team's outstanding Defense Team, Lu Ke's tough performance had managed to unite the entire offense, carrying the whole team forward with an unyielding, head-on attitude.
Whether it was the red zone offense after four sacks or this resurgent, fatal blow, the San Francisco 49ers' offense had gone through a hail of bullets. Amidst the blood and wounds, they had forged a bond of friendship, fighting side-by-side.
This was even more difficult, and also more exhilarating, than last week's last-minute comeback victory against the Dallas Cowboys!
Logan was the first to break the silence. He walked up, knelt on one knee, and patted Williams heavily on the shoulder. "Hey, this is the time to celebrate. All the fans are waiting to worship that catch of yours! A fifty-five-yard catch, damn, that was spectacular! Did you hear the screams from all the young ladies? If you're not planning on getting up, I'm gonna go accept the cheers for you."
Those teasing words immediately made both Crabtree and Ginn, who were standing nearby, laugh. The disheveled Williams also gave Logan a swift kick. "Get lost! This is my moment! Don't you try to butt in."
To be honest, Williams himself hadn't expected such a surge of emotion. It had come out of nowhere, catching him off guard. Once he realized what was happening, he felt a bit awkward and didn't know how to end the moment. Thankfully, Logan had given him an out.
After that, Williams took the opportunity to get to his feet, tossed the football in his hand to the referee, and jogged toward the away fans' section of the stands, basking in their cheers and shouts.
At Paul Brown Stadium, the roar of the crowd rose to another level!
Standing on the 49ers' side of the field, Lu Ke noticed the small commotion in the distant end zone. He stayed where he was, not going over to join the crowd.
A dull ache, and even a slight stinging pain, emanated from his right arm. He had put a bit too much force into that last long pass.
In football, the long pass is without a doubt an ultimate weapon, but not every quarterback can execute it. It places strict demands on arm strength. Correspondingly, the quarterback arm strength test at the Rookie Training Camp is also a major point of focus. However, this fixed notion began to change after Peyton Manning.
Manning's absolute arm strength was not outstanding. During the draft, his direct rival, Ryan Leaf, was the one with the real cannon for an arm. At the time, Manning's scouting reports all questioned his arm strength, doubting his long-pass ability. But after he entered the Alliance, people discovered that wasn't the case. Manning could achieve long passes by controlling the ball's trajectory.
It was actually simple physics. By using a relatively high trajectory, he could conserve arm strength while achieving greater distance, which was just as deadly.
When Manning was younger, he more often chose bullet passes, using pure power to drive his long throws. But as he aged, his trajectory gradually got higher. He started throwing the Rainbow Pass, and even as his power waned, the effectiveness of his long ball didn't diminish.
Gradually, long-pass control became a new skill in itself. Even for a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers, whose long pass is a great strength, the clever use of the Rainbow Pass is one of his essential tools.
In that last pass, to increase accuracy and avoid the defenders, Lu Ke had chosen a bullet pass instead of a Rainbow Pass from within the protection of a solid pocket. His arm muscles took on greater pressure and impact, and now, the negative effects were immediately apparent.
Lu Ke lifted his left hand and kneaded the bicep of his right arm, trying to relieve the tense muscle. Then he raised his right arm and began to rotate it, first clockwise, then counter-clockwise, to further de-stress the muscle. The stinging pain gradually subsided, but the tightness and ache didn't disappear completely.
He needed to loosen up.
"Bambi, you okay?" Mike Rupati turned around. He had been about to join the celebration but then noticed Lu Ke's movements, a worried look appearing on his face.
Lu Ke continued to move his arm and joked, "Just put too much power into that throw. A little ice and relaxation will do the trick. At least it's not my legs that are feeling off." The subtext was clear: 'Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to escape the next time the pocket collapses.'
Mike Rupati couldn't refute that and could only laugh helplessly. "Alright, I deserve that. Bring it on!"