Dominate the Super Bowl

LaDainian Tomlinson, born in 1979, 5 feet 11 inches (178 cm), 215 pounds (98 kg), served as a running back.

Selected by the San Diego Chargers as the fifth overall pick in the first round in 2001, he spent the majority of his profession in San Diego before transferring to the New York Jets for the 2010 season, and chose to retire after two seasons.

This is the training template that Li Wei obtained in his latest card-flipping opportunity—

LaDainian Tomlinson (S-Class). Discover exclusive content at My Virtual Library Empire

Excitement!

Following Peterson, Li Wei drew a second S-class training template, catching his eye and sparking curiosity:

Initially, Li Wei relied on Peterson's training template to establish his playing style and continuously sculpted his own characteristics over the course of a year.

Now, without a doubt, the second S-class training template would play a crucial role again.

After delving deeper, Li Wei learned that this recently retired running back turned out to be a trailblazer that ushered in a new era, a true pioneer.

It all started with the 2001 draft.

That year, quarterback Michael Vick was selected first overall by the Atlanta Falcons, becoming the first African-American number one pick in history, and he blazed a new era of mobile quarterbacks in the NFL, still holding the record for the most rushing touchdowns by a quarterback.

In the same year, Tomlinson was selected fifth overall by the San Diego Chargers and, like Vick, he broke the mold of traditional thinking at the running back position.

Just as quarterbacks were supposed to stay in the pocket, running backs were thought to only run with the ball, but Tomlinson brought his talents to the NFL and shined on the field—

A running back could not only rush with the ball but also catch passes, and even throw them.

Never underestimate Tomlinson's height, as being thrown onto the football field felt like a dwarf entering a land of giants, but Tomlinson's field vision was top-notch, even surpassing many quarterbacks.

Although Tomlinson played in the NFL for merely eleven seasons, he left behind a series of records that completely changed people's perceptions of running backs.

As a running back, he gained 13,684 rushing yards, ranking fifth in history; and scored 145 rushing touchdowns, ranking second in history.

As a wide receiver, he amassed 4,772 receiving yards and 624 receptions, ranking third among running backs in history, and scored an additional seventeen receiving touchdowns.

Tomlinson is one of only two running backs in NFL history to exceed thirteen thousand rushing yards and four thousand receiving yards, alongside another legend, Walter Payton.

By the way, Walter Payton is also a Hall of Fame legend in the NFL, and the league even awards an annual trophy bearing Walter Payton's name to the player who has made a significant charitable contribution.

Additionally, Tomlinson was an emergency quarterback.

In his career, he attempted twelve passes, completed eight, scored seven passing touchdowns, and had no interceptions.

This record is second only to Walter Payton's eight passing touchdowns, with both players leading the charts for non-quarterback passing touchdowns in the Super Bowl era.

Flexible, versatile, composed, smart.

Without a doubt, Tomlinson made the modern football offense more diverse, and he was different from Payton, who was active in the distant seventies.

In Payton's era, physical confrontation was still the mainstay of football, tactics were not as diverse, and the professional field was also a domain for physical and talent showdowns, with a once-in-a-century genius like Payton emerging as an irreplicable phenomenon.

Tomlinson was different; by then modern football tactics had made leaps and bounds. Both offense and defense became more complex and astute, and his success not only changed the perception of running backs but also transformed the offensive strategic system.

Like Michael Vick, the emergence of Tomlinson spurred another update of the NFL playbook.

In 2012, Adrian Peterson, as a running back, won the regular season MVP honor. Before him, the last running back to win such an accolade was Tomlinson, who in 2006 was crowned the League's Offensive Player of the Year, regular-season MVP, and Walter Payton Man of the Year.

In addition, he was named to the All-America First Team three times, the All-America Second Team three times, the Pro Bowl five times, the League's leading rusher twice, and the League's touchdown leader three times, and was the starting running back of the 2000s All-Decade Team.

A series of honors ensured Tomlinson an early reservation in the Hall of Fame.

It is worth mentioning that the comic "Speed Runner No. 21 (Masked Speedster 21)" was created based on Tomlinson.

Clearly, this was the answer given by the system—

Since the last draw of Marshawn Lynch's training template, Li Wei had slowly started to invest in strength training, but strength training is just like that.

Firstly, you can't rush it; dreaming of an overnight success is unrealistic, it requires time and patience.

Secondly, it has to be progressive; Li Wei had already established his own style, with breakaway ability built on speed and agility. If he rashly increased his weight or muscle mass, the inevitable cost would be the loss of speed and agility, or even starting over with a completely different style.

This approach was impractical.

Therefore, Li Wei was also consciously controlling his training load, to avoid disrupting his own equilibrium, and was systematically enhancing his ability to withstand contact.

In half a year's time, Li Wei had made some progress and had already shown it in the games; but overall, it was still limited, especially in terms of endurance.

After the intense collision with the Pittsburgh Steelers, although it didn't affect his performance in the next game, the recovery afterward noticeably slowed down, to the extent that in later games, Li Wei reduced the number of forceful head-on confrontations and breakthroughs.

In other words, Li Wei had a long way to go to become a running back like Lynch.

Of course, Li Wei wasn't planning to become exactly like Lynch; he was searching for a completely new path of his own.

Right now, Tomlinson presented a new opportunity—

Starting from the Rookie Training Camp, Li Wei realized that the overall trend in the League was the need for running backs to become versatile warriors, capable of running, receiving, blocking, and protecting, to open up the depth of the offensive strategic system.

The last offensive drive against the Pittsburgh Steelers was the best proof:

Li Wei turned into a wide receiver, pulling off a game-winning comeback.

Reed pulled a trick, which deceived Tomlin, finding a gap in the crucial offensive and defensive showdown, and completed the turnaround successfully.

But to be honest, Li Wei's reception was shaky, precarious like a tightrope walker. Smith wasn't used to it, and neither was he. There was a problem with his catching action and posture; he was nearly taken down by Watt on the spot.

If it happened again, Li Wei couldn't guarantee a hundred percent that he would be able to catch the ball and break through for a touchdown; the result might be completely different.

Now, Tomlinson's training template was a timely opportunity, reminding Li Wei to temporarily slow down the contact training, instead fully leveraging his strengths, and based on agility and speed, to become more adaptable.

Beyond running the ball, catching, and even passing, all would have to be practiced.

So, are we preparing to see Li Wei as a wide receiver and quarterback?