"Hut!"
Michael Bennett's focus was at its peak. The moment the opposing quarterback, number 14, shouted, his feet stomped down, and he lunged forward, bursting out with the fierce momentum of a tiger descending a mountain. His eyes showed a look of determination and ruthlessness, intent on getting a sack.
To defend against the pass, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers only used four rushers—four defensive linemen to attack the pocket and apply pressure. The three linebackers and four secondary defenders were all committed to pass coverage.
This meant that the four defensive linemen had to face five offensive linemen, putting them at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. It also meant that Bennett was almost fighting alone, and he had to give it his all, seizing even the slightest glimmer of hope.
In the first down earlier, the San Francisco 49ers ran the ball with Frank Gore and lost yards. Now, facing a difficult second-and-twelve, the quarterback was very likely to choose to pass.
So now, the defense led by Bennett had to be fully committed and catch their opponents off guard. After giving up the blitz for several consecutive plays, they now chose to blitz unexpectedly to put more pressure on the opposing quarterback, number 14. Even if they couldn't sack the quarterback, they needed to disrupt his passing rhythm to create more opportunities for their weak secondary.
And so, Bennett exploded. The suppressed, immense power that had been building up for a long time was now being unleashed in a torrent. He pretended to glance at Mike Iupati on the inside, which was his target. He and his fellow lineman, Roy Miller, were going to execute a crossing stunt.
Miller, a defensive tackle, was on the inside. Bennett, a defensive end, was on the outside. They would cross, avoiding the first wave of impact from the opposing offensive linemen, and then, while the opponent was not paying attention, cut into the pocket. If they could break through, they would have a chance to get face-to-face with the quarterback at close range.
With his eyes focused and fixed on the number 14 quarterback, he launched, pushed off, sprinted, changed direction, and collided in an instant!
The entire sequence of movements was smooth, with almost no pause. But Bennett slammed into a wall of flesh, and the powerful momentum was stifled in his chest. A crossing stunt brought about an instant change, causing a moment of slow reflexes. But Iupati didn't get distracted at all. He slammed into him without hesitation, blocking Bennett's route.
Out of the corner of his eye, Bennett noticed that Chilo Rachal had also successfully blocked Miller.
"Damn it!"
But Bennett's focus remained high. He lowered his head and charged forward, pushing the immovable Iupati. He rumbled forward, trying to break through as if he were back in practice, repeatedly colliding and battling. All his strength was pushed to the limit. Even if there was a mountain in front of him, he could push it with his shoulder.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
In this intense battle of strength, the slight advantage brought by the crossing stunt—just a thousandth of a second in reaction time—showed amazing results. Iupati, who had been performing brilliantly today, started to give way, and the pocket began to collapse rapidly, and at a much faster speed than expected.
But Iupati still stubbornly held his position. Bennett could only choose to push Iupati into Lu Ke's position. Closer, a little closer. The entire pocket was about to collapse. Bennett could already see Lu Ke's jersey. It was within reach. As long as he got past Iupati's shoulder, he could directly apply pressure and disrupt the pass.
At this moment, Lu Ke took a step back, turned, and dodged Iupati and Bennett. He moved to the left and continued to prepare to pass.
Lu Ke's clumsy and flustered footwork in Bennett's eyes was like a lion seeing a gazelle. He just hit Iupati hard with his shoulder, and with the rebound, he leaped into the air with his hands raised, lunging toward Lu Ke. The fierce momentum of a tiger pouncing on its prey was truly terrifying. In his line of sight, Lu Ke's figure was getting bigger and closer. This was going to be a sure sack!
He had him!
Wait, what's going on?
Standing in the pocket, Lu Ke, who was observing everything, noticed the Buccaneers' fierce blitz right away. The speed at which the entire pocket was collapsing was far beyond what he had expected. The intensity of the blitz suddenly increased, and in just a moment, a storm was brewing in the pocket.
With his right hand, which he hadn't yet raised, he tightened his grip on the ball slightly. Lu Ke quickly raised his hand, ready to throw the ball immediately to find Gore, who had run into an open space. But then, the defensive tackle being blocked by Anthony Davis raised his right hand high, placing it between Lu Ke and Gore. Lu Ke then saw a linebacker give up on Kyle Williams and quickly cover back to Gore, cutting off all the passing lanes behind him.
Danger.
Alarms blared in Lu Ke's mind. The feeling of an interception was surging. He had to pull his right hand back to protect the ball and temporarily give up on this short-passing play. But with a quick glance, the situation was indeed bad. The receivers who had run out were all in an encirclement, and their positions were not good.
According to the play call, this was a short-passing route. So, among the four receivers, three were running short-passing routes, and only one was running a medium-passing route to attract defenders. As a result, the area connecting the short and medium-passing areas became a messy practice field, and the chaotic crossing routes were like a ball of yarn under a cat's paws.
One second, two seconds, three seconds, four seconds.
In that short time of observing the field, the entire pocket had already been severely compressed.
Surprisingly, the pocket had been broken, but the four offensive linemen were still in one-on-one matchups, and they were firmly holding back the defensive linemen. Center Jonathan Goodwin was even free and was quickly looking for a hole, ready to make a block at any time.
Although Lu Ke hadn't been sacked yet, the speed of the compression was far beyond what he had imagined.
Decisively, Lu Ke spun around, avoiding the squeeze from Bennett and Iupati, and escaped before he was squashed into a pancake. Before he could even turn around, a storm was raging behind him, and an intense sense of danger blared in every cell of his body.
In a flash, Lu Ke made a choice: "Absolute Footwork"!
The first second.
Lu Ke made an emergency stop, and the muscles in his body tightened to the extreme. He managed to stop in place just in time, and then he saw Bennett flailing his arms and lunging toward him, missing him by a hair. Then, like a falling pagoda, he crashed to the ground with a loud thud. Lu Ke's feet didn't stop moving. He quickly ran around the right side, trying to continue to look for a receiver.
His gaze didn't relax at all. He then saw Bennett's hands raised high, trying to grab his feet. Lu Ke's mind was completely blank. He didn't know how he did it. He just pulled his feet outward, stomped his right foot hard, and then made a big circle. He could even feel Bennett's hands swatting at his left foot, but he couldn't get a grip. As if he was stepping on fire, he successfully dodged Bennett's determined lunge.
His heart was about to burst.
The second second.
After one turn and then another, the entire pocket was completely open. The players' confrontations were pushed to different positions. Then he saw Miller, number 98 of the Buccaneers. Lu Ke was now completely exposed in Miller's coverage. Miller didn't need to go around Rachal. With a simple charge, he could make the sack.
Rachal was trying his best to push Miller back, but after the change in position, there was nothing blocking Miller. He turned and lunged toward Lu Ke. But he was still a little short. So Miller stomped his feet with all his might, and like a cheetah, he flew through the air, his hands stretched out to the maximum, lunging toward Lu Ke's legs.
In this critical moment, Miller didn't care about the rule of not tackling a quarterback below the knees. Sack, sack! This was the only belief in his mind now!
He got him!
Miller grabbed Lu Ke's ankle, but Lu Ke's feet were moving like a water pump, stomping quickly. The short, quick steps and their cadence reached an incredible frequency. In this battle between his feet and Miller's hands, Miller finally grabbed Lu Ke's sock, but before he could tighten his grip, the dazzling footwork had completely disrupted his rhythm, and he disappeared from his hands.
This was a dance on the edge of a knife. Every step was so dangerous, and he had even been tackled.
But Lu Ke still didn't give up! He absolutely couldn't give up!
The third second.
Before he could escape from Miller's grasp, he took a small half-step forward and then saw two players coming toward him. Anthony Davis was trying his best to stop number 53 of the Buccaneers, but he had completely lost his balance. So he fell to the ground with a loud thud. Even as he fell, Davis tried to grab number 53's waist to stop him.
But number 53 was like a train, charging toward Lu Ke unstoppably.
Lu Ke's feet moved lightly and nimbly to the left. His upper body followed and he squatted down. He could feel a gust of wind blowing past his helmet. His knees began to tremble. His entire balance and strength were completely gone. He couldn't even stand still, but he still managed to avoid another sack.
The next moment, Lu Ke didn't even have time to adjust his feet. He just firmly planted his foot with a small step, raised his right hand, and the muscles in his forearm tensed to the extreme. With a short and quick flick of his arm, the power from his core and arm was concentrated to the extreme, bursting out and releasing instantly. He drew his bow and shot the hawk!
The pass!
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