The first round of the NFL play-offs is this weekend, and it is littered with back-up quarterbacks being forced into starting duty and features one clash between traditional powers. Here are previews and predictions. All times UAE.
Oakland Raiders at Houston Texans: Sunday, 1.15am
Poor Oakland. Their season has been a magical ride, winning 12 games with their first post-season berth since the 2002 season. But they lost MVP candidate Derek Carr to injury two weeks ago, then his back-up Matt McGloin went down last week, forcing third-string rookie Connor Cook to make his first NFL start in a play-off game. Not ideal. Luckily they face Houston, who despite winning the AFC South might be one of the worst teams in the league. The winner will likely have to face the New England Patriots next round anyway, so neither team are poised for a sustained run.
Prediction: Raiders 20, Texans 16
Detroit Lions at Seattle Seahawks: Sunday, 5.15am
The Seahawks are here on the back of their defence, as per usual, but the unit have not been as dominant since losing strong safety Earl Thomas for the season a few weeks ago. For the Lions, quarterback Matt Stafford has had a great year, but is playing with a splint on his throwing hand that has made some of his passes erratic lately. Russell Wilson and the Seahawks have been a great play-off team in recent years. They should have little trouble with a Lions team that beat up on weaker opponents and are just lucky to be here.
Prediction: Seahawks 24, Lions 14
Miami Dolphins at Pittsburgh Steelers: Sunday, 10.05pm
Miami are one of the year’s surprise teams, winning 10 games and advancing to the play-offs for the first time since the 2008 season. Quarterback Matt Moore has been OK since taking over for injured Ryan Tannehill, but the offence runs through breakout star Jay Ajayi, who finished fourth in rushing this year. Their defence is not stacked enough to slow down a Pittsburgh offence that boasts play-off-tested Ben Roethlisberger and stars Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown. Miami’s first play-off trip in eight years will be a short one.
Prediction: Steelers 30, Dolphins 13
New York Giants at Green Bay Packers: Monday, 1.40am
This is the game of the weekend, with two Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks — New York’s Eli Manning and Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers — going head to head. The Giants’ defence had a remarkable turnaround this season, making up for a lacklustre offence that relies too heavily on receiver Odell Beckham Jr. The Packers come in as one of the league’s hottest teams, winning six straight games, and Rodgers has played as good as ever in that stretch. The Giants are one of few teams with the secondary manpower to handle Green Bay’s offence, which could be slowed down already with weather conditions at Lambeau Field expected to be below freezing. Still, it is hard to see Rodgers losing right now.
Prediction: Packers 23, Giants 20
Company%20Profile
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Tree of Hell
Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
Director: Raed Zeno
Rating: 4/5
Dr Graham's three goals
Short term
Establish logistics and systems needed to globally deploy vaccines
Intermediate term
Build biomedical workforces in low- and middle-income nations
Long term
A prototype pathogen approach for pandemic preparedness
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Cinco in numbers
Dh3.7 million
The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown
46
The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.
1,000
The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]
50
How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday
3,000
The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
1.1 million
The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.
Company%20Profile
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MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid
When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
APPLE IPAD MINI (A17 PRO)
Display: 21cm Liquid Retina Display, 2266 x 1488, 326ppi, 500 nits
Chip: Apple A17 Pro, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Storage: 128/256/512GB
Main camera: 12MP wide, f/1.8, digital zoom up to 5x, Smart HDR 4
Front camera: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4, Smart HDR 4, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps
Biometrics: Touch ID, Face ID
Colours: Blue, purple, space grey, starlight
In the box: iPad mini, USB-C cable, 20W USB-C power adapter
Price: From Dh2,099
Results
2pm: Handicap Dh 90,000 1,800m; Winner: Majestic Thunder, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
2.30pm: Handicap Dh120,000 1,950m; Winner: Just A Penny, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson.
3pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,600m; Winner: Native Appeal, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson.
3.30pm: Jebel Ali Classic Conditions Dh300,000 1,400m; Winner: Thegreatcollection, Adrie de Vries, Doug Watson.
4pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m; Winner: Oktalgano, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
4.30pm: Conditions Dh250,000 1,400m; Winner: Madame Ellingtina, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
5pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m; Winner: Mystery Land, Fabrice Veron, Helal Al Alawi.
5.30pm: Handicap Dh85,000 1,000m; Winner: Shanaghai City, Jesus Rosales, Rashed Bouresly.
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
