Super Bowl Domination

Chapter 80 Singing and Advancing
Joshua Brand, a scout for the Baltimore Ravens, has been in the league for twenty years. He has seen countless storms and experienced countless ups and downs. His sharp eyes are well-known in the industry.

This year, from the beginning of spring training camp until the start of the NCAA season, he has been observing quarterbacks, and several youngsters are worth marking:

Louisville's Lamar Jackson, Wyoming's Josh Allen, Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield, and so on.

result!

With just one phone call, he had to travel all the way to Alabama to observe a running back.

Running back?

Brand rolled his eyes. It wasn't that he looked down on the running back. As a scout, he didn't care about the position. As long as the player had potential, he was worth paying attention to. It was just that this running back had played too few games, and the data sample had no reference value. There was really no need to make a fuss.

They are all professionals, and they all know that performing well in one or two games is nothing. Some players have a breakthrough in their contract year and then become obscurity after getting a high-paying contract. This happens more than once or twice. How can they make such a fuss just because of one game? It's really unprofessional.

Who knows, maybe he will reveal his true colors in the next game? Or maybe he will disappear without a trace after three or five games?
In Brand's view -

Profit is the original sin.

Judging from the current rumors, the media is just looking for novelty, while the league is eyeing the big piece of cake in China, and it is estimated that the teams are the same.

"Chinese".

Everything is because of this keyword.

The NFL has been planning for the Chinese market since 2005, and after a full decade, it is finally seeing initial results. All they need next is a superstar to drive the entire market, just like the NBA did when it introduced the female stars Zhao Riyue, to complete the final push and then be able to be reborn.

Therefore, as long as the running back is not particularly bad, a third-round or fourth-round pick should be fine, since the topic effect is already there anyway.

If that's the case, then what do we need scouts for? Isn't it enough to just look at the post-game technical statistics on paper? It's just a show after all.

However, after reading the information carefully, Brand became interested.

In the warm-up game, they defeated the Clemson Tigers with Deshaun Watson, and in the opening game, they defeated the USC Trojans with Sam Darnold.

It's interesting because these two quarterbacks are also on Brand's list.

But it's just a little bit.

After all, Levi is a running back and has no chance to play against the quarterback, so he cannot be viewed in the same position; they should look at the strength of the defensive team.

By the way, both the Clemson Tigers and the USC Trojans are strong offensive teams. As for defense, let’s not talk about it. Clemson is better, while USC is simply a paper-made team. No wonder Alabama advanced more than 300 yards on the ground. They could do whatever they wanted, as if it were their own backyard.

So, are those game data of reference value?

Yes, but it is very limited.

Brand also knew that this was the real reason why Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh assigned him to go to Tuscaloosa for inspection.

In the 2012 season, the Baltimore Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers to win the Super Bowl championship, and quarterback Joe Flacco won the Super Bowl MVP, becoming the talk of the town.

But professionals who are really familiar with the Baltimore Ravens and John Harbaugh should know that they did not rely on offense to win the championship, but defense is the foundation.

John Harbaugh, who studied under Nick Shaban, is currently the most outstanding student of Shaban's coach and has a place in the NFL. After winning the Super Bowl, Baltimore Ravens legendary linebacker Ray Lewis retired, which also led to the disappearance of the team's most deterrent threat in the defense, forcing Harbaugh to rely on Joe Flacco as the core to build a team that relies on offense to conquer the world.

The problem is that after experiencing a peak season in 2012, Flacco's unstable passing accuracy gradually became apparent. He was always prone to making wrong choices when faced with pass rush pressure, and his number of interceptions remained high.

Compared with other quarterbacks in the same class, such as Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, and Philip Rivers, Flacco's decline is really fast, and he was unable to keep up with the pace of the league last season.

Everyone knows that excellent quarterbacks are hard to find, and top quarterbacks are even harder to come by, so even average quarterbacks are still in high demand.

Flacco has gradually fallen from the ranks of excellence, but is still above average. The Baltimore Ravens should have no plans to replace him in the short term. What's more, the offensive group built around Flacco is maturing. Harbaugh believes that they cannot give up halfway and should continue to improve the offense.

Therefore, using running backs to assist the quarterback becomes the simplest and most efficient method.

Last season, the Baltimore Ravens gave priority to filling other vacancies in the draft, gave up competing for Derrick Henry, and only selected a running back in the fourth round; this year they can free up their hands.

What's more, that was the Crimson Tide Storm, the team of Hubble's mentor, Shaban, and Hubble thought it was worthy of attention.

then.

Brand packed his bags and came here as soon as possible.

Standing at the entrance of Bryant-Denny Stadium, Brand looked around and could see at least seven or eight or nine of his colleagues.

Seven, eight or nine scouts may not sound like a lot, but Brand knew that the scene had already been built up. After all, it was just a game. The reason why it could attract so much attention at this time was because of his Chinese identity.

It's like a panda has arrived.

Brand pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and took a long drag.

The next period of time will probably be very lively, but I don’t know how much real material we will be able to see.

But on second thought, the Crimson Tide defense is worthy of attention. Coincidentally, there are a group of defensive players here who need to be carefully observed. He might as well switch some modes and see how those quarterbacks perform in the face of the strong Crimson Tide defense.

Maybe, things may not be as boring as imagined.

It turned out that Brand's prediction was correct.

The Crimson Tide truly demonstrated its strong dominance, advancing all the way with great momentum. After a successful start in the opening game, they won six consecutive games with an absolutely strong performance, firmly holding the position of the No. 1 seed in the NCAA.

The defense is still the star, allowing only 14.33 points per game in six games. It is undoubtedly the most dominant team in the NCAA and is feared by everyone.

really!

The Shaban is still the Shaban, and the Crimson Tide is still the Crimson Tide. Relying solely on the defense, they can become a strong candidate for the championship, and their six-game winning streak is within their grasp without any suspense.

However, the real surprise was the offense, which averaged 45.8 points in six games, leaving other traditional offensive powerhouses behind and becoming the NCAA's highest-scoring team this season, which is incredible.

Is this still the defensive powerhouse Crimson Tide that they are familiar with?

The fourth update, thanks to Nanjing Yiba Leader and the 100 monthly tickets for the extra update.

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(End of this chapter)