In America, the winner takes all.

Chapter 313 Playoffs (1)

"A separate room, with dedicated personnel to monitor the whole process, and no entertainment, let alone spending the night with the opposite sex." Dave Campo announced the strict rules for Ethan.

The teammates all turned around at this time. Ethan looked at Dave Campo's expression with such determination and knew that this was something that had been decided for a long time.

I could only nod helplessly.

Next, Dave announced the training plan before the playoffs to other players. Since they had already experienced the rigorous training before facing the Vikings, the players were accustomed to it.

In the blink of an eye, it was January 1999, 1, and Ethan and his teammates watched the first round of the playoffs.

The first round of the playoffs is divided into two days, with one game each in the National League and American League starting at the same time.

In the National League, the Arizona Cardinals challenge the Atlanta Falcons away from home.

These two teams have played against Ethan's Cowboys before, and they both lost to Ethan. Moreover, the winner of this game will have to face the Vikings in the next round. In short, Ethan is against There was little interest in this match.

In the American League, there is a strong dialogue between the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins.

Eason had never faced these two teams before and wanted to get a glimpse of the state of the American League teams.

In the regular season, the Buffalo Bills were 11-6, and the same was true for the Miami Dolphins, which was considered evenly matched.

In terms of players, the quarterback played by the Buffalo Bills is the team's meritorious veteran Doug Flutie, who is 37 years old this year. He made his debut fifteen years ago in the USFL, another American football league that created In the early s, it was originally conceived to fill the NFL's long offseason, but it was hurriedly discontinued after only three seasons.

Doug Flutie was the number one star of the USFL. With the disbandment of the league, he had no choice but to enter the NFL. He initially played for the Bears as a free agent, and then switched to the Patriots a year later. However, he was never able to play the main force, so in 1990 He went to play in the CFL again in and finally returned to the NFL at the beginning of this season.

And the Dolphins' starting quarterback, Dan Marino, is even a year older than Doug Flutie. However, compared with the wandering Doug Flutie, he appears to be very dedicated and has been playing with the Dolphins since 1984.

He was the first quarterback in NFL history to pass more than 5000 yards in a single season. He led the Dolphins to Super Bowl XIX, but lost to the 49ers led by Joe Montana. It was the closest he came to a Super Bowl trophy, and he has never reached the same heights since.

With these two quarterbacks who are almost 100 years old together, the style of the game is more pass-oriented.

Ethan also found that the two quarterbacks barely moved during the game and tried to conserve their energy as much as possible, which was completely different from his own style.

"Dan Marino caught the ball, let's see how he will choose this offense, beautiful coordination! The Dolphins relied on running in four directions to stretch the Bills' defense, and then cooperated with Dan Marino's fake pass. Twenty-three yards of passing offense!”

Keith's voice came over the ABC TV broadcast signal.

In the picture, at the beginning of the Dolphins' offense, several main offensive players took the lead and used an extremely complex running tactic to attract the attention of the Bills defensive team. Finally, they relied on the quarterback's fake pass. Accurately found the wide receiver.

"The styles of the quarterbacks of the two teams completely go against the current trend. Many teams in the National League are beginning to use more and more ground attacks, which places great demands on the athletic ability of the quarterbacks. After all, Not everyone can have a monster body like Ethan O’Connor.”

Keith was commentating on the game live and didn’t forget to mention Ethan.

The Cowboys players watching the live broadcast habitually looked towards where Ethan was.

But he found that Ethan was watching intently and seemed to be thinking about something.

In fact, Ethan did realize something from these two "aging" quarterbacks.

Dan Marino has almost no running and relies more on teamwork and precise passing. Although the passing time is compressed by the Bills' pass rushers, Dan Marino often uses more fake moves. to deceive. There is quite a unique tenacity that can push a thousand pounds.

The Bills' Doug Flutie's style is similar to Dan Marino, but his tactical choices are much rougher.

After getting the ball, it is usually passed to wide receiver Eric Moltz.

Today, the Bills' wide receiver performed brilliantly and had over 100 receiving yards near the end of the first half. It seemed that he had a good chance of breaking the single-game receiving yard record in the playoffs.

It is completely different from the style of Randy Moss that Ethan has encountered before. Eric Moltz has both speed and strength. When he runs, he is full of impact. He relies on his body to completely suppress the opposing cornerback, and at the same time It's not slow either, especially the acceleration.

When the wide receiver Patrick Jeffers, who was sitting behind Ethan, saw this, he silently took note of Eric's pace and decided to try it in subsequent training.

The scores of both sides increased alternately, and the scores of both sides were always tight. In the fourth quarter of the game, there was even a controversial penalty. Bills wide receiver Andre Reid was tackled at the one-yard line, and the latter insisted Thinking that he had completed the touchdown before being tackled, Andre had a direct conflict with the referee of the game and rushed into the referee, which ultimately caused the Bills receiver to be ejected directly.

You must know that if the Bills complete this touchdown, they will directly overtake the Dolphins.

And this penalty was enough to completely shatter the Bills' hopes.

As the game time reached zero, the Dolphins players embraced and celebrated. This was the first time in four years that the Dolphins had entered the playoffs.

In the last playoffs, the Dolphins' opponent was the Buffalo Bills. That time the Buffalo Bills also lost to the Dolphins.

After losing again to the same opponent, many members of the Buffalo Bills shed tears in front of the camera. As both professional players, everyone on the Cowboys felt a bit of sympathy for each other.

At 20 o'clock in the afternoon, Atlanta played against the Arizona Cardinals. The Falcons, who had the strength and home court advantage, lost the game 7-. This was the first big news in this year's playoffs.

The next day, the second game day of the first round will usher in two high-profile exciting matchups. In the American League, the New England Patriots will face the Jaguars. The National League game that will be held later will be the most important Green League game. The Bay Packers take on the San Francisco 49ers, which is expected to create a ratings miracle.

Dave Campo once again rallied the team to watch the game.

You must know that the winner of this game is the opponent the Cowboys will face at home a week later.

"Viewers, welcome to the first round of the playoffs of the 98-99 season. The twelve best teams in the league will charge for the 49rd Super Bowl! This upcoming game is highly anticipated, from An epic clash between the San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers. The two teams have met three times in the playoffs before, with the Packers undefeated against the 49ers. Can the ers beat their opponents for the first time in the playoffs today? What? Let’s wait and see..."

Ethan heard a familiar voice on the TV, coming from Madden.

As his partner, he is the equally heavyweight George "Pat (PAT)" Sammer, who has also commented on Ethan's games before.

This pair can be said to be FOX Sports' current ace commentary partner. Fox poached the two from CBS at a high price a few years ago.

He was nicknamed PAT precisely because he had a very high success rate as a kicker. Although he never won a championship trophy in his career, this did not affect his status as a well-known figure in the rugby world.

After retiring, Pat has been engaged in football-related media work. So far, he has commented on more than ten Super Bowl games. His voice has also appeared in video games together with Madden. "Today's outdoor temperature is 60°F, Candlestick Stadium is full of seats, and the two teams have entered the best condition after these few days of adjustments. For the Green Bay Packers, Brett Favre has become the spiritual pillar of the team. Er continued to be the starting quarterback, and he led the Green Bay Packers to the Super Bowl in the 96-97 season."

Ethan had met this guy before. At that time, he participated in a show with himself, and Brett Favre even arm-wrestled with him.

"The 49ers are still our old friend - Stephen Young. The league's former number one star is in particularly hot form this year, and his performance in the regular season this season is comparable to that of 1994... Let's take a look at the frontline reporter Penny Webber, look what information she brings."

The camera on the TV broadcast then switched, and Ethan saw Penny standing in front of the camera wearing a white suit. The necklace around her neck was actually given to her by Ethan before.

"In the pre-game press conference, Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Holmgren was very confident about this game..."

As the current chief location reporter for FOX, Penny naturally has to appear here.

After the connection with the location reporters ended, the two teams also began the entrance process.

It was almost a replica of the previous game. In the welcome of the cheerleading team called "Gold Rush", the visiting team Packers took the lead and were greeted by huge boos from the fans at the scene.

Quarterback Brett Favre, wide receiver Roll Preston, and running back Dorsey Levins are the absolute main players of the Packers.

When it was the 49ers' turn to take the field, the boos immediately turned into cheers.

Ethan saw Stephen Young walking at the front. This middle-aged black-haired man with a square face was once the most shining star in the league, but later the rise of Troy Aikman took him away. Part of the body pays attention.

Today, Stephen Young holds three Super Bowl championships, but he is also questioned because of his 37-year-old age. Opponents feel that he is no longer qualified to serve as the 49ers quarterback, especially when he was plagued by injuries in the previous two years. Down.

This year, Stephen Young shut everyone up with his performance. Not only did he have an almost full attendance rate this season, he also passed for 4170 yards and 36 passing touchdowns in the regular season. These two statistics even More than Ethan.

You must know that this is a 37-year-old quarterback, and it is very valuable to be in such a state.

Following Stephen Young is Jerry Rice.

As a wide receiver, the black man's status and popularity with the 49ers is no worse than that of quarterback Stephen Young.

After all, Jerry Rice is the best wide receiver today, bar none.

Since entering the league in 1985, Jerry Rice has been selected to the Pro Bowl 12 times, three Super Bowl champions, and a Super Bowl MVP. Seven years ago, he broke the record for receiving yards by a wide receiver, and this record was held until this year. Still being improved by him.

And when he retired six years later, he held five valuable NFL records.

Most catches, most receiving touchdowns, most receiving yards…

His career receiving yards reached a terrifying 22000 yards. As for all the remaining wide receivers, no one can exceed 18000 yards. In the foreseeable future, this record will remain for a long time.

"This is a truly respectable opponent." Ethan heard Emmett's voice beside him.

To say that Emmitt is also launching an attack on the position of "the first running back in history", I wonder what he thinks when he looks at Jerry Rice at this moment.

After simple preparations, the game officially began.

Eason's side is naturally paying attention to quarterback Stephen Young, but other Cowboys players are paying more attention to Jerry Rice.

"This guy runs so fast!"

Patrick, who was behind Ethan, couldn't help but whisper when he saw Jerry Rice rushing out like lightning.

His speed is too fast.

In sharp contrast are the two corners of the team, with very complicated expressions on their faces.

It can be said that the two of them could not figure out how to defend Jerry Rice.

But the more terrifying thing is yet to come...

The 49ers failed to complete the breakthrough after several offenses, and did not even get the first down, so they had no choice but to abandon the kick.

"Pay attention to Green Bay's defense! They successfully restricted Jerry Rice." Dave Campo, wearing glasses and staring at the TV screen, immediately reminded everyone.

Ethan also discovered this unusual thing.

Jerry Rice is indeed very fast and can create gaps for the team every time. However, the Green Bay team was obviously prepared and did not panic. Instead, there was always a corner and a safety responsible for marking Jerry. Lee Rice.

Although Rice attracted two defenders, the rest of the 49ers did not find a suitable breakthrough opportunity. Quarterback Stephen Young also suffered high-intensity pressure and pressing at the beginning of the game.

It can be said that Green Bay completely restricted the 49ers' offense from both front and back.

Just like the Cowboys' Ethan will be frequently studied by opponents, a luxurious offensive combination like the 49ers will naturally be the subject of study by other teams.

There's no question that Green Bay did that today.

Not only did they not show any flaws, they even took the initiative to find opportunities.

In the middle of the first quarter, Green Bay safety Pat Terrell intercepted the ball from another 49ers wide receiver, Terrell Owens, and returned it 48 yards, ultimately to kicker Ryan Longwell completed the shot.

When Ethan saw this, cold sweat broke out from his back.

He only now realizes that as the No. 1 seed in the National League, the Cowboys have some luck. If they encounter these two opponents in the regular season, the Cowboys will most likely lose the game...

　Sorry, it’s only 4k today, but it will still be 8k tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)