In America, the winner takes all.

Chapter 289 Winning streak

September 9, Meadowlands Sports Center (Giants Stadium), East Rutherford, New Jersey

In the eyes of the 78 spectators present today, Ethan walked into the field together with the offensive team members.

Ethan looked up at this time and could see that many fans were wearing blue caps with "NY" characters printed on them. They were different from the Yankees' logo, and the Giants' NY letters were separate.

As the first metropolitan area of ​​the Blue Star in a substantial sense, there are currently seven teams in the four major sports leagues that use New York as their home stadium.

The first one to bear the brunt is naturally the New York Yankees. Now it is not limited to a baseball team, but has become a baseball cap sales brand. It also represents its special influence from the side.

In addition, there is another Mets team with a long history in New York in MLB, the Knicks and Nets in basketball, and the Rangers and Islanders in NHL.

Imagine how many choices a New Yorker and football fan would face every season weekend when he turns on the television.

But he will most likely choose football.

The Giants averaged an 11.8 rating per game and an average of 1980 million viewers per game. The Jets are close behind with an average rating of 10.5.

As for the New York Yankees, the average rating is only 3.1. The number of viewers is about 470W, which is already the first in MLB.

There are many reasons for this phenomenon. The most important one is that football games are more suitable for live broadcast on television than baseball. Many old New York Yankees fans are more accustomed to listening to games on the radio.

In the current NFL, the Giants only rank tenth in ratings.

Ranking first is still the Dallas Cowboys from Texas, with an average ratings of 17.4.

They are followed by the San Francisco 49ers with an average rating of 16.9, followed by the Denver Broncos.

As for the Patriots and Chiefs, who have attracted much attention after the new century, the ratings are currently only in the middle of the league.

This year is the Giants' 74th season, and they have reached the top spot six times, second only to the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears.

However, since they won the Super Bowl championship in 90, the Giants have always faced the dilemma of lack of success. There was a brief revival in 93, and then missed the playoffs for four consecutive years. The team waited until 1996 to finally wait for Danny Carter. Nel is a qualified team leader.

As a fourth-round pick, he performed very well in his first two seasons. Last year, he led the team to a regular season record of ten wins and five losses, ranking first in the National League East, while the Cowboys were second to last last year. , ranked only ahead of the Cardinals.

Unfortunately, the Giants lost to the Vikings in the first round of last year's playoffs and were eliminated early.

Although the Cowboys' performance last year was somewhat worse than that of the Giants, they defeated the last Super Bowl champion Broncos in the last round, which can be said to be a high morale. The Giants lost to the Oakland Raiders in the last round. In comparison, the Giants undoubtedly fell behind.

"The Giants are not prepared to let the Cowboys take away a road win, even if they just defeated last year's Super Bowl champion. Likewise, the Cowboys, led by dazzling rookie Ethan O'Connor, are equally determined to win this game. …”

ABC commentator Alan Michaels is sitting in the commentary box. Today, he has three partners, namely Daniel Deardorff, the former offensive lineman of the Cardinals, and Norman Esison, who once won the regular season award. Game MVP, a quarterback who played for the Cincinnati Bengals for more than a decade, and Leslie Weiser, the first female NFL announcer in history. She has narrated many major events including NCAA March Madness, NBA Finals, Baseball World Finals, Olympic Games, and Super Bowl, and is the most well-known representative among female commentators.

Compared with the expectations of the audience for this game, the first quarter of the game seemed relatively dull. Cowboys head coach Dave Campo focused on strengthening the Cowboys' defensive strategy during this week. Safety Omar Stottlemire played well in the first quarter, destroying Giants quarterback Danny Cannell's threatening passes several times.

However, on the offensive side, the Cowboys also encountered resistance. Running back Emmitt Smith had difficulty getting rid of the defense. He suffered a groin strain not long after the start of the first quarter and left the game early. This allowed the Giants to shift more attention. Arrived at Ethan.

Both sides struggled to break through the other side's half, and the first quarter ended at 0-0.

After the first quarter, Giants Stadium did not have cheerleaders performing between games like other stadiums. The huge stadium seemed a bit empty. In fact, the Giants are one of the six teams in the NFL that has never established an official cheerleading team.

However, there are still unofficial organizations outside the stadium. They perform outside the stadium and call themselves the "Gotham City Cheerleaders."

Ethan stood with his teammates, and Dave was holding a tactical board and constantly admonishing the players, and specifically mentioned Michael Owen's poor performance in the first quarter.

In Ethan's opinion, Michael Owen's performance in the first quarter was indeed not outstanding, and his running was not active. Considering that he only returned to the team early last night, he obviously spent time in a high-end nightclub in New York. A pleasant evening.

Dallas' players have no shortage of women, and there are only a few guys like Troy Aikman who are very clumsy with the opposite sex in the entire league.

Under normal circumstances, the team will not interfere too much in the private life of the players. The premise is that they do not cross the line or break the law, otherwise they will be directly expelled by Jerry Rice. Last year, the Cowboys had a similar example. The police were in a certain position. Contraband was found in the player's car.

And for meritorious players like Michael Owen, who is very vocal in the team, Dave Campo often turns a blind eye. This is the fundamental factor that led to Michael's poor state today.

Ethan looked at Troy Aikman, who was sitting not far away. As a substitute, he sat there alone, looking around from time to time, with an expression on his face that was a bit ignorant of a young man...

Forget it, let's save Troy's secret weapon for critical moments. Ethan thought to himself.

Ethan then looked at Billy Davis.

"Don't you have any new ideas?"

Billy suddenly became alert. The last time Ethan looked at him like this, he was under great pressure.

For Billy, who does not seek merit but seeks no faults, this is obviously not a good thing. Maybe any mistake will make him the target of many fans.

"This is the last time!" Billy declared immediately after hearing Ethan's request.

·

The second quarter resumed as scheduled. With the Giants taking the first offense, quarterback Carnell faced the pass rush pressure of the Dallas Cowboys, turned around in the pocket, and then released the football in his hand, accurately finding Giants slot receiver Chris Calloway. , this wide receiver who once studied at the University of Michigan has played for the Giants for many years. As a free agent, he has been the team's top wide receiver for the fourth consecutive year this year.

Opposite him is Dallas cornerback Kevin Mathis. As a substitute, he took over his position after the main cornerback was injured. Kevin Mathis is only five feet nine inches tall and weighs only At 185 pounds, even compared to a light receiver with a stature, it is still not an advantage.

Chris Calloway jumped high and pinned the cornerback with his body, finally catching the ball.

Even though he was eventually overwhelmed by safety Omar Stottlemire, he still gained 14 yards for the Giants.

This is the first time the Giants have scored in the Cowboys' half of the game, and it seems the Giants have also made adjustments in the first quarter of the game. In the next two offenses, Giants quarterback Danny Carnell passed the ball to the tight end and slot receiver respectively. Finally, he used several consecutive fake moves to get rid of the pass rusher, and then waved his arm. The football flew directly towards Amani Toomer, another wide receiver on the team, and at this time Amani Toomer was already standing in the Cowboys' zone.

"Touchdown! The Giants took the lead to break the deadlock, and Amani Toomer received the ball steadily..."

With the Giants' PAT completed, the Cowboys trailed by seven points.

It was the Cowboys' turn to attack. Ethan first tried to run the ball twice, and then in the third offense, he suddenly accelerated and passed a long pass to Billy, who followed the Z-shaped route that Ethan had used and quickly got rid of his opponent. , Giants safety Tito Wooton faced this very rare running route and did not play a very good interception role, allowing Billy to drive straight in and rush all the way to the 80-yard line.

With the zone within easy reach, the next offense would become much easier for the Cowboys. On the second offense, Ethan chose to charge with the ball, helping the Cowboys get a touchdown without any suspense.

The Giants then gave a big gift. Quarterback Danny Carnell's pass to the wide receiver was successfully intercepted by the cornerback. The cornerback dribbled the ball in and returned it all the way for more than fifty yards. Ethan led the offensive team to seize this opportunity. Finally, relying on Ethan's pass to Billy, the Cowboys completed the overtake.

Before halftime, Ethan took advantage of the little time left to run the ball quickly and advance into the Giants' half. At the last moment before halftime, Dave Campo called a free kick.

With Rich Cunningham's free kick, the Cowboys led the Giants 17-7 before halftime.

In the last two quarters of the second half, the Cowboys and Giants played quite steadily. The Cowboys each had a touchdown in the last two quarters, but the Giants were never able to break through the Cowboys' iron wall.

In the end, with a total score of 31-7, the Cowboys easily won the third round.

In the fourth round, the Cowboys' opponent was the Oakland Raiders, whom they had met in the preseason. Their special West Coast offensive strategy had caused the Cowboys to suffer.

Dave Campo spent the next week thinking hard, trying to find ways to effectively target the Oakland Raiders.

Finally, he took a cue from the Oakland Raiders' game against the Kansas City Chiefs in the first round of the season.

In the first round, the Kansas Chiefs from Missouri defeated the Oakland Raiders 28-8. The Raiders' West Coast offense, created by Jon Gruden, did not have much effect in front of the Chiefs. The Chiefs only allowed the Oakland Raiders to get a touchdown in the game.

According to the response strategy given by the Chiefs, Dave Campo made certain adjustments to the defensive team.

On the offensive team's side, Ethan's pressure is not that great.

In his opinion, the Oakland Raiders' defensive team is not as strong as the Broncos.

At the end of September, the game between the Cowboys and the Raiders officially began.

The Cowboys return home to Texas Stadium after two games on the road.

Compared with the last home game, many fans present today have changed the number on their chests from Troy Aikman to Ethan O'Connor's No. 11.

When Ethan came on the court, the fans in the audience gave him warm applause and cheers.

It made Ethan feel like he was back home.

In terms of fans' fanaticism, Texas fans may be a little worse than those of Alabama farmers, but in terms of number of fans, Texas fans are an order of magnitude larger than the Crimson Tide.

During this time, Ethan was undoubtedly treated like a star in Dallas. Even when he got out of the car to refuel, it would cause commotion around him. The team even gave Ethan a special warning to remind him to pay attention to his own safety.

Like the last round against the Giants, the first quarter of this game was a bit dull, and neither team had any good chances.

The intensity of the game was even worse than in the previous game. It was not until the third quarter that the Cowboys took the lead to break the deadlock, and the Oakland Raiders followed closely to equalize the score.

This game was more difficult than expected, and the Oakland Raiders appeared to be particularly tenacious, but the Cowboys were prepared for all this. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Dave Campo asked Troy to come on as a substitute. His style was completely different from that of Ethan. Ethan prefers short-handed encounters, while Troy is better at long passes and lobs, which makes Oakland feel extremely tricky.

In the end, the Cowboys narrowly defeated their opponent by one point 13-12 at home and remained undefeated in the first four rounds.

Currently, only three teams in the entire NFL have maintained this result.

They are the Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers.

However, the three teams did not encounter opponents like the Denver Broncos, and in the fifth round the Green Bay Packers will meet the Minnesota Vikings head-on.

In addition, strong teams such as the Los Angeles 49ers, Miami Dolphins, and Denver Broncos have only lost one game so far, and their rankings are currently very close.

As for the Cowboys, the Cowboys' opponents in the next three rounds are the Washington Redskins, Carolina Panthers, and Chicago Bears.

The combined number of wins for these three teams in the first four rounds is -0.

In four rounds of competition, the three teams have not won a game, which can be said to be bullied.

Facing the hot Cowboys, the outcome seemed to be determined before the game even started.

Even Ethan himself thinks so, and the atmosphere of the entire team is not as tense as it was in the past few weeks. After Amitra recovered from his injury, the first thing he did was to shoot a Toyota commercial in North America.

As for Ethan, he received an invitation from his own family.

"DCC's performance project needs a core player to participate. Originally, this job was supposed to be completed by Troy... Now it seems that he is not qualified for this job. I would like to invite you." The blond middle-aged woman opposite Ethan said.

(End of this chapter)