Dominate the Super Bowl

Chapter 38: 038 Overcoming Tough Problems

Tiger number six safety Dorian O’Daniel didn’t see it coming, not at all. He had expected to take one more step forward to complete the tackle, but now he was abruptly hit head-on. There wasn’t enough time to adjust his footing and strength for the action.

Subconsciously, in a conditioned reflex, O’Daniel managed to execute the tackle.

But then!

Bang!

Power, surging, cascading, hitting him straight in the face like a torrential downpour.

Uh.

O’Daniel let out a muffled grunt!

Block! Hit! Push!

Before O’Daniel’s arms could fully close in for the tackle, a burst of powerful force slammed into his chest. A stifled grunt got stuck in his throat. He staggered back in a chain of faltering steps, unable to come to a stop.

He was half a beat too slow to realize he had become a meat shield; wave after wave of impact came from behind, all of which he inadvertently absorbed, his faltering steps causing him to completely lose balance while retreating.

Damn!

O’Daniel’s heart contracted sharply, but it was already too late to resist.

Li Wei suddenly exerted force again, tossing aside O’Daniel—who weighed 220 pounds (100 kilograms)—as if he were nothing, clearing the space for Li Wei as if he were a heavy weapon, sweeping through swiftly like rainstorm pear flowers needles.

His steps, unceasing, even took advantage of the centrifugal force to surge forward, changing direction and accelerating to the right in the blink of an eye.

Instant start! Instant burst!

Crack!

A figure appeared just in time at the dense frontline, the art of using a sea of people in tactics fully displayed, leaving no space for Li Wei to begin his run. He was immediately grappled around the waist and pulled down in one fluid motion.

Solid. Substantial.

Li Wei realized he was caught, seemingly about to run out of strength, but instead of falling, he continued to push off the ground with inertia, propelling himself forward.

Strength, fully unleashed, without any reservation.

Ah!

The breath sank to the Dantian.

Ah!

Strength released.

One step, two steps.

Without warning, Li Wei exerted his force and actually dragged along the weight on his waist, continuing to move forward, astonishingly close to breaking free from the tackle and regaining space to advance!

The Tigers Defense Squad was a beat too slow to realize what was happening. One after another, they rushed forward, employing the human sea tactics to the fullest.

On one hand, the Tiger Team tried to stop Li Wei.

On the other, Crimson Tide Storm players also gathered behind Li Wei, united in pushing him forward.

A true battle for every inch of ground.

Ah! Ahhh!

Li Wei only felt his strength slowly ebbing away until he was finally trapped as if in a quagmire, falling to the ground. Players from both teams piled up like a small mountain, forcing the referee to pull them apart one by one to clear the space.

Huff, huff—

His breath, burning in his lungs.

Bryant Denny Stadium went wild, utterly wild.

The whole place erupted!

The scene before them left Blackley completely stunned.

The first attack?

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Number twenty-three managed to force through a first attack!

Incredible, unbelievable, just as the Tigers Defense Squad seemed about to decipher the Crimson Tide Storm’s offensive tactics and pull off another defense, number twenty-three turned the tide in an unexpected way, overthrowing the whole situation.

Blackley blinked, turning his head to look at Pash beside him, speechless.

Pash revealed a mysteriously sly grin, shrugging and spreading his hands with an innocently clueless expression, as if he had no intention of explaining.

"Crimson Tide, roar!"

"Crimson Tide, roar!"

The cheers echoed for a long time over Bryant Denny Stadium, where half a match’s pent-up passion finally found its release, and the voices of a hundred thousand fans stained the Tuscaloosa sky red.

Not without effort, Beteman finally dug Li Wei out from the bottom of the pile, then saw Li Wei guarding the football tightly in his arms—

Protecting the ball possession.

This was Burns’s first lesson to Li Wei in opening up the world of running backs, and also the utmost priority that was repeatedly emphasized, the way Li Wei had grown.

Standing up, Li Wei tossed the football to the referee, and Beteman immediately noticed the look in Li Wei’s eyes:

It was murderous.

Li Wei glanced at the players from the Tigers Defense Squad, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth, as if he could taste the scent of blood between his lips and teeth.

Beteman’s heart skipped a beat, "What’s wrong? Got played dirty?"

Li Wei shook his head, "No, just finding the game kind of interesting."

Even though the system template training had faced him against different top defenses more than once, it was still his first time dealing with a "4-3" defense in real combat. The difference between theoretical knowledge and actual practice was laid bare like this.

After the collision of strength, readjusting one’s center of gravity and restarting was a challenge; it was also a challenge to face the defensive pressure. Although the Tigers Defense Squad was down one linebacker, their strong safety in the safety position stepped up faster and completed the encirclement.

Without the wide receivers and tight ends blocking, the running back would face even more ferocious collisions and squeezes in the area near the line of scrimmage to the short pass range.

However, once the running back managed to break through the short pass area, the vacant backfield would become a deadly weakness.

Therefore, during the nationwide championship finals earlier in the year, Derrick Henry fully utilized his ability to pierce through the tough collisions, but after breaking through, his ability to carry the ball long distance was not as strong, forcing Henry to repeatedly return and continue the hard work, naturally exhausting him.

Today, in the first half of the game, Jacobs and Clark repeatedly hit the wall, resulting from unsuccessful ground attacks.

In fact, Li Wei wasn’t adept at attrition warfare; his strengths lay in his explosive power and agility, but Li Wei wasn’t afraid of confrontation. The Tigers weren’t even among the NCAA’s strongest defensive teams, and the two ’Black-faced Yamas’ weren’t on the field. If he couldn’t break through such defense, he might as well go home and farm sweet potatoes.

Li Wei had some ideas, and he was ready to give them a try—

After all, the game was quite interesting.

Beteman blinked and, seeing Li Wei’s smile, involuntarily shuddered and swallowed hard, "Li Wei, what should we do?"

Li Wei’s smiled fully blossomed, "Follow the coach’s plan, I just have a little personal idea, that’s all, very little."

Turning his head, Li Wei looked over and saw number ninety-nine looking his way. Li Wei raised his right hand in greeting, "Hey."

Farrell was taken aback: What did number twenty-three mean by that? He was mocking him, right? That was obviously ridicule and contempt, he’d show him!

Dammit!

Farrell cursed fiercely.

Crimson Tide half-field, thirty-five-yard line, first down.

Saban wasn’t planning on wearing out Li Wei; instead, he switched in another running back, Emmons, to change the rhythm.

Physical confrontation is the main theme of football, and it can be extremely draining on the body, almost every position requires rotation, and the game has no substitution limits—

Quarterbacks are an exception because they usually stand in the pocket to avoid collisions; generally, the starting quarterback will play the entire game.

It is most apparent with the position of running back, where every rush involves physically charging and breaking through, and almost no running back can last the entire game, which is why different attacks require rotating running backs.

One reason is to manage stamina; the other is to change the rhythm, as different running backs have different styles, and ground advance tactics might vary accordingly.

In the NFL, there’s even selection of running backs based on down numbers; a first-down running back and a fourth-down running back could have contrasting styles.

That’s why, initially, Burns was so eager to recruit Li Wei, as relying solely on one or two running backs was not feasible for an entire season.

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