In my camera bag, there is one lens that I am very fond of it is black, sleek and extremely easy to use. It is also a limited anniversary edition lens, Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens.
I particularly like take this lens when I want to have a more compact lens than a Leica Noctilux or when I feel this lens would give me a particular feel that I may not be able to recreate with another lens. For this reason, when I reach for my Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens, I am already imagining how I would be composing images and creating the 'look' I am after.
Recently, a friend of mine asked me about Leica Summilux lenses; I told him they are excellent lenses especially suitable for portraits. He asked if I meant indoor photography. My answer almost came as a revelation to him as I told him that it is best used outdoors especially if the photographer wants to be really up close to the subject or wishes to create an 'immersive' composition by including more depth of field.
I feel that Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens is more versatile as a street photography style lens than a Leica Noctilux M 50mm f/0.95 lens because the minimum focus distance is 0.7m while the Noctilux has a minimum focus distance of 1m. Which creates a dramatically different composition at the minimum distance.
I have been thinking about this particular point which I thought would be an interesting issue to highlight in an article. So, a day before the most festive day in Quebec, Canada, I was invited to photograph at a small local concert. I felt this would be an ideal situation when I can point out the various composition possibilities with different apertures using Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens.
When I arrived at the concert grounds, it was later part of the evening just before the sun cast its final golden rays. This meant that I could use my Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens wide open without the need for ND filters. For those who are not familiar with ND filters or neutral density filters, they allow the lens to be used at wide open aperture without having to stop down. For me using a Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens at its widest aperture is perhaps the most artistically creative way of photographing. As you will see in the photographs in this article, the out of focus and in focus part of the subjects' faces reflect this unique quality.
I also wanted to demonstrate photographing at the minimum distance which is particularly challenging for beginner and intermediate photographers. As I have mentioned earlier, Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens has a minimum focus distance of 70cm which is exceptionally close which often makes the subject feel that his or her personal space is being invaded. A photographer then must learn to dance in and out of this intimate personal space without disturbing the 'natural vibe' of subject's interaction with his/her environment.
If the photographer is very obvious or stays too long in this intimate space, a subject often will either distance himself/herself or start posing which is not a desirable outcome. For this reason, I recommend that anyone who plans to photograph in a very close proximity to the subject practices with focusing and framing before engaging in actual situations. A practical approach would be to use a fixed object or a dummy to judge the distance between the subject and the photographer so that getting accurate focus at the widest aperture is possible.
Photographing at the widest aperture is extremely difficult when the subject is in motion as the situation was at the celebration at the concert grounds. I never would want to ask a person to stop moving for me to photograph him or her for this reason a particular care must be taken with timing.
Timing is important because the subject will drift in and out of focus area especially at the closest photographing distance to make the matters more challenging using the widest aperture would mean even on the subject's face certain features will fall out of focus.
With the challenges come the rewards, of course, if the photographer can capture the subject in focus, without the consciousness of the camera's presence then generally the photograph turns out beautiful.
For me, it is the aim of the photographer that takes precedence. It is the 'feel' that I am after which is the driving theme behind all my framing and aperture setting decisions. When the subject is interesting, it is often the facial features that we would want to concentrate on, at other times, adding some of the backgrounds will provide added 'feel' to the composition.
In these photographs, I have used a few different aperture settings to demonstrate the way the camera will capture images if we use this Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens. For example, the little girl with flags in her head to be captured with an aperture that is greater than f/1.4 because including the flags and colors would yield a more 'interesting' composition.
Normally, I would prefer that the background to be adding to the composition or be very blurred to highlight the in focus areas. At the photograph with the little girl, the background had to be included because of the aperture setting. Ideally, I would have preferred to have the girl isolated from the 'background' without dialing down the aperture.
The men whom I photographed at the limits of the minimum focus distance contributed to the composition by answering questions. It is a little trick I use often when the subject is too concious of the camera or is posing, I ask a question which would make them break the pose to bring out their natural state. If you examine the photographs in this article all the photographs have sense of being 'candid' like or in a 'natural' state. This is something I particularly aim to achieve in photography.
The older generation Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lenses are interesting lenses because they do have a unique way of rendering images that is very different than modern Summilux lenses in production. The colors are film-like rather than 'more accurate' or 'lifelike,' to a certain extent this can be viewed as a technological advancement. For me, it is a special way of rendering images that speak of a more 'surreal' feel which I think is very appropriate for portrait photography.
The previous version of Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens has a long history which is marked by the characteristics of Walter Mandler's design. I particularly recommend that if you are aiming to capture photographs that lend to some nostalgia. There is a sense of organic film-like look that older Leica lenses like the Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens have which counteract the overly clinical look that comes from digital sensor technology. If you take a close look at the bokeh area in the photographs captured with Leica lenses from the 1960s and 70s, you will see the fingerprints of Dr. Mandler's iconic touch. For Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lenses, this bokeh character is very close to the way that Leica Noctilux M 50mm f/0.95 lens renders images which is also a lens he designed during his days at ELCAN, the Canadian division of Leica.
For the modern lenses, there is better optical performance. This is clearly visible with Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens and all other Leica modern lenses. I personally like both the new and older version as I feel that they are suitable for different photography applications.
Portraits are particularly well served by the older Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens, especially if the artistic aim is to add a sense of nostalgia and unique character to the photographs. For street photography applications, I tend to choose the modern Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens because it delivers images that are very sharp and crisp without being overly saturated or contrasty.
In this particular concert ground instead of bringing in the festive feel of the environment, I wanted to concentrate on the individuals. In a way, by bringing the camera really close, I managed to isolate the subject yet keep the feel of the 'joyful nature' of the surrounding.
One aspect that differentiates Leica Noctilux M 50mm f/0.95 lens and Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens at the widest aperture is the amount of 'swirl' in the composition. As you may notice in photographs taken with Leica Noctilux M 50mm f/0.95 lens the minimum focus distance creates a wider angle of view and although the bokeh is strong due to the wide aperture the composition is significantly different than a Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens because of the minimum focus distance difference.
Leica Summilux M 50mm f/1.4 lens yields a photograph that is "an up-close feel" much like a Leica Noctilux M 50mm f/0.95 lens which can be attributed to the bokeh characteristics of these lenses.
Most of the times, in very close up photography the aperture setting is often stopping down to get just about everything in focus. This is a more classic approach to photography. Personally, I feel that an artistic element can be incorporated by using bokeh in the features of the subject. The degree of bokeh is dependent on the photographer's artistic approach in composing the image. In my workshops, I encourage everyone to experiment with this type of photography. After which we discuss the photographs and point out what can be improved. This allows those who attend to gain a better understanding of composing according to the lens rather than just basic framing rules. I believe this is what differentiates an intermediate level photographer from a master photographer.
Here is a list of the Leica camera and lenses mentioned in this article. You can visit these links to get the best prices and deals.
I hope you have enjoyed this article. Please feel free to send us your comments and requests as we would love to hear from you.
PLEASE HELP US TO KEEP LEICA REVIEW INDEPENDENT BY MAKING A SMALL DONATION. YOU CAN CLICK LINK BELOW TO MAKE A DONATION.


text:
ABC Flowcharter (1990) 0 Presentations Publishing Windows
ABC Flowcharter, from Roykore/Micrografx is a flow chart diagramming utility for Windows. It features the ability to link multiple charts together, and easily break procedures in to multiple steps.
ABC SnapGraphics (1994) 0 Presentations Publishing Windows
Micrografx ABC SnapGraphics is a supplementary program for ABC FlowCharter. SnapGraphics provided a more simplistic, automated way to create flow charts and diagrams with a number of pre-defined templates. Version 1.0 was distributed free of charge.
Ability (1985) 6 Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentations Communications Database Windows
1.5 for Windows
Adobe InCopy (2002) 0 Word Processor Windows
InCopy is a word processor produced by Adobe that integrates with Adobe InDesign and is used for general purpose publishing.
Ami (1988) 0 Word Processor Windows
Ami is a word processor for Microsoft Windows 2. Ami was one of the first commercial word processor for Microsoft Windows, introduced about a year prior to Microsoft Word for Windows. SAMNA was bought by Lotus, where it became Lotus Ami Pro.
AmiPro (1991) 4 Word Processor Windows
Ami Pro, also called just Ami initially, was a word processor sold by Samna and later Lotus Software, where it became Lotus Word Pro. Ami was one of the first word processors for Microsoft Windows, beating MS Word by about a year. Other early Windows word processors included NBI Legend and WinText
ArcView GIS (1996) 3 Graphics Other Database Windows
ArcView, from Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. is a geographical information system program for Win9x/NT.
Astound Presentation (2000) 1 Presentations Windows
Astound is a powerful multimedia presentation authoring program originally for the Mac and Windows. Astound gives you the power to create presentations that persuade, inform, and entertain. Astound makes your presentations memorable. It competed against Microsoft Powerpoint and many others. Astound Incorporated was acquired by Genesys Conferencing in 2001.
Bitstream TrueType Fontpack (1992) 2 Word Processor Publishing Windows
For every Windows 3.1 user! Forty versatile text and decorative fonts in TrueType format that you can scale to any size for your screen and printer - true WYSIWYG memos, and reports to newsletters, brochures, and invitations.
Borland Office (1994) 2 Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentations Database Windows
Borland Office is an office suite published by Borland built around WordPerfect, Paradox, and Quattro Pro. It competed unsuccessfully against Microsoft Office. It was later acquired by Novell and renamed "PerfectOffice", and then later became "Corel Office".
Borland Reflex (1986) 6 Database MacOS
CA-Compete (1991) 5 Spreadsheet Financial Windows
CA-Compete! is a graphical, object-based, multi-dimensional modeling and data viewing tool that is as easy to use as a spreadsheet and as powerful as a decision support system (DSS) or executive information system (EIS). Compete! looks and works like a spreadsheet, but is object-based. In other words, you define the names that Compete! uses to identify and locate data in a model. A Compete! model can also contain many more dimensions than the spreadsheet norm of two or three.
Clarion (1989) 4 Database Windows
Clarion is an advanced user friendly 4GL DBMS and programming environment for DOS and Windows.
1.0 (Win)
CompuWorks Office (1994) 1 Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentations Graphics Database Windows
ComuWorks is an entry-level budget oriented integrated all-in-one office suite for Microsoft Windows 3.1. It includes a word processor, spreadsheet, database, report writer, and charting tools.
Corel Office (1996) 4 Word Processor Spreadsheet Presentations Windows
Corel Office is a software bundle that includes WordPerfect and a number of other office applications. It competed unsuccessfully against Microsoft Office. This bundle started out as "Borland Office", was briefly known as "Novell PerfectOffice", then "Corel Office", and under Corel it later became "WordPerfect Office". (Not to be confused with the unrelated ~1990 groupware program, also called "WordPerfect Office")
Correct Grammar (1989) 4 Word Processor Utility Windows
Correct Grammar is a grammar checking and analysis tool for DOS. Correct Grammar incorporates technology from the Houghton Mifflin CorrectText system.
2.x (Win)
DataEase (1988) 2 Database DOS OS2 Windows
DataEase, from DataEase International Inc., USA., is a fast, easy to use yet powerful, menu-driven relational database development system for the IBM PC. Not copy protected.
dBASE (1983) 40 Database DOS Windows
Ashton-Tate dBase was an early popular database management system for CP/M and MS-DOS. It was regarded as one of the killer applications for CP/M, and achieved good success. At the time of conception Ashton-Tate was a garage based company but quickly grew.
dBASE Mac (1988) 1 Database MacOS
dBase Mac, originally developed by a small company named DigiCorp and then marketed by Ashton-Tate under the dBase name, was a unique and powerful database program for the Macintosh. It featured a sophisticated graphical user interface, a procedural programming language, and the ability to access data from other databases and spreadsheets. 1.00 was released in 1987.
DeScribe (1991) 1 Word Processor Windows OS2
DeScribe is a word processor with some advanced features primarily for OS/2. Later, it was made available for Windows 3.1, 95, and NT.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We deliver Australia wide. Generally we use third party freight companies.
HINT: If you need short lengths, please order short lengths. You might get longs anyway, but ordering shorts will cost you less for the timber, improve our recovery rate, shorten your lead time and cost you less in freight.
Pick-up from one of these freight depots (VIC currently Dandenong, Warragul and Morwell) plus we also have mills in SA and TAS. Note: Not all products are available from all depots.
Pick-up from a freight depot near to your site, chosen by you. In many cases your local trucking yard, hardware store, garden supplies or stock agent will agree to forklift your load off this third party truck (NB: this could be a huge truck). Then you can arrange with them to either lift onto your vehicle or to on-deliver to your site for you. (Taking beer will usually seal this deal for you!
Delivered with a third party truck direct to your site* where there is all-weather access and a forklift truck (not a bobcat or a tractor) able to lift at least 1200 kg from a minimum height of 2.4m. (NB: this truck could be a huge truck with other goods needing to be shifted). Some customers with larger orders have rented a local crane-truck to unload at their site.
Delivered with a third party crane-truck direct to your site where there is all-weather access. (NB: this truck could be a huge truck). Crane-truck option is not available all areas and is only available outside major centres for large orders.
We will advise you when your job is completed and ready to be despatched for freighting and, as applicable, the freight company's phone number and your consignment-note number for you to conveniently track your delivery's progress through them.
*IMPORTANT: Freight companies advise that unloading by hand is not available and if no suitable machinery is available at delivery this will likely result in your order returning to depot at your cost, plus a re-delivery fee.
Express delivery service may be available (call for quote).
When you have finalised your order quantities and your preferred delivery option please contact us for delivery pricing.


text:
Q: Access public bool from another script in Unity I'm looking to trigger a public bool setup in a LevelManager Script from another script.
so when something happens on script B, the bool in script A switches to true.
Below, are 2 scripts where levelRestart.cs is a trigger, when a player hits, it needs to access the public bool in the LevelManager script and say startGame is true.
Can someone help?
LevelManager.cs
public bool startGame = false;

void Update ()
    {

        if (startGame == true)
        {
            SpawnKonyaku();
            startGame = false;
        }
    }

LevelRestart.cs
void OnTriggerEnter2D(Collider2D col)
    {
        if (col.gameObject.tag == "Player")
        {
            levelManager.startGame = false; //<- This is where, i need help
        }
    }

RestartLevel Script to trigger public bool startGame to be true

A: Ok, i figured this out myself, im gonna write the answer here, to add to the many other script questions out there.
I added these variables to pull from script A
public GameObject _LevelManager;
private LevelManager script;`

than on Void Start i added
void Start ()
{
    script = _LevelManager.GetComponent<LevelManager>();
}

and it acctually called the bool when i ran the triggerenter method
public void OnTriggerEnter2D(Collider2D col)
{
    if (col.gameObject.tag == "Player")
    {
        script.startGame = true;
    }
}

A: You can trigger that bool startGame by keeping it as static i;e public static bool startGame. So that you can trigger with LevelManager directly.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
UpProject overviewAccumulation of Man-made-NoisePackaging & Integration of Power ElectronicsAccumulateElectromagnetic Interference on Static Electricity MetersETOPIASTEPSModelling of Crosstalk in Aerospace EnvironmentsSCENTPETEREASIERANRGIETERNITYETUTPast performance
ETOPIA
European Training network Of PhD researchers on Innovative EMI analysis and power Applications
Our modern society becomes highly interconnected where power supply is not only providing energy between many distributed sources and loads but are also a main path of interference, especially in large complex systems, platforms and facilities, where interoperability of the electronic systems has to be achieved. There is an urgent need to train new researchers with a closer interaction of electrical power and power electronics with information technology and communications equipment. The ETOPIA consortium of key academic partners, supported by industry, has been brought together not only to train a sufficient number of qualified researchers but also to provide the fundamental research that underpins future technological developments. The detailed coordinated multidisciplinary multinational doctoral training program will provide the trainee researchers with a complete broad experience and at the same time allow them to develop and eventually lead their focused area of research. The program will focus on the development of novel methods to model, simulate, design, evaluate, measure and monitor. ETOPIA will also develop corrective economical measures for a safe, reliable, efficient and greener electrical power distribution system in and between buildings and vehicles. Specific innovations expected to be achieved through ETOPIA are methodologies to optimize the design of complex electrical/ electronic installations with respect to compatibility and efficiency. Dissemination methods to realize optimal impact will include scientific publications, workshops, training of engineers in industry, and dissemination through newsletters, interviews, social media.
More info can be found here.
PARTICIPATING PE MEMBERS
Prof.dr.ir. F.B.J. Leferink
Denys Pokotilov, M.Sc.
Alexander Matthee, M.Sc.
University of Twente, The Netherlands
University of Nottingham, United Kingdom
University of Zielona Gora, Poland
University of Craiova, Romania
Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy
Leibniz University Hannover, Germany


NetValet from Calix is an intuitive, easy-to-use app that lets you log into and manage your Calix GigaCenter router. You can manage your primary Wi-Fi network, set up a guest Wi-Fi network, and set parental controls. You just download it to your smartphone or tablet through your Apple App Store (see description) or the Google Play Store (see description).


Editors: Robert O. Erisman Reprints some issues of Complete Western Book Magazine (1933-1957).
FictionMags: Complete Western Book Magazine (UK) 1 issues.
3 known issues. 9 including fills.
0 Matching FictionMag issues. 0 Partial matched FictionMag issues. 1 Unmatched FictionMag issues.


Figure out where you want to hang your card display. I put mine on our kitchen door. We spend so much time there and it's nice to see our friends and their kids smiling at us each day. Make a 2 ½ inch fold at the end of your wired ribbon. You'll be adding your 2 wired Command hooks there once you are ready to secure them to the top of the door. Measure the length of your door or wall and cut your ribbon accordingly. On your 2 ½ inch folded end of your wired ribbon snip two little holes for your wired command hooks to slip through and then secure them up on your door. Your ribbon should now be hanging to the floor or the length desired. I secured the bottom of the ribbon to the door with Scotch tape. Now take your holiday cards and start to pin them to your ribbon. Voila!
Looks like I'm not the only one with this bright idea. Check out my Pinterest board of other adorable ways to display those cards.


Nobody talks about food more than a hungry author, so who can blame Charles Dickens for incorporating so many descriptions of sumptuous meals into his novels? A Christmas Carol revels in Fezziwig's holiday feast for his employees, in the meager-but-sufficient repast of the Cratchits and the bounty of rich comestibles enthroning the Ghost of Christmas Present.
Broadway In Chicago has announced that the Tony Award winning Broadway Musical PIPPIN will play Chicago's Cadillac Palace Theatre (151 W Randolph) for two weeks only, July 28 - August 9, 2015.
For a play whose plot centers on one of English history's most decisive military campaigns in one of its longest wars, Shakespeare's Henry V is curiously short on violence, being more concerned with lessons in how to fight a war—and by extension, how to govern a country.


Designer sunglasses Myrtle Beach, SC is proud to announce a price kickback. Have you ever dreamed of getting designer sunglasses for a fraction of the price? Now you can with the Costa designer sunglass brand in Conway SC at Southern Shades.
When you want to head out on a new adventure, you always need to put your health first and foremost, do yourself a favor and think about your eyes.
Many people forget that their eyes are an organ on their body until they begin having issues with them. If you are one of these people, then you might as well benefit in style with designer sunglasses in Myrtle Beach, SC.
The sun is brightly lit and fiery, the world is changing at fast rates, and the climate is heating up while more wildfires are occurring, it has never been more important to protect your eyes.
Through advancements in eye health we are now equipped with valuable knowledge that helps us prevent eye issues that could happen if they are exposed to the sun on a regular basis without protection.
From hundreds of choices, you are bound to fit the right frames that perfectly compliment your unique face.
When you save with designer sunglasses Myrtle Beach SC, you will go on adventures with peace of mind, knowing that you are protecting your precious and only eyes. At home, you will rest easy because you did not have to fork up an arm to buy your new sunglass designs. The weather is changing and every person's eye's need protection, whether it is fun in the sun or accidental debris.
Drop in our Myrtle Beach SC location and look for South Shades to save on designer brand sunglass demands.


text:
package main

import (
	"sync/atomic"
        "code.google.com/p/go.net/websocket"
)

type Connection struct {
        ws *websocket.Conn
}

type Pool struct {
        connections map[*Connection]bool

        subscribe chan *Connection
        unsubscribe chan *Connection

	// stats
	nrecv uint64
	nsend uint64
}

func (p *Pool) Dispatch() {
        for {
                select {
                case c := <- p.subscribe:
                        p.connections[c] = true;
                case c := <- p.unsubscribe:
                        delete(p.connections, c);
                }
        }
}

func (p *Pool) IncrRecv() {
	atomic.AddUint64(&p.nrecv, 1)
}

func (p *Pool) IncrSend() {
	atomic.AddUint64(&p.nsend, 1)
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Marc Summers reached out to TMZ to inform the media outlet that he was in a serious car accident in Philadelphia last week. As a result of the accident, Summers broke multiple bones in his face and needed surgery. Summers was the host of "Double Dare" and now hosts "Unwrapped" on the Food Network. Summers told TMZ that he does not remember enough about the car accident. All he knows is that he was the passenger in the back seat of a cab. The cab hydroplaned and lost control.
Summers said that since the accident, his friends from the Food Network have been cooking him excellent meals and coming to visit him. Those friends include Bobby Flay, Mario Batali and Michael Symon. There is one major problem though, Summers is struggling to open his mouth as a result of the surgery. He also is having trouble chewing the food so he has been placed on a soft food diet.


focuses on providing patients with relief from the symptoms, pain, and stress of a serious illness—whatever the diagnosis or prognosis.
is provided by healthcare professionals who work together with patients and families to provide an 'extra layer of support'.
is appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness.
is provided along with curative treatment or can be focused on comfort measures only.
Comfort: Easing pain, suffering and other symptoms.
Communication: Providing expert information with everyone involved.
Choices: Offering options as well as alternatives for patients and families.
Control: Honoring and respecting the Patient (and Family) informed decisions.


text:
Increasing transparency and credibility of company climate actions through the Global Climate Action partnerships
Increasing transparency and credibility of company climate actions through the Global Climate Action partnerships.pdf (509.28 KB)
Climate actions by non-Party stakeholders, including companies, have a significant potential to fill the gap in the global emissions reductions trajectory. While accountability of countries as Parties to the Paris Agreement will be ensured under a new 'transparency framework' stipulated in Article 13 of the Paris Agreement, accountability of non-Party stakeholders' voluntary actions and achievements will be considered according to the policies of jurisdictions in which they operate and the stakeholders to whom they committed.
Under the UNFCCC, non-Party stakeholders are demonstrating their efforts and progress toward commitments to the global society through the Global Climate Action's NAZCA platform. Information communicated through this platform needs to demonstrate transparency and credibility. Companies can contribute to estimating quantified impact of their actions to the global ambition by setting and meeting ambitious and science-based targets, providing transparent and credible reporting, tracking and reporting achievement of targets, engaging with governments and identifying efforts to reduce emissions that are additional to NDCs.
The Global Climate Action should recognise companies whom demonstrate these leadership qualities as 'climate action leaders'. Companies around the world have built up reporting skills under governmental and private schemes, making GHG emissions reporting an increasingly common practice. In this paper, the role of available governmental and private GHG reporting schemes, and the capacity built through them, are revisited and discussed in connection with the increased recognition of the role of non-Party stakeholders, including companies, under the Global Climate Action partnerships.
(Hayama, Japan) Page Information:


September 5, 2018 -- Ivoclar Vivadent has named Diego Gabathuler as the company's new CEO, effective July 1, 2019.
Gabathuler is currently the head of sales for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and Latin America for the company. He will succeed Robert Ganley, who has led Ivoclar Vivadent since 2003 and will continue as a member of the company's supervisory board.


It's hard to think about your holiday plans this early. Hannukah isn't for another month, Christmas is 53 days away, and you still have double that many tasks to get through on your to-do list before then. Waiting any longer to snag your plane ticket back home could be a mistake, though, because data shows the best time to book is, well, ASAP.
Skyscanner, a site that compiles the cheapest flights across airlines, recently went through travel data from previous years to uncover the cheapest time to buy holiday tickets. While October came out as the most affordable month to book both domestic and international flights with prices 4 and 3 percent less than average, respectively, you still have time to score deals even though November has officially hit. Up until the 19th of the month, domestic flights are still 3 percent below average.
Up until November 19, domestic flights are still 3 percent below average. But once December arrives, the cost of flights increase to 5 percent above average. Yikes.
It might be hard to fork over the moolah on your travel already, but one thing's for sure: You'll seriously regret it if you don't. Once December arrives, the cost of flights increases to 5 percent above average. So not only will booking now save you from draining your bank account—but it'll also make your parents super happy when you tell them you already have plans to see them well before Thanksgiving. Best daughter ever or what?
Here's Meghan Markle's trick for staying bloat-free on flights. Or, check out the one thing you should always do to find cheaper flights online.


text:
Last Update November 20, 2014
Oregon farmer eaten by hogs, body found in pieces
By | GlobalPost
An Oregon farmer was found dead last week after being devoured by pigs.
Family members found the remains of Terry Vance Garner, 70, who had almost completely been consumed by the animals.
They last saw Garner just before he left the house at 7:30 am to feed the pigs, reported NBC News.
When he didn't return, they went to check on him and initially found his dentures on the ground in the pen.
The rest of Garner was found but only a few pieces remained.
More from GlobalPost: A woman has successfully grown a new ear on her arm
Investigations are underway in determining how Garner died and, was eaten.
Some suspect a heart attack, while other speculation says that he may have fallen down due to his old age, at which point the pigs killed and ate him.
A pathologist was unable to determine what killed the man.
Foul play is also being investigated by police.
KMTR.com reported that some of Garner's hogs had acted aggressively in the past according to those who knew the farm.
These were also very large animals with some weighing up to 700 pounds.
The man's brother Michael Garner said that Terry had always been good to the animals.
"Those animals were his life," said Michael Garner.
"He had all kinds of birds, and turkeys that ran all over the place. Everybody knew him."
The attack is not without precedent.
In a similar incident in 2004 in Romania a woman was knocked over and eaten by her hogs, said NBC News.
Readers of George Orwell's Animal Farm can only imagine how scary this trend could become.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/oregon-farmer-eaten-hogs-body-found-pieces


If you didn't know any better, you'd think that Tom Aikens is bent on building a rather tasty mid- and far-east culinary empire. Fresh off the opening of Pots, Pans & Boards in Dubai, the Brit chef has popped up again in Hong Kong. His newest restaurant The Fat Pig is his second collaboration with local F&B heavyweight, Press Room Group following the wildly successful The Pawn. This time round, the Michelin-starred alum has put pork front and centre of the menu, specifically meat sourced from a farm in the New Territories. Yes, the conceit of ear-to-tail dining takes its cue from Fergus Henderson's St. John in London, but the porcine focus is genius given the Chinese fondness for the animal. At The Fat Pig, Aikens freestyles between east and west to create such charmers as pork rillettes with sour apple chutney, deep fried pig's ears with green caper sauce, and chopped pig's trotters on sourdough. 'I want to encourage less-adventurous diners to try cuts they've never had before,' he says.
Long-time collaborators, London-based Michaelis Boyd Associates have been tapped to work on the interiors, creating a mood-lit clubby space filled with leather banquettes, and globed chandeliers. On smog-free days, the outdoor timber-decked terrace is just the ideal pre-prandial spot for some satisfyingly crunchy pork scratchings and beer.


text:
Q: subscripts with capital Letter adjusting [or etiquette] Sometimes some .tex features or standards seem strange at first glance. One actual case for me are subscripts with capital letters (obligatory because the letters on subscripts came from acknowledged scientist names) that seem too big to me. I want to reduce them. Their height should not be beyond 30% of the mother's.
See the example bellow:
\begin{equation}
\sigma_{C} = \sigma_P + \frac{\sigma_H^2}{\sigma_P}.
\label{Cowling}
\end{equation}

Related posts:
etiquette-for-math-subscripts-and-superscripts
subscripts-not-scaled-accordingl
Ps. I am showing a relation for ionospheric condutivities. Hall, Pedersen, Cowling, paralel.

A: You could drop the size by one "style", from \scriptstyle down to \scriptscriptstyle:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\newcommand{\Cowling}{{\mathchoice{}{}{\scriptscriptstyle}{}C}}
\newcommand{\Hall}{{\mathchoice{}{}{\scriptscriptstyle}{} H}}
\newcommand{\Pedersen}{{\mathchoice{}{}{\scriptscriptstyle}{} P}}
\begin{document}

\begin{align*}
  \sigma_{C}   &= \sigma_P + \frac{\sigma_H^2}{\sigma_P} \\
  \sigma_{\Cowling} &= \sigma_{\Pedersen}+ \frac{\sigma_{\Hall}^2}{\sigma_{\Pedersen}} \\
  \Cowling_{\Pedersen} &\neq \Hall
\end{align*}

\end{document}

The above defines \Cowling, \Hall and \Pedersen as the "symbols" C, H and P, respectively. Each symbol is scaled down to \scriptscriptstyle - using \mathchoice - when used in a super-/subscript, otherwise they're kept the same.

A: I'd simply add an empty superscript in order to move the subscript down.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}

\makeatletter
\newcommand{\add@empty@sup}{\@ifnextchar^{}{^{}}}

\newcommand{\sC}{\sigma_{\!C}\add@empty@sup}
\newcommand{\sP}{\sigma_{\!P}\add@empty@sup}
\newcommand{\sH}{\sigma_{\!H}\add@empty@sup}

\begin{document}

\begin{equation}
\sC = \sP + \frac{\sH^{2}}{\sP}
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
\sigma_{C} = \sigma_P + \frac{\sigma_H^2}{\sigma_P}.
\end{equation}

\end{document}

I reported also the original input for comparison. Note that I refined a bit the macros in order to add a small negative space to push the subscript nearer to the sigma.


NEW YORK, April 1, 2015 – The exciting new 2016 Lexus RX, introduced at the New York International Auto Show, arrives with Michelin's latest advancement in tire safety technology, the MICHELIN® Premier® LTX® tire.
Available on 2016 Lexus RX models, the MICHELIN Premier tire combines hidden grooves that emerge as the tire wears, expanding rain grooves that widen over time to continue to evacuate water and a unique rubber compound for increased wet grip. The result is prolonged safety and performance for vehicle owners in a range of weather conditions.
The Michelin Premier tire was recognized by Popular Science magazine as one of the Top 100 innovations of 2014 in its annual "Best of What's New" list. The New England Motor Press Association and MIT also selected the tire as a top technology for automotive suppliers.
The MICHELIN Premier LTX tire will be available in an 18-inch and 20-inch option. Tire sizes are 235/65R18 and 235/55R20.
1 Based on internal wet braking tests from 50 mph vs. Goodyear® Assurance® CS TripleTred™ All-Season and Continental CrossContact™ LX20 in size 255/55R18 109H; using the Michelin® Premier® LTX® tire in size 255/55R18 109H buffed to 5/32" of tread. Actual on-road results may vary.


text:
NPR : Guatemala Police Archive Yields Clues to 'Dirty War'
One of our hottest human rights projects is our work in Guatemala, helping with the huge secret police archive that is being analyzed there. National Public Radio's Morning Edition had a great story on the topic this morning, and Benetech's very own Patrick Ball was quoted talking about this as the largest secret police archive ever made available to the human rights process.
Be sure to check out the transcript of the piece.
Vinod Sena in memoriam
I had a very unfortunate reminder of the fragile state of each human being this week. Just after returning from India and Bangladesh, I received word that one of my key contacts and hosts had suddenly passed away.
Professor Vinod Sena was a retired professor of English literature at the University of Delhi. Visually impaired his entire life, he was a tireless advocate for the blind and visually impaired as well as a shining role model. He has been described as the pioneer of Talking Books in India, and had been campaigning for a copyright law change to make it easier to provide access to accessible books. While I was in India, I picked up the newspaper and saw that he had just received a Helen Keller award for his work.
I know that the advocates for the blind and visually impaired will continue his work, initially with a heavy heart, but with the confidence that they are following in the footsteps of a great man.
Jamila Hassoune, the Librarian of Marrakesh, announces a new Book Caravan
I've been privileged to meet so many awesome social entrepreneurs around the world, doing fabulous work without much recognition (and often, even less funding). Jamila Hassoune is one of those social entrepreneurs, and we share a love for books and the power of access to books. We've been in touch for almost fifteen years, and I met her in person in 2014 when I was attending the diplomatic conference that resulted in the Treaty of Marrakesh. She's known as the Librarian of Marrakesh, in recognition of her dedication to books and her role as Morocco's first woman bookseller.
She leads Book Caravans into Morocco's rural regions to share knowledge, books and history with students and women. She just sent me the announcement of her new Book Caravan:
The 13th book caravan Under the theme: The valorization of our heritage is a responsibility of our present and our future. Jamila Hassoune is pleased to announce the 13th Edition of the book caravan from April 16 …
NPR : Guatemala Police Archive Yields Clues to 'Di...
FOR-PROFIT OR NONPROFIT?


Spoiler alert! What happens next on Days of our Lives? Check out the day-to-day spoilers below for the week of July 16-20, 2018 to find out.
JJ takes the fall in order to help Theresa; Abigail reveals to Gabi who is the father of her baby; Theresa and Brady each make one last plea to win custody of Tate; Kayla and Steve eagerly anticipate a meeting about Steve's new eye.
Brady faces having to say goodbye to his son; JJ suffers the consequences for helping Theresa; Abigail wrestles with whether to tell Chad about her pregnancy; Gabi takes Stefan to task and reveals her resentment towards "Gabby."
Eve is wracked with guilt and admits to Chloe she's partly responsible for Brady losing custody of Tate; Jennifer is determined to find out how the drugs ended up in JJ's apartment; Victor strikes back at Theresa.
Claire asks Ciara if she's moving on with Ben; Theresa receives devastating news, which prompts her to leave Salem; Brady shares a heartfelt goodbye with Tate; Hope and Rafe press Ben to admit he set the fire.
Abigail considers terminating her pregnancy; Gabi "accidentally" reveals Abigail's secret; Will receives a shocking note; Eli supports Lani as they continue to deal with baby David's death.


text:
Liam Payne (finally) tweets about celebrating six years with One Direction
Margarita Mitchel PollockMonday 25 Jul 2016 6:04 pm
Fans had been waiting for Liam to tweet about the band's sixth anniversary
(Picture: Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images for Westfield)
Liam Payne celebrated six years with One Direction releasing his gratitude to the fans on Twitter, tweeting, 'Very late to the party but wow six years of us!! Still so many more to come, I've never been part of something so amazing.'
The talented 22-year-old is indeed late to the party with the band's actual anniversary on Saturday.
Very late to the party but wow six years of us!! still so many more to come I've never been part of something so amazing
— Liam (@Real_Liam_Payne) July 24, 2016
Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson all sent out tweets to their fans thanking them for all the encouragement and support they'd received.
One Direction (from left to right) Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Harry Stiles (Picture Ian West/PA Wire)
Styles, who was lucky enough to sign a solo contract with none other than Columbia Records last month tweeted, 'Six years. I have no idea how to say thank you for all your support.
Six years. I have no idea how to say thank you for all your support. For everything you are, and everything you've done, thank you. H
— Harry Styles. (@Harry_Styles) July 23, 2016
Payne announced he had been offered a solo contract with Capitol Records UK a mere three days ago, something that caused uproar among his fans.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAmn6epg1Ss/
Fans were waiting with baited breath to see if Zayn Malik would tweet after he famously quit the band last March, but so far he's remaining tight-lipped much to fans dismay.
The band became a foursome after Zayn quit last March (Picture: PA)
Despite Payne's decision to go solo the singer assured his legions of fans that One Direction will 'always be my home and family.'
MORE: 'Is One Direction done?' Fans devastated as Liam Payne announces he's going solo
MORE: Louis Walsh is convinced One Direction are over for good and tips Harry Styles to have the best solo career
Liam PayneOne Direction


Graduate Students in the College of Business will be charged a MBA/MSBA Professional Fee at a rate of $254 per semester unit in addition to tuition,, local fees and if applicable, nonresident tuition.
The CSU makes every effort to keep student costs to a minimum. Fees listed in published schedules or student accounts may need to be increased when public funding is inadequate. Therefore, CSU must reserve the right, even after fees are initially charged or initial fee payments are made, to increase or modify any listed fees. All listed fees, other than mandatory systemwide fees, are subject to change without notice until the date when instruction for a particular semester or quarter has begun. All CSU-listed fees should be regarded as estimates that are subject to change upon approval by the Board of Trustees, the chancellor or the presidents, as appropriate. Changes in mandatory systemwide fees will be made in accordance with the requirements of the Working Families Student Fee Transparency and Accountability Act (Sections 66028-66028.6 of the Education Code).


text:
Iran produces pickup truck in compliance with EU emission standards
Khodro's Foton Tunland complies with the European Union's Euro VI emission standards for heavy vehicles.
Iran unveils its first homemade vehicle with Euro-6 emissions technology on Dec. 4, 2022. - Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture
An Iranian vehicle manufacturer has unveiled a new truck that could be sold in Europe.
The Iran Khodro Diesel Company produced the Foton Tunland pickup truck in Iran. The vehicle has automatic transmission, 235 horsepower and is the first Iranian vehicle to meet the European Union's Euro VI emission standard. The Foton Tunland will start being sold in the next three months, according to a release by Iran's Chamber of Commerce.
What it means: The Euro VI refers to the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions standard set by the EU for heavy vehicles, including trucks and buses. Vehicles that are registered or used in the European Union must be able to prove compliance with the measure.
Why it matters: Iran's automobile industry is heavily sanctioned by the United States. In 2018, the Trump administration reimposed sanctions on the sale, supply or transfer of "significant" goods or services pertaining to Iran's automotive sector. The move was part of the president's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.
In response to these sanctions, Iran banned the import of assembled foreign vehicles in 2018. Only foreign vehicles shipped to Iran in parts were allowed, per the law. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's administration ended the ban and resumed allowing foreign vehicle imports earlier this year.
There is conflicting information on how Iran's automobile industry is faring in light of the sanctions. Khodro is on pace to improve its sales numbers this year from last and is exporting more vehicles to Azerbaijan, according to Iranian media reports.
On the other hand, the US government-funded news outlet Radio Farda reported in April that automobile production in Iran is falling and Iranians have concerns about safety, high prices and corruption in the car industry.
Know more: Iran sanctioned the French car companies Renault, Peugeot and Citroen last month. The move was in response to European sanctions on Iran in response to the Islamic Republic's violent crackdown on protests. All three companies do business in Iran.
Business & Tech Briefing Business & Tech Briefing
Middle East venture, M&A and economics in your inbox


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text:
2021 Week Three Picks
Posted by gee4213 in Picks Competition
NFL, Week 3 Picks
Week three had a subdued start with the Panthers beating the Texans in Houston 24-9. It was always going to be a tough job for rookie quarterback Davis Mills starting for the Texans for the first time given that he only had eleven starts in college. It wasn't that Mills was bad, but the Panthers defense came into this game with ten sacks in two games and once again got a lot of pressure with four sacks and nine quarterback hits. Even though Mills didn't turn the ball over and completed a tick under 68% of his passes, there was not a lot of time to get the ball down field and combine that with an anemic running attack and the nine points the Texans scored is pretty understandable. The Panthers were not exactly that spectacular either though, and I left this game feeling distinctly whelmed by Sam Darnold who does look better than he did for the Jets, but for my money still doesn't impress and he had two fumbles from not sensing pressure and protecting the ball enough. You can't take too much away from this game as it was a professional win, but because of that it is hard to get too much of a view on the Panthers either. They certainly are heading in the right direction, but I'm not sure about them when it comes to face the elite of the league so I think they are definitely a team you can continue to be skeptical about for now.
Early Games:
I'm still at the point of the season where I can easily come up with a reason to watch every game, but for both time and space reasons I will try to rein in my enthusiasm a little.
The divisional matchup between the Chargers and the Chiefs is particularly tasty given both teams are already a game behind the Raiders and Broncos in AFC West. The Chiefs look as scary as ever on offence when passing the ball, but are struggling when rushing the ball and on defense are rock bottom in defending against it. Now, I think that run defense ranking will be skewed by us being two games into the season and one of them being against the Ravens and their diverse running attack, but Chiefs need to improve on defense over the course of the season to get back to the Super Bowl. It's not such a disaster for the Chargers if they fail to challenge for the playoffs given they have a young franchise quarterback in his second season and a rookie head coach, but they do need to look as if they're building something and this should be a good early test of that, but let's give Brandon Staley time with the Chargers before we start to worry about them.
I am looking forward to watching the Patriots host the Saints as I really want to see the matchup between Bill Belichick and his defensive staff going against the Sean Payton's and the Saints offence. We saw Jameis Winston demonstrate last week that he hasn't exactly left behind the low points that have been an ongoing part of an up and down career on the field in the NFL. The Saints had a difficult week two with the number of coaches not available for the game due to a Covid-19 outbreak and are still missing personnel and given the situation in New Orleans following hurricane Ida things must be tough for everyone involved. The NFL waits for no one though and I am curious as to what is going to happen in this contest.
Points from the rest:
Washington have not looked like the team we were expecting on defense, and with Taylor Heinicke holding the starting position at quarterback for now it will be interesting to see if they can make this game competitive against a Bills team who seem to be if not struggling, then underperforming on offence. I like the Bills to win but this line does give me pause.
The Bears are starting Justin Fields as Andy Dalton is out with a knee injury, but the defense of the Browns is only ranked twenty-fifth by DVOA so the Bears might have an easier time than you might initially think look at the line. It would be a surprise if they can spring the upset, but I'm not so sure about covering the line.
The line is big for a reason, but the Ravens look to be on a roll and so the only concern is whether there is a let down after the emotional win against the Chiefs last week. I need to watch the Lions soon to get a feel for them given they have been better than some expected, but while a cover could be possible, a win really would be a surprise.
The Colts look to be starting Carson Wentz despite his sprained ankles, and they really need to get a win to get their season turned around, but it looks to be a tough ask in the current circumstances. That said, while the Titans played better last week to get their first win, I don't exactly trust them.
The Falcons need to find something to build around under new head coach Arthur Smith, but the first step would be to be competitive and while the Giants are ranked only ten places better than the Falcons (who are the thirty-second ranked team by DVOA), there is also a chasm between them in terms of 74.5% between them so I wouldn't like to predict it. Still this is probably too many points for the Giants to be laying to anyone.
The Steelers are going to be missing TJ Watt and there is an injury report regarding Ben Roethlisberger's pec which gives me a little hope for the Bengals. My bold prediction this week was that the Bengals are going to win, which is probably a bit much but I don't think a cover is out of the questions.
The Jaguars are struggling, and the visit of the Arizona Cardinals is probably not what they need to turn things round. It's too early to write of Urban Myer in the NFL, but he is learning the league as he tries to turn around a franchise that hasn't won consistently for a long time. The Cardinals are looking solid in all three phases of the game so far this season, and there's an even bigger gap between them and the Jaguars by DVOA percentage points than there is between the Falcons and Giants. The Jaguars have lost seventeen straight games going back to last season and it's hard to see them covering this one yet alone winning, though the Cardinals don't have the finest track record themselves so it's possibly they take their eye off the ball, but I can't bring myself to back the Jaguars yet.
Washington @ Bills (-8.5)
Dan's Pick: Bills
Bears @ Browns (-7.5)
Gee's Pick: Bears
Ravens @ Lions (+9.5)
Colts @ Titans (-5.5)
Gee's Pick: Colts
Dan's Pick: Titans
Saints @ Patriots (-2.5)
Gee's Pick: Saints
Dan's Pick: Saints
Falcons @ Giants (-3.5)
Gee's Pick: Falcons
Bengals @ Steelers (-4.5)
Cardinals @ Jaguars (+7.5)
Late Games:
The game of the week is right here with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers travelling to LA to take on the Rams in a meeting of two unbeaten teams. This should be a chance for the Rams defense to show how good they truly are having lost players and their coordinator from last season, but you have to think that Sean McVay is feeling confident given the early returns of the addition of Matthew Stafford to his offence. I don't want to pick this game at all, but I am really looking forward to watching it!
Points on the Rest:
The Broncos have made a good start to the season, even if it has been relatively easy, and the Jets are not exactly going to change that but you can only beat the teams put in front of you. If Teddy Bridgewater can keep his new found long ball success and the defense keeps holding up then the Broncos will be difficult to face all season, while the Jets are starting a rebuild and look likely to struggle all season.
The Dolphins have just placed Tua Tagovailoa on IR with his broken ribs and travel to face an unbeaten Raiders team. It has been a difficult start to the season for Miami and I'm curious to see if the Raiders can remain unbeaten in their push to finally get to the playoffs under Jon Gruden. Certainly, the play of Derek Carr has stopped the questions about quarterback for now, where as there seems to be no end of the speculation in Miami about their quarterback and there's nothing Tagovailoa can do about that on IR.
The Seahawks lost in overtime last week and now take on a desperate 0-2 Vikings team in Minnesota. This should be a fascinating contest given Vikings slow start and the Seahawks new offence but I'm not sure which team I trust in this game. It's too early to be a must win game, but neither team can really afford the loss given the state of their respective divisions.
Jets @ Broncos (-10.5)
Gee's Pick: Broncos
Dan's Pick: Jets
Dolphins @ Raiders (-4.5)
Buccaneers @ Rams (-1.5)
Dan's Pick: Buccaneers
Seahawks @ Vikings (+1.5)
Dan's Pick: Seahawks
Sunday Night Football:
Packers @ 49ers (-3.5)
The Sunday night game between the Packers and the 49ers should another great contest. The Packers at least won their game against the Lions, but there are still questions about their defence and the offence has a way to go before it lives up to the levels of recent years. However, the 49ers offence is struggling, partly through the numerous running back injuries and Jimmy Garoppolo has not exactly convinced at quarterback either. The 49ers will likely be competitive as they generally are under Kyle Shanahan, but I'm not sure about them being favourites as this line suggests given their injury situation and giving Aaron Rodgers more than a field goal.
Gee's Pick: Packers
Eagles @ Cowboys (-3.5)
The Monday night clash sees the Philadelphia Eagles head to their division rivals the Dallas Cowboys coming off a loss to the 49ers where they picked up some tough injuries on the defensive line. I see potential in Jalen Hurts as a young quarterback but this week he must try to keep up with Dax Prescott and the Cowboys receivers and that seems unlikely. The Cowboys are still a work in progress on the defence and I am not ready to proclaim them the likely winners of the NFC East yet, but having been in close games to good teams I think they have too much for the Eagles unless there is a remarkable performance from someone That's not impossible and I'm sure rookie head coach Nick Dirianni would love to make me eat my words but it's going to take more than, 'Beat Dallas' t-shirts to make it happen.
Dan's Pick: Cowboys
Competition Thursday: 2021 Week 3
Posted by gee4213 in Picks Competition, Thursday Night Football
We're already gearing up for week three, and Dan managed to claw back two of my early three point lead as I followed up a strong week one with a poor week two. Fingers crossed I get myself setup shortly so I'm back on and even keel.
Gee: Week 2: 6 – 10 Overall: 16 – 16
Dan: Week 2: 8 – 8 Overall: 15 – 17
Panthers @ Texans (+7.5)
The Texans have put up credible efforts so far, but having lost starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor to a hamstring injury, they are giving rookie Davis Mills his first start against a Panthers' defence who have ten sack through two games. I am interested to see how Mills does, and positively looking forward to seeing Christian McCaffrey play and how Sam Darnold looks with his new team. I don't think the game will be an embarrassment for the Texans, but it's a tough ask and whilst the points do concern me more than a little, with a developmental rookie thrust by injury into his first start I have to back the Panthers in this one.
This of course means that Mills will play great and will be a new gem from the last draft, which I will happy take in return for a dropped pick!
Gee's Pick: Panthers
Dan's Pick: Panthers
Survivor Competition
I thought Dan was mad when he picked the Bengals last week, and my scepticism was proven well founded as the Bears beat them at home whilst I managed a second straight scoring week to take an early lead. I don't want to worry fans of the Cardinals, but Dan stated he needed to get off the mark this week and is plumping for them travelling to face the Jags. Meanwhile, I'm backing the Broncos at home in the early season to be too much for the Jets, and I'm just hoping that I'm not putting too much faith in a 2-0 team taking on a team without a win even if it is at heigh altitude. I don't expect Zach Wilson to throw four interceptions again this week, but Denver is a tough place for the rookie quarterback to play early in the season against a Vic Fangio defence.
Current Score
Gee: 2
Dan: 0
Week 3 Selection:
Gee: Broncos
Dan: Cardinals
Bold Prediction of the Week
I stress that this is a bold prediction, and it's possibly one with too much emphasis on a headline about Roethliberger having a pec injury and TJ Watt having a problem with his groin, but this week I'm going for the Bengals to beat the Steelers. Given the history between the two franchises this is one I wasn't waiting for Dan to confirm was bold enough.
The Season Starts to Take Shape
Posted by gee4213 in Gee's Thoughts
AFC West, Andy Dalton, Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Chandler Jones, Chicago Bears, Cincinnati Bengals, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Jalen Hurts, Jimmy Garoppolo, Joe Burrow, Jusint Fields, Kansas City Chiefs, Kyler Murray, LA Chargers, LA Rams, Lamar Jackson, Las Vegas Raiders, Marquise Brown, Matthew Stafford, NFC West, NFL, Patrick Mahomes, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Travis Kelce, Tyreek Hill
After last week's hubris I won't be making any claims about schedules so let's get looking at week two, which had losses for both TWF teams but some cracking contests so let's see how things are shaping up in the early season.
I'll start with the Bengals loss against the Bears that finished 20-17 despite a fourth quarter comeback from the Bengals, which had to contend with a hat trick of interceptions for Joe Burrow including a pick-six and another INT that setup one of the Bears' two fourth quarter field goals. The really frustrating thing is that the Bengals defence looked pretty solid, despite giving up a touchdown to Andy Dalton in the first quarter they held the Bears to field goals the rest of the way. If the Bengals' defence might be taking some kind of shape (and it really should given the dollars they have invested in it), the familiar story of offensive line problems seems to still be there, as well as a lot of empty formations that doesn't exactly do a lot to stop Burrow taking hits, although the running game didn't help give them much balance either.
As for the Bears, you can certainly see the potential of rookie quarterback Justin Fields and at this point you wonder whether Dalton will get the starting job back once he's recovered from the bone bruise in his knee. The Bears' defence sneaks into the top ten by DVOA and looked solid against the Bengals, even if the o-line troubles probably helped but I think we're going to need a couple more weeks to truly get a feel for where the Bears are and there narrative is going to be about the quaterbacks for a while yet.
The other of the early Sunday games I watched was the 49ers taking on the Eagles in Philadelphia. The 49ers stayed out east having visited the Lions in week one and ran out 17-11 winners, but it was an odd contest for them. On defence they mostly controlled the Eagles offence, given up a lot of running yardage but not a lot passing (the Eagles did in fact out gain the 49ers in yards) and only conceded the one touchdown late in the game. However, it was more the 49ers offence that was really puzzling as their commitment to the run was there as always but was not efficient although they did eventually get one hundred yards. However, the passing game struggled early, with Jimmy Garoppolo missing throws early although he settled down over the course of the game, but whilst his completion percentage was good by the end of the game, his twenty-two completions only yielded one hundred and eighty-nine yards. It's early in a long season and the 49ers are once again dealing with some injuries but whilst I expect them to be competitive, I'm just not sure how good they can be even if they are unbeaten so far.
The Eagles looked to be what I thought they were coming into the game, strong line play on both sides of the ball will keep them in games and I'm looking forward to seeing how they do in prime time against the Cowboys this coming Monday. The questions are again around the offence and like so many teams the Eagles are trying to work out what they have a quarterback. Certainly, second year quarterback Jalen Hurts is a threat on the ground, and all the usual run options plays were present, but he managed the odd combination of a completion percentage in the low fifties, but his twelve competitions yielded one more yards than the Garoppolo's and the Eagles were a couple of near misses from having some very big plays. The Eagles have plenty of room to develop, and a 1-1 start is a solid beginning, but we'll know a little bit more about them after week three.
The final game I saw was the Sunday night game that I'm sure enthralled many as the Baltimore Ravens hosted the Kansas City Chiefs and the home fans saw Lamar Jackson convert a fourth down to seal his first win against the Chiefs 36-35. It was a great game to watch as it features two quarterbacks capable of making you question how they did what you just saw, even if it is in different ways. Jackson is not a top level passer, but makes up for it with his legs, racking up another hundred yards on the ground and a pair of touchdowns to make up for the two interceptions he threw. The Ravens defence were focussed on Tyreek Hill, limiting the Chief's number one receiver to three receptions for fourteen yards, but Patrick Mahomes was more than happy to distribute the ball to his other receivers with eight different players catching passes and Travis Kelce finishing the game with one hundred yards and a touchdown. To be fair, the Ravens had their own one-hundred-yard receiver in Marquise Brown but their shortfall in passing yardage was more than made up by the two hundred and fifty-one total rushing yards. There are still concerns about the Raven's offence on obvious passing downs, but their offence is built differently and did enough to beat the Chiefs.
There might in fact be cracks showing in this iteration of the Chiefs, they are still terrifying on offence, but the defence is currently ranked thirty-first by DVOA and as good as their offence is, they need to get some stops or turnovers to make them less reliant on Mahomes and the offence. It's still early in the season so I'm not pushing the panic button yet, but it's definitely something worth keeping an eye on because to sustainably win, and challenge for the Super Bowl you need a defence that is good enough and through two games that hasn't looked to be the case for the Chiefs.
For the Raven this win is particularly impressive given the injuries that they are already dealing with, but they are another team where it might be worth keeping an eye on their defensive ranking, but at least they have the history of competence on that side of the ball. The big question is whether they can be good enough on offence in high leverage moments as the days where you could win with stellar defence and competent offence have been replaced by the inverse, but it would be great to see a team win big with a different formula.
It's been an interesting week for NFL media, a lot of the early coverage is either hot takes, or knowing over-reaction, which makes sense as it generates content whilst we work out how good the various teams are. The NFL is such a fluid league that even with a relatively sure quantity like the Chiefs, there are questions about them and already we have one or two teams slated to be bad play better than expected, even if actual wins are as low as expected. It's such a short season with so much variance that we should be very careful to read too much into two games.
What I Think
I mentioned this whilst recording the podcast last night, but both West Divisions are looking impressive this year.
In the AFC the Raiders and Broncos are unbeaten, and the Chargers and Chiefs are lurking below them at 1-1 and whilst I'm sure this picture will become clearer in the coming weeks, it's certainly somewhere between a good to promising start for all four teams and I'm intrigued at how the Broncos and Raiders build on their early success.
Meanwhile, in the NFC West there are three unbeaten teams in the Rams, 49ers, Cardinals with the Seahawks sitting right behind them on 1-1. This has been a tough division for several years, and while I have my concerns about the 49ers right now, the early returns on the addition of Matthew Stafford to the Rams has been impressive, whilst Kyler Murray looks more like himself with the Cardinals this season and their defence is currently ranked sixth by DVOA and I am looking forward to seeing Chandler Jones who had five sacks in the Cardinals' opening game. When you talk about the Seahawks, you're expecting tough defence and an offence focussed on running the ball, which was the formula that they tried to revert to during the second half of last season. However, once again their offence ranks higher by DVOA than their defence and whilst I expect them to compete for the playoffs as they always do, I am intrigued to see the new offence and how it evolves over the season.
The Bengals have an interesting game coming up against the Steelers, which as much as fans of the Bengals sports-hate the Steelers, it can't be a true rivalry until the Bengals win a lot more games. There are enough injuries floating round the Steelers for there to be flutters of hope in my fan heart, but I know that it's unlikely the Bengals will win. Still, strange things can happen so we shall just have to see.
Right now, my hope is that one of the Dolphins or the Bengals will put an offensive line together that enable their young quarterbacks to maximise their potential but I'm not sure we'll see that any time soon.
2021 Week Two Picks
It has to be a late and slightly truncated picks post today as I am being treated for my birthday so I will run few a quick bits and get my post up.
This week's Thursday night game might not have looked like much on paper, but the Giants visiting Washington provided a back and forth game where after a slow start Taylor Heinicke dragged Washington back into the game after the Giants took a lead in the first quarter.
The Giants could and possibly should have wont his game, particularly as Washington kicker Dustin Hopkins missed his first attempt at a game winning field goal, but after a back breaking offsice penaly against Dexter Lawrence, Hopkins got a retry and just about put the winning kick through.
Giants' quarterback Daniel Jones actually finished the game with the better quarterback rating and had long run for a touchdown called back for an iffy holding penalty, but the Giants fall to 0-2, although the Falcons might offer an easier chance to get back to winning ways, but let's see how Atlanta look in their second game.
As for Washington, the defence is giving away points given how good people (including myself) have proclaimed them to be, but they have their first win on the board and
The three games I will be watching this week all come from the early games. Of course I will be watching the Bengals, hoping they can build on their opening week win whilst worrying about them having played a full period of overtime in week one and travelling to take on Chicago so I will be very interested to see if they can consolidate their good start.
The game I'm watching out of pure interest is the Bills visit to Miami to face Dan's Dolphins. I both want to see how the Bills react to their week one loss, but also think this is a cracking game that as an AFC East showdown should provide plenty of entertainment as well as tension given both teams's aims for the season.
The final game I'll be watching is Dan's pick, as he wants me to see how good the Eagles look when facing sterner opposition, although the 49ers are once again struggling with injury, but should be good test for the Eagles who were underestimated by so many of us going into the season.
Bengals @ Bears (-2.5)
Texans @ Browns (-12.5)
Rams @ Colts (+3.5)
Bills @ Dolphins (+3.5)
Patriots @ Jets (+5.5)
Gee's Pick: Patriots
Dan's Pick: Patriots
49ers @ Eagles (+3.5)
Gee's Pick: Eagles
Dan's Pick: Eagles
Raiders @ Steelers (-5.5)
Gee's Pick: Steelers
Saints @ Panthers (+3.5)
Broncos @ Jaguars (+6.5)
Dan's Pick: Broncos
The late games all have their intrigues this week.
The Cardinals are coming off an excellent opening day win butwill they be able to maintain that against a Vikings team who will be looking to recover after the opening week loss against the Bengals in overtime.
The Falcons had a terrible start in week one so new head coach Arthur Smith will be looking for a reaction against the Buccaneers and whilst it might be a bit much to expect them to win, you would expect some kind of reaction and I have backed them to cover the big line.
The Cowboys are already picking up injuries, but after looking good against the Bucs in week one even if they lost, they will be hoping to get a win against the Chargers who'll be welcoming fans to their new home for the first time.
Finally the Titans will be desperate to bounce back from a horrible start to the season, but on the road against a nasty looking Seahawks team who'll have notoriously noisy fans back it could very easily be an 0-2 start fro them.
Vikings @ Cardinals (-4.5)
Falcons @ Buccaneers (-12.5)
Cowboys @ Chargers (-2.5)
Titans @ Seahawks (-5.5)
Gee's Pick: Seahawks
Chiefs @ Ravens (+3.5)
This should be an absolute cracking game, which is only not on my watch list because of seeing the other three AFC North teams at least twice a year and sometimes more depending on the Thursday night schedule. The stories about Lamar Jackson's 0-3 record against the Chiefs are certainly prominent in the build up, and the injuries the Ravens have picked up certainly have made the start of the season difficult. I may live to regret this, but this is just enough points to make go with the Ravens to cover, even if I suspect that Patrick Mahomes might win out yet again.
Lions @ Packers (-10.5)
You have to think there will be a reaction from the Packers after their woeful showing against the Saints last week, and the Lions are getting these many points for a reason. The consensus line is actually a little higher, but given how the Lions fought back last week I'm still ready to give them a chance to stick within eleven given this line contains an extra half point through a key number.
Dan's Pick: Lions
Competition Thursday, NFL
I was incredibly naïve yesterday. Here's my opening line from what was meant to be my mid-week post:
'It feels like a long time since I have had a normal blog schedule but having closed out week one we are on our way into the marathon of an eighteen week NFL regular season so let's if we can establish a routine once more.'
Clearly both the IT and football gods that I don't believe in as an atheist but like to talk about as a writer because sometimes you just have to anthropomorphise the random fluctuations of probability, chortled to themselves and said to themselves we'll show him.
So before I get into he picks competition and survivor picks from week two, here's the games section of my post from yesterday that did get written.
I promise not to do this every week, even though I always watch the Bengals, but that's where I'm starting as they beat the visiting Vikings 27-24 in overtime. It seemed to take a little while for both teams to get going and the Bengals did their best to give this game away but after getting the game's only takeaway in overtime rookie kicker Ewan McPherson hit a thirty-four yard field goal with zeros on the clock to seal the victory in a pretty much dream start for a kicker's career. The Bengals had some high points, Joe Burrow looked good and hit Ja'Marr Chase for a fifty-yard touchdown at the end of the first half as the rookie receiver and LSU teammate of Burrow's managed to go for one hundred receiving yards in his first NFL regular season start. So much for dropping everything. That said, as good a trio of receiver as Chase, Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins look to be, Burrow still took too many hits passing the ball but Joe Mixon ran for one hundred and twenty-nine yards and given the turmoil of recent seasons on the offensive line, I'm inclined to see how this works out over the coming months even if I'm not convinced yet. The defence also looked better, although I wonder about the run defence again and they were blitzing more as well. One of the Vikings' comeback touchdowns was scored against a cover-0 blitz and call me overly cautious, but I always want at least one deep safety. Still, this could be the start of positive progress in year three for Zac Taylor, but he's going to have to win consistently to prove the Bengals are moving in the right direction.
As for the Vikings, it feels like a pre-season of turmoil might have had some impact on the field. Despite looking dangerous multiple times running the ball, Dalvin Cook could only finish with sixty-one yards from his twenty carries and it was Kirk Cousins who provided much of the impetus for the offence, even if things did start slowly. It does still seem to be the case that whilst Cousins is clearly a good quarterback, he struggles to elevate at critical moments in the game and whilst you can certainly win with a quarterback like that, a lot has to be right around them for an offence to succeed and things will have to come together for this team if the Vikings want to get back to the playoffs.
Moving on to the second game that I watched from Sunday, the Washington Football Team hosted the LA Chargers and the Football Team put up what was a pretty valiant effort after Ryan Fitzpatrick was lost early in the game suffering a dislocated hip, but ultimately lost the 16 – 20. The LA Chargers looked good on both sides of the ball, which was impressive as the Washington pass rush looked good and I like the look of Football Team's defence again this season, but it was always going to be hard for Washington to truly compete once Taylor Heinicke took control of the offence in replacement of Fitzpatrick. Not that Heinicke played badly, but his one hundred and twenty-two yards from eleven completions simply couldn't compete with Justin Herbert's three-hundred-yard game as the Charger's second year quarterback looked every bit a player building on his offensive rookie of the year performance from 2020. There was in fact, a lot to like about the Chargers under rookie head coach Brandon Staley and whilst it's early in his tenure, and the hype might be overdone, there's genuine promise there. As for Washington, you trust Ron Rivera to keep them competitive, even under difficult circumstances but a lot will depend on how Heinicke responds to being made starter again, having paused his degree to sign and start the Football Team's playoff game last season he has another opportunity to further cement a place in the league. Heinicke has at least had a pre-season this year, but it's a quick turnaround to week two as Washington head to New York to fact the Giants tonight.
The final game I watched from Sunday was interesting rather than enthralling as the Chicago Bears confirmed the reasons why Andy Dalton is starting, given their offensive line problems and how quickly Dalton was getting the ball out. Though the Bears didn't look terrible, the LA Rams looked formidable as they ran out 34 – 14 in front of fans in their new stadium for the first time. The Rams were not messing about on offence either, three plays into the season and out comes the Stafford deep ball for a sixty-seven yard touchdown to Van Jefferson. The Bears did manage to pull within five before half time, but early in second half another deep pass, this time a fifty-six yard play where Cooper Kupp got behind the defence and had empty turf between him and the end zone. There had been plenty of positive noises coming from the Rams about the addition of Stafford and this was clearly a positive start. The lopsided nature of the roster has to be a concern as an injury to one of their mega stars could be a real problem, but that is clearly a bet they are willing to make. For the Bears, as I wrote I do see why they have begun the season with Dalton and I've heard enough people I respect say that rookie Justin Fields has talent but not ready yet, but it's only a mater of time before he gets the opportunity to start, particularly if the Bears keep losing. Maybe we will have a clearer idea after Dalton returns to Cincinnati to face the team who drafted him.
Now with that out the way, let's turn our attention to the picks competition where I got out to a winning start with a positive score of 10 points in week one taking an early three point lead, but we're barely past the start line so it's pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things so let's get to Competition Thursday proper.
Gee: Week 1: 10 – 6 Overall: 10 – 6
Dan: Week 1: 7 – 9 Overall: 7 – 9
Giants @ Washington (-3.5)
The Giants got off to a rough start and early short week to a division rival is not an easy follow up. It might help that Washington are starting their backup quarterback as mentioned earlier, but these two teams are right next to each other in the DVOA rankings with with nearly inverse offence and defence rankings. I'm concerned about the direction the Giants have been travelling for the last few years, and whilst I saw some positives in what Joe Judge did last season in his first year as head coach, it's always hard when you don't have a quarterback and time is running out for Daniel Jones to prove himself the man. I'm always hoping for success for players, just not wins over the Bengals, but in this case I think that Washington are likely to eek out a win. However, this line is too rich for me given the circumstances and whilst I could be wrong, I'm not confident enough to lay this number of points.
Gee's Pick: Giants
The Lions had a go at making me nervous, but the 49ers held on to get me a point to start our survivor competition, whilst Dan's plan to pick against the Texans' backfired and if this was a standard pool he'd be eliminated already. That would make for a pretty poor blog competition though, so I take the point and we roll into week two.
This week Dan promised me this isn't a jinx as he's gone for the Bengals in Chicago taking on the Bears, whilst I'm echoing his pick from week one but hoping the Browns go better as they look to recover from a tough opening game in Kansas City that they really could have won if Patrick Mahomes wasn't so good.
Gee: Browns v Texans
Dan: Bengals @ Bears
I'm never that confident in these, but Dan likes to put me under pressure and this week I plumped for:
The Falcons will cover against the Buccaneers this week.
So let's see if they can finish the game within twelve I win, and feel if not proud than not totally ridiculous.
Roll on week two!
2021 Week One Picks
Well, the opening game of the season between the Cowboys and Buccaneers was an absolute cracker that went down to a last-minute field goal so let's see how the rest of the week one games live up to it. Making picks in the early couple of weeks is always more of an art than science, even more so with the truncated pre-season and the trend amongst an increasing number of teams to barely play their starters so let's see what we can do
The standout contest in the early games is the Pittsburgh Steelers taking on the Bills. I am really interested to see how the Steelers offence looks with new coordinator Matt Canada and the addition rookie running back Najee Harris, while the Bills are a team look set to mount a credible push for the Super Bowl. Time will tell if quarterback Josh Allen can maintain the jump in play he achieved last season, but even with some regression this team look set to compete once more. I think this line could be a little high given how well the Steelers' defence played last season and so whilst I like the Bills to win the game, I'm going to grab the points.
This could be a big third season for Kliff Kingsbury with the Arizona Cardinals and the signing of multiple recognisable free agents in their thirties certainly demonstrates and urgency to push into the playoffs, although a winning season would be a good start. The Titans meanwhile have only had winning seasons under Mike Vrabel and have gone to the playoffs in the last two season. The big questions for them are: can the offence be as good without coordinator Arthur Smith, can Derek Henry sustain his remarkable production given the number of carries over the last two seasons, and can they patch together a defence to truly compete in the playoffs? Obviously, this game won't answer any of the big questions for either of these teams, but its an intriguing early glimpse of what's to come.
The other game I wanted to discuss in a little more detail is the Washington Football Team hosting the LA Chargers. I am curious to see what effect new head coach Brandon Staley has on the Chargers, both int terms of their defence, but also how they are developing quarterback Justin Herbert in his second year having torn up the league in his rookie season. Going against the third best defence by DVOA last year should be good a test and while defence ranking seems to be less sticky that offence, I find it hard to think a team coached by Ron Rivera would fall off that much on defence. I am also intrigued to see how the offence looks with Ryan Fitzpatrick at the helm as the glimpses I saw in pre-season were promising.
There's a lot of unknowns in Philadelphia while the Falcons also have a new head coach in Arther Smith. I am definitely looking forward to finally getting a proper look at rookie tight end Kyle Pitts and what Smith has in store for him.
I am hoping that the turmoil in Minnesota gives the Bengals a chance in this game, but the Vikings are a team looking to push on again after a difficult 2020 season. However, the Vikings have an established base under Zimmer and I'm looking for Bengals to build something concrete on either side of the ball under Zac Taylor. First target, let's get Joe Burrow through the season healthy.
How can you not be curious about the Detroit Lions given the human quote machine that is Dan Campbell, but the 49ers are not an easy team to face, whoever is playing quarterback for them right now.
It looks like Carson Wentz is starting and I'm interested to see if he can recover enough form for the Colts to continue to compete given the commitment in salary that the Colts have made recently. The Seahawks are always competitive under Pete Carroll and I am looking forward to seeing what new offensive coordinator Shane Waldron has planned for Russell Wilson so this should be a great watch and in a less idiosyncratic list would have got more of a write up. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what happens.
The Jets at Panthers is the Sam Darnold bowl, but both teams will be hoping they've made the right move at quarterback. It's interesting that the Panthers went for Darnold when they could have drafted one of the five first round QBs selected in this year's draft who have all looked promising in pre-season. It will be hard to get too much of a read against a rebuilding Jets team who lost their big free agent pass rusher Carl Lawson before the first snap of the season and who really just need to find some things to build around this season.
The Jaguars are taking on the Texans in the first test of Urban Myer's plans in the NFL with proper game planning. It's a sign of how bad things are in Houston that an unproven in the NFL head coach with a rookie quarterback is laying points on the road, but it feels like it's going to be a long season for Houston fans.
Eagles @ Falcons (-3.5)
Steelers @ Bills (-6.5)
Vikings @ Bengals (+3.5)
49ers @ Lions (+7.5)
Gee's Pick: 49ers
Dan's Pick: 49ers
Cardinals @ Titans (-2.5)
Gee's Pick: Titans
Seahawks @ Colts (-2.5)
Chargers @ Washington (+1.5)
Dan's Pick: Washington
Jets @ Panthers (-4.5)
Jaguars @ Texans (+2.5)
Dan's Pick: Jaguars
The late game that leaps off the page is the Cleveland Browns taking on last year's defeated Super Bowl team the Kansas City Chiefs. There could be a hangover for the Chiefs in that they have been to two consecutive Super Bowls, but with the combination of head coach Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes it's hard to see the Chiefs suffering a big fall off this season like so many defeated Super Bowl teams. The Chiefs remade their offensive line in the offseason and once more look like a team gearing up for a Super Bowl run. However, this is no easy game for them as the Browns have one of the stronger rosters in the league these days and Kevin Stefanski worked wonders in his rookie season as head coach in the middle of a pandemic. If he can continue to improve Baker Mayfield's play, then there's no reason for them to fear anyone, including the Chiefs. I wouldn't like to predict who is going to win this game, but this line is too high for me as the Browns should be pushing for the playoffs again.
I'm looking forward to seeing what Tua Tagovoila can do now he is running an offence built around his skill set and expect the Dolphins to compete again as that's all they've done under Brian Flores. However, the Patriots have their own young QB in rookie Mac Jones and a defence that is potentially scary good this season with the number of players returning from last season's opt outs. You don't win or push the rules as much as Bill Belichick does without being competitive, so I don't think he needs the extra motivation of proving himself after Brady won the Super Bowl last year as some are suggesting, but I'm sure the Pats are expecting to be competitive this year after a rough 2020.
I am curious to see what Sean Payton can do with Jameis Winston as his quarterback, but the Saints salary cap woes means I'm not sure how competitive they can be with this retooled roster missing Michael Thomas, particularly now they are displaced thanks to the hurricane that hit New Orleans. The Packers were making headlines all offseason given the situation with Aaron Rodgers, but having reported at the start of training camp there is no reason not to expect the offence to be good again. The question is, can the change in defensive coordinator push the Packers from thirteen win seasons into the Super Bowl?
The Broncos taking on the Giants is an intriguing game given the unknowns for both teams. The Broncos are going with Teddy Bridgewater as their quarterback, but the defence was good last season despite ace pass rusher Von Miller being lost in pre-season. If Bridgewater can be effective with the young skill players of the Broncos they can at least be competitive. I liked a lot of what Joe Judge built in New York in his first season, but too much rests on the question of whether Daniel Jones is a franchise QB or not. The Giants made moves to give him no excuses so it's a big season for Jones, and I'm not sure on this one at all.
Browns @ Chiefs (-5.5)
Dolphins @ Patriots (-2.5)
Packers @ Saints (+2.5)
Broncos @ Giants (+1.5)
Bears @ Rams (-6.5)
The Sunday night game is one that's fascinating in large part because we get to see Matthew Stafford running Sean McVay's offence. Their defence will also be an intriguing thing to monitor through the season as the loss of coordinator Staley along side several players around the stars of Jalen Ramsay and Aaron Donald means there's a lot of questions and an injury to either defensive star could cause real problems. However, the Bears are a curious team in of themselves, with a defence that has fallen off a little under Matt Nagy. They answered one question at quarterback by moving on from Mitchell Trubisky, but how long Andy Dalton can hold off Justin Fields is the new questions alongside whether this team can this team truly compete. The line would seem to indicate not, but the questions surrounding the Bears are going to take weeks to resolve, and they've never had a losing season under Nagy so let's see if he can improve on the last two seasons of 8-8.
Dan's Pick: Rans
Ravens @ Raiders (+4.5)
This is a game that is intriguing rather than one that sets the pulse racing. I think we know to a large degree what we will get out of the Ravens, and the question is still whether Lamar Jackson can become a good enough passer on defined throwing downs to push his team on. Still, Jackson is an electric talent and the Ravens have clearly been attempting to improve his receiving options in the offseason. They travel to face a Raiders team who rebuilt their offensive line in the offseason and invested once again in their defence, but the combination of Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock still doesn't feel like it is working to a clear enough plan. I don't doubt Gruden's footballing brain, but I'm not sure of him as a head coach, although for me a lot rests on whether Gus Bradley can transform a defence that has consistently been in the bottom quarter of the league by DVOA. It will be good to see the Las Vegas stadium full and I wonder how the dynamics of visiting fans vs Raider fans work out, but the Raiders will likely find this a tough way to start the season
Posted by gee4213 in Gee's Thoughts, Picks Competition, Thursday Night Football
Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL, San Francisco 49ers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tom Brady
I'm not sure when I'm going to feel like I have a proper routine back in my life, yet alone the blog, but after life events overtook writing at the end of last season we have been right through pre-season and whilst podcasting started, writing hasn't. Until now, so whilst I'm sorting spreadsheets out and trying to get organised suddenly there's picks to be made and a game tonight.
I mentioned it on the pod, and it is sort of my plan this season to take a leaf out of the Patriots/Rams' approach and ramp up in September as we prepare for the long haul to the Super Bowl, which now includes an extra week in the regular season. There are other commitments kicking in next month too so I will have to sort out once again where I can find watching and writing time, but I want to keep this fun for me to write and hopefully for you to read. It's also been far too long since I won a picks competition, so let's see if I can get the year off to a good start, knowing that as ever, we are in for a marathon and not a sprint.
Cowboys @ Buccaneers (-6.5)
The first game of the season is a humdinger of a contest that as usual sees the Super Bowl champions opening up at home, and once more Tom Brady gets to open the season, this time welcoming the Cowboys to Tampa as Dak Prescott sees his first action since last season's horrific ankle injury. I'm looking forward to the game, but it's a strange one to pick because the Cowboys did not sparkle last season after Dak went down and the defence never looked right. All the skill position players are there on offence but will the offensive line be good enough for them to hum and can an awful defence be good enough for the team to be truly competitive. It's not an easy task to go against a stacked Bucs team that brought all of its starters back and now have Brady well established in the offence after a slow start when he joined the Bucs last season. Interestingly, this is a good number looking at what is available online, but I'm feeling conservative, particularly given how little we've seen in the pre-season and I'm not ready to be handing out a touchdown's worth of points given hope good a quartrback Dak is. The numbers are saying I'm wrong, but I was bitten too often last season and so I'm backing the Cowboys to at least keep it competitive. I just hope this isn't Hard Knocks having too much of an influence on me.
Dan beat me in both competitions last season, and with his pick of the Jaguars I can see the starts of a similar tactic to what he had going last season in going against the Texans. I can see his logic, but there's too many new parts in Jacksonville for my liking and so I'm looking at the 49ers and their experience against a Lions team who are starting a big rebuilding project as what I'm hoping is a solid survivor pick to start the season.
Gee: 49ers
Dan: Jaguars