Iron ore shipments rebound as Soo Locks close for 8 weeks of maintenance

January 14, 2017

SAULT STE MARIE, MI — The Soo Locks will close this weekend for annual maintenance work, bringing to close a 2016 shipping season that saw a rebound in iron ore shipments but an overall drop in total cargo movement.
On Friday, Jan. 13, the Cleveland-based Lake Carriers Association reported that U. S.-flag Great Lakes freighters moved 3.3 million tons of cargo in 2016, a decrease of 4.5 percent compared to 2015.
The 2016 cargo total was also 7.7 percent below the fleet’s 5-year average.
Iron ore shipments, however, totaled 44.1 million tons, 7.8 percent bump over 2015. Taconite shipments out of Lake Superior ports have rebounded after slump in demand for American steel in 2015 and part of 2016.
A late-season push helped dig iron ore shipments out of the hole they fell into last year , aided by an increase in domestic steel production in 2016.
The ore moved through the Soo Locks, which close at midnight on Sunday, Jan. 15 and reopen on March 25, a regular 8-week maintenance window.
The locks are operated and maintained by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and connects Lake Superior to the other four Great Lakes. Lake Superior is home to five iron ore ports and the largest Great Lakes coal and grain ports.
Planned winter maintenance work includes finishing a hydraulic system upgrade and anchorage replacements on the Poe Lock, the largest and most important of the four Soo Locks chambers, which handles the 1,000-plus foot freighters.
The 49-year-old lock is a chokepoint in the Great Lakes navigation system. Gov. Rick Snyder, Great Lakes state delegates in Congress and shipping interests have been pushing the Army Corps rebuild two unused locks into another Poe-sized chamber that can handle the big ships which move the most cargo.
Because of the volume of vital raw material moved through the Poe Lock, a 2016 Department of Homeland Security report predicted an unscheduled six-month outage of the Poe Lock could plunge the U. S. into a recession.
Soo Locks breakdown would plunge America into recession
A new study commissioned by the U. S. Treasury Department included Soo Locks reconstruction on a list of 40 potential U. S. infrastructure « megaprojects, » noting a modernization effort could have a net economic benefit up to $1.7 billion.
The study claims that enhanced reliability of the locks would lower the risk profile of ship operators and ports to prospective lenders, which could free-up financing for capital investments like fleet and port infrastructure upgrades.
Other off-season locks work includes dewatering bulkhead weld repairs and coating replacements for the Poe and MacArthur Lock, which closed Dec. 19.
Closing of the locks follows shut-down of other Great Lakes navigation system waypoints. The Welland Canal closed on Dec. 26. The St. Lawrence Seaway locks closed Dec. 31.
Most Great Lakes ships either have or soon will enter winter lay-up. The Lake Carriers says American fleet owners will spend $80 million to maintain and modernize their vessels for the 2017 shipping season.
Although the Soo Locks closure restricts access to Lake Superior and ports like Duluth, Marquette and Thunder Bay, it’s not uncommon for vessels to move cargo between ports on Lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie between now and March.
The U. S. Coast Guard began Great Lakes icebreaking in mid-December. Total Great Lakes ice cover was 12 percent on Jan. 12.
Despite the iron ore bright spot, all other commodity totals decreased compared to 2015, according to the Lake Carriers. Coal shipments dropped 26.6 percent, limestone shipments dropped by 8.4 percent, cement decreased by 6 percent, salt shipment dropped by nearly 11 percent, sand shipment fell by 17.1 percent and grain shipments decreased by almost 30 percent.
The totals do not account for shipments via Canadian or foreign-owned vessels.
The St. Lawrence Seaway has not released final numbers, but reported year-to-date cargo shipments between March 21 and Nov. 30 totaled 30.3 million metric tons, a 5.89 percent drop over the same period in 2015.
According to the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, dry bulk cargo shipments were down 13 percent, iron ore was down almost 11 percent, coal shipments were down 18 percent and general cargo was down 6 percent overall.
Project cargo posted a 42 percent increase through the seaway and liquid bulk cargo increased 19 percent over 2015.

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Why is Daniel Hannan's banner pic a work of science fiction? Britain is running out of allies as it squares up to Russia

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January 14, 2017

Since Daniel Hannan, a formerly obscure MEP, has emerged as the anointed intellectual of the Brexit elite, The Staggers is charting his ascendancy…
People out there in the big wide world are often helpful enough to point me towards Daniel Hannan’s latest brainfarts. He’s pretty prolific, but some of his work seems so boneheaded that I’ll get the same link sent to me by two, three, or, on one occasion, five different people.
This week it was this particular tweet – a retweet from last September; it’s all repeats on the internet these days – that everyone seemed keen to point me towards.
It’s like Ayn Rand has been reincarnated in the form of 15 year old hoping to study PPE at Oxford, isn’t it? That tweet suggests a world view so comfortingly simple that nobody actually needs money, and if you try to tax anyone anything they might decide to stop earning any in a fit of pique. (At time of writing, incidentally, Daniel Hannan has yet to resign his job as a Member of the European Parliament.)
If I get too far into this one, though, there’s a danger I’ll find myself attempting to disprove the assumptions of classical economics through the medium of sarcasm, and while I’m not shy about my own abilities to bullshit, I think that may be a bit beyond me. So instead I’m just going to leave it there for everyone to marvel at while we talk about flags.
Daniel Hannan’s header has been annoying me for months now, because it clearly takes place in a parallel universe in which the Anglosphere is a real thing rather than just the masturbatory fantasies of a certain type of free market ideologue. It combines the flags of the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, into a single red, white and blue monstrosity: the fact that one of Britain’s best known Eurosceptics uses this as his banner pic implies, at least to me, that he thinks this is what we should have instead of the EU.
At first glance, the assumption here seems to be that Britain’s natural allies are all the other countries who speak English. Except it clearly isn’t that, because a lot of other countries also speak English – Ireland, India, South Africa, to name but three – yet are mysteriously missing from the flag.
A better definition might be that it’s the bits of the British Empire where our forefathers planted their own colonies and attempted to wipe out the natives, rather than simply lording it over them through a combination of divide-and-rule and Maxim guns. More charitably, it’s the places that have a slightly misty-eyed relationship to the same stuff – free markets, Magna Carta, the notion that Britain invented freedom – that Dan himself does.
The notion of the Anglosphere is not entirely without foundation: these five countries constitute the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which implies a certain degree of closeness, and there’s a fair amount of military co-operation too. In the event of a nuclear holocaust, indeed, one of the instructions British prime ministers can leave for their nuclear subs is, basically, “You are now Australian. »
But nonetheless oh my god, mate, are you actually high? The Anglosphere is not a political unit – outside the world of George Smiley and GI JOE, it might as well not exist – and the idea of a US that is increasingly a) diverse but b) protectionist going anywhere near that kind of thing is just delusional. Dan is basically just saying he’d be happier if Britain’s primary allies were countries which we founded, which speak English, and which contain depressingly high concentrations of people who agree with him.
I was going to end with a crack about how the Anglosphere flag was such a work of science fiction that Dan might as well employ the flag of Star Trek ’s United Federation of Planets or, if that was too lefty, the Terran Federation from Blake’s 7 (at least everyone there speaks English). But I’ve had a better idea. There is another rainy, sea-faring kingdom in a popular work of fantasy that recently took advantage of continent-wide chaos to break away from a larger political unit. In what may or may not a foretaste of things to come, it later used it as an excuse to attack its former allies.
I am talking, of course, about the Iron Islands from Game of Thrones .
What is dead may never die.
The row over Donald Trump and that dossier rumbles on.
Nothing puts legs on a story like a domestic angle, and that the retired spy who compiled the file is a one of our own has excited Britain’s headline writers. The man in question, Christopher Steele, has gone to ground having told his neighbour to look after his cats before vanishing.
Although the dossier contains known errors, Steele is regarded in the intelligence community as a serious operator not known for passing on unsubstantiated rumours, which is one reason why American intelligence is investigating the claims.
“Britain’s role in Trump dossier” is the Telegraph ’s splash, “The ‘credible’ ex-MI6 man behind Trump Russia report” is the Guardian ’s angle, “British spy in hiding” is the i ’s splash.
But it’s not only British headline writers who are exercised by Mr Steele; the Russian government is too. “MI6 officers are never ex,” the Russian Embassy tweeted , accusing the UK of “briefing both ways – against Russia and US President”. “Kremlin blames Britain for Trump sex storm” is the Mail ’s splash.
Elsewhere, Crispin Blunt, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, warns that relations between the United Kingdom and Russia are as “bad as they can get” in peacetime.
Though much of the coverage of the Trump dossier has focused on the eyecatching claims about whether or not the President-Elect was caught in a Russian honeytrap, the important thing, as I said yesterday, is that the man who is seven days from becoming President of the United States, whether through inclination or intimidation, is not going to be a reliable friend of the United Kingdom against Russia.
Though Emanuel Macron might just sneak into the second round of the French presidency, it still looks likely that the final choice for French voters will be an all-Russia affair, between Francois Fillon and Marine Le Pen.
For one reason or another, Britain’s stand against Russia looks likely to be very lonely indeed.

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Japanese man rescued after night at sea on surfboard

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January 14, 2017

A Japanese surfer who spent a night at sea clinging to his surfboard has been rescued by the crew of a container ship off the east coast of Australia.
The 37-year-old told police a current had pulled him out to sea off Bulli Beach, 80km (50 miles) south of Sydney on Thursday evening.
Sailors on the MSC Damla spotted him floating about 6km offshore and pulled him on board using a lifebuoy.
They gave him food, drink and warm clothing and contacted the authorities.
A pilot vessel from Port Kembla returned him to shore. He was taken to hospital but discharged shortly afterwards.
The man was in « remarkably good spirits », MSC Australia’s managing director Kevin Clarke said.
« Our crew are always being observant of marine traffic, but it is exceptionally fortunate they were able to spot this man waving for help from his surf board, » he said.
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The man had spent six hours trying to paddle back to shore before running out of energy, Inspector Darren Wood said.
He is estimated to have spent about 16 hours in the water but temperatures only dropped to 21 degrees during the night, preventing him from getting hypothermia, the Australian broadcaster ABC reported.
The safety organisation Surf Life Saving New South Wales said surfers should tell other people of their plans before setting out and be aware of local conditions, ABC said.

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Suspects who claimed they could multiply money with help of ancestors arrested

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January 14, 2017

The victim‚ who was responding to an advertisement‚ visited the suspects’ office where they showed him money inside a box and told him he could have more if he brought R35‚000 in cash with him.
“The complainant and his wife allegedly sold their vehicle and made a loan at the bank. They were asked to bring money to buy coats to perform rituals that would see the money multiplied to a million rands in a few months.
“Many attempts were made by the complainant to get his money back after the suspects failed to deliver on their promises. The complainant then approached Krugersdorp police who visited the place that looked like a consultation room of traditional healer‚” police said in a post on their Facebook page.
It said that a number of documents that did not belong to the suspects‚ pictures and CVs of vulnerable victims were found at the premises.
“The suspects were also found with R100 fake notes believed to have been used to lure the unsuspecting victims‚” the post added.

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Many motivations drive women to DC for inauguration protest

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January 14, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) – Call them rebels with a cause. Or two. Or three. Or 10.
When throngs of women from around the nation converge on Washington for a march on the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, they will arrive driven by a multitude of motivations.
Gay rights, gun control, immigrant rights, equal pay, reproductive freedom, racial justice, worker rights, climate change, support for vaccinations: They all make the list of progressive causes that are attracting people to the Women’s March on Washington and its sister marches across the country and the world this coming Saturday.
“We are not going to give the next president that much focus,” says Linda Sarsour, a national march organizer and executive director of the Arab American Association of New York. “What we want from him is to see us in focus.”
But while Trump’s name may not literally appear in the march’s “mission and vision” statement, the common denominator uniting the marchers appears to be a loathing for the president-elect and dismay that so much of the country voted for him.
“This march feels like a chance to be part of something that isn’t pity, isn’t powerlessness,” says Leslie Rutkowski, an American living in Norway who plans to fly back for the march. “I hope it is unifying. I hope it flies in the face of Trump’s platform of hate and divisiveness.”
Adds Kelsey Wadman, a new mom in California who’s helping to organize a parallel march in San Diego: “It’s not just about Donald Trump the person. It’s about what he evoked out of the country.”
The march in Washington is set to start with a program near the Capitol and then move toward the White House. It probably will be the largest of a number of inauguration-related protests.
Christopher Geldart, the District of Columbia’s homeland security director, said he expected the march to draw more than the 200,000 people organizers are planning for, based on bus registrations and train bookings.
The focus of the march has been a work in progress since the idea of a Washington mobilization first bubbled up from a number of women’s social media posts in the hours after Trump’s election.
The group’s November application for a march permit summed up its purpose as to “come together in solidarity to express to the new administration & Congress that women’s rights are human rights and our power cannot be ignored.”
That phrasing rankled some who thought it was tied too closely to Hillary Clinton, the defeated Democratic nominee, whose famous Beijing speech as first lady declared that “women’s rights are human rights.” The fact that the initial march organizers were mostly white women also generated grumbling, this time from minorities. Gradually, the march’s leadership and its mission statements have become more all-inclusive.
Recent releases from march organizers state the event “intends to send a bold message to the incoming presidential administration on their first day in office, to leadership in the U. S. House of Representatives and Senate, and to the world, that we stand together in solidarity and expect elected leaders to act to protect the rights of women, their families and their communities.”
America Ferrera, leading the celebrity contingent for the march, rolled out a long list of concerns in a statement announcing her role.
“Immigrant rights, worker rights, reproductive rights, LGBTQIA rights, racial justice and environmental rights are not special interests, they affect us all and should be every American’s concerns,” she wrote.
Other prominent names involved with the march have put a spotlight on one concern – or another.
Actress Scarlett Johansson, who plans to participate, put her focus on the incoming administration’s intentions of “reducing the availability of women’s health care and attacking her reproductive rights.” Actress Debra Messing, listed as a supporter of the march, wrote of the need to protect Planned Parenthood.
Expect thousands of the marchers to turn up wearing hand-knitted pink “pussyhats” – sending a message of female empowerment and pushing back against Trump’s demeaning comments about women.
Scan #WhyIMarch posts on social media, and you’ll find a wide-ranging list of reasons. A sampling: equal pay for women veterans, fighting chauvinism, empowering daughters, renouncing racism, higher pay for women who are college presidents.
Wadman, the California mom, tweeted a #WhyIMarch photo with her 4-month-old son and this note: “Because when my son asks me about this era of American history I don’t want to tell him that I did nothing.”
Rutkowski, the American living in Norway, emailed that she’s “not completely satisfied” with the mixed messages attached to the march.
“I also don’t like- from what I’ve seen in the news and on Facebook – the proclivity for infighting,” she wrote. “But I believe that a quarter of a million female bodies – hopefully more, hopefully men, as well – will make the incoming administration and new Congress aware that we are watching, we are listening and we will resist.”
Carmen Perez, one of the march’s national organizers, sees beauty in the many messages attached to the march: “Women don’t live single-issue lives and we are thrilled to be joined by women who understand and reflect the intersecting issues for which we stand.”
___
Associated Press reporters Krysta Fauria and Ben Nuckols contributed to this report.
___
Follow Nancy Benac on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/nbenac
Copyright © 2017 The Washington Times, LLC.
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'Tears of joy' as woman snatched as a baby is reunited with family

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January 14, 2017

A teenager who was stolen from hospital as a newborn baby has been reunited with her birth family as the woman she thought was her mother was charged with her kidnapping.
Thanks to DNA analysis, the 18-year-old now knows her birth name: Kamiyah Mobley.
She was in good health but understandably overwhelmed, Mike Williams, sheriff of Jacksonville, Florida, said.
Gloria Williams, 51, was arrested at her home in Walterboro, South Carolina, early on Friday, charged with kidnapping and interference with custody.
Ms Mobley, who was raised under her given name, Alexis Manigo, was allowed to spend a few emotional moments with Williams, crying « Momma » through the caged window of a security door after Williams waived extradition to Florida, according to WXJT-TV.
But a much different scene was described by the young woman’s birth family, who cried « tears of joy » after a detective told them their baby had been found.
Within hours they were able to reconnect by video chat over FaceTime.
« She looks just like her daddy, » her paternal grandmother, Velma Aiken, of Jacksonville, said, after they were able to see each other for the first time.
« She act like she been talking to us all the time. She told us she’d be here soon to see us. »
Ms Mobley was only eight hours old when she was taken from her young mother by a woman posing as a nurse at Jacksonville’s University Medical Centre.
A massive search followed, with helicopters circling the hospital and the city on high alert.
Thousands of tips came in over the years, but Kamiyah had disappeared.
Meanwhile, Kamiyah’s neighbours in Walterboro knew her as Gloria Williams’ daughter.
« She wasn’t an abused child or a child who got in trouble. But she grew up with a lie for 18 years, » Joseph Jenkins, who lives opposite, said.
Some months ago, the young woman « had an inclination » that she may have been kidnapped, the sheriff said, but authorities did not say why she suspected this.
The case broke thanks to a tip received by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, said Robert Lowery, a centre vice president.
The centre reached out to cold case detectives at the sheriff’s office and Ms Mobley provided a cheek swab for DNA analysis that proved the match, the sheriff said.
« This was something brand new to all of us, » said Tesha Stephens, a cousin of Williams, who spoke to reporters outside their home.
The centre has tracked 308 infant abductions since 1983 by non-family members in the US.
Of those cases, 12 were still missing at the end of last month.
« Right now she’s holding up, » Ms Stephens said. « She’s processing everything and she’s probably going to have to take this day by day. »
The woman has been provided with counselling, the sheriff said, and meanwhile, Ms Aiken is thrilled to know that they can speak to each other as much as they want.
« I always prayed, ‘Don’t let me die before I see my grandbaby’, » she said. « My prayer was answered. »
The family never forgot the little girl stolen from her mother’s arms that day in 1998.
Kamiyah mother, Shanara Mobley, told the Florida Times-Union newspaper on the 10th anniversary of the kidnapping that on every one of Kamiyah’s birthdays she wrapped a piece of birthday cake in foil and put it in her freezer.
« It’s stressful to wake up every day, knowing that your child is out there and you have no way to reach her or talk to her, » she told the paper in 2008.
News moved quickly through the community of about 5,100 people on Friday after police cars surrounded Williams’ home.
Mr Jenkins said he awoke to see officers searching the house and the shed at the back.
« At the fish market, the hairdresser, the gas station, they’re all talking about it, » said Ruben Boatwright, who has known Williams for about 15 years.
Mr Jenkins’ wife Lakeshia said Williams and the girl would often come over for barbecues in the garden, or join their family at a nearby water park.
Kamiyah seemed to be well cared for, and « Ms Williams, she seemed like a normal person, » Mrs Jenkins said.
« She went to work, came back here and went to church every Sunday. »
Williams also worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ hospital in Charleston, volunteered in the area for Habitat for Humanity and lead the youth programme at a Methodist church, she said.
« She’s very intelligent, smart as a whip, » Mr Boatwright said. « All I can say are good things about her. »
Mr Lowery said the case shines a beacon to many other parents still missing children.
« We have a lot of parents out there looking for their children, and have been for many years, and this provides them with additional hope that one day they may find their child, » he said.
AP

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3 charged with 1st-degree murder in death of Wilson man ::

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January 14, 2017

Posted 23 minutes ago
Updated 19 minutes ago
Wilson, N. C. — Police arrested and charged three Rocky Mount men with the murder of a 43-year-old Wilson man.
Wilson officers were dispatched around 2:40 p.m. on Wednesday to 112 Hines St. in response to a call about a person suffering from severe lacerations. Responding officers found Stephanick Timothy Jones, who was taken to Wilson Medical and then flown to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville.
On Thursday afternoon, while Jones was in the hospital, Wilson police also responded to a break-in at Jones’ apartment on Lipscomb Road.
Jones underwent surgery for the injuries on Wednesday but remained in critical condition until he died on Friday afternoon.
Police charged three men with Jones’ murder:
Matthew Joseph Taylor, 19, and Robert Earl McDonald, 22, were charged with first-degree murder, attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon and second-degree burglary.
Elijah Joshua Woodie, 20, was charged with first-degree murder and attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon.
Wilson police said they are still investigating the murder and expect to arrest additional suspects in the future.

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WATCH: Anti-MILO Protesters Tear Down Barricades At UC Davis

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January 14, 2017

At least one protester was arrested.
Protestors could also seen be wearing balaclavas, pushing other students whilst wearing anti-fascist badges and screaming chants comparing MILO to the KKK.
Frances Wang, a reporter for ABC10, also revealed her photographer had hot coffee poured on his camera whilst conducting an interview.
The event was set to be the opening night of the final leg of MILO’s ‘Dangerous Faggot Tour.’
You can follow Ben Kew on Facebook , on Twitter at @ben_kew , or email him at bkew@breitbart.com

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Connacht pile on the points against outclassed Zebre

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January 14, 2017

Last-eight hopefuls Connacht had little difficulty in racking up a 66-21 bonus-point win in a Champions Cup mismatch at the Sportsground.
The westerners’ fourth victory in five European rounds gives them 18 points in their three-way battle with Pool 2 rivals Wasps and Toulouse. Their quarter-final hopes now hang on next week’s trip to the south-west of France.
Despite showing some early promise with tries from Johan Meyer and Federico Ruzza, the lowly Italians coughed up the bonus-point score by the 27th minute and ended the first half with two men in the sin-bin.
Converted tries from Matt Healy, John Cooney, man-of-the-match Tiernan O’Halloran and Finlay Bealham guaranteed the extra point for Connacht, before additional efforts from Kieran Marmion and Craig Ronaldson made it 40-14 at the interval.
The Irish province’s try tally stood at 10 by the final whistle, Healy, O’Halloran and Marmion all completing their braces, with replacement Caolin Blade getting them into double figures and lock James Cannon playing a starring role up front.
Owing to Connacht’s current injury crisis, Cooney played at fly-half for the first time and landed eight conversions, including a brilliant banana kick in the blustery wind.
The eager Galway crowd did not have long to wait for the first try, the clock showing just 95 seconds when winger Healy glided over unopposed on the right after full-back O’Halloran had been sprung through midfield.
However, a poor turnover in their own 22 led to Connacht leaking a sixth-minute response, Kurt Baker going close before fellow southern hemisphere recruit Meyer muscled over from a couple of metres out.
Strong first-up defending from Gianluca Guidi’s side forced another turnover and ultimately their second converted try, the forwards laying the platform for number eight Ruzza to notch his third European score of the season.
Cooney converted his own 16th-minute try to get Connacht back on track, finishing off a crisp move that began inside halfway via Marmion’s inviting pass that sent Sean O’Brien galloping into space.
Scrum-half Marmion increased his influence with a snappy break and with the Connacht maul drawing a penalty, Cooney’s nicely-weighted kick through was touched down by a diving O’Halloran under the posts, with the conversion restoring the early seven-point buffer.
As Zebre’s discipline worsened, the hosts took full advantage, prop Bealham finishing off a well-executed lineout drive for the bonus-point score and the Italians losing winger Lloyd Greeff to the bin for a high tackle on Niyi Adeolokun.
Tighthead Pietro Ceccarelli joined him on the touchline after successive maul infringements, allowing Connacht to pick off two more tries with Marmion twisting over from an advancing scrum and then providing the assist for fit-again centre Ronaldson’s canter in by the posts.
Zebre’s tackling was awful at times and Healy had his second try barely a minute into the second period, with O’Halloran then doing likewise after the pacey pair had linked up again on the left wing.
Replacement forwards Dave Heffernan and James Connolly were to the fore as excellent hands released Marmion for a 48-metre sprint to the line, seeing Pat Lam’s men cross the 60-point mark.
The emptying of Connacht’s bench, combined with some sloppy general play, allowed Zebre to dictate in and around the hour mark and centre Mattia Bellini helped himself to a close-range converted try.
However, the home side managed to have the final say when Healy scampered away from inside his own half and passed for the supporting Blade to complete the scoring with 14 minutes remaining.

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On Football: Patriots are heavily favored against Texans, but don’t act like it

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January 14, 2017

The Patriots are big favorites in today’s playoff game against Houston, but they know underdogs can bite.
Fifteen points.
That’s how much oddsmakers in Vegas think the New England Patriots will beat the Houston Texans by – at least – in Saturday night’s AFC divisional round playoff game at Gillette Stadium.
It’s one of the largest point spreads for an NFL playoff game in the past 50 years.
Maybe 15 points is a good place to start, considering the Patriots beat the Texans, 27-0, back in September – with third-string quarterback Jacoby Brissett making his first NFL start while Tom Brady was serving his four-game suspension.
Consider this, too: The Texans have never won a game at Gillette Stadium (0-4) and Brady is 5-1 against Houston (the lone loss coming in a meaningless contest on the final weekend of 2009 regular season, a game in which Wes Welker blew out his knee).
Frankly, the Patriots should win Saturday by 15 points. It shouldn’t be close. The top-seeded Patriots (14-2) are vastly better than the Texans, who won their division with a 9-7 mark and then beat the short-handed Oakland Raiders, 27-14, in a wild-card playoff game last weekend.
Yes, Houston enters the game with the top-rated defense in the NFL. But the Texans played six games against offenses ranked in the top 10 in scoring – New England, Oakland, Green Bay, San Diego, and twice against Indianapolis – and lost four of those games.
New England put up 27 points on Houston in Week 3 of the regular season without Brady (who’s back, in a big way), with Rob Gronkowski playing very little (he’s out for the rest of the season, of course) and with their passing game netting only 103 yards.
Yes, the Patriots should win easily on Saturday. But they’re not buying into any of that.
“It means absolutely nothing,” linebacker Shea McClellin said when asked about the point spread. “That’s only for people who bet.”
You’re not going to get anyone on the Patriots to say anything other than that they expect a great game from the Texans. They expect Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus to put on a ferocious pass rush. They expect cornerbacks A. J. Bouye and Johnathan Joseph to blanket every receiver. They expect quarterback Brock Osweiler to regain the form that earned him a stunning $72 million contract in free agency. They expect DeAndre Hopkins to show why he is considered one of the best wide receivers in all of football.
And if they need a reminder of how the underdogs can bite, the Patriots need only to look back at their own history to know betting lines mean nothing.
They won their first Super Bowl championship in 2002 by beating the St. Louis Rams, 20-17, in a game in which the Rams were favored by 14 points.
They lost two Super Bowls when favored against the New York Giants, including in 2008 when New England was favored by 12.5 points and trying to complete an undefeated season.
Vince Wilfork, the former Patriot who now plays nose tackle for the Texans, mentioned the 2008 Super Bowl and Clemson’s win over favored Alabama in Monday’s college football championship as examples of bad picks.
“So, it goes to show you what these experts know,” Wilfork said during a conference call with reporters this week. “One of the things is we don’t pay attention to outside, what people have to say about us or how good or how bad we are. I think this team is a close-knit group. We play well together and we keep everything as a family. We approach every game the same.”
Wilfork knows of what he speaks. He began his NFL career in the Patriots locker room, learning the game from veterans such as Willie McGinest and Tedy Bruschi and Richard Seymour.
He knows that nothing that’s said or written outside the locker room has any place inside it. Apparently he’s trying to bring that attitude to his new team.
The newest Patriots learn that every year.
New England tight end Martellus Bennett, acquired in an offseason trade from Chicago, spoke about that this week.
“We don’t really care,” he said, when asked about blocking out the noise and distractions. “No one really cares what you guys write or what you guys say.
“We just believe in one another and what we have here and we never really listen to the outsiders because we know what’s true with what’s in here and in this locker room with the coaching staff and the work that we put in on the practice field.”
There are those who say the Patriots have a clear path to the Super Bowl in Houston on Feb. 5. They say that there isn’t a team in the AFC, or possibly the NFC, that can stop them.
Maybe. Probably. But the Patriots aren’t making any parade plans just yet.
“It’s the NFL,” McClellin said. “Everyone has great players. It’s a matter of who plays best that day.”
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