"49ers rookie quarterback: Victory is my only pursuit!"

"In the third week of the regular season, rookie matchup: 49ers' rookie quarterback is the first to send out the battle post!"

"Facing the opponent away, the 49ers' rookie quarterback has no stage fright and vows to win!"

……

After the boiling report came out, a little offset, a little amplification, a little exaggeration, so the news changed its appearance, and every word of the headline looked like Lu Ke took the initiative to provoke.

When it comes to sowing discord, adding fuel to the fire, and triggering conflicts, the contemporary media is absolutely perfect. After the news reached Cincinnati, the other side also gave a strong response, and suddenly, the signs became sharp.

"Tigers rookie quarterback: We're ready to win!"

"After taking the post, the Tigers' rookie quarterback is full of confidence!"

"No weakness! The Tigers said: This is our home stadium, and all opponents are guaranteed to come and go! ”

……

On the one hand, the momentum is ferocious, and on the other hand, there is a tough counterattack, the original ordinary matchup, but under the unique interpretation and in-depth guidance of the media, the smell of gunpowder quietly began to diffuse.

This week, the San Francisco 49ers travel to Cincinnati to take on the Tigers in the North Division of the American League. It was the 49ers' first road game of the new season and a matchup between two rookie quarterbacks, and the reputation of "rookie matchup" has been in the thick since the official media day, and there are signs of intensification.

There wasn't much grudge between the San Francisco 49ers and the Cincinnati Tigers, just an ordinary game, but it was given a different meaning because of the outstanding performances of the rookie quarterbacks of the two teams this season.

The Cincinnati Tigers are a long-established team, even older than the San Francisco 49ers, having been officially established since 1937. In the history of the NFL, there are thirteen teams that have never won the Super Bowl, and sadly, the Tigers are one of them.

The Tigers made it to the Super Bowl twice, in 1981 and 1988, and fatefully lost to the same opponent on both occasions: the San Francisco 49ers. Among them, the closest the Tigers came to the Super Bowl was in 1988, and they were just one step away from getting a championship ring.

That year, the Tigers officially started the trend with a revolutionary, no-collegiate offense, and after a 12-4 regular season record, they made it all the way to the Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49ers led by Joe Montana in their heyday.

The Tigers always maintained the lead throughout the game, but in the last attack, they witnessed Montana turn the tide again, and the last wave of attacks reversed, so the Tigers lost the game sadly.

In a sense, the Tigers and the 49ers do have a relationship, and the two Super Bowl defeats seem to be a lingering nightmare and fate.

For Tigers fans, facing the 49ers must be full of bitterness; But the two teams are in different leagues, with the Tigers in the American League and the 49ers in the National League, and their hatred is not enough to form a tense confrontation.

What's more, both defeats are already a distant part of the last century. After entering the millennium, the two teams have only met a handful of times, and they are both fallen people from the end of the world, even if they want to pull hatred, it seems that they can't pull it up.

Last year, the Tigers endured a disastrous season with four wins and 12 losses, finishing fourth in the draft.

As a result, the team, like the 49ers, tried their courage, carried out a thorough purge, and showed their skills in the draft. AJ Green, the most prestigious of this year's wide receivers, was selected in the first round, and Andy Dalton, quarterback at Texas Christian University, was selected in the second round.

Andy Dalton has made a real name among the quarterbacks this year, finishing on the All-American First Team in 2009 and 2010 and winning the Western Mountain League (MC) Offensive Player of the Year award for two consecutive years. However, the Western Mountain League, which is the second-tier league, is not as influential as the first, and the attention is far behind, affecting Dalton's draft pick.

Dalton is the quintessential pocket quarterback, with 71 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in college, a rookie training camp stats in the upper lap and a 29-point von Derrick test. Eventually, after missing the first round of the draft, he was drafted by the Tigers in the second round, and he was the fifth quarterback to be drafted in the entire draft.

Incidentally, Andy Dalton was drafted with the 35th pick in the second round, while Colin Kaepernick was selected with the 36th pick in the second round. One before and one after the other.

In the offseason, the Tigers cut starting quarterback Carson Palmer and cleaned up the quarterback roster, first selecting Andy Dalton in the draft and then signing veteran Bruce Gradkoski.

During the training camp, Dalton competed with Gladkowski; Then in the pre-season, further testing. However, the two quarterbacks were unable to decide the winner, and the coaching staff decided that the two quarterbacks would shoulder the responsibilities of the main quarterbacks in the regular season.

Dalton started the first game against the Cleveland Browns after the start of the season, but after only fifteen passes, he went off injured, but fortunately, the injury was not serious; In the second game against the Denver Broncos, Dalton was responsible for the quarterback duties in the second half and performed well.

In both games, the Tigers won against the Browns and lost to the Broncos, but Dalton became the team's brightest presence, with quarterback ratings of 102.4 and 107 respectively, and two consecutive games with a rating of over 100, which even surpassed many veteran quarterbacks and topped the list in two weeks.

If it weren't for Lu Ke, Andy Dalton would have been the brightest of this year's rookie quarterbacks.

A total of 12 quarterbacks were selected in this year's draft.

Cam Newton and Andy Dalton are the only two players to immediately serve as starting quarterbacks; In addition, Brian Gabbert has just been confirmed to be the starting quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars in the third week of the regular season — the quarterback who made a big splash because Von Derrick tested a 42-point test.

Newton, Dalton, Lu Ke, these are the only three rookies among the starting quarterbacks of the 32 teams in the league so far.

As the top pick in the draft, Newton was also in the limelight in the first two games of the season.

In the first game, the 422-yard passing yards broke Payton Manning's rookie debut passing yard record, two touchdowns and one interception, and a quarterback rating of 110.4, and in the second game, the 432-yard passing yards became the first rookie quarterback in history to pass 400 yards in two consecutive games, and broke the record for passing yards accumulated in the first two games set by Kurt Warner in 2000, with one passing touchdown, one running touchdown, and three interceptions, and a quarterback rating of 85.5.

Although, the two games were lost to the Arizona Cardinals and the Green Bay Packers; Although, the performance of the two games was up and down and not stable enough; But Newton still proved his passing ability with his passing yardage and running ability, and lived up to the name of the draft champion.

At the end of the two-week competition, the three rookies all shined and gained a lot of attention in their own ways. Among them, Lu Ke and Dalton are both typical pocket quarterbacks, and the quarterback ratings in both games have exceeded 100, and more importantly, both players have shown enough game wisdom to make people shine.

The only difference is that in the second week of the regular season, the 49ers narrowly beat the Cowboys by one point, while the Tigers lost to the Broncos by two points. In the eyes of industry insiders, and in the eyes of professional commentators, this is just a slight difference in luck, almost negligible, and the performance of the two quarterbacks is evenly matched.

Now, that's how the two rookie quarterbacks face off.

If it was originally planned, the third week would have been "Andy Dalton vs. Colin Kaepernick", and the two opponents who were only one pick in the draft were about to face off, which can be described as sparks; But the development of the story has deviated slightly from the track, and the showdown of "Andy Dalton VS Lu Ke" is not only not inferior, but more dazzling.

One is a second-round rookie who played in the NCAA Division II League, where there is little attention, but he broke through the world with his outstanding strength, and defeated Bruce Gladkowski step by step, and in the quarterback competition, he really won the starting quarterback position.

Two games, one win and one loss, but the performances were eye-catching, with the support of the team inside and out, up and down. The Tigers head coach announced on official media day that Dalton would officially become the team's starting quarterback, to the applause of all fans.

One was an undrafted rookie with little to no reference data in high school and college, who struggled to enter the team through offseason tryouts, and was called upon to play when the first quarterback and second quarterback suffered injuries one after another. Obviously, Lu Ke is not the best choice, but there is no choice.

Two games, two wins, and an exceptionally good quarterback rating, even surpassing Drew Bliss and Tom Brady, who are currently only behind Aaron Rodgers at his peak in the league. However, Lu Ke still faces countless doubts and needs to further prove himself.

In the eyes of the news media, Dalton's key word is "strength", which has a bit of accumulation; Lu Ke's key word is "luck", the combination of accidents and accidents, and then encountering accidents, after the chemical reaction, two victories were achieved.

Now, strength and luck are about to face off; And, other factors aside, it's all about two rookie quarterbacks, and to some extent, it's the fairest competition, and it's really exciting to see two quarterbacks at the same starting line compete soon.

Interestingly, Andy Dalton's jersey number is fourteen; Lu Ke's jersey number is also number fourteen. This is a showdown between the "Fourteenth".

So, "Andy Dalton VS Lu Ke", who can win this rookie quarterback battle? Invisibly, in this ordinary game, the smell of gunpowder began to permeate, the expectation value also began to rise, and the attention was naturally rising!