Chapter 1041: 1040 don't know where to start
Tense, urgent, scorching, eager to move, the air is boiling.
It's clear to the observant that the Baltimore Ravens are in top form, still on the rise, with an unstoppable fiery stance—
"You know what? Down by twenty-one points, so what?
I've decided to win this game. Period. It's as simple as that."
Just like the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2017 playoff mode.
Pressure and heat waves layer upon layer of pressure on the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Baltimore Ravens are ready, poised for action.
There's no hurt without comparison.
In contrast, the Kansas City Chiefs seem suppressed, appearing dull and quiet, not even Li Wei is shouting loudly at the players.
The truth is—
Li Wei: There's no need.
All you spectators, before you start making a fuss, shouldn't you look at the scoreboard? The Kansas City Chiefs are the ones leading.
Panic?
Haha, it's really unnecessary.
The Kansas City Chiefs steadily and swiftly complete the lineup meticulously.
Mahomes is very calm. If it were last season, he might have been a bit anxious and impatient, trying to quickly take control and suppress the opponent.
But with Li Wei by his side, like a stabilizer, Mahomes knows the Baltimore Ravens have not forced them to a point of disarray. He can stay focused and steady, calmly analyzing the game.
Then Mahomes glanced at Li Wei—
He did it on purpose. He needed the opposing defensive group to notice their eye contact, yet without a word, as if brewing something.
With the eye contact complete, Mahomes straightened up, seeming ready to change tactics.
But no.
Mahomes then bent over again, making the air even more tense—
The Baltimore Ravens know that this season Mahomes added a strategy to bait early movements. At this moment, they're ready to apply pass rush pressure, their body weight pressing forward eagerly, ready to dash out at any moment.
To avoid an early movement penalty, handing the Kansas City Chiefs five yards and escaping a possible safety at the edge of the end zone, the Baltimore Ravens Defense is fully tense, both nerves and muscles strained to the extreme.
Yet, Mahomes didn't immediately call for the snap.
Harbaugh is cautious. This is where Mahomes shows his maturity this season, understanding how to read the atmosphere of the game, knowing how to control the rhythm and adjust his mindset.
At this moment, Mahomes is controlling the atmosphere, grilling the Baltimore Ravens Defense on the fire, quietly taking control of the situation.
Harbaugh is a bit nervous.
Indeed!
Someone moved—
Li Wei.
"Motion"! Motion again!
It's a trump card, the Kansas City Chiefs even don't give the Baltimore Ravens' defensive line a chance to exert pressure, disrupting the rhythm before the snap.
Normally, when "Motion" appears, the defensive group must respond.
Now, experiencing the Kansas City Chiefs' "Motion" from the first half, it's even more so.
As mentioned earlier, in football games, there's an operations room above the field, where team managers and professional data analysts reside, providing real-time analysis of data and tactics, not only summarizing after the match but also offering feedback to the coaching team during the game.
During halftime, Harbaugh already communicated with the operations room—
No solution.
On the surface, the Kansas City Chiefs' tactics don't appear special, merely creating a half-second misalignment advantage through "Motion"; but in real matches, Li Wei renders the Baltimore Ravens Defense entirely paralyzed, helpless.
The feedback from the operations room is:
A "Bug", comparable to a cheating path.
However, they currently have no strategy to resolve it.
Precisely because of this, the Baltimore Ravens Defense is even more firm and aggressive in employing pass rush pressure tactics in the second half, aiming to create pressure and disrupt the Kansas City Chiefs' tactical layout.
And then, wait for Mahomes to make a mistake under pressure.
Even if Li Wei executes "Motion", as long as Mahomes' pass is inaccurate, the football won't reach Li Wei's hands.
Seven yards ahead of the end zone, as the Baltimore Ravens speculate on the Kansas City Chiefs' tactical choice, they never expected Li Wei to start moving—
Is Mahomes ready to take a risky pass?
What to do?
The Baltimore Ravens Defense tensed up all of a sudden. The atmosphere was tense enough, and now it's improbably escalating.
Amid the tension, there is panic, determination, a killer instinct... a variety of expressions.
But there's no time to hesitate.
With the last "Motion", everything happened in the blink of an eye. A slight hesitation, and this "Motion" might have already completed the offense.
Right away, someone moved.
Ferguson and Judon, still them, after all, they are responsible for guarding Li Wei. No matter what tricks Li Wei is up to, if Li Wei moves, they must move.
However, other players stayed still, not distracted by Li Wei—
Blitz. Pass rush. Pressure. Strong. Determined.
During halftime, Harbaugh couldn't find a way to deal with the Kansas City Chiefs' new "Motion". So he could only focus the strategy on Mahomes. If they can't stop Li Wei, they should at least make Mahomes feel the impact.
Everyone has their role, and the tense atmosphere suddenly burns up again.
Tap, tap tap.
Li Wei moves horizontally, switching from two yards to the right of Mahomes to behind Kelsey and Hardman, with the pistol formation turning into shotgun formation.
In the first half, Li Wei consistently moved laterally to the right, breaking through the sideline's gap.
However, this time, Li Wei suddenly stopped behind Kelsey and Hardman.
Harbaugh: ???
Ferguson and Judon: ???
Here, Ferguson stepped up, ready to bypass the matchup position with Kelsey and Humphrey, cutting into the outer gap ahead of time for interception.
As a result, as soon as he started moving, he saw Li Wei stopping, and couldn't stop himself, filled with question marks.
At this very moment, only one thought crossed Hardman's mind:
Li Wei believes you can do it.
Since Li Wei believes in him, he can do it one hundred percent.
Hardman focuses intently, continuously watching Li Wei's moves. After confirming Li Wei stopped, Hardman stepped back two steps, passing through the corridor behind Kelsey and in front of Li Wei, crossing two steps to the right.
Not much, just two steps.
"Attack!"
Mahomes calls the snap, and in an instant, the Kansas Chiefs Offense fully activates.
Li Wei charges forward vertically.
Kelsey charges forward vertically.
Hardman charges forward vertically.
In a flash, Humphrey tangles with Kelsey, while Ferguson and Judon both charge toward Li Wei.
One second, two seconds—
Mahomes has already released the pass.
To be precise, the pass was thrown at 1.5 seconds. The pass rush pressure from the Baltimore Ravens' defensive front was fast and fierce, but Mahomes took a step back to open space, without hesitation or delay, he threw the football in a quick short-pass fashion.
The entire action is decisive, smooth, and effortless.
The only difference with the quick short pass is that this pass wasn't a straight bullet pass, but rather a slightly arched parabolic pass.
The arc isn't high, yet it effortlessly clears the crowd, swiftly dropping down.
Descending about nine yards out from the right sideline, finding the unguarded—
Hardman.