Super Bowl Domination

Chapter 324: A soldier never tires of deceit
For the Los Angeles Chargers, the 2017 season was full of turbulence and uncertainty. Last season, they again disappointedly failed to make the playoffs, completely wasting the outstanding performance of quarterback Rivers. The team owner was furious and fired the entire coaching staff, reorganized the team from scratch, and moved the team from San Diego to Los Angeles.

Everything starts from scratch.

Anthony Lynn, who led the Buffalo Bills' offensive team to impressive performance last season, took over as the new head coach. This is the first time Lynn has served as a head coach in his career.

In fact, Lynn's season record so far is not too bad, with seven wins and six losses, on par with the Kansas City Chiefs, and still retains hope for the playoffs.

This situation is a ray of hope. When Lynn took office, the team and the fans had no high hopes, but there was an unexpected surprise. It is also a kind of pressure. The playoff spot is so close yet so far away that Lynn himself began to get restless.

If the team can make the playoffs by standing on the shoulders of their division rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs, Lynn will be able to gain more initiative and lay the foundation for building the team he expects next offseason; the team will also be able to gain more support from fans in Los Angeles. More importantly, he led the team to the playoffs in his first season as head coach, and his resume immediately became impressive.

Just thinking about it makes me excited.

So, when he saw the news that the media was besieging Levi and the atmosphere at the Kansas City Chiefs training ground was weird, Lynn's first reaction was to clench his fist to celebrate.

A rookie, a freshman, and a running back is at the center of controversy. Sooner or later, there will be problems in the locker room.

On the surface, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Oakland Raiders to finally end their losing streak, seemingly sweeping away the gloom of six consecutive losses, but the victory was the team's credit, the news media kept praising Levi, and then there was the excitement of the sponsors, and other heroes of the victory inevitably had different thoughts.

"Another bombshell in the Kansas locker room: I have been disliking Levi for a long time."

"Warning, be careful Levi becomes the second Beckham, the Beckham during Manchester United period."

“Is the history of ‘flying shoes’ going to repeat itself?”

"Reid couldn't control the locker room, which ended the losing streak and got into the storm again."

"Levi's success and failure - on the Kansas City Chiefs' predicament this season."

"Supernova Lost in Vanity Fair 2.0!"

The news was making headlines one more shocking than the other, but Lynn would not believe all of it. He would only believe half of what the media reported and keep the other half with confidence.

Lynn guessed that with Reid in charge of the Kansas City Chiefs, there wouldn't be any trouble, but the locker room was complicated and not that simple. There were only a few people in the football and basketball locker rooms, and conflicts would occur every now and then. There were also a lot of people in the rugby locker room, so it was almost unavoidable.

Does this mean that Levi may experience fluctuations in his condition?
Lynn himself started out as a running back, and after transitioning from a professional player to a coach, he mostly served as a running back coach. However, after becoming the head coach this season, his passing defense has shined, which is puzzling. However, Lynn still has his own unique understanding of the running back position.

In his opinion, perhaps the Los Angeles Lightning holds the key to breaking the balance of the confrontation.

The fifteenth week of the regular season has begun.

Sure enough, the Los Angeles Lightning increased the intensity of their ground defense at the start of the game.

Lynn keeps up with the league's trends, adding cornerbacks to the ground defense in addition to defensive linemen and linebackers.

In the past, cornerbacks were mostly light in stature, because their targets were wide receivers, and speed, agility, and explosiveness were the key points; but after the Explosion, big cornerbacks have emerged. Although they are slightly inferior in speed, they can make up for it in strength, confrontation, and skills. They can not only match up with wide receivers, but also tight ends, and most importantly, they can raid - cornerbacks are beginning to play the role of surprise soldiers in pass rushing pressure and ground defense.

The starting cornerbacks of the Los Angeles Chargers, Casey Hayward and Trevor Williams, are not big cornerbacks. Both are around 190 pounds (87 kg) and are known for their speed and agility. This season, both have shown Pro Bowl-level form in pass defense, and have become the heroes for the team's continued playoff hopes so far.

However, neither player's strengths include blitzes on the quarterback and run defense.

In this game, Lynn changed his strategy and moved Hayward and Williams forward. He did not expect the two to completely block the Kansas City Chiefs' ground offense. He hoped to use the advantage of numbers to interfere and avoid Levi's high-volume offensive attack as much as possible, thus reversing the Los Angeles Lightning's second-to-last ground defense disadvantage in the league.

On the other side of the field, the Kansas City Chiefs seemed unaware of the uneasiness in the locker room or the change in the defensive strategy of the Los Angeles Chargers. They continued the pass-run balance they had maintained in the previous games, with a slight emphasis on passing.

This is also Reed's usual game strategy, there is nothing new about it.

By the time Lynn realized it was a smoke screen, it was too late.

Smith found Hill, the team's top wide receiver, with a 14-yard pass. Hill seized the opportunity when the Los Angeles Chargers' second-line defense was fully pressed, drove straight in, and finally completed a 64-yard run into the end zone, scoring a touchdown without any bloodshed.

It turned out that Levi played the role of bait again, and passing was the focus of the Kansas City Chiefs in the first half. A look at the data made it clear that Levi only held the ball six times in the entire first half and advanced only 27 yards.

Lynn: Grass.

"6:10".

At the end of the first half, the Kansas City Chiefs entered the locker room with a narrow lead, and Lynn's carefully planned strategy before the game did not work at all.

Thinking back to the Kansas City Chiefs who were paying 100% attention at this moment, Lynn knew that everyone, including him and the media, had been fooled.

After returning in the second half, the Los Angeles Chargers returned to their original combat mode, no longer emphasizing ground defense, but focusing on their own strengths in pass defense; and putting all hopes of offense on quarterback Rivers.

At the same time, Reid also showed his experience. In the second half, he insisted on a balance between passing and running, and slightly focused on ground offense. Levi played steadily, and Hunter shined, catching the ball and running all over the field.

It can be seen that after two-thirds of the season of polishing, the Kansas City Chiefs' game has become more and more natural and smooth, and the offense and defense transitions are even more tacit. They are even better than in the first six weeks when they relied entirely on spirit to win the game, showing overall strength.

In the second half, after the Los Angeles Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs entered their familiar modes, the Los Angeles Chargers didn't stand a chance at all. They were completely suppressed on both offense and defense, just like the Oakland Raiders in the previous game. The game was faster and they completely entered the rhythm of the Kansas City Chiefs.

The game ended hastily.

"13:30".

The visiting team is in front and the home team is behind.

(End of this chapter)