#Joe burrow head cannon

[joesheistyy]

Sniffle Prevention

You had a terrible cold. When it came to sickness, you were able to hold your own. Except, this time around, it was different.

Joe had been out at football practice, and you were at home miserable. You had been having a hard time sleeping and even just breathing in general. Joe had tried with the home remedies, but this one was stubborn.

When Joe got home from practice, the first thing he did was come check on you. You were laying in bed with some mega dark circles, a glass of cold water, a box of tissues, and your favorite throw blanket. Joe gave you a pout, seeing your miserable state.

"Are you feeling any better after taking meds?" He asked, coming over to push a strand of hair behind your ear.

"Nope, still miserable," you sniffled, "I tried sleeping again, but I feel like my own snot is suffocating me," you tried to let out a laugh, but your throat was sore from having to be a mouth breather.

“Is it mostly when you lay down?” He questioned, sitting down on the edge of the bed facing you.

“Yeah, when I sit up it’s not as bad, but it still sucks,” you huffed, reaching for another tissue to try to clear your nose.

“Hmm, that’s difficult, isn’t it?” Joe gave you a soft smile as you nodded in response.

“I just wanna take a fucking nap or something. I’m so tired,” you groaned as Joe began to get up to go change from practice. He turned on the shower, suggesting one for yourself as well.

“Babe what about a warm bath? That might help clear you up,” he suggests after putting all his dirty clothes in the hamper of the bathroom.

“I mean that could be nice but I just feel like such ass,” you whined again, slowly moving to get out of bed.

“I think you should take one, I’ll get it started for you,” he said, starting the bath as his shower was still heating up. That’s one thing you both loved about the house. A nice big shower and a nice big tub. Separate from each other, but really nicely sized.

You submerged yourself in the water once it was ready and Joe hopped in the shower. You let your eyes close and your head tilt back in hopes of your sinuses draining even in the slightest. The warm water caused your body to relax a little bit, but your head still hurt from all the sniffling.

Joe hopped out of the shower and wrapped his towel around his waist. Was that one of the hottest things you had ever seen? It absolutely was. Joe loves it when you look at him the way you do when he wears a towel around his waist, but this day was different. He wanted you to feel better, no funny business.

“Any success in stuffy sniffle prevention?” He asks as he comes back in the bathroom after finding boxers and gym shorts.

“Once again, not really,” you opened your eyes to look at him.

“Damn baby, this is a tough one to crack,” he says, pulling your towel out of the towel warmer. You get out of the bath slowly while Joe wraps your towel around you, followed with his arms. He felt your body shiver from the cold air which caused him to pull your damp body in closer.

Joe helped you dry off and get comfy clothes on. You decided it was time to leave the stuffy bedroom for the first time all day. Anything to even try to lessen your symptoms.

Joe had made his way downstairs to make you some soup. You followed, walking toward the barstools to watch him at work in the kitchen. He made you a glass of water and scooted over a box of tissues for you.

While eating your soup, Joe cleaned up the bedroom and opened the window in hopes to make it a little less stuffy for you.

After you finished your soup, you set the bowl in the sink and headed back up to your room. You grabbed a new box of tissues and set them on your nightstand with your white Stanley tumbler filled with ice water.

Joe was laying in bed with open arms, welcoming you in. He had the switch turned on, getting ready to play super smash bros.

“Here babe, come sit on my lap. You can lean your head on my shoulder and sleep,” he said, pausing his game to allow you to climb on top of him.

This was one of those moments where sitting on his lap didn’t turn you on, it calmed you. You were able to get comfy, legs wrapping around his back and arms around his neck. Your head rested on the crook of his neck, still unable to smell his cologne because of congestion.

His arms were wrapped around your waist, looking at the screen ahead of him and spamming multiple buttons.

“Baby are you able to breathe a little better this way?” Joe asked, leaning to his left to give your cheek a kiss.

“A bit, yeah. I may fall asleep honestly,” you spoke with a sigh.

“Go ahead honey, I know you need some rest,” he said, nuzzling his head into yours to show some love to his sick baby.

“Are you sure?” You asked, leaning up to look toward his face briefly.

“Yes baby, I’m sure. You need to get a nap in or something, I can tell how tired you are,” he said, stroking your hair after pausing his game.

“Okay then, imma rest my head right here and try to sleep,” you said, nuzzling back into the crook of his neck.

Taking a deep breath, you closed your eyes in hopes you could get even the slightest amount of sleep in. You were so tired after sleeping like shit the past few nights.

Joe continued smashing away at buttons, trying not to get too worked up over super smash bros. He knew his angel needed to sleep, and finding a comfortable way for you to sit up to breathe and to sleep comfortably at the same time was his ultimate goal.

As you dozed off, Joe kept quiet while playing his game. He dusted you in kisses and hugged you close, hoping that you’d soon be able to sleep soundly again. If this was all he could do to help you feel even the slightest bit better, he was all over it.

———

I hope y’all enjoyed this! I’ve had such a stubborn cold all week and while watching the game, my bf gave me a shot of everclear that I didn’t know was everclear cause I’ve been so badly congested 💀 so I hope the last bit of this makes sense cause I’m drunk and sitting by the toilet rn 🤣 I love y’all, thanks for almost 300 followers!!!

[joeys-babe]

Joey B Blurbs: Angel Eyes

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Summary: You attempt to prank Joe, but his angel-like eyes and all-convincing pout have your prank backfiring.

Warnings: Fluff, pranks!

Pairing: Joe Burrow x reader

Imagine Universe: Into the Mystic

A/N: Part 5 of blurb night!

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No particular date for this blurb!

“Dinner time!” - you

Grinning as I paused the music playing over my speaker, I couldn't help but feel nothing but happiness watching my three boys run into the kitchen from the living room.

“Looks great, baby.” - Joe smiled

“Thanks, but I'm sure it won't look too good when you're cleaning it off plates later.” - you

“I don't care, that's our rule. If someone fixes it, the other cleans it. If we both cook, we both clean.” - Joe

I stood on my tiptoes and gave him a big kiss.

“Crap, I forgot drinks.” - you mumble, sighing

“You sit down, I’ll get ‘em.” - Joe

Before doing as Joe said, I got the twins into their booster seats and then sat down myself.

Joe walked back into the dining room just a moment later, his big hands allowing him to hold all four cups.

“Thanks.” - you

“Of course.” - Joe

Joe then put food onto all our plates, taking one of my hands in his when we started eating.

“Love you.” - Joe

“Love you too.” - you

——

After dinner, it was bath time for Tyson and Miles.

“We seriously need to order wet suits.” - Joe

“Why?” - you laughed

“They splash!” - Joe

“Oh, suck it up. Let's go.” - you

The tub was filled moments later, and Tyson and Miles climbed in. They were still young enough to bathe together - not like they would agree to do it separately anyway.

“Look!” - Tyson

Ty held up one of the plastic bath toys in Joe’s face, showing off his little tiger toy.

“That’s cool buddy. It’s like the mascot for the Bengals.” - Joe

“Yup!” - Tyson

Joe grabbed their mini basketball hoop out of the bath toy drawer and suction-cupped it to the shower wall.

“Can you make a basket, bubs?” - you

I handed Miles a mini-basketball, and he nodded and launched the ball across the shower.

Somehow making it in, Joe looked at me shocked.

“Gah-lee! Draft him to the league.” - Joe

“He’s got a cannon of an arm like his daddy does.” - you winked

Joe smiled and playfully rolled his eyes, handing Tyson a ball in the process.

“Let's start actually washing.” - you laughed

——

After getting the twins completely washed off and dried Joe and I headed to their room to get them dressed and ready for bed.

They wore matching pajamas, of course.

Miles and Tyson climbed into Tyson’s bed like they did every night for Joe to tell them a story. I laid down next to them and buckled up for the story Joe was about to tell.

“What kind of story do you guys want to hear tonight?” - Joe

“Lo- ve.” - Tyson

“A love story?” - you

Tyson nodded, so Joe continued.

“Okay. I’ll tell you my favorite one.” - Joe

He grinned, and not only did I know his devious smile was directed towards me, but I knew it meant he was up to something.

“One day, this boy, we’ll name him Joe, went to school.” - Joe

“That's your name!” - Miles

I immediately knew where this was headed, and I felt butterflies swarm my stomach.

“Yup. It was the first day of his senior year of high school. Not thinking much, he went to his first-period class. His teacher always made a boy and a girl sit together, and Joe thought he’d hate it, but it ended up being the best thing to ever happen to him.” - Joe

Both of the boys gasped, making Joe chuckle before he continued.

“Joe found his seat and saw that a girl he'd never seen before was sitting there. He thought she was beautiful, but Joe was focusing on football. Joe would soon find out that her name was y/n.” - Joe

“Like Mommy!” - Miles

“Yup, like Mommy. Joe and y/n talked the entire class, and they did that every day. They quickly realized that they had a lot in common and became best friends. Fast forward a bit, y/n wins homecoming queen, and Joe escorts her on the field. There, y/n called Joe her best friend… and told him that he was cute.” - Joe

There was another gasp from the twins, and I rolled my eyes with a smile on my face.

“Woah!” - Tyson

“I know, right? Not too long before that, Joe realized that he had a crush on her, but he just didn't know how to drop hints. After a little brainstorming, Joe asked y/n to the dance at school, but she already had a date.” - Joe

“Oh no!” - Tyson

“That's what Joe thought too, but the dance ended up being the best day of Joe’s life. The guy y/n went to the dance with ditched her, and Joe went alone. Y/n found Joe walking around in the hallways by himself, and she asked if he wanted to go see which teachers left their classroom doors open. Joe said yes, and y/n held his hand as they walked through the hallways. The chemistry door was open, which was the class they met in. They sat down at their table, and Joe realized it would be the perfect time to tell her how he felt. Joe told y/n he liked her, and y/n liked Joe too.” - Joe

Another gasp from Miles and Tyson, and I giggled at the look on their faces as Joe told the story of him and I getting together.

“Joe then asked y/n to be his girlfriend, and she said yes. Guess what happened next.” - Joe

“What?” - Miles

“They kissed.” - Joe

“Ew!!” - Miles

“Aww!” - Tyson

I laughed at their differing opinions, which were stated at the same time, and Joe did too, before giving me a wink.

“They live happily ever after?” - Tyson

“Yup. They got married and are still together to this day. They love each other very much. They're parents too, to twin boys.” - Joe

“Like me and Ty?” - Miles

“Mhm, and y/n is pregnant with a baby girl.” - Joe

“Like Mommy!” - Tyson

“Wait… is it about you and Mommy?” - Miles

Joe looked at me with a tiny smile on his face, the bling in his eyes making my heart flutter.

“Yes. That's how we met. The best day of my life.” - Joe grinned

——

“That was super sweet, Joey.” - you

“The story?” - Joe smiled

We had just walked into our bedroom from putting the twins to sleep, and my mind was stuck on Joe retelling the story of how we met.

“Yeah. I'm glad I got it right the first time.” - you

“Get what right?” - Joe

“Picking a boyfriend. We really said one and done.” - you laughed

“For real, but I’m glad too. Thank god for boy-girl seating chart teachers.” - Joe

Joe plopped onto the bed onto his stomach after pulling his shirt off, asking without words for me to lay down and scratch his back.

I walked over and leaned down, pressing a kiss between his shoulder blades before waking over to the bathroom.

In our usual routine, Joe and I would shower together. We took the time to share some non-sexual intimacy while spending our uncommon alone time exclusively together.

But today, Joe’s getting pranked.

Walking into the bathroom, I shut the door and locked it behind me.

I rushed to set my phone up to start videoing, then turned the shower on.

Almost instantaneously, Joe was knocking on the bathroom door.

Looking at the camera and laughing, I let him knock a couple of times before opening the door.

“Baby? Are you showering without me?” - Joe

He had his bottom lip stuck out in a pout, giving me his classic pleading angel eyes. Joe knew that combo got him anything.

“I just felt like having some alone time.” - you

Joe’s mouth fell open as he stared at me, honestly looking offended.

“What?” - Joe

“I wanted some alone time.” - you chuckle

“You seriously don't want me to shower with you?” - Joe

I stepped up on my tiptoes and pecked Joe’s lips, patting his chest when I pulled away.

“Maybe next time, babe.” - you

Making sure I was off-camera, I started undressing and the look on Joe’s face made me feel sad.

Once I was fully undressed, I hopped in the glass shower and shut the door behind me.

I looked over at Joe only to find him staring right at me with the same pout on his face.

“Aww, c’mere. I was just joking. You can shower with me, baby.” - you

“That's what I thought.” - Joe mumbled

When Joe undressed and hopped into the shower, I pulled him into my arms and pressed kisses all over his neck and face.

“You were videoing that entire thing weren't you?” - Joe

“Of course.” - you grinned

“You’re going to be the death of me.” - Joe

“Good way to go out though, right?” - you

“The best.” - Joe smiled

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Authors note: Next fic at 9:25!!!

Requests for this fic;

[hugheswrld]

introductory post!

💿- name: ally / als

🧸- age: 15

🪐- country: united states

☁️-fav teams: new jersey devils, anaheim ducks, boston bruins, montreal canadiens, and the vancouver canucks.

🏹- favorite color: black, red, hot pink and orange

🏒- hobbies: watching sports, watching true crime youtubers, sleeping, reading

⚾️- favorite sports: hockey, baseball, football and cheerleading.

🦴- favorite artists: machine gun kelly, taylor swift, khalid, the weeknd

🕊- favorite foods: pickles, salad, fries and nachos.

🐇- favorite drink: pepsi, water, and juice :)

I've been a fan of hockey and baseball since birth, i grew up in a sports family. the new jersey devils and anaheim ducks are my #1 as i have been watching them for the longest but i also really love the canadiens, canucks and the bruins (i watch the bruins the most though!). i have a lotta love for many players but jack hughes and jamie drysdale have a special place in my heart.

my favorite nhl players

- the entire devils roster, alex turcotte, trevor zegras, all of the hughes brothers, cole caufield, jamie drysdale, david pastrnak, trent frederic, jake debrusk, rickard rakell, sidney crosby, mitch marner, mathew barzal, owen power, thomas bordeleau, brandon tanev. these are the tops, cause this list could go on for hours lol.

what sports do i write for

major league baseball

national hockey league

umich

bengals ( joe burrow )

finally last but not least

i think that's all i have really to say, but feel free anything you wanna say or ask in my asks box and i'll do my best to answer it and i'll try my quickest to answer it. requests are also open for imagines, instagram edits and head cannons so leave anything you want me to write in there also! sending love, stay safe. xoxo- al's 🤍

[justfortay]

Folklore is one big breakup song with public life, theory

I think the TS8/ Folklore album is one big metaphor for her breakup from public life or at least an announcement of taking a long sabbatical...as well as a few nods to her engagement, or even quarantine marriage. I’ve included the lyrics below that support this theory, as well as some small explanations. The lyrics in large part, speak for themselves. Song titles are in bold. 

the one

“But we were something, don't you think so? Roaring twenties, tossing pennies in the pool.”

Could reference her twenties, which were all in the public eye. 

“In my defense, I have none For never leaving well enough alone But it would've been fun If you would've been the one”

Could mean she kept pushing the envelope on her career, which catapulted her to success, and ridicule. 

“Having adventures on your own You meet some woman on the Internet and take her home”

New artists are now found on the internet...the music industry has changed so much during her time as an artist.

“We never painted by the numbers, baby But we were making it count”

She has never played by the rules of the music industry. 

“You know the greatest loves of all time are over now.”

Her relationship with the music industry, one of the best of all time, is ending.

“Persist and resist the temptation to ask you If one thing had been different Would everything be different today?”

“In my defense, I have none For digging up the grave another time“.

Possible reflections on lessons learned during her time?

my tears ricochet

“if I'm on fire You'll be made of ashes, too. “

If she goes down, others in the music industry do too. 

Even on my worst day Did I deserve, babe All the hell you gave me? 'Cause I loved you I swear I loved you 'Til my dying day.”

She didn’t deserve everything the media/industry put her through, but she still loved/loves music.

“I didn't have it in myself to go with grace”

She didn’t want to leave the way she is, but she Is.

“And if I'm dead to you why are you at the wake? Cursing my name Wishing I stayed”

The music industry has wanted her out but wanted her back.

“We gather stones Never knowing what they'll mean Some to throw Some to make a diamond ring”

Music industry throwing the stones....diamond ring for her marriage. 

“And I can go anywhere I want Anywhere I want Just not home”

Home has always been where she can sing/play music for her fans. 

“And you can aim for my heart, go for blood But you would still miss me in your bones”

If she leaves the industry, those that made money off of her will want her back. “And when you can't sleep at night You hear my stolen lullabies“

Stolen lullabies are all the songs Scooter Braun/Big Machine took.

mirrorball

@bethpines1-blog​‘s theory on reddit I think hit the nail on the head for this one. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/TaylorSwift/comments/hxobln/theory_mirrorball_is_taylors_song_for_her_fans/fz7lkge?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

"Standing on my tallest tip-toes, dancing in my highest heels love, shining just for you" reminds me so much of her on tour. How she used to dance for us in those astonishingly high heels every night.”-@bethpines

"I know they said the end is near" sounds like she is aware that most people don't expect her career to live on for very long now that she has reached her 30s.-@bethpines

"But I'm still on my tallest tip-toes, dancing in my highest heels love, shining just for you" sounds so haunting in the fact that despite everything she is still trying and still dancing and still going on with the show despite it all.-@bethpines

The melancholy sound of the empty club mirrorball seems to take place in is so sad. It sounds like she thinks she is on her last leg, the last seconds of her five minutes of fame. Yet she keeps on dancing, just for us.-@bethpine

“And they called off the circus, burned the disco down

When they sent home the horses and the rodeo clowns I’m still on that tightrope I’m still trying everything to get you laughing at me I’m still a believer, but I don’t know why I’ve never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try I’m still on that trapeze I’m still trying everything to keep you looking at me”

this is me trying

“I've been having a hard time adjusting I had the shiniest wheels, now they're rusting

This sounds like she was on top of the music world but is now getting older.

“I didn't know if you'd care if I came back I have a lot of regrets about that“

She didn’t know if anyone would care if share came back after Kim & Kayne tried to cancel her. 

“They told me all of my cages were mental So I got wasted like all my potential.”

This represents how she felt during all the Kayne drama. 

“And my words shoot to kill when I'm mad I have a lot of regrets about that.”

Possible regrets from her time in the industry.

“I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere Fell behind all my classmates and I ended up here“

She has talked about how she was never a “cool kid” in high school, but now she’s one of the most famous people on the planet. 

illicit affairs

“Make sure nobody sees you leave Hood over your head Keep your eyes down”

Could mean she doesn’t want everyone knowing when she leaves the public eye. 

“What started in beautiful rooms Ends with meetings in parking lots“

Could reference how she’s “breaking up” with public life. 

“So you leave no trace behind Like you don't even exist”

Could mean that she wants to slip away like Meg Ryan did from the spotlight and just live her life. 

“A drug that only worked The first few hundred times”

Could mean that the “high” she gets from music may not be worth living in the public eye anymore?

“Don't call me kid Don't call me baby Look at this idiotic fool that you made me You taught me a secret language I can't speak with anyone else And you know damn well For you I would ruin myself A million little times”

Could mean that she would give anything for her managers & label at one point, but not anymore. 

mad woman

I think this song is particularly for Scooter Braun & Big Machine. 

“Every time you call me crazy I get more crazy What about that? And when you say I seem angry, I get more angry And there's nothing like a mad woman What a shame she went mad No one likes a mad woman You made her like that And you'll poke that bear till her claws come out And you find something to wrap your noose around And there's nothing like a mad woman”

“Now I breathe flames each time I talk My cannons all firing at your yacht They say "move on" But you know I won't And women like hunting witches, too Doing your dirtiest work for you”

These lyrics speak volumes. 

the lakes

I think this whole song is about taking a sabbatical with Joe & especially with her mom (her mother now having her third bout of cancer).

“Is it romantic how all my elegies Eulogize me?”

Eulogies are given at funerals...again, her funeral from the public eye?

“I'm not cut out for all these cynical clones These hunters with cellphones. Take me to the lakes, where all the poets went to die I don't belong, and my beloved, neither do you Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry I'm settin' off, but not without my muse.”

Again, the industry has changed and with social media, everything she does is scrutinized. Could mean she’s not feelin’ this life anymore. 

“What should be over, burrowed under my skin In heart-stopping waves of hurt.”

Could mean she’s still processing years of scrutiny from the press. 

“I've come too far to watch some name-dropping sleaze Tell me what are my Wordsworth”

Could be another reference to Scooter Braun/Big Machine.

“A red rose grew up out of ice frozen ground

With no one around to tweet it While I bathe in cliffside pools with my calamitous love And insurmountable grief”

This seems like grief about leaving the music industry.

And lastly....

From the one, “Been saying "Yes" instead of "No" “.....I think she may have taken some vows during quarantine.

From hoax 

“Your faithless love's the only hoax I believe in Don't want no other shade of blue But you”

Meaning, Joe is nothing but faithful...and we know blue is the color she uses to reference him.

“No other sadness in the world would do”...could be sadness because of leaving music for a while?

I heard this from a friend’s sister, so I’m not sure where it originated, but the first word of the first song on the album is “I” and the last word of the last song is “do”. 

Let me know what you think! There is definitely a break up theme in this album, but she hasn’t broken up with Joe. Do you agree that the breakup could be with living a public life?

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 143

One of my favorite things from the dub is when Cell uses the Kamehameha for the first time, and Dameon Clarke makes the second “me” syllable as creepy as possible.   Doesn’t really happen that way in the Japanese version, but it’s still cool.

Anyway, Piccolo manages to dodge the blast easily enough, but Cell gets the drop on him and grabs him from behind.    I’m kind of wondering if that wasn’t the point all along.   Cell already used the Special Beam Cannon and got nowhere with it, so it makes sense that his Kamehameha was only a feint.  

Also what is up with Cell’s feet?   They look enormous.

Cell tries to impale Piccolo with his tail, but Piccolo manages to twist so that it hits his arm instead.   Cell doesn’t seem to mind, since Piccolo won’t be able to escape.  

Back at Kame House, there’s a news bulletin about the armed forces being sent in to deal with the crisis in Gingertown.   The town is referred to as a suburb of West City, which seems odd to me.   If it’s so close, why didn’t Cell just start his killing spree in the metropolitan area? 

Suffice to say, the tanks are only a minor annoyance to Cell, who defeats them all, even while holding Piccolo with most of his limbs.   Would it surprise you to learn that the tanks were all filler?

And the pain of getting his arm consumed is pretty intense.    For a moment, we see Kami screaming too.   

Piccolo manages to bonk Cell with the back of his head to free himself, but his left arm has been reduced to a withered husk.    Cell points out that he can’t possibly win or escape in this condition, and Piccolo concedes defeat.

But Piccolo’s last request is to know what this creature is, and Cell decides to oblige him, since he’s going to kill him soon anyway.    Okay, so here we go.   First, his name’s Cell, and he was created by Dr. Gero, just like the Androids.   

Here again, this is where the Androids/Cyborgs/Jinzoningen thing falls apart.    Some of Gero’s creations are androids and some of them are cyborgs, but Cell is clearly neither, nor do I thin the label “Artificial Human” really applies.

Cell was part of a separate project in which Dr. Gero was trying to use the DNA of the most powerful warriors on Earth to create his own fighter.  So I’m pretty sure that makes Cell purely biological.   He’s more of a genetics experiment, much like how Serpentor from G.I. Joe was created using the genes of history’s greatest leaders, villans, and tyrants, and also Sergeant Slaughter.  

Unlike Serpentor, though, Gero’s concept took far too long to produce, so he programmed a supercomputer to complete the work in his absence.  

“To hell with this.”  -- Dr. Gero, apparently.

What I’m not so clear on was whether Gero intended for the computer to keep working on this as a backup plan, or if he just neglected to shut it down.   Either way, the computer kept working on Cell, even after Dr. Gero’s death. 

So whose cells were used in the process?   It depends on which version you watch.  The Funimation dub just went nuts and went with Nappa, Gohan, Piccolo, Goku, Vegeta, Frieza, and “others”.   I’m pretty sure this was only because the montage that played during this scene showed Nappa and Gohan in the flashback.    As for the “others”, we see Cell use different techniques later in the story, so maybe Funimation just decided that it made sense.   

However, in the Japanese version, and in the manga, Cell states only Piccolo, Goku, Vegeta, Frieza and King Cold were used in his design.  

Cell also mentions that Trunks might have been sampled as well, but the computer decided there was no need for additional Saiyan DNA.   This all looks like a continuity gaffe to me, since Cell is supposed to be from the timeline where Goku killed Frieza and his father, but I’m getting ahead of myself. 

Piccolo asks how the samples were harvested without anyone knowing, and Cell explains that it was a tiny spy robot that would have gone unnoticed.   I’m not sure if this is the same robot that Gero mentioned back in Episode 127.

That machine only observed Goku and the others in battle, and recorded relevant data.   This other one apparently scrapes small tissue samples as directed by Gero’s computer.   Piccolo destroys it as soon as Cell points it out, but that won’t change anything.

Because Cell, the one standing here now, is from the future, when the computer has already completed the work.     I think Cell’s math is off here.   He came back from the year Age 788 to 763, and it’s 767 now.   So it’ll be 21 years before he’s completed, not 24.  

In any case, Piccolo’s actions can only interfere with the computer’s work in this timeline.   He points out that Gero’s laboratory was already destroyed (back in Episode 134).    Cell says that the computer was in the basement, so it doesn’t matter.  

Piccolo asks why he waited so long to make his move.   Remember, Cell arrived in the time machine four years ago.   Cell explains that he couldn’t fit in the time machine as he is now, so he had to revert to an egg.    When he arrived in the past, he hatched, left the time machine, and burrowed underground to wait until he was re-matured.  

So why’d he come back in time?    Cell explains that his goal is to achieve his perfect form, and the computer told him that he could grow stronger by consuming humans, but he would only attain perfection by absorbing two specific targets: Androids 17 and 18.   However, when Cell awoke in Age 788, 17 and 18 no longer existed.   

Fortunately for Cell, Trunks had a time machine, so he just killed him, and used it to go into the past.  

Cell’s destination in the time machine always confused me.   Why go back to Age 763 specifically?   In all versions of this story, Cell claims that the controls were already set, so all he did was start it.  But that makes no sense, because why would Trunks want to go back to Age 763?   If he visited the Z-Fighters in that year, they wouldn’t know who he was.   Piccolo assume that this Future-Future Trunks must have beaten the androids in his own era, and he must have been planning to travel back in time to tell the Z-Fighters of this timeline the good news.   But that only makes sense if he planned to travel to this year, Age 767.  

I’m thinking Cell must have at least dialed the date back a few years, because he knew that he’d need time to mature into his adult form before hunting down the Androids.    If he had gone directly to Age 767, it would be Age 771 before he could start looking for the androids, and that might be too late.  But Cell apparently knows that 17 and 18 were activated in 767, so he knew that if he had a four-year head start, he could be ready to find them before anyone else could have a chance to destroy them.  

Cell also adds that the computer told him that his perfect form would be invincible.   Piccolo asks him why that should matter to Cell.   What does he need all that power for?    In the dub, he pointed out that Cell was already the strongest being in his own era, especially since he killed Trunks.  

But Cell, like the androids, is basically a creature who does what he’s told.    The computer designed him to achieve his perfect form, and that’s what he’s going to do.    It also doesn’t hurt that he was based upon warriors who craved greater strength.    So this could be a matter of instinct for Cell.   Either way, he can’t be satisfied until he’s perfect.  

With that answered, Cell figures it’s time to finish Piccolo off...

But then Piccolo just rips off his bad arm and sprouts a new one.   

Turns out Piccolo was just feigning surrender in the hopes of getting Cell to tell his story.    And Piccolo might have needed time to regenerate his arm, although he’s been pretty speedy about this in the past.  

He also mocks Cell for falling for that trick.    If he’s based on Piccolo’s cells, then shouldn’t Cell be aware of that ability?   My guess is that Cell was too high on his apparent victory that he didn’t bother to question Piccolo’s willingness to surrender.    In Cell’s mind, surrender was the only logical thing to do, so it never occurred to him that Piccolo might resort to deception.   

It’s also possible that Cell genuinely didn’t know about this.   Gero knew all sorts of things about the Z-Fighters, because he’s studied the data from his spy robots.    Some, if not all of that information, was programmed into 16, 17, 18, and 19.   They all know what senzu beans are, for example, so they probably know about Piccolo growing back his arm during fights with Goku and Raditz.   However, Cell may not have been given access to those files.  He seems to know a great deal, and he knows Piccolo’s tecniques, but he may have learned the Special Beam Cannon through instinct.   Powers like Namekian regeneration may not have been explained to him by Gero’s computer.   

In any event, the fight is back on, and now Cell doesn’t have the shroud of mystery to compensate for Piccolo’s power advantage.   

[tkmedia]

NFL quarterback rankings: The best and worst starting QBs for 2021, ranked 1-32

The level of quarterback play in the NFL is better than ever. While a few of the more established old guard QBs continue their great successes, the league has given rise to a promising new wave of young passers, some who also possess rare athletic traits. The intersection of these quarterbacks created a big offensive boom in 2020. Somehow, the potential of the projected starters for every team in 2021 is greater, thanks to a slew of top second-year and rookie draft picks. Weighing past recent peformances but tilting a lot more toward upside for the upcoming season, here's Sporting News' latest annual offseason ranking of NFL quarterbacks, 1-32:NFL POWER RANKINGS: Browns, Cowboys, Seahawks on the rise entering 2021 season

NFL quarterback rankings 2021

(Getty Images) https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/eb/7d/patrick-mahomes-112920-getty-ftr_u4af5iymyrktzunmue7ttwj1.jpg?t=379509574&w=500&quality=80 1. Patrick Mahomes, ChiefsMahomes is king again at age 25 and may not be dethroned for a long time. He does the razzle dazzle better than any quarterback, but he does all the little things well, too, with his big arm as the foundation. The money magician also hasn't quite hit his ceiling, despite already having a historically prolific MVP season and Super Bowl MVP on his resume. Mahomes has full command of his familiar supporting cast and offensive system under Andy Reid.2020 key stats: 4,740 passing yards, 38 passing TDs, 6 INTs, 108.2 passer rating, 82.9 QBR, 8.1 yards per attempt, 308 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs2. Aaron Rodgers, PackersThe reigning MVP has proved to be the NFL's ultimate renaissance man at the position, given his offseason "Jeopardy!" guest-hosting and "The Match" golfing prowess. Wherever his future lies beyond 2021, Rodgers' physical skills are in peak condition with several more elite seasons ahead of him. At 37, his wisdom and intelligence remain major assets, rebooted by a QB-friendly offense operated by Matt LaFleur. Rodgers' arm is still an absolute cannon, too, with the accuracy to put the ball anywhere downfield.2020 key stats: 4,299 passing yards, 48 passing TDs, 5 INTs, 121.5 passer rating, 84.4 QBR, 8.2 yards per attempt, 149 rushing yards, 3 rushing TDsMORE: 5 things the packers can do to keep Aaron Rodgers past 20213. Tom Brady, BuccaneersBrady bet on himself at age 43 outside of New England and immediately reached past Super Bowl glory in Tampa Bay. He chose a team with a great supporting cast, including the offensive skill players, line, running game and defense. He put his own Patriots spin on the Buccaneers aggressive downfield passing game with Bruce Arians and Byron Leftwich. The result was his best season since his 2017 MVP campaign. Brady helped reshape the Bucs and was a big part of keeping the gang together for a strong shot at a repeat.2020 key stats: 4,633 passing yards, 40 passing TDs, 12 INTs, 102.2 passer rating, 72.5 QBR, 7.6 yards per attempt4. Josh Allen, BillsBrady's departure from the AFC East opened the door for a new passer to be the unquestioned class of the division. Allen left little doubt with his remarkable age-25 third season. He has put all his immense physical skills together, converting his arm and athleticism into a force capable of taking over games. He also has shown the necessary young leadership to maintain Buffalo's new status as a playoff power. He is a strong MVP candidate in 2021.2020 key stats: 4,544 passing yards, 37 passing TDs, 10 INTs, 107.2 passer rating, 81.7 QBR, 7.8 yards per attempt, 421 rushing yards, 8 rushing TDs

(Getty Images) https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/b0/ce/josh-allen-121920-getty-ftr_usc7t17wksiy1kc8wjqbgvmgp.jpg?t=2106801638&w=500&quality=80 5. Deshaun Watson, TexansUntil there's some kind of clarity on Watson's on-field future tied to the concerning off-field developments, he takes his worthy high spot on the list. Despite the team in Houston falling apart around him with now limited talent, familiar or otherwise, Watson has done everything he can with his incredible individual play to prop it up offensively. He is a high-reward passer with low risk in pushing for big plays downfield while remaining efficient. He also is an explosive runner whenever things break down too much.2020 key stats: 4,823 passing yards, 33 passing TDs, 7 INTs, 112.4 passer rating, 70.5 QBR, 8.9 yards per attempt, 444 rushing yards, 3 rushing TDs6. Russell Wilson, SeahawksWilson started last season on a MVP-like tear with a dominant first half before fading a bit in the final two months. He set career highs for complete percentage and TDs, but there was a slip in his usual high-caliber deep passing. Although the big sack totals keep on coming, he remains the league's most durable QB with strong rushing efficiency. The playoff clunker against the Rams shouldn't take away from the fact his floor is higher than the ceiling of most QBs. He should be helped by a necessary QB-friendly coordinator change.2020 key stats: 4,212 passing yards, 40 passing TDs, 13 INTs, 105.1 passer rating, 73.5 QBR, 7.5 yards per attempt, 513 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs7. Dak Prescott, CowboysPrescott was headed toward a massive first season with Kellen Moore and Mike McCarthy before the heartbreaking ankle injury against the Giants in the fifth game. He was laser-focused with an elite trio of wide receivers while in complete command of getting the ball deep with his cannon. He is expected to be back at full strength and much of the Cowboys' success in 2021 will ride on his arm and legs. With big contract now in hand at 27, expect him to work hard to earn every bit of it to try to work his way into the top five QBs.2020 key stats: 1,856 passing yards, 9 passing TDs, 4 INTs, 99.6 passer rating, 78.7 QBR, 8.4 yards per attempt, 93 rushing yards, 3 rushing TDs8. Lamar Jackson, RavensJackson didn't live up to his MVP level from 2019, but he also didn't struggle as much as many perceived. He delivered down the stretch to ensure a Ravens playoff return after not getting the same kind of support in an offense in transition. He remained the game's most dangerous runner at the position until he found his late groove. Jackson did break through for his first playoff victory and at only 24, should be expected to rev back up as a passer with a receiving corps overhaul to match the improved traditional rushing attack.2020 key stats: 2,757 passing yards, 26 passing TDs, 9 INTs, 99.3 passer rating, 73.7 QBR, 7.3 yards per attempt, 1,005 rushing yards, 7 rushing TDs9. Kyler Murray, CardinalsWhen comes to special runners at the position, the 23-year-old Murray stands out as much as Jackson with his speed, quickness and elusiveness. He also manages a run-centered spread passing attack well. He needs to get more consistent with his accuracy, especially when taking shots downfield. He also should improve his decision-making with two full years behind him in Kliff Kingsbury's offense. The 2019 No. 1 overall pick is just getting warmed up for a top-flight career.2020 key stats: 3,971 passing yards, 26 passing TDs, 12 INTs, 94.3 passer rating, 68.9 QBR, 7.1 yards per attempt, 819 rushing yards, 11 rushing TDs

(Getty Images) https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/65/db/kyler-murray-111920-getty-ftr_1ppksceux88zt1tzoe128oct07.jpg?t=-514168331&w=500&quality=80 10. Justin Herbert, ChargersHerbert got an unexpected early opportunity and gave the Chargers no reason for him to relinquish his status. After excelling as a rookie, the expectations are sky high for the 23-year-old in Year 2. The challenge will be adjusting to a brand-new offense and remaining limited with his weapons as defenses adjust better to him. Herbert accelerated his learning curve with his arm, accuracy and athleticism and will do a lot more than avoid a sophomore slump. 2020 key stats: 4,336 passing yards, 39 passing TDs, 10 INTs, 98.3 passer rating, 69.5 QBR, 7.3 yards per attempt, 234 rushing yards, 5 rushing TDs11. Ryan Tannehill, TitansTannehill has found his groove at 32. Tennessee gave him the perfect run-heavy offense for his skill set. Much of Tannehill's mid-career boom has been tied to play-action passing, but he's reminded many that his arm remains underrated and his athleticism is a major asset. He plays with youthful joy and confidence that he didn't have with the Dolphins. He's also been durable and grown as a leader. Tannehill has become as fun to watch as many similar young guns.2020 key stats: 3,819 passing yards, 33 passing TDs, 7 INTs, 106.5 passer rating, 78.3 QBR, 7.9 yards per attempt, 266 rushing yards, 7 rushing TDs12. Joe Burrow, BengalsBurrow had a careful rookie season operating in Cincinnati's offense, curbed by his knee injury. He should be recovered for a big age 24 season that lives up to his status as a second-year No. 1 overall pick. Burrow relied plenty on throwing the ball into the middle of the field. That will change as he's more unleashed under Zac Taylor, knowing that he's reunited with all-around go-to guy Ja'Marr Chase. Look for Burrow to raise his efficiency and big-play quotient at the same time. He also is underrated as an athlete and runner.2020 key stats: 2,688 passing yards, 13 passing TDs, 5 INTs, 89.8 passer rating, 56.2 QBR, 6.7 yards per attempt, 142 rushing yards, 3 rushing TDs

(Getty Images) https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/e5/bd/joe-burrow-091620-getty-ftrjpg_ygox71ahisfq15o7m8u42d33z.jpg?t=-1759000100&w=500&quality=80 13. Baker Mayfield, BrownsThe 26-year-old, the No. 1 overall pick in 2018, got back on track in Year 3 thanks to some of the same offensive concepts that have helped Tannehill and the QB with whom offensive-minded coach Kevin Stefanski worked before Mayfield, Kirk Cousins. Cleveland installed a more QB-friendly run-heavy attack, facilitating Mayfield's play via play-action and bootlegs. He didn't force the ball downfield and played off the run by spreading it around better. Now that the mistakes are under control, Mayfield can be counted on for more big plays with the best, healthiest, deepest receiving corps he's ever had. It also helps to have pristine pass protection and two top backs.2020 key stats: 3,563 passing yards, 26 passing TDs, 8 INTs, 95.9 passer rating, 72.2 QBR, 7.3 yards per attempt14. Kirk Cousins, VikingsAt 32, Cousins has had enjoyed the best play of his career in Minnesota, a la Tannehill in Tennessee. The Vikings have simplified things in the offense with running back Dalvin Cook as the centerpiece and Cousins having two exceptional, versatile receivers in Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen. The use of 12 personnel (two tight ends) has vibed with him to help Cousins maximize his big arm. His deep passing has been on point, but the decision-making and accuracy still let him down at key points.2020 key stats: 4,265 passing yards, 35 passing TDs, 13 INTs, 105.0 passer rating, 63.2 QBR, 8.3 yards per attempt15. Matthew Stafford, RamsStafford, the 2009 No. 1 overall pick, is changing teams for the first time in his age 33 season. There's been a ton of hype over what he can do in Sean McVay's offense, but that's discounting for the recent impressive highs in Detroit. The arm is still there but he's been inconsistent no matter the volume. There's also been regression to the mean in terms of his fourth-quarter play and he's still looking for his first playoff win. There's a perception the Lions didn't give him much passing help and he will be transformative with his new team, but the reality is there's enough sample size to know one already has seen the best of him.2020 key stats (with Lions): 4,084 passing yards, 26 passing TDs, 10 INTs, 96.3 passer rating, 68.4 QBR, 7.7 yards per attempt16. Matt Ryan, FalconsThe 2016 NFL MVP, a good friend of Stafford's, has remained on a roller-coaster with his offensive systems. At 36, Ryan is now adjusting to the scheme of offensive-minded head coach Arthur Smith and latest new coordinator, Dave Ragone. Ryan has been in a rut with the passing game, so a focus on the running game and turning the page from Julio Jones to make Calvin Ridley and rookie tight end Kyle Pitts his go-to guys is a welcome rejuvenation plan. Ryan may not have long left at the helm of Atlanta, but he is set up for one more career bounce-back.2020 key stats: 4,581 passing yards, 26 passing TDs, 11 INTs, 93.3 passer rating, 67.0 QBR, 7.3 yards per attempt17. Derek Carr, RaidersCarr is a difficult QB to evaluate. Following the thinking of his offensive-minded coach, Jon Gruden, there is something missing with Carr, even though the numbers seem complete. The Raiders help him with an approach centered around the running game. Carr takes advantage by being effective pocket passing on short-to-intermediate routes with tight end Darren Waller as the focal point. Although he's gotten better with big plays, the limited downfield game is what keeps Carr in the dependable vs. luxury category.2020 key stats: 4,103 passing yards, 27 passing TDs, 9 INTs, 101.4 passer rating, 71.0 QBR, 7.9 yards per attempt

(Getty Images) https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/9f/9c/derek-carr-101420-getty-ftr_14wyh7vzls2va1cv04ww11wzqw.jpg?t=679917933&w=500&quality=80 18. Ben Roethlisberger, SteelersRoethlisberger's arm strength looked shot last season with his air-yard deterioration turning him into a dinker and dunker coming off a 2019 season lost to a right elbow injury. He can fight off Father Time for only so long at age 39. He still managed to be a rather efficient distributor, thanks to having a trio of special young receivers in Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool and JuJu Smith-Schuster. But there's a reason why Pittsburgh made it a point to be more run-centric featuring first-round rookie Najee Harris. Roethlisberger has transitioned from lifting the offense to being a more dependent older QB.2020 key stats: 3,803 passing yards, 33 passing TDs, 10 INTs, 94.1 passer rating, 60.1 QBR, 6.3 yards per attempt19. Trevor Lawrence, JaguarsLawrence is the latest No. 1 overall pick to be tagged with the "can't miss" label. The 21-year old did everything he could to shine as a future NFL superstar at Clemson except for winning the Heisman Trophy. Touted as the best QB prospect since John Elway for a long time, Lawrence's physical tools are off the charts, the modern prototype with his size, arm, accuracy and athleticism. He blends a lot of the special attributes fellow young guns Herbert and Burrow possess. The Jaguars have enough blocking and skill support to allow Lawrence to enjoy an immediate spike hinting at his major promise.2020 key stats (at Clemson): 3,153 passing yards, 24 passing TDs, 5 INTs, 9.4 yards per attempt, 203 rushing yards, 8 rushing TDs20. Carson Wentz, ColtsDurability issues caught up with Wentz in Philadelphia on top of trying to do too much and force things that weren't there in the offense. He developed a tendency to hold the ball too long, which led to an NFL-high 50 sacks in only 12 starts last season before being benched for Jalen Hurts. Wentz was saved a little by his athleticism but 2020 was rough by every passing measure. He will start his Colts career sidelined with another injury, his debut up in the air pending recovery from foot surgery. But at only 28, there's plenty of time to get right again and the Colts' run-heavy offense behind a sturdy line will boost him. He's also back with the offensive-minded head coach Frank Reich who was critical to his early success with the Eagles. Look for Wentz, when back healthy, to be whispered well the way Mayfield and Tannehill were.2020 key stats (with Eagles): 2,620 passing yards, 16 passing TDs, 15 INTs, 72.8 passer rating, 49.6 QBR, 6.0 yards per attempt, 276 rushing yards, 5 rushing TDsMORE: Exploring the Colts' best Carson Wentz injury replacements21. Jalen Hurts, EaglesHurts, only 22, showed the Eagles enough as a rookie second-rounder to compel them to move on from Wentz and his big contract. In only four starts, Hurts displayed all of his rare running ability and some good passing upside despite limited weapons and protection. Reuniting with rookie first-round wide receiver DeVonta Smith helps, along with better health up front. New offensive-minded head coach Nick Sirianni will improve the balance with the rushing attack to make the system more QB-friendly for Hurts' dual threat. Wentz vs. Hurts with the related Colts twist will be a storyline in Philadelphia.2020 key stats: 1,061 passing yards, 6 passing TDs, 4 INTs, 77.6 passer rating, 41.0 QBR, 7.2 yards per attempt, 354 rushing yards, 3 rushing TDs

(Getty Images) https://images.daznservices.com/di/library/sporting_news/51/1a/jalen-hurts-121320-getty-ftr_16gpe92gtf93y1ogrj838owuaz.jpg?t=1588501062&w=500&quality=80 22. Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ersJimmy G's time in San Francisco has had some great moments, including helping to take a high-level all-around offense to the Super Bowl. But as well as he's performed in a great system, there are two reasons for replacing him with rookie first-rounder Trey Lance sometime soon. First, Garoppolo has had a lot of issues staying healthy. Second, there are some outside-the-box plays he leaves on the table. Garoppolo has a high floor but has shown to Kyle Shanahan he has a clear limited ceiling as a pocket passer. Garoppolo can be effective again for a third team so he must flash his best again at 29 before passing over the job to Lance.2020 key stats: 1,096 passing yards, 7 passing TDs, 5 INTs, 92.4 passer rating, 61.5 QBR, 7.8 Read the full article

[smartsport1]

Updated Odds to Win NFL OROY After Burrow Injury Tua Benched Herbert Given 90% Chance to Win Award added to SmartSport on Trello

Smart Sport added the card Updated Odds to Win NFL OROY After Burrow Injury Tua Benched Herbert Given 90% Chance to Win Award to the Updated Odds to Win NFL OROY After Burrow Injury, Tua Benched – Herbert Given 90% Chance to Win Award list in the SmartSport board at November 24, 2020 at 10:24AM Updated Odds to Win NFL OROY After Burrow Injury, Tua Benched – Herbert Given 90% Chance to Win Award https://www.sportsbettingdime.com/news/nfl/updated-odds-win-oroy-burrow-injury-tua-benched-herbert-90-percent/ Quarterback Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers is now the odds-on -900 favorite to win the NFL OROY Previous second betting choice Joe Burrrow of the Cincinnati Bengals suffered a season-ending torn ACL on Sunday Could Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Chase Claypool, or anyone else, offer value? The 2020 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year race was seen as a two-player battle between a pair of quarterbacks – Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers and Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals. Now that Burrow has suffered a season-ending torn ACL/MCL, is the race over? The latest NFL OROY odds show Herbert moving into the prohibitive favorite’s role at -900. 2020 NFL OROY Odds Player (Team) Odds Justin Herbert (Chargers) -900 Justin Jefferson (Vikings) +900 Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins) +1000 Chase Clapyool (Steelers) +1700 Cylde Edwards-Helaire (Chiefs) +3000 Odds as of Nov. 23rd at FanDuel Burrow has slipped right off the board following his injury in Sunday’s loss to the Washington Football Team. However, another player is suddenly looming large as a contender. Pittsburgh wide receiver Chase Claypool has scored a team-leading 10 touchdowns in 10 games for the unbeaten Steelers. His odds have shortened from +2067 to +1700 Super Bowl 55 Odds Tracker Read More Oddsmakers were giving Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa an outside chance of playing himself into contention. Sunday saw that hope fading following his benching during Miami’s loss to the Denver Broncos. Tagovailoa’s betting line grew from +383 to +1000. Burrow Takes A Hit Back to pass, Burrow was sacked by a pair of Washington defenders and his knee buckled awkwardly. It was apparent immediately that he was seriously injured. Joe Burrow injury doesn't look good at all!!!! pic.twitter.com/tA3RFi0GAu — Darren M. Haynes (@DarrenMHaynes) November 22, 2020 At a betting line of +165, he’d been running neck-and-neck with Herbert for NFL OROY honors. However, there’s no recent history of any player capturing the award while also missing a significant portion of the season through injury. Burrow leads the NFL in pass completions (264) and attempts (404). Playing behind a porous Bengals offensive line, he’s also been sacked 32 times, third-most of any NFL QB. Herbert Keeps On Rolling Sunday saw Herbert delivering another sensational performance in a 34-28 victory over the 0-10 New York Jets. He threw for three TDs. It was the seventh consecutive game he has thrown multiple touchdown passes. That establishes an NFL record for a rookie QB. He’s passed for 20 TDs against three interceptions over that span. Justin Herbert has a CANNON 😳 (via @NFL)pic.twitter.com/FTE00ZS0F5 — Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 22, 2020 Herbert’s passer rating of 116.5 was his best since Week 4. He established a personal best with 37 completions and tied a career high with 49 pass attempts. The Chargers QB leads all rookies in TD passes (22), passing yards (2,699), completion percentage (68.0) and passer rating (104.7). All He Does Is Score Pittsburgh’s Claypool found the end zone Sunday on the end of a 31-yard scoring pass from Ben Roethlisberger. The double threat has caught seven TD passes and run for three scores. Claypool is the first rookie wide receiver in NFL history and the first NFL receiver in 60 years to collect 10 TDs through the first 10 games of the season. He’s second among all NFL receivers in TDs this season. Milestone ✅ – @ChaseClaypool @steelers | #PITvsJAX | #HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/s28ZONkwEk — Pro Football Hall of Fame (@ProFootballHOF) November 22, 2020 Claypool is one TD away from tying the Steelers club record for rookies. That fellow originally setting that mark was Franco Harris in 1972. Were he to win, Claypool would be joining New Orleans Saints running back Rueben Mayes (1986) as the only Canadians to be named NFL OROY. Tua Sits Down A late starter to starting, Tagovailoa was already playing the catch-up game. That didn’t work for Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield in 2018. Despite a strong finish to the season, Mayfield couldn’t overtake season-long starter Saquon Barkley of the New York Giants. #Dolphins HC Brian Flores says Tua Tagovailoa did not get hurt. He was benched for his performance and Fitzpatrick gave the team the best chance to win at that point and time. Tua is still the starter moving forward. — NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) November 23, 2020 Indications following the game from Dolphins head coach Brian Flores are that Tagovailoa remains his starter. No matter. The damage has been done. The rookie of the year doesn’t get benched. Jefferson On Bubble The NFL OROY has gone to an NFC player 13 years in a row. Holding out slim hope of continuing that streak is Minnesota Vikings wideout Justin Jefferson. You cant guard Justin Jefferson pic.twitter.com/3UuVbzeWVF — PFF (@PFF) November 22, 2020 He’s on pace for 72 catches and 1,357 reception yards. That would surpass the first-year totals of Vikings WR Randy Moss (69, 1,313), the 1998 NFL OROY. It’s Herbert’s To Win All of these players are enjoying great seasons. However, Herbert is on pace to shatter just about every NFL rookie passing record. Justin Herbert is on pace to be the best rookie QB in NFL history: Herbert’s 2020 Pace: 397 Completions 4,498 Pass Yds 37 Pass TD ALL would be rookie records #BoltUp pic.twitter.com/IBhUJMRt2J — CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) November 23, 2020 Considering that eight QBs have won this award since 2004, that places him in rarified air. Pick: Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers (-900). The post Updated Odds to Win NFL OROY After Burrow Injury, Tua Benched – Herbert Given 90% Chance to Win Award appeared first on Sports Betting Dime. via Sports Betting Dime https://www.sportsbettingdime.com November 24, 2020 at 09:03AM https://tructiepbongda8.com/ https://tructiepbongda8.com/link-sopcast-bong-da/ View on Trello https://tructiepbongda8.com/ https://tructiepbongda8.com/link-sopcast-bong-da/

[yuican48]

Cyborg 009: The Underground Empire of Yomi

Aside from Breakdown, this'll be the last 009 post I do until I'm done with Devilman at least.

After another win, Hurricane Joe refuses again to answer press questions. A couple of reporters decide to follow him, when he is approached by a trio of people. He recognises them as Ibaragi, Mary and Oyamada, fellow inmates at juvenile hall, and agrees to spend some time with them. They're now in a small moving business. Joe takes them to his insane house, and has a moment with Mary who wonders about her past.

As they hang out the reporters sneak up, as a fly transmits a signal to his friends. He destroys it before they reveal their Cyborg Bodies, explaining they're there to kill him. He he's them from all around to remember their friendship and not let Black Ghost stop that, but they call him out on not finding them and warning them, saying it's his fault this happened.

Ibaragi accidentally shoots Mary thanks to Joe moving, and him and Oyamada run taking her with them. Joe pursues and is delayed by Mary summoning a dog army.

Arriving where they're holed up, they all leap at him and he dodges, and they explode. He realises they were wired to explode if their thoughts strayed from the mission.

Entering the shack, he finds a familiar looking woman and a robot he destroys. The woman wakes up, introducing herself as Helen, saying she was captured because her father defied Black Ghost. Joe thinks it may be time to meet with the others once more. A helicopter approaches, piloted by 004, who has come to fetch Joe, who brings Helen along.

The chopper lands on a craft in the ocean, and they enter, meeting Dr. Gilmore and 001. The craft is the Dolphin, designed for every possibility. Gilmore is worried about sightings of a bat like thin in the sky. 004 doesn't trust Helen and couldn't find work in East Berlin. A robot dinosaur attacks and is defeated by Joe piloting the Dolphin. 001 tells 004 he can't read Helen's thoughts. Actual Dolphins are following them.

As a news broadcast reports on the ultrasonic pterodactyl, 004 grabs 006 from his restaurant, which he leaves to his workers. 009 grabs 007 from a stage performance, he briefly becomes a child before agreeing to grab the others. In France, 003 performs ballet when she spots 009 in the audience. She doesn't want to come, but does. 007 grabs both 002 and 005 in America, and 009 goes to find 008, who is seeking out poachers, finding him torn apart by an alligator robot. He kills it and grabs what little remains of 008 to run back.

As everyone waits to see if Gilmore can save 008, the TV suddenly turns on, and a broadcast from Skull declares in a year Black Ghost will control the world, demonstrating the destruction of New York. Gilmore says he doesn't know if 008 will pull through, and 004 accuses Helen of turning on the TV, dragging her out to test if she drowns. When a Black Ghost army of sharks approaches, and 004 refuses to bring Helen in, 009 goes out. Finding Helen passed out after everything is over, he gets angry at 004's willingness to risk a human life,

The news reports a Japanese company is developing an anti-ultrasonic ray weapon, and they decide to head to Japan, in the process being attacked by rays and an ultrasonic dinosaur that nearly tears the Dolphin apart before Joe performs a miraculous feat. 008 enters the room, his whole body aside from his head covered in scales.

Back at the Gilmore mansion, 008 is brooding about his body, Gilmore says he did what he needed to, giving him a stronger body, and exposing some latent racism by saying the silver scales are better than his skin colour, 003 is annoyed by his cold logic. 004 gives him a pep talk, mentioning his own inhuman body, and 008 agrees to test himself. Afterwards he thanks Gilmore, but the doctor has recognised his own issue. Helen is told about 001's unusual sleep cycle. 004 still doesn't trust her.

009 goes to Tokyo and meets the reporters, who he has had investigate Mitsumo Engineering. They explain the technology was actually completed a year ago, and that the company president is officially a man called Tanaka, but is actually owned by a man called Van Vogt who lives in the Hakone Mountains. Joe pays them and heads to Hakone. He finds a strange building, a tiny horse, something in a pond, and Helen through a window, before being attacked by a goddamn troll or something.

Joe awakens, his head bandaged. He struggles to make his way back and accuses Helen, even as everyone points out she's been there the whole time, see also denies having siblings. Joe broods while the others try to sort things out when the dinosaur attacks again. 002, 004, 006 and 007 kill the dinosaur, only to find it is both alive, and possesses no Ultrasonic cannon. 007 and 006 borrow a car from Joe to see if they can get an anti-ultrasonic cannon. Joe takes Helen to the same place as before, where a lizard attacks them. Joe is sure it only attacks when he is aggressive to Helen, but she thinks he is just playing. Van Vogt appears, declaring them thieves, and reveals the Helen he saw was his strange monkey, Sasuke, which can become what is on someone's heart. He says he domesticates the strange creatures of the island.

Joe is forced to head back with Helen. Gilmore is annoyed at him for leaving without having recovered. The reporters come by, saying a lot of people entered Mitsumo, including two Indians, which was 007 and 006's disguise. Joe, Geronimo and Francoise go to save them. Earlier, the two arrived and after some business talk were surrounded by Black Ghost, who new they were coming thanks to Helen being with Black Ghost. They are captured.

009, 005 and 003 arrive, 003 works out where 006 and 005 are, then spots Helen, who is clearly human. Helen approaches them, but says her name is Venus. She says they have to leave, and she could explain why she looks like Helen even though Helen couldn't. 003 stuns her can they out her in the car before breaking in. As 009 and 005 fight the Cyborgs, 003 forces a guy to free 006 and 007, before they leave, along with an anti-ultrasonic weapon.

Venus wakes up as Helen watches her. The rest discuss, 001 revealing the two sisters share the same thoughts and feelings, so Helen's position allowed Venus to lead Black Ghost to them. Venus also revealed there was a secret Underground Empire supported by Black Ghost, and that Helen had her memory erased. Gilmore has inspected the anti-ultrasonic cannon, finding the only emission is one to erode human thought. 003 spots Black Ghost forces, lead by Van Vogt, approaching.

009, 004 and 002 fight as the rest sneak away as the mansion is totalled. After taking out soldiers, Joe confronts Van Vogt, who has eye lasers, and accelerator, can absorb Joe's blasts and stretch his limbs, and vanish completely. He barely holds on before the Dolphin lets him escape. They regroup, and decide to get to the heart of Black Ghost, Helen and Venus saying they can lead then there.

Flying near Van Vogt's mansion, the sisters advise ignoring it and burrowing beneath the ground to reach the Underground Empire. As the Dolphin does so, at the mansion, the 'Helen' Joe saw there tells Van Vogt that things are going to plan and the Cyborgs are headed to the Underground Empire. As the Cyborgs choose where to go, Diana tells Van Vogt that they are headed to the Capital, and he leads her to a drill tank and they too head underground. The Dolphin has a perilous journey, and Van Vogt tells Diana to let those at the capital know they're coming. Two more sisters, one named Aphrodite, sense Diana's message and contact Skull, who is pleased to hear he Cyborgs are coming, and has them evacuate the city.

The Dolphin stops in a strange glowing cave, which collapses on them. The humans manage to be protected, and everyone else lived, though 003 is upset Joe is prioritising Helen over her.

The Dolphin then sinks in lava, they barely escape, and then split up as they flee the drill. Van Vogt tells Diana to tell Venus about their progress.

Joe is with Geronimo, Francoise, Ivan, Chang and Helen, while Albert is with Jet, GB, Pyunma, Gilmore and Venus, who explains that she can read Helen's mind but Helen can't read hers. Both groups try to make their way, Joe's group coming to a dragon cave, while Venus has 007 disguise as one to scare off the primitives that attack them. As Venus explains the history of the dragon, Zartan, who controls minds with his eye, the dragons control the other group. Venus explains her and the people of the underground empire preferred Black Ghost to Zartan since at least Black Ghost isn't using them as food, then acknowledges her hatred for surface dwellers taking the world for granted. Albert comforts her, but she still refuses to hear that Black Ghost are as bad as Zartan. Venus senses Helen falling under hypnotism, before they come to a see and Black Ghost robots. She takes Gilmore hostage, having been transmitting their position the whole time, so the Cyborgs will have to surrender.

004 takes Venus hostage, Black Ghost confirming she is nothing to them and attack, with them seemingly destroyed, they place Gilmore and the survivors on a boat to an island.

Venus tells 004 she was lying about being loyal to Black Ghost and was trying to ensure their survival so she could save all 4 sisters, Diana had warned her of how little they meant. She also explains that Zartan somehow forced the human women to produce multiple offspring at a time. They spot Joe's group and are attacked.

The captive Gilmore, Pyunma, GB and Jet are lead into the Underground Empire, to where the Soto is, Van Vogt and the three sisters watching nearby. The Zartan group defeat some robots as 004 and Venus watch. Venus suggests the two of them just escape and live together in a moment of despair, Albert refuses.

The Soto announces the captives will soon have their hearts beat to serve him, and tells Van Vogt to seek out the rest.

As 009 fights cyborg animals, 004 makes an attempt to wake him up, to no avail. His group continues, killing a group of cyborg brothers under Yomi, and taking a boat on. Robots surround 004 and Venus, and Van Vogt orders for work to start on the captives.

A figure dressed in black enters the cell and frees the captive Cyborgs, leading them away. After they get away, she is revealed as Daphne, the last sister, and meets with Aphrodite and Diana. Van Vogt tells them of the breakout and says they'll soon be found with their animals.

Venus tries to tell 004 they should let themselves be caught. He is unwilling, but they are anyway. The other team wake up, no longer mind controlled, 001 is injured. The creature that swallowed them is attacked by Black Ghost submarines, which then start attacking each other. They realise this is 001, who then moves the dead beast to get them to land.

007 manages to bluff Van Vogt away from the Cyborgs, only due to the sisters causing a scene. Van Vogt learns of 004's capture. Realising Venus has betrayed him, and probably the others, he has them all captured to be killed with 004. They contact Helen, who wakes up, her memory loss gone, next to the unconscious Cyborgs, who she doesn't remember. Her sisters fill her in as the Cyborgs wake up, 001 mysteriously healing. Helen explains everything she can before sensing Venus has been placed in the coliseum with 004.

Venus begs to know 004's name before they die, he tells her before killing the beast. The others start a break in, raising the alarm, which suits Van Vogt fine, and 009 fight and defeats brains in high speed balls, which he lure together. He reaches the arena as battle rages, Van Vogt confronts him, and the Zartan head straight for the island.

As they free 004 Skull appears, but soon the Black Ghost have to start putting effort on also fighting Zartan. A three way battle rages, with Black Ghost capturing Gilmore and bringing him to where the three captive sisters are, before the Soto launches into the sky and easily destroys Zartan.

As the two groups finally reunite, the the Soto places itself in the crater. Van Vogt makes an offer of Gilmore for Helen and Venus. Against the Cyborgs wishes the girls agree, and Van Vogt hands the doctor over, Albert swears he'll be back for Venus.

Van Vogt mercilessly kills Helen, Venus, Diana, Aphrodite and Daphne all at once for their treachery. 009 and 004 are enraged. Joe fights Van Vogt, getting a shot in thanks to Helen grabbing him with her last strength. 004 is able to get revenge for Venus by shooting Van Vogt even as he accelerated. They give the girls a Viking funeral and push on.

Another battle breaks out, 009 briefly fighting Skull before the Soto calls him back, and flies into the sky, only not burning the Cyborgs thanks to 001's power. It flies off into space. After asking 001 what they should do, 009 passes out, and vanishes. The rest then also pass out.

As the Soto flies into space it watches the H-Bombs around the island explode, presumably killing everyone.

009 awakens inside the Soto. After working out where he is, he recognises he will probably die there, bit swears not to do so without Black Ghost dying as well. He fights soldiers armed with knives, realising the machinery is too dangerous to shoot. Before he can do so himself, Skull grabs him, showing him the face of Black Ghost, three brains. As Joe struggles he sees in them three figures, Helen, Francoise and his mother.

Joe fights more, knocking off Skull's head as he declares Black Ghost cannot die, revealing he doesn't need his head to fight. Joe fights more, tearing him apart. The brains destroy Skull for his failure, and turn their attention to Joe as he grabs Skull's gun.

In the ocean, 001 explains he teleported everyone away in the last moment. He further explains where 009 is, but the statue is now in space, and he can't reach him now. With only a faint, glimmer, of hope, 002 flies off after them, to try and save Joe.

The brains declare that 009 could kill them there, but Black Ghost, and the humanity that spawned it, will live on. Nonetheless, Joe attacks. 003 cries for 009, 004 confirming she loves him.

The brains are telling 009 his friend are dead, just as he hears 002 outside. The statue explodes, and Jet catches 009.

Jet explains that unfortunately, his fuel is depleted, apologising for being unable to save Joe. Joe tells him to at least save himself, as they begin to burn up.

"Where would you like to fall Joe?"

A brother and his elder sister spot a falling star. The boy just wants a toy gun. His sister makes a wish for world peace.

[sportsleague365]

Two years ago, the Cardinals inked their quarterback of the future. At least, they hoped they were getting their quarterback of the future when they signed No. 10 overall pick Josh Rosen. [RELATED: No. 1 Pick Joe Burrow On His Contract] The Cardinals’ quarterback search was an open secret, one that dragged for years. In 2017, they tried and failed to trade up for Patrick Mahomes – who went No. 10 overall to the Chiefs – leading them to settle for Haason Reddick at No. 13. This time around, they didn’t want to walk out of the 2018 draft with “what-ifs,” so they traded up from No. 15 to the No. 10 pick for Rosen, a promising young passer out of UCLA. . Most evaluators viewed Rosen as the most polished and most NFL-ready passer in the entire class. There was a lot to like, especially after Rosen threw for 59 touchdowns over the course of three college seasons and saved his best for last. As a junior, Rosen turned in the best TD/INT ratio of his career (26/10) and his best completion rate (62.5%). Rosen’s talent was apparent – he didn’t have a cannon for an arm, but his technique and footwork were virtually flawless. He was also an all around bright kid, though some evaluators wondered if he was too brainy for his own good. Curiously, his own head coach was among the nay-sayers. “Because of fit, I would take Sam Darnold if I were the Cleveland Browns,” saidJim Mora, advocating for another QB over his own pupil.“I think that blue collar, gritty attitude, I think his teammates will love him, I think the city will love him. He’ll say the right things. He will come in and he will represent well. I think he kind of represents what Cleveland is. And if I was one of the New York teams, I would take Josh *snap* just like that. I think they will both be great in the pros.” Later on, Mora backtracked, but only slightly. “He needs to be challenged intellectually so he doesn’t get bored,” Mora said a few weeks before the draft. “He’s a millennial. He wants to know why. Millennials, once they know why, they’re good. Josh has a lot of interests in life. If you can hold his concentration level and focus only on football for a few years, he will set the world on fire. He has so much ability, and he’s a really good kid.” Ultimately, the Browns chose the brash confidence of Baker Mayfield over the “gritty attitude” of Sam Darnold. So far, both QBs have greatly outperformed Rosen at the pro level (though, nothing like the No. 32 overall pick, Lamar Jackson). Rosen went 3-10 as the Cardinals’ starter as a rookie, completing just 55.2% of his throws with 11 touchdowns against 14 interceptions. A deeper look at Rosen’s rookie stats and metrics don’t do him any favors, either. Rosen completed 55% of his throws and averaged just 5.8 yards per attempt. He also finished with a league-worst 26.1 Total QBR and Football Outsiders listed him as the league’s worst full-time quarterback. Midway through the year, offensive coordinatorMike McCoy got the heave-ho. After the season, head coach Steve Wilkswas sent packing. Ditto for Rosen – just one year after the Cardinals selected him, they drafted his replacement inKyler Murray. All three men would probably point to the Cardinals’ abysmal offensive line as a major factor, but that didn’t save any of their jobs. Rosen hoped for a fresh start after he was traded to the Dolphins, but he floundered in his three starts and finished the year with one touchdown vs. five picks. Now, with Tua Tagovailoa and Ryan Fitzpatrick firmly entrenched on the roster, Rosen is once again in NFL limbo. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. #JoshRosen #ThisDateInTransactionsHistory #ArizonaCardinals

[joesheistyy]

Study Help

You sat at the kitchen table, staring at your physics homework with feelings of hopelessness filling your mind and body. Studying was something you never really had to do, may subjects came easy to you. However, physics was not one of those subjects.

Papers were sprawled all over the table, stacks on stacks of homework, notes, and graded quizzes. Table real estate was beginning to become hard to come by.

After 30 minutes of staring at your textbook and reading the same line over and over, you decided to get up from the table and walk away for a bit.

Water was the first task after you stepped away for a little bit. You stood in the kitchen, your eyes focused on the fridge door as you disassociated for a minute. Things were becoming too much and when lack of understanding began to build, it was a short trip to tumble.

Joe walked into the kitchen as you continued to stare at the fridge. Not hearing him come in, you jumped when you felt a hand on your low back.

“How’s studying going, baby?” He asked, walking past you as you settled back into your comfortable stance.

“Terrible. I don’t understand a damn thing,” you huffed out, wanting to cry but not letting it out.

“What’re you studying for?” He asked as you rubbed your eyes.

“Stupid physics,” you groaned out, your hands falling to your sides.

You began to walk away from the kitchen, heading to the porch to stand outside and let fresh air hit your lungs. Joe followed, joining you in silence.

“How about I help? I used to love physics,” he spoke quietly, not wanting to startle you.

“I don’t know Joey, I just feel so stupid,” you sat down on the cushioned seat, Joe sitting down next to you.

“Y/n, you’re not stupid and you know I hate it when you say that,” he replies in a stern tone, wrapping an arm around your shoulder. You lean into him, needing the slightest bit of comfort.

"I just hate anything that involves math," you groan, wiggling to get comfortable.

"Just let me help," Joe said as he poked at your sides.

"Fine, let's go," you groaned as Joe stood up, pulling you up with him.

You both sat down at the table, Joe to your left. Your elbows propped up on the table holding your head in your hands as you stared down at the problem you had been having such trouble with.

"Which one is it baby?" he asked as you scooted the textbook toward him.

"Number 17. Something about the way it's worded just doesn't make sense," you said as you watched him read it.

"I can see how that's tricky. It is worded kinda funky," He says as he reaches for your notebook and pencil.

As Joe writes out the setup to the problem, you watch him focus. His eyes have slight crinkles in the corners as he squints to focus and his lips are pursed. He is still the most beautiful man in the world.

"Does having it set up like this help?" he asked as he slid the notebook back over to you.

"Lil bit," you say, grabbing the pencil to try to start again.

You continued to stare at the paper that Joe had written on. It still didn't make sense.

"I can see it in your eyes that that didn't help" he sighed a little bit.

"Nope, still don't get it," you huffed and set your head back in your hands.

"Watch babe, you plug this in here and put this here," he continued to show you where to place stuff in the equation, it still not making any sense where he got the numbers from.

"Any better?" he asked again, looking at you. You shook your head no. You could tell he was getting a little frustrating. How could it be so simple to him yet it made absolutely no sense to you.

"Y/n look, you plug this in here and you put this number here," he said with a little more stern voice.

"Where the fuck are you getting those numbers from?" you questioned in a confused and frustrated tone.

"Right here, y/n. They're literally in the book," he pointed with the pencil.

"I can see that, but how do I know what goes where?" you huffed, tears beginning to gloss over your eyes. Joe helping you and getting irritated reminded you of doing math homework multiple nights a week with your dad and him getting onto you for not understanding.

You stood up and walked away in defeat as tears began to spill over. It didn't make sense and you felt stupid. At this rate, giving up was easier. Joe didn't understand what he did wrong to upset you. He finished the problem and moved away from the table to follow you.

You had moved to the living room and gotten comfortable on the couch with your favorite emotional support blanket. Tears still threatened to fall, but you tried not to let them. The sound of sniffles filled the room as Joe's footsteps joined in.

"Baby, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you," Joe said as he crouched down to your level. Your head was drooping down to look at your lap, avoiding his eyes. His hand moved to your chin and brought your face up to meet his gaze.

"I didn't mean to get frustrated with you," he said and grabbed your hand.

"It's not your fault," you sniffled, "it just took me back to being in middle school and not understanding Algebra and my dad would try to teach me and get irritated because I didn't understand," you let a tear trickle down your face. Joe wiped it away as he gave you a sympathetic look.

"But baby I'm not your dad. This isn't algebra, this is hard shit. It's okay to not understand it, I just hate to see you shut down like this," Joe said as he leaned up to kiss your forehead.

You sighed as Joe moved to sit next to you, pulling your legs over his lap and beginning to massage your calfs.

"Let's leave the physics to a day when you're a little calmer, okay?" he asked as he worked at your calves.

"I wanna leave it forever, physics sucks," you groaned and leaned back to lay on the couch.

"You can have that mindset today, but tomorrow we're gonna work to try to get you to understand it a bit more, got it?" Joe looked at you for a nod of approval.

"Got it, thanks Joey," you closed your eyes and let Joe work at the knots in your body, drifting to sleep to let your brain rest up from stupid physics.

[junker-town]

Everything we learned from the 2015 NFL Draft, five years later

Todd Gurley, Marcus Mariota, and Jameis Winston were all top-10 picks in the 2015 NFL Draft.

2015 was a bad year for first-round picks. Teams that fail to learn from it may just repeat it.

From a franchise’s standpoint, the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft was one of the worst of all time. Five years later, only seven of the Day 1 picks are settled in for their sixth season with the club that drafted them. That includes just one player from the top 10 — Washington offensive lineman Brandon Scherff.

Yes, the first round of the 2015 draft did something long thought impossible in the NFL. It made Washington look like a stable and well-run organization.

Five years ago, each of these selections was an opportunity. Now they’re a lesson. The first 32 picks of that draft presented themes which can apply to 2020.

1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Jameis Winston, QB

Winston’s cannon arm led Florida State to a national championship and earned him a Heisman Trophy. He used that unquenchable desire to create big plays to become the NFL’s most turnover-prone player; he had 88 interceptions, 50 fumbles, and zero playoff appearances with the Bucs. He’s currently a free agent.

Lesson learned: Heisman winners are no safe bet ... and extremely hard to quit.

Winston was given five years to stake his claim as Tampa’s franchise quarterback and went 28-42. The Buccaneers were finally willing to let the sun set on the Winston era, in part, because a superior option cropped up in free agency. Bruce Arians is betting Tom Brady is the key to unlocking his team’s potential.

Players it applies to in 2020: Joe Burrow

2. Tennessee Titans: Marcus Mariota, QB

Mariota got stuck at “goodness” and never made it to “greatness.” The Titans finished 9-7 in four of the former Oregon star’s five seasons on the roster — a run that culminated in Mariota losing his starting job in favor of Dolphins retread Ryan Tannehill.

Lesson learned: See above.

Like Winston, Mariota has a Heisman Trophy at home, yet will likely head into a backup role after joining the Raiders.

Players it applies to in 2020: Joe Burrow

3. Jacksonville Jaguars: Dante Fowler, Edge

Fowler was more potential than production at Florida, but the Jaguars liked his power and athleticism enough to make him the centerpiece of their draft class. He missed his rookie year due to an ACL tear, then made one start in 2.5 years for Jacksonville before being traded.

Lesson learned: Potential needs opportunity.

Fowler’s injury wrecked his learning curve, and a slow start kept him trapped in the middle of the Jaguars’ depth chart. The first season in which he played more than 53 percent of his team’s defensive snaps came in 2019. He rewarded that faith with a career-high 11.5 sacks ... for the Rams.

Players it applies to in 2020: K’Lavon Chaisson, Yetur Gross-Matos, A.J. Epenesa

4. Oakland Raiders: Amari Cooper, WR

Cooper was drafted to be a No. 1 wideout in the league. Two Pro Bowl invitations in his first two seasons backed up that claim — though it took a trade out of Oakland to restore his luster after a disappointing 2017.

Lesson learned: Alabama’s Day 1 wideouts live up to the hype.

Julio Jones? Stud. Cooper? Stud. Calvin Ridley? Well, it’s still early to tell, but he’s got 17 touchdowns in 29 career games so far. All were Crimson Tide standouts.

Players it applies to in 2020: Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs III

5. Washington: Brandon Scherff, OL

Scherff played both tackle and guard in college and was the ideal Iowa blocker: big, aggressive, and tough as hell. Fifth overall may have seemed a bit high, but he rewarded Washington with three Pro Bowl honors and was retained this spring via the franchise tag.

Lesson learned: Good blocking is important, wherever it is.

Only one guard has been selected in the top five picks since 1976. Scherff played enough on the edge to narrowly avoid a place on that list, but he’s been used almost exclusively at right guard in Washington. He’s kicked ass doing it, too. With NFL QBs now more mobile than ever before and the value of blocking expanding just beyond a blindside protector, it could soon be time for a full-time guard to return to the top five.

Players it applies to in 2020: Cesar Ruiz, Lloyd Cushenberry III, Netane Muti

6. New York Jets: Leonard Williams, DL

Williams was a projected top-three pick who fell to the Jets at No. 6. He began to reach that potential in a Pro Bowl 2016 campaign, but failed to match that production in the years that followed. He was traded to the Giants last fall.

Lesson learned: Never get your hopes up, Jets fans.

Between 2012 and 2016, New York had 11 first- or second-round picks. Williams, with his lone Pro Bowl invitation, may have been the best of a group that includes Sheldon Richardson (not bad!) but also Christian Hackenberg, Darron Lee, and Dee Milliner (bad!).

The past three seasons have trended in the opposite direction thanks to the brilliance of Jamal Adams and potential of Sam Darnold and Quinnen Williams. Still, as Leonard Williams proved, early success as a Jet is no guarantee of future returns.

Players it applies to in 2020: According to our mock draft database, CeeDee Lamb, Jerry Jeudy, Jedrick Wills

7. Chicago Bears: Kevin White, WR

White was electricity at West Virginia; a 6’3 burner with a nose for the end zone. But he was raw and often injured; he played just 14 games in four years for the Bears and spent 2019 out of the NFL.

Lesson learned: Sometimes the universe just says no.

White’s NFL career played out like a ragged curse. He missed the entirely of his rookie season due to a broken tibia. He broke a bone in the same leg after just four games the following year. He started the team’s season opener in 2017 and promptly fractured his shoulder. By November 2018, he’d become a shell of his former self enough to make him a healthy scratch.

White had the chops to be great. The football gods had different plans.

Players it applies to in 2020: There’s no way of knowing ... but the safe money’s on whomever the Browns pick.

8. Atlanta Falcons: Vic Beasley, Edge

Beasley was a first-team All-Pro in his second season, but hasn’t lived up to that standard in the three decent, but underwhelming, years since. He signed with the Titans this spring.

Lesson learned: Sack numbers don’t tell the whole story.

There was a warning sign that predicted his 15.5-sack season wasn’t sustainable. Despite ranking first in the NFL in sacks in 2016, he was just 45th with 16 QB hits. That suggested his numbers would trend downward — and they did.

Players it applies to in 2020: Zach Baun, Alex Highsmith

9. New York Giants: Ereck Flowers, OT

Flowers was drafted to keep Eli Manning upright. He did not succeed. Flowers was released in 2018, but showed enough with Washington in 2019 l to earn a three-year, $30 million contract with the Dolphins.

Lesson learned: Pay attention to red flags, especially if you’re reaching to fill a position of need.

There were plenty of reasons not to make Flowers a top-10 pick. He was unpolished and undisciplined, eager to draw holding penalties at the first sign of getting beat. He was big and athletic, but the Giants needed someone who could make an immediate impact. Flowers was not that guy, and it’s safe to say this overeager over-reach is still haunting the Giants.

Players it applies to in 2020: Jordan Love, A.J. Epenesa

10. St. Louis Rams: Todd Gurley, RB

Gurley was a gamble — an all-world running back coming off an ACL tear that threatened to hinder his pro career. While he earned rookie of the year honors and would be a two-time All-Pro in 2017-18, those injury concerns sapped his 2019. That, and an untenable contract, led to his release this offseason.

Lesson learned: High-usage running backs with injury histories are just as risky as they sound.

Gurley was a high-risk, high-reward selection who paid off both sides of that adage in five seasons as a Ram. St. Louis/LA would likely make that bargain again — though they’d probably like to rescind his record-setting contract extension.

Players it applies to in 2020: D’Andre Swift, Zack Moss, Darrynton Evans

11. Minnesota Vikings: Trae Waynes, CB

The rangy corner displayed lockdown tendencies at Michigan State to be the first defensive back selected in 2015. He eventually became a steady, if unspectacular, starter in Minnesota.

Lesson learned: Aggression is a double-edged sword.

Waynes built a reputation at MSU as a high-level press corner, thriving by taking risks, jumping routes, and using his recovery speed to clean up messes. That strategy hasn’t paid off for him as well against the NFL’s more athletic receivers. He’s allowed more than twice as many touchdowns (nine) as interceptions (four) in his last three seasons.

Players it applies to in 2020: Jeff Gladney, Amik Robertson

12. Cleveland Browns: Danny Shelton, DT

Shelton was one of the final picks of the Ray Farmer era in Cleveland. Despite having little impact as a Brown, he’s still arguably the team’s best Day 1 pick from 2011-15. After three years and only 11 tackles for loss in 46 games, he was traded to the Patriots.

Lesson learned: You’re probably going to regret trading your draft bust to the Patriots.

Shelton didn’t prosper right away in New England, but his second season with the Pats saw him emerge as an above-average interior lineman. He set personal bests in tackles, sacks, and QB hits as an invaluable piece of the NFL’s top defense.

Players it applies to in 2020: Since there aren’t any notable Rutgers prospects this year, we’ll have to wait and see.

13. New Orleans Saints: Andrus Peat, OL

Peat was drafted as a high-ceiling offensive tackle, but struggles forced him to guard for the bulk of his career. It’s worked out well in spurts. He was one of New Orleans’ most valuable blockers from 2016 to 2018, though he backslid in 2019 (despite earning a Pro Bowl invitation).

Lesson learned: A position change doesn’t mean admitting defeat, so find someone versatile.

Like Scherff before him, Peat’s best work came as a guard. That might not have been what the Saints drafted him for, but a good team (and also Washington) finds a way to maximize talent.

Players it applies to in 2020: Any OT prospect who struggles as a rookie.

14. Miami Dolphins: DeVante Parker, WR

Parker was a reliable presence at Louisville, but his senior season — 43 catches, 855 yards in SIX games — made him a top-15 pick. He didn’t meet expectations until 2019, however, because ...

Lesson learned: Adam Gase cannot be trusted.

Parker’s value plummeted in his three seasons playing under Gase. Freed from his underachieving head coach and catching passes from a freewheeling Ryan Fitzpatrick, Parker sprang for career highs of 72 catches, 1,202 yards, and nine touchdowns last season.

Players it applies to in 2020: Whichever skill players the Jets draft. Sorry, Jets.

15. San Diego Chargers: Melvin Gordon, RB

Gordon earned two Pro Bowl honors in his five seasons as a Charger. However, his tenure there may be defined by the 2019 contract holdout that proved an undrafted free agent, Austin Ekeler, could do his job better than Gordon could.

Lesson learned: Healthy first-round running backs are risky, too.

Gordon was a workhorse at Wisconsin, playing 41 games (and taking 611 carries) over his final three years. Even though he was good for the Chargers, he never quite reached the level of greatness ascribed to a top-15 pick.

Players it applies to in 2020: D’Andre Swift, J.K. Dobbins, Jonathan Taylor

16. Houston Texans: Kevin Johnson, CB

Johnson made 10 starts for Houston as a rookie, but injuries limited him to just 19 games the following three seasons. While he played every week of the 2019 season for the Bills’ dominant defense, he played just 32 percent of the team’s defensive snaps.

Lesson learned: Even safe picks blow up sometimes.

Johnson looked every bit a star cornerback at Wake Forest. He put together a stronger college resume than almost anyone else in his draft class. Even if players like Waynes and Marcus Peters had boom-or-bust tendencies, Johnson appeared to have the lower ceiling but higher floor. Instead, he struggled as a rookie and then injuries robbed him of having a major impact in Houston.

Players it applies to in 2020: Jeff Okudah, Chase Young, Tristan Wirfs, Derrick Brown

17. San Francisco 49ers: Arik Armstead, DL

Armstead played a supporting role early in his career before moving into a full-time position on the defensive line for an ascending Niners team. After posting nine sacks in his first four seasons, he broke through with 10 last fall to help bring San Francisco an NFC title.

Lesson learned: Supporting cast matters.

Armstead came along slowly, but he blossomed when teammates like Nick Bosa, DeForest Buckner, and Dee Ford were there to soften up offensive lines and push quarterbacks into his path.

Players it applies to in 2020: Jeff Okudah, Chase Young, any Day 1 pick expected to prop up a bottom-third unit.

18. Kansas City Chiefs: Marcus Peters, CB

Peters came into the league as a high-upside coverage corner who could turn mistakes into turnovers (and allow opposing QBs to turn his mistakes into touchdowns), though his off-field record tarnished his draft stock. He’s enjoyed an up-and-down pro career that reached new heights after three pick-sixes in 2019 for the Ravens.

Lesson learned: Don’t have a knee-jerk reaction to a few bad plays.

Peters tends to gamble at corner, leading to big swings in coverage. His 25 touchdowns allowed since joining the league are second-most in the NFL in that span. That helped lead to two different low-cost trades for a two-time All-Pro with more interceptions than scoring plays given up.

Players it applies to in 2020: Jeff Gladney, Amik Robertson

19. Cleveland Browns: Cameron Erving, OL

Erving lasted just two seasons in Cleveland before being traded to the Chiefs, where he’s been a useful, if unessential, swing tackle ever since.

Lesson learned: The Browns can’t win.

Cleveland had two first-round picks and beefed up both sides of the trenches. Each pick garnered mostly positive reviews (Shelton more than Erving), but neither player lasted more than three seasons with the Browns.

The poor, poor Browns.

Players it applies to in 2020: Whomever gets the call to wear these swank-ass uniforms.

20. Philadelphia Eagles: Nelson Agholor, WR

Agholor was supposed to be the perfect playmaker for Chip Kelly. Instead, his career got off to a rough start before briefly stabilizing and then, in 2019, returning to disappointment. He’ll try to live up to his first-round status as a Raider in 2020.

Lesson learned: Some flaws don’t get fixed.

Agholor is an electric athlete and an occasional savior from the slot, but his college tape showed a player whose lapses in concentration led to frustrating drops. As an Eagles fan will tell you, that’s a problem that didn’t go away in the NFL — he had 21 drops the past four seasons.

Players it applies to in 2020: Jordan Love, Jalen Reagor

21. Cincinnati Bengals: Cedric Ogbuehi, OT

Ogbuehi was a big, quick lineman who played both guard and tackle at Texas A&M, but a torn ACL meant he brought injury concerns with him to the NFL. He never quite rounded into shape. He has appeared in only 16 games (zero starts) over the past two seasons with the Bengals and Jaguars.

Lesson learned: Maybe trust the All-Pro who says he can still play in his mid-30s?

Ogbuehi’s arrival made Andrew Whitworth expendable — and when the Bengals weren’t willing to pay his market value, he moved on to the Rams. He was an All-Pro immediately after leaving Cincinnati, then the blindside protector for a Super Bowl team at age 37.

Players it applies to in 2020: The players drafted to replace Tom Brady, Greg Olsen, Philip Rivers, or Jason Witten.

22. Pittsburgh Steelers: Bud Dupree, Edge

Dupree started his career in more of a supporting role for Pittsburgh, but 2019 marked his ascension to the spotlight. His 11.5 sacks were a career high and made him a potent cantilever to T.J. Watt’s edge rush.

Lesson learned: Trust productive guys from overlooked Power 5 teams.

Dupree turned himself from a three-star recruit to All-SEC pass rusher at Kentucky, en route to 23 sacks in his final three seasons. He was still only the fourth pass rusher selected in 2015. Five years later, he looks like the best first-round edge rusher of his class.

Players it applies to in 2020: Ke’Shawn Vaughn, A.J. Dillon, Jake Luton, Justin Strnad, Markus Bailey

23. Denver Broncos: Shane Ray, Edge

Ray was supposed to be the explosive counterpunch to Von Miller’s tackle-shredding pass rush. But he had 14 sacks in four seasons for Denver. He spent the 2019 season out of the league.

Lesson learned: Tread lightly with numbers that look too good to be true.

Ray turned himself into a first-round pick with a breakthrough 14.5-sack junior season — 10 more than he’d had in his career to that point. It also turned out to be more than he’d have in his entire NFL tenure.

Players it applies to in 2020: Joe Burrow, Alex Highsmith, Brandon Aiyuk

24. Arizona Cardinals: D.J. Humphries, OT

Humphries has been a mostly fine blocker ... when he’s on the field. He was inactive his entire rookie season and has only played 43 total games, though he showed enough in 2019 to earn a three-year, $43.75 million deal.

Lesson learned: Injury reports matter.

Humphries only spent two seasons as a starter at Florida and missed at least two games due to injury in both of them. While his five-star potential was too much for the Cardinals to ignore, second-round tackles like Donovan Smith or Rob Havenstein would have been more productive blockers in Arizona.

Players it applies to in 2020: Tua Tagovailoa, Julian Okwara, Laviska Shenault Jr.

25. Carolina Panthers: Shaq Thompson, LB

Thompson is a do-it-all inside linebacker who’s been able to stand up against the pass and the run as an NFL gap-plugger. Last season was his best year: 109 tackles, three sacks, and 11 tackles for loss despite the inherent crappiness of the 2019 Panthers.

Lesson learned: Don’t overthink things.

The Panthers took a proven, athletic young talent to fill up an unsexy position. Thompson’s versatility is a godsend for his defensive coordinators. He’s poised to carry Luke Kuechly’s torch into 2020 and beyond.

Players it applies to in 2020: Jeff Okudah, Antoine Winfield Jr., Zack Baun

26. Baltimore Ravens: Breshad Perriman, WR

Perriman was a mess for the Ravens. Injuries robbed him of his rookie campaign, and he posted just a 42.7 percent catch rate in the two years after. His value has rebounded in recent years, though he’s still never caught more than 36 passes in a season.

Lesson learned: NFL development isn’t a straight line.

Perriman looked like a bust after flaming out in Baltimore, but the past two years have provided flashes of brilliance. Redemption has come in fleeting moments with the Browns and Buccaneers (seven games with at least 70 receiving yards). The Jets are betting he can fulfill his first-round destiny after signing him to a one-year, $6.5 million deal this offseason.

Players it applies to in 2020: Everyone.

27. Dallas Cowboys: Byron Jones, CB

Jones went from UConn standout to one of the league’s top cover corners in his five years with Dallas. A salary cap crunch allowed him to hit the open market. The Dolphins obliged by handing him a then-record $82.5 million contract to head up their rebuild.

Lesson learned: Bet on the guy who set a world record at the combine.

Investing in combine stars doesn’t always pay off, but when a guy goes out and produces such an outlier performance — like Jones did with a 12’3 broad jump — he’s probably worth a bump up the draft board.

Players it applies to in 2020: Mekhi Becton, Carlos Davis, Netane Muti

28. Detroit Lions: Laken Tomlinson, G

Tomlinson was one of the more surprising selections of the first round; the useful interior lineman was expected to be a Day 2 pick. Although he struggled in Detroit, he’s since developed into a steady starter for the 49ers.

Lesson learned: Be patient, even with a polished prospect.

The Lions didn’t have a left guard on the roster when they drafted Tomlinson, which led him to be thrown into the fire as a rookie. Detroit ended up trading away a still-developing starter on a low-cost rookie contract to San Francisco for ... a fifth-round pick. That trade looks like one the Lions would like to have back.

Players it applies to in 2020: Every fifth-year senior out there.

29. Indianapolis Colts: Phillip Dorsett, WR

Dorsett was a burner at Miami, averaging 23.3 yards per catch his final two seasons. He also had only 49 catches those two years — setting the stage for a career that’s seen him be vital in spurts and anonymous elsewhere between the Colts and Patriots.

Lesson learned: Deep-ball speed can be a tough transition to the NFL.

Dorsett has had the chance to play with two top-tier quarterbacks in his career (Andrew Luck, Tom Brady) and didn’t evolve into anything more than a reliable third option. While valuable, he’s never had more than 33 catches in a season.

Players it applies to in 2020: CeeDee Lamb, Tee Higgins, Quez Watkins

30. Green Bay Packers: Damarious Randall, DB

After three decent seasons in Green Bay, Randall was traded for DeShone Kizer, which is one of the most disrespectful sentences one can write about a football player. Randall moved to safety and was a versatile player for the Browns.

Lesson learned: Don’t trade for DeShone Kizer (or anyone who throws twice as many interceptions as touchdowns).

Kizer undoubtedly had his growth stunted by a rookie season starting for an awful Browns team, and shipping a player Green Bay wasn’t interested in re-signing wasn’t a bad idea in theory. But the Packers still sent a 25-year-old starter to Cleveland for a quarterback who went 0-15 and posted an 11:22 TD:INT ratio in his debut season.

Players it applies to in 2020: Whomever gets traded for Jameis Winston in 2022.

31. New Orleans Saints: Stephone Anthony, LB

Anthony played through his second stint with the Saints in 2019 after being traded to the Dolphins two years earlier. Unlike Tomlinson, he failed to rebound; he started all 16 games for New Orleans as a rookie but has just four starts in the four seasons since.

Lesson learned: An all-rookie team appearance is no indicator of success.

Anthony was an all-rookie selection, but he’s been primarily a special teams player since 2016. While teams have been eager to kick the tires on him, the fact the Jets, Falcons, and Dolphins all either released him or let him walk away is an indicator of just how little that potential means now.

Players it applies to in 2020: Each of the upcoming season’s rookie stars.

32. New England Patriots: Malcom Brown, DT

Brown spent four seasons in the center of the Patriots’ defensive line, then last year with the Saints. In both places, he’s done his job well enough to be mostly unnoticeable while his teammates largely benefitted from the disruptions he caused.

Lesson learned: Don’t let a potential top-20 pick fall to Bill Belichick.

Brown was expected to land in the top half of the draft, but his slide to No. 32 convinced Belichick to tamp down his basest urges to trade the pick. The Texas star filled an immediate need for New England and played a key role on two Super Bowl champion teams.

Players it applies to in 2020: Zack Baun, Jerry Jeudy, Henry Ruggs, Andrew Thomas, Tristan Wirfs, Mekhi Becton, etc.

[paulbenedictblog]

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Fox news Biggest questions facing top 5 QBs at combine - NFL.com

Fox news

LSU's Joe Burrow heads to the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis this week because the favourite to be the No. 1 overall draft capture. However there is a growing sense within the scouting community three quarterbacks would per chance cease up coming into into the tip 5 -- and it's tranquil too soon to name Burrow a lock to be the first one off the board.

Alabama's Tua Tagovailoa and Oregon's Justin Herbert additionally are heading within the correct route to head early, supplied Tagovailoa's surgically repaired hip checks out. And the names of two completely different QBs -- Utah Snarl's Jordan Adore and Washington's Jacob Eason -- approach up in each conversation about others who delight in the capability to rise throughout the pre-draft process and ultimately land in Round 1. (The consensus on completely different huge names, such as Georgia's Jake Fromm and Oklahoma's Jalen Hurts, is they enter the thrust of the pre-draft process a notch under as seemingly Day 2 picks.)

The mix marks the first alternative for NFL groups to spend main time across the likes of Burrow, Tagovailoa and Eason, and the 2nd around Herbert and Adore, who had been on the Senior Bowl in January. It is now not going to be the last time, with pro days, non-public exercises, "Top 30" visits and more forward in an evaluation process that is more intensive for QBs than at any completely different position.

Groups delight in the total game tape (despite the undeniable reality that many coaches have not dug into it yet). Condo scouts delight in spoken to each person they will safe (even within the occasion that they will also now not delight in shaken the player's hand). So what's left to decide out?

Right here's a behold on the massive questions going through each QB this week, in retaining with present conversations with historical evaluators across the NFL, from resolution-makers to space scouts. Gamers are listed alphabetically.

Joe Burrow, LSU

Can his speedily rise proceed on the NFL stage? Anytime a player's numbers spike in a single year the diagram Burrow's did -- from 16 touchdown passes and a pair of,894 passing yards in 2018 to 60 TDs and 5,671 yards this past season (on his technique to a Heisman Trophy and the national championship) -- NFL groups want to model why. "A year within the past, the man seemingly would've long gone within the third or fourth spherical, and this year, all of a unexpected, he is Andrew Luck," an AFC government talked about of Burrow. "And the [2019 LSU team] become very, very, very proficient around him." Of the 11 players LSU performed most on offense, another exec talked about 10 will seemingly be NFL players, many of them high draft picks. LSU overhauled its scheme last offseason, ditching a huddle-up, pro-fashion diagram in settle on of a huge-open, shotgun attack directed by contemporary fade game coordinator Joe Brady, who's now the Carolina Panthers' OC. How mighty of Burrow's recount become connected to scheme? How mighty of it become Brady? How mighty of it become his teammates? Nobody has mighty doubt about Burrow's intangibles, management and capability to process, given rave experiences from each person who's been around him, relationship to his stint as a backup at Ohio Snarl earlier than his grad switch. "For me, it's only a huge-portray factor," an AFC scout talked about. "OK, you went from this signaling offense, name it from the sideline and the click field, to the headset cuts off at 15 seconds (within the NFL) and also potentialities are you'll maybe even delight in mass chaos in front of you -- how will you address that?"

How's his arm? Burrow's accuracy is a plus. However scouts payment his arm power as sensible, and completely under the likes of Herbert. "He'll be third out of these three (high) guys in the case of constructing factual force throws on the pro throws -- the dig, the comeback, the tight-window throws," an AFC scout talked about. "Nonetheless it's now not a detriment to him. It be nothing that caused you to cease." Acknowledged a college scouting director: "Everyone's evaluation of him from '18 -- that become piece of the evaluation that had him down (within the mid rounds), become fair [his arm strength]. And clearly, that didn't change. Burrow's now not a huge man (listed at 6-foot-4, 216 kilos in school). On account of this going to the Senior Bowl or going to the mix and getting when put next with guys -- it's now not what makes Joe Burrow special." Burrow declined his Senior Bowl invite to spend time with family; no observe yet on whether or now not he'll throw in Indianapolis or at for his pro day. "Scrutinize Eason, Adore, Tua and Herbert throw three balls, then throw [Burrow] on last," another AFC government talked about. "It fair looks completely different. It be now not honest. However each person is conscious of there is more to his position than that arm. Is he Alex Smith? Or is he gonna ever be better than that?"

Jacob Eason, Washington

Has he grown up? A 5-star prospect out of highschool, Eason began 12 games as a factual freshman at Georgia nonetheless ended up transferring after suffering a knee injury within the 2017 opener and shedding his job to the less-proficient, more dialed-in Fromm. "The factor that is haunting Eason correct now is he become Joe College when he got to Georgia," an AFC scout talked about. "It be available within the market he become a celebration man, compose of punched the clock. He's the one-year wonder who has capability oozing out of him, nonetheless he would per chance've historical another year." An NFC scout who spent hundreds of time on Eason talked about he is matured and off-discipline actions weren't a ache at Washington, where he redshirted in 2018 and -- after a nearly two-year layoff -- threw for 3,132 yards and 23 touchdowns with eight interceptions last drop. He has a likeable personality that will spend over NFL of us in interviews, which is in a position to be extreme, since they tranquil delight in hundreds of questions: about instincts, resolution-making, work ethic, and so forth. "My ache is from a psychological processing after which from a management standpoint," a college scouting director talked about. "However capability-colorful -- potentialities are you'll maybe also attach his capability up in opposition to any of them. He would per chance need the handiest arm, he is athletic, he is huge (6-6, 227). It be fair the tape is terribly up and down. However I keep in mind any person is going to drop in esteem with this man over the following two months. Someone's going to behold the capability and train, 'I will fix this man.' "

How fair of an athlete is he? Eason is now not going to fracture any mix facts, nonetheless he would per chance attain better than of us keep in mind, especially for his measurement. He'll attain every thing in Indy, including blow their own horns his arm within the throwing session. "I construct now not keep in mind Eason's going to check all that wisely in the case of working and leaping or anything else esteem that," an NFC scout talked about. "However he is going to throw the s--- out of it." Acknowledged another college scouting director: "Herbert's a huge man with a huge arm, and Eason's greater and got a greater arm. This mix factor need to tranquil be fair for him."

Justin Herbert, Oregon

Can he attach all of it together? The total traits scouts behold for are there. And Herbert helped himself with a mettlesome performance on the Senior Bowl, where he won MVP honors. "The Senior Bowl is now not the least bit times a straightforward assign of dwelling to trip correct in and adapt and be purposeful in a fully contemporary offense with a bunch of contemporary receivers, and I'd train he did it as wisely as any person in present memory," a college scouting director talked about. "No longer that that is a be-all, cease-all, nonetheless it completely's a fair correct fair indication that the man can address some transition and adjustment." That is especially famous for a Eugene, Oregon, native who'd never lived anyplace else earlier than relocating to California for pre-draft practicing. Herbert is the most experienced QB of this crew, having thrown for 95 touchdowns and 10,541 yards in 44 college games (42 begins). He returned to Oregon for his senior year, won the Pac-12 title and ran for 3 touchdowns, including the 30-yard game winner, in Oregon's Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin. "I execrable Herbert first," an AFC scout talked about. "He's greater (6-6 1/8, 227). He's stronger. There's nothing more that youngster wishes to attain." Some scouts tranquil delight in questions about Herbert's instincts and innate playmaking capability, although neither the Geese' receivers nor their efforts to do a vitality-working game did him many favors. One scouting director talked about he wished Herbert had made greater strides throughout the last couple seasons; as a replace, his pattern looked to flatline. "What's his signature game? The Rose Bowl, where he ran? You fair desired to behold him gash free and fade originate a play," an AFC government talked about. "Now, they didn't give him any befriend schematically. It become a s--- offense to check. That is where our coaching staffs approach in: 'Is it him? Or is it them?' He's got the total bodily instruments. He's huge, he is snappy, he is athletic and he is got a huge f---ing cannon arm." The notion is for Herbert to throw and attain every thing else on the mix.

How will his personality play in an NFL locker room? Several scouts train they had been pleasantly very a lot surprised by Herbert's interactions with them, and teammates, on the Senior Bowl. "Everyone's fair going to knock him: 'Is he too good? Is he too nerdy? Is he too introverted?' All that bulls---. However he'll be stunning," an NFC scout talked about. "He's good dapper. He's refined as s---. He fair didn't delight in the Joe Burrow self perception that he is a baller yet. He become a dull-stunning dude, underrecruited, Eugene become his home, being a Duck quarterback become his pinnacle. He's fair growing up as a young man. He would now not understand how fair he can even be. However the boldness is coming."

Jordan Adore, Utah Snarl

How mighty football does he know? There were hundreds of elements in Adore's dip from a breakout 2018 season (32 touchdowns, six interceptions on an 11-2 Aggies crew) to 2019, when he threw 17 INTs. "This man goes through his third or fourth offensive coordinator, a brand contemporary head coach, nine offensive starters (leave) -- how would per chance that now not affect any person?" a college scouting director talked about. "He become compelled to attain too mighty and he tried to attain too mighty and it ache him." Ravishing the amount of turnovers raises questions, although, so Adore's board sessions will seemingly be main in meetings. "Everyone is going to drill into him about how mighty exact football he is conscious of and processing snappy and all that stuff," an NFC scout talked about. "He become in [an Air Raid] offense his first couple years, so it become honest straightforward and he become fair having fun with free and letting it rip. When he if truth be told needed to sit down down and browse coverages and flee more advanced schemes that he is going to thrill in flee on the following stage and attain more, he didn't capture that this year." There's plenty to esteem with Adore -- measurement (6-3 5/8, 223), broad arms (10 5/8), a natural stroke, capability to throw on the switch and a relaxed presence about him. He plans to throw in Indy. "I keep in mind Adore's going to be the attention-grabbing one," an NFC government talked about. "It be a terribly lively arm."

What become he pondering? Nobody thinks Adore is a execrable youngster or truly an off-discipline threat. However potentialities are you'll maybe also wager groups can delight in questions about Adore's quotation, along with two teammates, for marijuana possession on Dec. 14 -- days after he'd declared for the NFL draft and days earlier than Utah Snarl's bowl game -- although the costs had been later brushed apart. "If he told any person that he smoked weed, they'd be esteem, 'OK, no topic,' " an AFC government talked about. "However inserting your self in that position -- after having a down year -- it makes you merely keep in mind esteem, what the f---?" As a college scouting director attach it: "Quarterback is a judgment position. So if his judgment is unsuitable, you are in huge ache."

Tua Tagovailoa, Alabama

How's the scientific checklist? It be now not only the hip Tagovailoa dislocated Nov. 16 at Mississippi Snarl, ending his junior season. Tagovailoa additionally has had "tightrope" surgical treatment on each his ankles -- the left in December 2018 and the supreme last October. He additionally had surgical treatment for a broken index finger on his left (throwing) hand last March and performed through a knee injury last October. "It be all (about) durability," an AFC scout talked about. "Durability and fair the play fashion, because clearly, he is ultra-instinctive, only a gamer. The problem is the injury historical past." The mix will provide the first alternative for NFL scientific doctors to scrutinize Tagovailoa, who's now not going to be ready to determine in Indy nonetheless intends to catch a non-public pro day earlier than the draft. So, whereas all indicators are only previously, each crew -- with its own scientific doctors, and its own stage of threat tolerance -- will give you the choice to diagram to its own conclusions about how wisely Tagovailoa's hip will catch up, whether or now not there are long-term risks such as arthritis, and so forth. "Even as you will wager your job on [drafting him], you better be rattling obvious that he checks each completely different field, because there is hundreds of issues to nitpick on with this man -- most importantly, the injuries," an AFC government talked about. "He's a 6-foot quarterback who's 230 kilos with a (dislocated) hip and it fair would now not add up."

How will his personality play in an NFL locker room? One NFC scout when put next Tagovailoa's personality to that of fellow Hawaii native Marcus Mariota: "It be Kind B, nonchalant, he performs the ukulele across the constructing -- only a exact laid-encourage dude." That is now not a knock in opposition to Tagovailoa. Groups fair will want to get to understand him, as wisely as learn more about his family, including his father, Galu, who remains heavily focused on his son's existence. "The man has confirmed he is a exact chief," a college scouting director talked about of Tua. "It be a dinky bit completely different fashion, nonetheless that is all legitimate." Though he is now not going to determine in Indianapolis, groups additionally can spend meetings to learn more about Tagovailoa as a player. His manufacturing below three completely different coordinators in three years -- 87 touchdown passes in opposition to fair 11 interceptions in 33 college games (24 begins) whereas throwing to the Crimson Tide's outstanding receiver crew -- suggests a high stage of adaptability. "(Slit) Saban loves this man. They esteem his instincts," another AFC government talked about. "I construct now not keep in mind [handling pro concepts is] going to be a major field, nonetheless potentialities are you'll maybe also want to assign him throughout the ringer. You give him no topic your crew has as a long way as making an strive out a man's capability to learn and lend a hand and also you lift him through that." Tagovailoa has been doing board work in present weeks with used NFL coach Ken Whisenhunt, who has been impressed.

Note Tom Pelissero on Twitter @TomPelissero.

[todaybreakingnews]

Texas blasts a cannon through a Joe Burrow jersey on College GameDay, and LSU fans thought it was weird - The Advocate

Texas blasts a cannon through a Joe Burrow jersey on College GameDay, and LSU fans thought it was weird  The Advocate

LSU vs. Texas: Live stream, watch online, TV channel, kickoff time, odds, prediction, pick  CBS Sports

Before heading to SmackDown, Undertaker works ESPN College Gameday  Cageside Seats

The ESPN College GameDay crew is rolling with LSU tonight  Burnt Orange Nation

LSU vs. Texas score: Live game updates, highlights, college football scores, full coverage  CBS Sports

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New on Sports Illustrated: Tua's Fate Remains the Biggest Mystery, How the Mock Draft Played Out and Other NFL Notes

It's still unclear who is interested in Tagovailoa ahead of the NFL draft, which could see him slide further than expected. Plus how the mock draft went and other NFL notes.

Seventy-two hours to go…

• The big mystery continues to be the fate of Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa. I can’t find anyone who thinks Miami is taking him. With the Chargers, it depends more on who you talk to—and like I said in this morning’s column, GM Tom Telesco’s pretty good at concealing his intentions. If Tagovailoa slides past No. 6, it certainly opens up the question of when/if the Chargers will add another quarterback, and whether it’ll be in the draft or with a veteran. And it, of course, leads to Tagovailoa sliding, because from there it’s hard to find a home for him. We’ve seen this in the past. Aaron Rodgers, Brady Quinn and Johnny Manziel are among those in the fairly recent past who most people figured would go top 10, and wound up slipping into the 20s. There’s some expectation that Tagovailoa could tempt the Raiders with one of their picks. And there’s speculation that Patriots coach Bill Belichick could take a swing if Tagovailoa falls far enough, given that Nick Saban has given the quarterback glowing reviews, both publicly and privately, and the two coaches are so close.

• It’s no secret that both the Giants and Lions would love to move their picks, and it seems like their ability to do it might ride on whether they’re willing to take a little less than they may have hoped for. Let’s say, for argument’s sake, Detroit is comfortable with Ohio State CB Jeff Okudah and Auburn DT Derrick Brown, but likes those guys more at No. 5 or 6 than No. 3 (which I believe very well could be the case). And then, they look at the Giants likely to take an offensive tackle at No. 4, and it becomes a near-certainty they’ll get one of them at No. 5 or 6. How much would you really need to go down? Would a single second-rounder do it? It’s an interesting position that both Bob Quinn and Dave Gettleman are in.

• So how did that mock draft go on Monday? I texted with a half-dozen head coaches and GMs, and it seems like the consensus was that, after a shaky start, things got straightened out. The problem at the top, with the first pick, actually had to do with muting and un-muting a line. And there were some bumps to work out while the league and teams did dry runs on the trades early on. “It was all process-related,” said one team official on the call. Once everyone got the hang of it, it went better. And in the aftermath, the biggest question I could find, and this one came from a head coach, was how often the clock will have to be stopped to complete trades. But it was clear to everyone on there that there will be a lot of moving parts to organize Thursday, which is why this was done—to get everyone comfortable with a pretty unusual circumstance.

• Give NFL commissioner Roger Goodell credit for this one: 

It shows he’s not taking himself too seriously. And while this is a little thing to help a very big cause, I’m not sure a couple years ago that the hyper-image-conscious league would’ve signed off on something like this.

• Niners GM John Lynch saying on Monday that he’s expecting left tackle Joe Staley back for a 14th season is a very big deal. As I understand it, San Francisco sees Mike McGlinchey staying on the right side long-term, which means they’ll have a big hole at some point over the next few years at a spot that traditionally demands a massive investment to fill. That it’s not an immediate need gives the team some flexibility. But I still think if a left tackle they like falls into their lap at No. 13, or even 31, they won’t hesitate to get ahead of this looming issue.

• So I should expound on my point on Jaguars DE Yannick Ngakoue from this morning, since it came up. One interesting idea that was floated to me was that Ngakoue could actually be a part of Jacksonville trading down to acquire a future asset. For argument’s sake—and this is a complete hypothetical—let’s say Tampa Bay wants to come up and get a tackle from No. 14. And the Bucs think they’ll be pretty good this year, and are in win-now mode, which may devalue their 2021 first-round pick a little (at least in their eyes). Could, then, the Jaguars package the ninth pick and Ngakoue for the 14th pick and the Bucs’ first-rounder next year? Something like that could make sense (and, again, I’m just pulling this one as a hypothetical).

• Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio is correct in saying what he’s saying here—NFL teams would be foolish to believe that results from “virtual” pro days aren’t cooked to favor players. That said, if you cut the silly stuff out, there are things that can be helpful to teams, and most of it has to do with movement. Some tape that’s gone out to clubs, with prospects going through position drills, has been helpful in that regard.

• And we’ll wrap with a couple leftovers from my talk with likely Bengal-to-be Joe Burrow. One of the more interesting things he said to me that I left out of the MMQB? I asked if his doubt that this could happen—where he’d be set to go to first overall—was a form of PTSD, from being overlooked in the past. He laughed. “100%, PTSD,” he answered. “You could call it that from Ohio State and from being recruited.” His scholarship offer list in 2015, after being named Mr. Football in Ohio: Boston College, Central Michigan, Cincinnati, East Carolina, Fresno State, Iowa State, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, N.C. State, Ohio University, Toledo, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and West Virginia. As we said this morning, Nebraska, where his dad and brothers played, was notably absent. And that made Ohio State, far and away, the No. 1 program to offer him.

• As for the other piece of what Burrow said on PTSD, relating to what happened a couple years after he got to Columbus, here’s more on the battle he wound up losing to Dwayne Haskins: “So we had some really fun battles in practice. And we were playing so well that spring. I would make an insane throw, he would come out and make an even more insane throw, and it was just kind of a back-and-forth in that spring ball. It was a lot of fun. We knew how good the team was gonna be, and whoever got the starting job, how well that guy was gonna play. And then watching, I knew my junior season wasn’t going to be what it would’ve been if I’d stayed at Ohio State, just because I’m getting there so much later, learning who these guys are, and learning a bunch of the offense. I knew I wasn’t going to play at the level I expected of myself. And I was still going to work really, really hard to get there, but it’s just not realistic to play that well, or as well as I could have, in that short a time period, as well as still trying to win the job. I went into it with that mindset, that I knew I might struggle in the beginning.” And that’s pretty much how it went. Late in 2018, things started to click for Burrow, and we know what happened in 2019.

• I also asked Burrow at the end of our conversation if there was some satisfaction in showing those who passed on him what he was capable of. His answer was interesting. “Yeah, absolutely, there’s a little bit of that,” he said. “But it’s all in the past. I talked about it quite a bit with people that asked me at all these awards ceremonies, you have them all in February and March, and there was even one in April. That season is over. It’s time to move on. And I think it’s gonna be the same with the draft. If I’m the No. 1 pick, great. Let’s move on, let’s get into the playbook, let’s start practicing, let’s get really, really good at what we do, and I’ll start learning my guys. It’s nice, and yeah, I showed a lot of people. But I’ve still got a lot to prove.”

• And finally, here’s what he said when asked what going first overall would mean to him. “I’m not sure,” Burrow said. “It’s nice. But at the end of the day, it really doesn’t matter. Ten years down the road, nobody’s gonna say, ‘Oh, you were the No. 1 pick, great job!’ They’re gonna talk about how I did. So that’s really all that I’m worried about. I could go 1, I could go 30, I could go 50, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m worried about being the best player that I can be for a long time in the league.” And the focus on that’s already begun, with another (however minor it might be) slight, based on what he’s heard is a shortcoming of his. “Everyone says the arm strength, but that’s been the knock on me since I was 16 years old,” Burrow said. “So I’ve learned how to overcome that with timing and anticipation and preparation. A lot of the great quarterbacks didn’t have cannon arms. But I’m still gonna work hard to improve my arm strength, that’s always something you can get better at, whether it’s with your body sequencing, your mechanics, or just straight up getting stronger.”

• I will say this: It’s not hard to see, talking to Burrow, how this kid from rural Ohio was able to become the alpha at an SEC blue blood. The Bengals are getting a baller.

• Question or comment? Email us at talkback@themmqb.com.

April 21, 2020 at 05:40AM Tua's Fate Remains the Biggest Mystery, How the Mock Draft Played Out and Other NFL Notes from Blogger https://ift.tt/2Y3kGwX

[albinohare]

Cruising around Newfoundland: An unspoiled wilderness full of surprises

Uncrowded and rich with wildlife, Newfoundland offers a lifetime’s worth of exploration. Tom Zydler reports

All photos: Tom Zydler

Two beluga whales flanked Frances B, our Mason 44, as we threaded out of Ingonish, on northern Cape Breton Island. Belugas don’t live in this area so this unexpected show was a symbolic beginning to a summer of surprises.

Frances B headed across Cabot Strait, vaguely pointing towards the south-west corner of Newfoundland. The plan was to circumnavigate the island whose coastline, including all bays, fjords and sounds, tops 10,000 miles. In view of weather patterns the whole operation had to run efficiently – we’d better be out of these waters by the end of September.

Now in July, and for the rest of the summer, south-west winds would prevail but come September depressions begin to slide from the Arctic bringing strong northerlies. Whether to go around clockwise or counterclockwise was the question.

During a night of flopping in expiring puffs we decided on a counterclockwise route. At dawn the night fog lifted over a line of dark islets, with long, lazy swells foaming over sunken ledges. A couple of guys fishing in a dory by a red buoy waved cheerfully.

The town wharf in Isle aux Morts settlement now became our springboard to eastward exploration of the southern coast. The village has probably existed for five or more centuries. The Indians were first. Next came the seasonal waves of European fishermen. Catholic Europe craved cod. Merchants and shipowners grew wealthy, fisheries gradually became deadly efficient.

In 1992 the cod fisheries, the mainstay of Newfoundland’s life and economy, were closed. The cod were gone. Isle aux Morts, and scores of other ‘outports’ were nearly abandoned. It took the discovery of offshore oil to push Newfoundland towards economic recovery.

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Tales of old

A walk over a hill took us to the older harbour, tight but safe behind a fence of islets. Below a church on a hill the town museum welcomed visitors. Percy Billard led the tour, upstairs, downstairs, through rooms scarcely larger than a dollhouse’s, filled with scrapbooks preserving tales of perils at sea, wrecks, home-made furniture, spinning wheels, boat models, tools hewn from timber. The tiny structure had served as a family home, a school and a chapel depending on the need of the week.

For the next 300 miles, till the coast turns north at Cape Race, we had expected to blunder on through blinding fogs. Yet blue sky often won out. In the channel between the Ramea Islands the boat floated on Caribbean blue waters, rocks a few fathoms below clearly visible. Several impressive fjords cut into long stretches of this wild, roadless, sparsely inhabited coast.

Percy Billard leads a tour through a home preserved as a museum in Isle aux Morts

While steering through into Grey River, bright sunshine painted one range of hills a lively green. Looking ahead into the main run of the fjord revealed high battlements of colourful yet brutally naked rock. We chose to follow the greener walls into Southeast Arm and anchored off a shallow lagoon fed by mountain streams.

But a couple of days later La Hune Bay fjord reminded us why Newfoundland had been nicknamed ‘The Rock’. The dramatic, high rock walls rose into dark cloud, and waterfalls tumbled from above into Deadman’s Cove.

Most harbours with connections to the road system of Newfoundland have public wharves, often even floating docks with water and electricity. We enjoyed such comforts in Fortune, a harbour on Burin Peninsula and found in the small town propane, diesel, groceries, a restaurant serving fresh fish – all dear to a sailing visitor.

Also, it wasn’t all rock in Newfoundland after all; trails led into flower-scented forests and meadows along a river. Time went fast while we waited for good weather at the next important waypoint – the infamously foggy Cape St Mary’s.

Clear, cold waters and spectacular scenery are all part of the Newfoundland landscape

Sea birds numbers are declining worldwide but Cape St Mary’s on Avalon Peninsula has a colony of over 20,000 nesting gannets. The dawning sun threw long shadows of high land over the ocean when we arrived.

Despite the lazy swells of a calm sea the scene was frantic. Raucous bird calls and whiffs of guano drifted down the rock stacks. Overhead squadrons of gannets circled searching for schooling fish, and there were several whales and fishing boats doing the same at our level.

Now and then the surface boiled with gathering prey and gannets plummeted like rockets from a great heights. Fishermen revved up to get their nets down. Whales, fish, birds and fishermen in all northern waters depend on vast schools of capelin. The stocks of this small, sardine size fish exploded in 2018 and codfish, whales, birds and coastal people thrived.

A puffin in summer plumage brightens the skies near Bonavista

Soon after Cape St Mary’s the Avalon Peninsula turns north. With Ireland the nearest land 3,000 miles across the Atlantic, we expected the ocean to roll in gigantic swells. But no, the seas stayed down and visibility was good, just a bank of fog anchored farther offshore. It was a perfect time to hang around islands near Witless Bay.

Strings of puffins raced to sea and back, and flocks of fluffy white kittiwakes floated near Great Island. Row upon row of black and white murres and guillemots occupied Green Island’s cliff ridges. Every so often clouds of birds rose blurring the land.

Another surprise lurked a little farther north on this Avalon coast. Without help from a chart one could easily sail unaware by St John’s, the capital of Newfoundland, a city of over 100,000 hiding on the inner hills. The Narrows Cut, steep cliffs on each side, guarded by cannons, opens up on a landlocked port of trawlers, longliners and oil rig tenders.

Berth for the night

It must have been a challenge to enter in the days of sailing ships and today the challenge is finding a place to tie up a modest yacht. Forget the busy commercial wharves with titanic fenders and look for a long liner to raft against.

Heading north from Avalon Peninsula brought to light different aspects of coastal Newfoundland. While St John’s rushes on into modernity, in Bonavista, one of the oldest ports thrusting into the Atlantic from the north-eastern coast, people renovate the clapboard salt box homes from the late 18th and early 19th Century.

After leaving Bonavista, the Dutch yacht Maaike Saadet sails out into Blackhead Bay

Jerry Mouland, the Bonavista harbour master and talented professional photographer, pointed us towards a colony of puffins, a few miles from town. From a small headland we looked down onto a breeding roost 75m away. Puffins rocketed to and fro right by our heads. As we sat mesmerised, just before dark, a few unattached birds landed 5-10m from us to dig nesting burrows for the next season.

Leaving Frances B at a wharf of the Marine Interpretation Centre in the harbour of Seldom-Come-By allowed exploring Fogo Island. While at it I realised this island was a symbol of how the lives of Newfoundlanders have improved. The fisheries continue at reduced scale but continental Canadians have discovered Newfoundland.

So encouraged, local people now cherish their past of hardship and resilience through art and entrepreneurship. The strikingly modern structure of Fogo Island Inn crowns the shore cliffs at Joe Batt’s Arm. The very upscale resort is the brainchild of Zita Cobb, a native of the island who made a fortune in fibre optics. The avant-garde architect was Todd Saunders, another child of Fogo.

The settlement at Fogo Harbour

Treasured islands

West from Twillingate are waters of Notre Dame Bay, treasured for its islands, sounds, bays and passages. While we swung at anchor off Long Island a traditional wooden skiff approached. The man on board called to us: “Go around the corner to Beaumont Cove, totally protected bay, and come visit!”

The Flowers family use their summer house there when visiting from their home in Hopedale, Labrador, where Valerie, a Beaumont native and her Labrador husband teach. They took us walking over the island’s wild hills. Near a remote pond we saw small trees that bore deep incisions and a giant heap of twigs, all of it the work of a beaver.

The family is used to living off the land, and for supper they laid out ptarmigan stew and bannock. We had to leave in the morning, so we missed the next evening’s treat: boiled caribou lips. Island fare was becoming interesting. In Round Harbour, another remote bay shaded by high hills and cliffs, we received gifts of halibut and squid from the local longliner skippers.

The author at Frances B’s mast

On a walk along one hilly road we stumbled onto a display of large models of a variety of boats, sail and power that once worked these waters. Pat Skinner, a retired skipper and a shipwright, just couldn’t resist building a few more boats. He still fishes so we carried quite a few cod fillets back to our boat.

The massive Northern Peninsula stretched for miles across our westward course like a fat finger pointing directly at the Arctic. The charts and a map promised high lands conspicuously lacking any roads. An unspoiled wilderness awaited.

At first the approach to the grand fjord of Great Harbour Deep caused controversy. The raster chart display put the boat in the correct place but lacked any detail. The vector chart, a newer product and off by three quarters of a mile, had us climbing cliffs. However, the radar, our worn out paper charts and the old fashioned method of keeping our eyes open helped us all the way to the head of Soufflets Arm and through a squeeze by a gravel bar.

At anchor in Soufflet’s Arm of the Great Harbour Deep

The fertile, cold waters that wash this coast nourish great numbers of marine mammals. Whales seemed totally indifferent to our approach, and we saw dolphins too. Every few miles a slot in the cliffs marked another fjord like bay. The contrary current slowed progress and off Croc (also Croque) Harbour, Frances B headed in.

After some poking into the shoreline margins we slipped into Épine Cadoret creek. A couple of newer homes overlooked a classic outport scene: white crosses in a cemetery just above timber wharves, weather-worn, red-painted sheds teetering on the brink of collapse, and an old sloop wreck slanted on rocks.

We swore to return while sailing northward. After a visit at St Anthony Harbour, an important but charmless fishing vessel base, the fresh easterly propelled us to the end of the peninsula. The wind-reinforced current cannoned the boat through Quirpon Tickle, a mid-channel rock buoy and the shore flew by in a blur.

Fairer weather

Frances B enjoying a calm day in Noddy Harbour, Bonne Bay, western Newfoundland

With the east wind in the Strait of Bell Isle the sea smoothed, visibility improved and the breeze hummed from low hills abeam. Thankful for the good spell, we hurried on southward; these waters turn challenging during the usual strong south-westerly. The wind backed to a light southerly next morning but by then the bow pointed into the slot leading to Port au Choix.

The shelter came at the right time. In the lee of high breakwaters the boat dozed at a floating dock while the rigging moaned in the gusty south-westerly – for seven days. During our enforced stop, we walked and walked, mostly out to the cliffs facing the sea, following a herd of caribou every day that sauntered down to the few plants at the water’s edge. We noticed the moose preferred a different shore backed by a forest of dwarf trees. They were less trusting and trotted away from us.

From Point Riche and Port aux Choix the western shore runs south. The mountains dominate the coast and embrace two deep branching fjords with land in shadows of dark rock walls. These heights do awful things to gale force winds. Twice in the past we had cowered as williwaws whipped up water spouts.

On calmer summer days exploring the Southeast Arm was a delight. At Woods Island, out of line of squalls, the shelter is good, and floating docks are available courtesy of Bay of Islands Yacht Club based in Corner Brook. The walks in the forests ashore lead to rings of bright yellow mushrooms, the best chanterelles this side of the Atlantic.

Days went by as we waited for weather to ease. Close to the end of September, late season at this latitude, we finally got a break. We had a run of 180 or so miles along a shoreline lacking really good ports and that took us to Cabot Strait. The forecast southerlies ahead of another low were late – our luck held.

We crossed all the way to Bras d’Or Lakes, the protected waters in the heart of Cape Breton Island and a worry-free waterway almost all the way to almost balmy Nova Scotia. It was hard to leave Newfoundland, an uncrowded island where people welcome visitors with sincere pleasure.

We lost count of the all the places we didn’t have time to explore. Really it would take more than a lifetime to see it all. But trying to would be fun.

About the author

Tom Zydler is a marine author and photographer, who has written many articles and cruising guides. He and his wife Nancy sailed round the world via South America and Antarctica.

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Superman versus Luthor

SUPERMAN #4 MARCH 1940 BY JERRY SIEGEL, JOE SHUSTER AND PAUL CASSIDY

SYNOPSIS (FROM DC FANDOM)

An earthquake rocks the city of Metropolis! Clark Kent is sent on assignment to cover the story, giving him an excuse to switch to Superman and rescue anyone trapped by the quake. After the tremors finally cease, Superman returns to the Daily Planet as Clark. He reports to Taylor that the quake was caused by a new military weapon that suffered a malfunction, and asks for a chance to interview its creator, Professor Martinson. 

At his laboratory, Martinson greets Clark openly, but once the ace reporter sits down with his back turned, Martinson hits him over the head with a hard object, then tosses the "unconscious" reporter out the eighth story window. In truth, Clark had just been play-acting being knocked out, quickly shooting his hand out to grab the building's ledge. He takes off his civilian clothes, revealing the Superman garment underneath. When he climbs back up outside the lab window, he spies on a conversation between the professor and the face on a view screen of Superman's old nemesis, Luthor! It turned out the man in the lab wasn't really Martinson, but a thug hired by Luthor to throw off any snooping meddlers. Literally, in Clark's case... Luthor notices Superman spying outside the window and sends out a drone plane with a bomb that it drops on his location. Superman catches the nuke and flings it back at the plane, destroying it! He climbs into the laboratory to find the impostor professor gone, with only the image of Luthor left sneering at him. He reveals he has the real Martinson held hostage, though thus far he hasn't told him any details about his invention, the quake-maker.

While patrolling around the army camp, Superman watches one of the guards for the super-weapon knock out his companion, and then shoot his flashlight beam into the sky as a signal. A gyrocopter lands nearby, but Superman interrupts before they could steal the quake device, so the copter takes off again and heads back to base. Superman tries following, but almost in that instant, the copter self-destructs! Superman lands in a park nearby, where a projected image of Luthor greets him. Luthor offers a challenge to his foe, on the condition that if Superman wins, Luthor promises to admit defeat, but if he loses, he will have to retire from crime fighting! The challenge is accepted, and Luthor explains the first test. Superman must race Luthor's own super-speed sky-planes around the world, by foot. The feat proves easy enough for the son of Krypton, passing both planes early on, astounding Luthor. The second challenge is to see who can reach higher altitude while still maintaining a perfect landing. Luthor's sky-plane launches up higher and higher through the stratosphere, but Superman's mighty leap carries him even higher still. The plane loses control once it goes beyond the Earth's gravitational pull, but Superman is able to softly land back on the ground by moving his legs very quickly in a propeller motion. The following feat has Superman test his strength against Luthor's after the latter uses a gravity nullifier to make a boulder lighter. And yet again, he is beaten. Finally, Luthor calls for a test of vulnerability, just as he tosses a grenade at Superman! The explosion leaves the man of steel unharmed. Luthor tries twice more, with a cannon, and then poison gas. Neither cause Superman to even flinch. Superman announces that it was his turn now, lifting the shaken Luthor up with one hand. Frightened, Luthor concedes victory to Superman, releasing Professor Martinson into his custody. Superman takes the professor home, allowing Luthor to escape for now. Back at Martinson's lab, Superman and the professor hear a newsflash over the radio about the theft of a secret weapon from the military base. It happened while Superman was being distracted by Luthor's contest, allowing his henchman to steal the device uninterrupted. Superman asks the professor if he could recall the place where Luthor held him, and Martinson is certain it was somewhere around Satan's Canyon. Meanwhile, Luthor still has a few tricks planned for his nemesis, who he knew would soon be coming for him.

Superman runs through the canyon, looking for signs of an encampment. What he finds as he continues on, is a large stone tower built into the cliff-face. Avoiding hazard after hazard, including a rock-slide and hungry wolves, Superman makes his way forward. Luthor resorts to firing a laser ray of his own design at Superman, which actually works at slowing him down, if only temporarily. The force of the ray's beam creates a crevice in the earth that Superman falls into. The crevice then closes due to the continued force, burying Superman alive. But, thanks to his super strength and endurance, the man of steel is able to burrow his way to the surface. He immediately gets to work on the tower, knocking bricks away from the foundation until it all comes crashing down. The earthquake machine is completely crushed in the aftermath... but Luthor's body is nowhere to be found. Back at the lab, Superman finds Professor Martinson dead, having committed suicide as penance for inventing such a horrible weapon. At least the secret of its design died with him.

The Daily Planet receives startling reports through the wire: Several oil wells across the world have suddenly stopped flowing. Superman races toward the site of one of the wells. High above, a small rocket alters it's flight path once it detects Superman moving below. The man of steel soon finds he is being chased by the odd projectile, grabbing onto the rocket so he can ride it, giving him a chance to get a closer look. The rocket is being controlled remotely, Superman deduces as he tears out its wires. The image of Luthor materializes on the side, warning Superman to stay away from the oil wells mystery. Superman leaps clear just as the rocket crashes to the ground. Undeterred by his nemesis, Superman continues on, speeding to the Oklahoma oilfields in a matter of seconds. Right as he arrives, an earthquake hits, causing the oil derricks to sway and crack. With his mighty strength and super speed, Superman rushes from one tower to the next, stabilizing each one until the quake passes. Then he takes off for the next site, determined to save as many of the wells as he can.

Meanwhile, at the Oklahoma City airport, Lois Lane just steps off her flight when she hears the news regarding the quake's beneath the oil wells, and how Superman managed to save some from destruction. She drats her luck for missing Superman in action. Later, she meets up with Clark Kent at the Oklahoma Bulletin, where they learn that the Pacific Coast was being threatened by flooding, already under two feet of water that was steadily rising. Clark and Lois decide to take a slight detour from the oil well story to investigate the reports for themselves. Two of Luthor's hired thugs ambush them on the way to the car, and they are forced at gunpoint to take a ride. The goons tell them that Luthor remembered how Clark and Lois stuck their noses in his business before, and he wanted to meet with them personally. As they are being driven along the mountain road, Clark stealthily brings his hand around to the back of Lois' neck, pinching a nerve ever so slightly to make her pass out. Then, Clark reaches forward and rips off the steering wheel, tossing it over the edge, and then crushes the emergency brake with one hand. The thugs turn on him, and one fires his gun, but the bullet bounces harmlessly off the mild-mannered reporters skull. He knocks the two thugs' heads together, then grabs Lois and leaps away as the roadster plunges off the road to certain destruction. When Lois awakens, she finds they are at the airfield, and Clark had just booked a private plane to fly them over the coast.

The plane carries them over the flooded grounds, where the water has nearly consumed whole towns. Clark's supervision allows him to see an odd disturbance occurring far off in the water. He orders the pilot to take them further out to sea. Lois gasps as a city enclosed in glass begins to rise out of the ocean. Seconds later, the glass cover folds back, and a prehistoric creature, a pterodactyl, swoops out and begins attacking the plane! The pilot is killed, and Lois falls unconscious, leaving Clark on his own. He holds tightly to Lois as he jumps from the spiraling plane, but the mighty pterodactyl grabs him in its talons mid-fall. Clark manages to fight off the prehistoric bird, landing him and Lois on the island housing the strange city. Changing to Superman, Clark fetches water from a spring for Lois, who is in a state of shock. When he returns, however, she is nowhere to be seen, although a plane flying towards the city suggests she was kidnapped. Superman follows the plane until it lands, when he is warned not to make any hostile actions or the girl will die! Luthor greets his old foe, telling his men to take miss Lane to the "green room", while he gives Superman a tour of the city. Luthor admits the city was built thousands of years ago, all he did was salvage it, enclosing it in glass to pump all the water out and raising it to the surface. He uses the oil he tapped from the wells across the world to power the project, the ocean rising was just a side effect of the city's upheaval from its depths. Within, Luthor had been busy with many experiments in genetic recreation. The prehistoric beasts would terrorize the armies of all the world, easily weakening their spirit and allowing Luthor to move in as world leader! He then makes a deal with Superman: If he swears to join forces, Luthor'll be much more merciful in his global takeover. Superman responds that he'd need time to think. A little ways off, Luthor's men carry Lois towards a vat of acid chemicals. Thanks to his super-hearing, the man of steel hears the henchmen 's intents and bursts through the wall! They are knocked away as Superman takes Lois away from the cauldron. For his betrayal, Superman is set upon by a T-Rex that Luthor has released. He flips the beast on it's back. Grabbing Lois, the last son of Krypton rushes past the armed goons and breaks out through the glass. Behind, the ancient beasts begin to attack Luthor! The hole in the city's glass enclosure lets the ocean pour in! The waves crush down on the city, demolishing everything in its wake.

Hours later, Lois begins to feel her normal self again after Clark took her to the doctor. At the Daily Planet, Clark is commended for his sharp reporting on the sunken city.

The Daily Planet sends Clark Kent to interview Paul Dorgan, an eminent sociologist. Dorgan is publishing a manuscript naming an individual who was trying deliberately stop the nation's progress into prosperity. Mr. Dorgan is murdered in his home, sending Clark off as Superman, to find the one responsible. A series of sabotages across the nation occur, bombs being set on bridges, trains being run off their rails. Each of these disasters are prevented, albeit barely, by Superman, who finds the out the source of the problem from a gang of thugs working under J. F. Curtis. Curtis, it turns out, was being paid off by foreign powers to subdue the American industry. When he confronts Curtis at his home, the man of steel finds himself the victim of an electroshock trap when he tries to grab the criminal! But due to his super human structure, Superman is unaffected, and the shock instead rushes through him and back to Curtis, electrocuting him to death.

Later, back at the Daily Planet, reports start arriving of the nation returning to its former prosperity. Clark's article on the P.F. gang's activities makes the front page.

The truck driver's union is being taken over by a crooked racket that plans to hold back food supplies to the city unless people pay the blackmail price. Superman infiltrates the gang until he can gather enough evidence to put the boss away for a long time.

REVIEW

I tried to figure out who was the colorist in this issue, but I could not find the information. I am not sure if the problem is in the reprint, but all water is green (and the sky is green as well). So it could be a printing problem.

I noticed a few times that Superman is not troubled by the death of his enemies (he only cares about innocent people), and this happens because this version of Superman is not very powerful. And because he is not powerful, he doesn’t have a big responsibility to save the lives of those that harm him. This kind of puts Batman in a different perspective. Batman also kills (or lets them die) around this time.

This is Luthor’s first appearance (out of order, as his first chronological appearance would happen the following month in Action Comics). It is also an Earth-2A story (because Daily Planet is there). This is why we needed a Crisis.

I give the issue a score of 7