In America, the winner takes all.

Chapter 339 Opening Battle

Texas Stadium, 5 p.m. local time.

Ethan walked out of the tunnel, hearing the familiar roar of cheers. Even the costumes of the fans in the auditorium were exactly the same as in his memory. The only difference was...this time he was the opponent of the Cowboys.

Although they were opponents, the fans at the scene still treated Ethan extremely well and welcomed the return of the quarterback who brought the team the sixth Super Bowl championship trophy.

Just like before, Ethan even saw some signs with his name and portrait, including the DCC lined up on both sides to welcome the players, the iconic blue and white cowgirl uniform, the iconic beautiful smile, but just standing there It wasn't Kelsey who was in the most important position, but Rachel.

She is now the captain of the DCC. When Ethan passed by her, he saw her nodding to him, as if to express welcome.

And then, when the home team Cowboys came on the field, the shouts were even louder than when they faced Ethan, which seemed to remind Ethan that he was no longer a member of the Cowboys.

Ethan also saw old Jones and his son standing on the edge of the field together, being interviewed by ESPN TV. The two looked very excited and were talking to reporters about a series of changes that the Cowboys would make this season. As if to tell fans that without Eason, the Cowboys will be better than they were in the past.

In the end, Eason set his sights on the Cowboys' current quarterback Ryan Leaf. As the second overall pick in last year's draft, his performance with the Chargers last season was not very outstanding, and his passing yards could only exceed two. A thousand yards, a lot of mistakes.

Before the game, Andy, Holmgren and Rhodes all agreed that Ryan Leaf was the breakthrough point for the Cowboys in this game. Obviously, the Angels will use a lot of pass rush in this game.

As for other positions, Emmitt Smith is still in the Cowboys' formation and is still the core force. The other two members of the Trident, Troy Aikman, stay on the bench honestly, and Michael, who has a lot of negative news, Irving announced his retirement directly after recovering from his neck injury. Daryl Johnston, the oldest fullback on the team, also chose to retire.

Dave Campo remains as head coach.

As Michael Irvin's replacement, Jones Sr. used next year's first-round pick in exchange to bring last season's Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Joey Galloway to the Cowboys.

This is another typical old Jones-style transfer, without paying a high transfer fee, to strengthen the lineup as much as possible.

In terms of team management, Ethan really needs to learn more from this veteran.

The Angels unsurprisingly lost first down after the coin toss between Eason and Emmitt Smith.

Even the two ESPN commentators started joking about this incident. In addition, they also talked about the "mysterious British model" next to Ethan. Ethan himself is well-known and has relationships with most football players. It's different. He always attracts public attention in an unexpected way, which leads to discussions related to him far more than other stars.

The game officially started. After getting the ball, Cowboys returner Jeff Ogden used his flexible speed to bring the football to the 41-yard line.

You can tell that the Angels' special teams team is a little nervous.

Considering that the special teams are all substitute players for the offensive and defensive teams, and the Angels' own lineup is just that thick, even if Ethan doesn't take that much, the improvement of the Angels' lineup will be limited. This result was not beyond Ethan's expectation.

The game officially entered the offensive and defensive stage. The Cowboys' first three offenses were so-so. It was not until the third offense that the Cowboys managed to get the first offense.

"Ryan Leaf is not a big passing threat. He is very slow, but he can still pass the ball." Ethan whispered.

"The reason is Larry Allen, all our people were stopped by him!" Holmgren said the key point.

In the next few attacks, Ethan also discovered this problem.

The Angels use their limited draft quota to select forward players as much as possible. It can be said that the defensive front is the "highest cost", but the Angels' two defensive ends, Gary Stiles and Mike Rooker, are not as good as pass rushers. Success, especially for Mike Rooker. He stood on the right side of the defensive team, corresponding to the weak side of the Cowboys' offensive team. He should have been the greatest threat to the quarterback, but he even touched Ryan Leaf's clothes. Less than.

Cowboys defensive tackle Larry Allen directly resolved all of Mike Rooker's impact. Even if Mike Rooker followed Andy's previous tactics and chose to cross-run with the linebacker behind him for a pick-and-roll, he was still blocked. Larry Allen saw through it straight away.

Ethan once participated in the Pro Bowl with Larry Allen. It can be said that Larry Allen was one of the contributors to the Cowboys' Super Bowl win last year, and he himself has entered the Pro Bowl seven times in a row, and his condition this year seems to be still hot.

He will protect Ryan Leaf very well…

Ethan thought for a while and whispered something in Andy's ear. The latter immediately understood and gave instructions to Mike Rooker.

"When you face Larry Allen on the next offense, you have to try your best to force his left wrist to twist." Andy took advantage of the brief stoppage time when the football flew out of bounds, called Mike Rooker to his side, and gave him instructions road.

Mike Rooker was stunned for a moment, then realized something, without saying much, and then nodded towards Ethan.

"A smart choice. Some people will think that this is a hopeless victory. I can only say that they don't know the methods used by other teams." Holmgren also grinned at this time.

As a head coach for many years, he knows a lot about the inside story of the NFL. In his opinion, Ethan's approach is not "insidious", but it just doesn't look good if it gets out.

On the Cowboys' next offense, Mike Rooker continued to charge towards the quarterback and was blocked by Larry Allen again. However, unlike the previous one, during this confrontation, Mike Rooker had an obvious direction. Medial pulling action.

In this case, Larry Allen's power point happens to be his left wrist.

After repeating this a few times, Larry Allen pointed to his wrist to the head coach off the court, and after a simple treatment by the team doctor. Larry Allen was able to return to the game.

"Bitch!" Dave looked at Ethan who was standing on the sidelines opposite and gave him a middle finger.

Who else could it be if it wasn't him? It must be Ethan who was behind the scenes, telling his own people about Larry Allen's weaknesses.

Larry Allen, who returned to the court again, showed his discomfort and failed in the one-on-one confrontation for the first time. Mike Rooker then looked at the right opportunity and made a flying dive, directly hitting Ryan Leaf who had not had time to pass the ball. Down, he got his first career quarterback sack.

The pass-rushing tactics deployed by Andy before the game began to take effect, and the Cowboys' offense began to become particularly difficult.

Ryan Leaf was not only inferior to Eason in terms of passing, but his confrontation in the pocket was even worse than Eason. In the end, the Cowboys' offense fell to the 35-yard line and had no choice but to punt.

The Angels' current kick returner is Ronny Powell, who graduated from Northwestern University last year and spent a year as a miscellaneous member of the Rams' practice squad. You must know that the Rams ranked sixth from the bottom last year, so one can imagine the level of Ronny Powell. He is only 1 meters tall, and his running style is very similar to Ethan's high school teammate Flea. Although he is fast, he cannot withstand confrontation at all and will fall down at the first touch. This time, he only returned a mere 78 yards.

Forget it, we can't have too high demands on him... Ethan came on stage with the members of the offensive team.

"Ethan O'Connor! After an absence of half a year, Ethan finally stepped onto the NFL professional field again. In the four preseason games last month, Ethan did not play even one minute. Some people said that his The old ankle injury has recurred, and some people say that he is in poor condition. Forget these rumors for the time being, let us take a look at Ethan's current condition!" said the on-site commentator.

At the same time, several DCCs on the sidelines even wanted to cover their ears. The shouts from the stands behind them were too intense.

"I didn't expect Ethan to be so popular." Holly couldn't help but sigh.

"This is the person who gets the most attention in the NFL right now." Rachel couldn't help but say.

Ethan emerged in a special period of time. In the past two years, the quarterbacks who shined in the 1990s have retired one after another, and the new generation, such as Peyton Manning who just joined the league, including Ethan's opponent today Ryan Leaf has not grown up either.

Ethan was different. He quickly adapted to the NFL and performed miraculously, becoming the most eye-catching rookie in history.

Because of this, he received a treatment not enjoyed by all players and became half owner of the Angels.

Rachel couldn't help but think of the first time she met Ethan. At that time, she could not have imagined that Ethan would reach this point. Now she dare not imagine how far Ethan can go in the future.

Then, she thought about Kelsey again... She went to Los Angeles with Ethan.

In a sense, Rachel is the beneficiary. But people are afraid of comparisons, and she thinks Kelsey can achieve greater development in Los Angeles.

If Ethan was sitting next to him on the plane, would he be in Los Angeles now? She couldn't help but think.

With greater ability comes greater responsibility and greater pressure.

Ethan, standing behind the center, recalled Michael Ovitz's warning to him. This time Ethan had a reason to win the game...

"Say go!" Ethan shouted.

The center passed the ball over in the next second, and Ethan, who had just received the ball, saw that the Cowboys defensive team, including two defensive ends, had appeared not far away from him.

Is the frontline now lost?
Eason immediately passed the ball to the running back next to him, from this year's fourth overall pick, Echilin James.

In fact, the Angels' selection of Echilin James with the fourth overall pick was controversial because the Angels seemed to have a better option at the time - Ricky Williams, who was taken fifth overall by the Saints. .

This person's performance in college was even more outrageous than Ethan's, breaking or tying 21 NCAA DivisionI-A records, 24 Big12 records and 46 Texas Longhorns school records. to 7 yards, which was the most by anyone other than a quarterback. A well-deserved Heisman Trophy winner in '206.

During the physical testing camp, Andy and Holmgren had examined and investigated him in detail.

Although his performance was quite good and he performed well in the physical test, two of Ethan's coaches discovered through investigation that Ricky Williams had a habit of using leaves and had a poor relationship with the players.

After comprehensive consideration, the two still suggested that Ethan choose Echilin James, who played more stably.

As for the Saints, they made the deal with Eason just to get Ricky Williams from the beginning. They overdrawn their draft potential this year, including next year and the year after that, and they were quite a stud. In the end, they got what they wanted. Ricky Williams.

This later became known as the "Ricky Williams trade," and the August issue of ESPN Magazine featured Ricky Williams and Saints head coach Deckard on the cover, with Ricky wearing a white wedding dress. , is being married by Decatur.

In fact, this was one of the most failed trades in NFL history. Ricky Williams was traded away after three seasons, and the team's head coach and manager were fired at the end of the 1999 season...

Andy and Holmgren virtually saved Ethan, but Ethan actually didn't like Ricky Williams either. He was too bright and it would cost a lot to sign him.

In hindsight, the Angels selected Echilin James, who was much better than Ricky Williams. He was the best offensive rookie in 1999 and had more than 1000 yards in most seasons of his career. If it weren't for the sudden death of his long-term girlfriend, which devastated him and led to his premature retirement due to a sharp decline in strength in the latter part of his career, he might even have challenged Emmitt Smith's status. In 2020, he officially entered the Hall of Fame.

At the game scene, Echilin James, who received a pass from Ethan, started to move. His legs continued to exert force, turning him into a black panther. He successfully escaped from the defensive end and crossed the line of scrimmage. In the end, he scored 7 yards for the first offense in Angels team history.

This result is completely acceptable to Ethan.

In the second attack, Ethan followed the same pattern and passed to Echilin James again. The latter managed to get the first down.

"Ethan seems to be recovering and hasn't touched the ball much at the moment..." the on-site commentator said.

This is actually the tactic that the Angels coaching staff, including Ethan himself, determined from the beginning.

Previously, the Angels invested their few draft resources into the defensive front. This offensive line was no match for the Cowboys' defense. Ethan was not prepared to hold the ball too much in this game.

In the first offense of the new round, Ethan ran the ball himself. As if to prove something, his former teammates tried their best to stop Ethan, but the fact was a heavy blow to these Cowboys players.

Ethan's running ball easily gained 17 yards, advancing the line all the way to midfield.

In a series of quick plays by the Angels, the front line steadily advanced, and with five minutes left in the first quarter, the Angels scored the first touchdown of the game from Echilin.

"The Angels brushed aside the doubts and scrutiny of onlookers and took the lead against last year's Super Bowl champions!"

(End of this chapter)