Chapter 1402: Chapter 1401: The Final Suspense
With his eyes closed, taking a deep breath, all he can see in his mind is the figure wearing the number 23 red jersey running rampantly across the field, refusing to fade away.
This plunged Garoppolo into deep agony.
Perhaps, all of this is destined—
Li Wei defeats Brady, Garoppolo defeats Li Wei, forming a closed loop, ultimately with Garoppolo inheriting Brady’s mantle to become the face of the League.
In a full circle, the League’s championship lineage passes from Foxborough on the East Coast to Kansas City in the Central Region and finally to San Francisco on the West Coast, history’s heritage, the glory of championships, it’s all destiny’s arrangement.
This is a good story.
Anyone can see it, the entire League inside and out will surely go crazy for it, “Rookie VS Golden Boy” is as exciting as a commoner challenging the nobility.
If it’s really like this…
He is ready.
Garoppolo exhales heavily, burning all the hidden luck, fear, anxiety, and irritability within himself to ashes, clenching his fist—
Then! Let him face Li Wei directly, standing honorably on the field for a direct confrontation, to put an end to this ill-fated relationship.
As long as he wins, as long as he defeats Li Wei to claim the championship, as long as he leads the San Francisco 49ers to the top of the Super Bowl, all disputes and entanglements will come to an end.
Then, the League will usher in a new era, an era of Jimmy Garoppolo!
In his eyes, a hint of struggle remains.
But finally, Garoppolo calms down, regaining his belief and fighting spirit—
Perhaps, the only apology is to Donald Yee, who knew Donald was preparing to create a “Li Wei Myth,” but now, he is preparing to destroy it.
However, he believes that as an agent, Donald will understand.
Moreover, the sinking of Brady and Li Wei brings about Garoppolo’s rise, Donald still accomplishes a profitable deal.
The future belongs to him.
Quietly watching the TV screen, Garoppolo slowly straightened his back.
This match is no longer necessary to watch; the outcome is decided, it’s time to prepare for the upcoming National Conference finals, that is their stage.
They will defeat the Green Bay Packers, and then defeat the Kansas City Chiefs, breaking through directly and reaching the championship throne with convincing performances!
With burning determination, Garoppolo stared at the figure wearing number 23 on the screen, his fighting spirit ablaze.
In a certain sense, Rodgers is right, and Garoppolo is right too—
The outcome of the match has no suspense.
But from another perspective, both the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers are wrong in their judgment—
The second half did not become insignificant, and there were still plenty of exciting exchanges back and forth.
The Houston Texans refuse to surrender easily, from O’Brien to Crennel to Watt, the entire team is trying to prove themselves.
The Houston Texans are a very young team, established in 2002, this is only their eighteenth season in the Professional League. For such a team lacking historical foundation and constantly young and vibrant, they have been trying to establish their own brand.
This season, the team advanced to the conference finals for the first time in less than twenty years of history, battling through the overtime of the wildcard game to the upset overthrow in the divisional game, it seems they finally have a season worth remembering, regardless of the outcome, this will become a legacy etched in the team’s history.
Precisely because of this, they refuse to give up easily, refuse to end such a season emptily and awkwardly, refuse to lower their heads hastily without trying all means.
No matter what, fighting until the last moment is required to know the result.
Especially Watt.
Watt shines throughout the field, always fighting until the last drop of fuel, sparing no effort.
If there is an MVP selection for this game, Watt is undoubtedly deserving!
Returning in the second half, the Kansas City Chiefs secured a touchdown in the last strong clash, with a large lead advantage, following which, Reed abandoned the adventurous offensive strategy, turning to control the game, focusing on controlling the tempo, situation, and time, meaning limited operational space for the opposing defensive group.
Even if Watt has three heads and six arms, it’s hard to find a gap to turn the situation around in such a confrontation.
However, Watt still frequently breaks out in a passive situation, repeatedly ending the Kansas Chiefs Offense’s attempts to control the situation and consume time, forcing the defending champion to a three-and-out in advance, not only forcing the Kansas City Chiefs to switch tactics, unable to adopt an impregnable defensive formation and get caught passively, but more importantly, winning game time for the Houston Texans, securing opportunities for their offensive group to take the field and score.
It’s no exaggeration to say, Watt single-handedly dragged the second half of the match, the Kansas City Chiefs coaching staff and players dare not take it lightly.
But…
A lone hand cannot clap.
Time and again, Watt gave his all; time and again, the Houston Texans Offensive group wasted the opportunities—
This young team seems to have fallen back into the vicious cycle they have been stuck in over the past five to seven years, familiar memories are reawakened once more.
Of course, objectively speaking, it’s unjust to say Watson didn’t struggle or surrendered without a fight, because from the data, Watson’s performance wasn’t bad, the passing stats are still noteworthy, and he also helped the team secure a field goal and a touchdown.
If one hasn’t watched the game and merely looks at the post-game stats, seasoned fans might be confused, the stats aren’t bad at all, Watson indeed helped improve the Houston Texans Offensive group and brought hope, why is the social media overflowing with insults and all directed at Watson?
Is it just because he’s the quarterback?
By delving deeper into the data analysis, it can be seen that the touchdown was completed during the two-minute warning in the second half.
In other words, garbage time.
In a situation where the game had already lost all suspense, the Houston Texans just salvaged some pride with a touchdown, it only made Watson’s stats look not that bad, its impact on the game’s outcome was very limited.
That is to say, during effective time, after Watt repeatedly created opportunities for Watson, the Houston Texans only managed a single field goal.
Just a single field goal.
So, what exactly is going on?
Chaos. Stagnation. Hesitation. Restrained.
In short, “Wooden Man,” this is the summary of Watson’s performance in the second half.
On one hand, O’Brien overly emphasized short passes, trying to escape the Kansas City Chiefs’ frontcourt pressure, resulting in a tactical impasse for his own offense, Watson completely lost his creativity, his vision narrowing more and more, completely losing the team’s regular-season advantage.
On the other hand, Watson… flustered, as expected, in the pressure trap, Watson was at a loss, like a lost child. The continuous frontcourt pressure exerted by the Kansas City Chiefs Defense created layers of pressure, although there were no sacks, Watson was almost terrified.
The whole passing rhythm was utterly poor.
Poor rhythm, narrow vision, chaotic mindset, lax focus, all this made Watson like a puppet without a soul.
The match was quite unbearable to watch.