Chapter 769: Strategic fostering of an orphaned prince
“Wow, the first divisional ga has ended in a rather unexpected way.”
“In the final week of the regular season, led by Li Wei, the starting lineup entered rotation for the second consecutive season and had a week off during the wildcard round. This week, after half a month away from the field, the well-rested players showed no signs of rustiness, absolutely dominating the ga with a phenonal performance, making their statent to the entire league.”
“The defending champions are ready.”
“But… there’s a hidden concern here.”
“No, no, no, please don’t misunderstand, it’s not that sothing’s wrong with the Kansas City Chiefs, but rather a psychological shadow.”
“In the 2016 season, during the wildcard round, the Kansas City Chiefs swept the Houston Texans with a ’30:0′ score, shutting out the opponent with a thirty-point lead, ending their long playoff drought.”
“However, just when everyone thought the Kansas City Chiefs were ready to take it a step further, they were narrowly defeated by the New England Patriots in the divisional ga.”
“Now, a familiar scene is unfolding once again.”
“The Kansas City Chiefs have just won their first playoff ga with a thirty-point margin and are likely to face the New England Patriots in the next ga, the sa Patriots who defeated them in this year’s regular season.”
“Of course, this isn’t to underestimate the Los Angeles Chargers, but obviously, history is staring us in the face, and the Kansas City Chiefs certainly don’t want to repeat the sa mistake. If possible, they would naturally prefer their divisional rivals, the Los Angeles Chargers, to advance by defeating the New England Patriots, otherwise, things could get tricky.”
“What I’m curious about is whether the Kansas City Chiefs believe in curses or if they’re worried about a repeat of the story from two years ago, which might beco a potential issue.”
Clearly, the divisional ga has just ended and the players haven’t even entered the field for the post-ga handshake, yet the comntators are already eager to move on from this ga and look forward to the potential matchup in the conference championship—
As soone who loves drama, the comntators, as well as the league, probably all hope that the New England Patriots will defeat the Los Angeles Chargers for a second consecutive year to et the Kansas City Chiefs again. Last year, it was the divisional round; this year, it might be the conference championship. That’s the showdown everyone wants to see.”
Even just imagining it makes my heart race uncontrollably.
And it’s not just the comntators who feel this way.
“Defeat the Pats.”
Li Wei: ?
Looking at Leonard in front of him, Li Wei was full of question marks.
The final whistle of the ga had blown, and this was the third Indianapolis Colts player to co up to Li Wei. Sothing seed off.
One would expect that after a crushing defeat, any player from the Indianapolis Colts would be bearing teeth and glaring in rage at Li Wei, as if they wanted to devour his flesh and drink his blood, repulsing each other at sight, let alone shaking hands and offering greetings after the ga. They probably wouldn’t even want to see Li Wei’s face.
But that wasn’t the case.
One after another, they shook hands with Li Wei with grave expressions, as if entrusting him with a mission.
Others aside, even the notoriously confrontational Leonard was no exception.
So, what was going on?
Madman, he really was a madman—not just in the sense of being crazy, but in being unpredictable. Leonard now seed despondent and listless, devoid of any will to fight, a far cry from the expected “next ti I see you, I’ll definitely defeat you”.
If Leonard on the field was one standing on the peak, the Leonard now was one standing in a valley.
The contrast was striking.
Leonard looked at Li Wei’s confusion without even a hint of intent to probe, much less explain, glanced at Li Wei, and said in a voice deep as a cave,
“The mission is yours. Defeat the trono.”
Li Wei was about to call out to Leonard, but Leonard had already turned and left; then Luck appeared behind him, patiently waiting in line.
Luck removed his helt, his cheeks flushed, his short hair ssy like tangled seaweed, revealing a pitiable hairline, his gaze slightly vacant.
Li Wei watched as Leonard’s hunched figure grew smaller and smaller, seemingly about to burrow a hole into the ground of Arrowhead Stadium at any second, withdrew his gaze to once again look at Luck, whose soul seed to have embarked on a cosmic voyage, and preemptively answered.
“Let guess, defeat the trono?”
Luck blinked in surprise, “I wanted to say, a great ga, a great performance, but… you’re right, defeat the trono.”
Li Wei couldn’t help but laugh, “That should be your responsibility, shouldn’t it?”
Luck tugged at the corner of his mouth, barely managing a smile, “But now it’s yours. Of course, if you’re willing to lose the ga in exchange for us advancing, I wouldn’t mind taking on the heavy lifting.”
“Oh.” Li Wei chuckled, “That’s a real sha then. The results of the ga have been decided, and even if we appeal to the League, it can’t change the outco now, can it?”
Luck paused, giving Li Wei a second look, “Are you implying sothing about Brady?”
Li Wei’s face was the picture of innocence, “We are newcors, barely enough stature to be the great New England’s arch-nesis, how could I possibly imply anything about the great Brady?”
Every word dripped with irony.
Luck savored the comnt, finding his smile for a rare mont, “You’re an interesting guy. It seems we put our task in the right hands after all.”
The entire Indianapolis Colts team, from top to bottom, truly yearned to defeat the New England Patriots, extrely so.
Everyone knew that McDaniels’ indecisiveness and about-face during the offseason had slapped the Colts hard, turning the team’s outfit into a laughing stock of the League.
But this matter could barely be put down to business talks; if the cooperation hadn’t been successful, it was rely a matter of interests not aligning, and the feud between the Patriots and the Colts could continue to be pursued.
Let’s not even ntion the era of Big Manning and Brees’s head-to-head rivalry that made every encounter between the Patriots and the Colts earth-shattering for over fifteen years; but in Luck’s era, both teams still held a grudge against each other.
In 2014, at the Arican League Finals, the Colts played away against the Patriots. During halfti, the head referee found the footballs were not inflated to the NFL’s minimum air pressure requirents—
In cold weather, a deflated football is easier to grip and better for passing, which was the infamous “Deflategate,” accusing the Patriots, Belichick, and Brady of stooping to any level for victory.
Subsequently, the NFL spent 22 million US dollars on investigations, but no one wanted to offend the sponsors, the supporters of the Patriots, or Brady, the “face of the League,” so everyone watered down the investigation. Brady even brazenly destroyed his own phone to obstruct the evidence and refused to cooperate, yet fervent Patriots fans still supported him unconditionally.
In the end, the League concluded the investigation with a re slap on the wrist: a four-ga suspension for Brady and a one million US dollar team fine.
The investigation’s conclusion was that the Patriots most likely purposefully deflated the footballs, and Brady probably knew all about it.
Indianapolis Colts: ??? That’s it?
Because not only did the Patriots defeat the Colts to advance to the Super Bowl, they also beat the Seattle Seahawks to claim the ultimate championship.
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