Pro Football Betting: Cowboys vs Packers

BetUS NFL odds: DALLAS -3, Total 48

In the BetUS NFL pro football gambling, the Cowboys are listed as a three-point favorite, with a posted total of 48 points.

Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

* DALL has covered four of its last six games
* DALL has won five of its last six games SU
* DALL has played seven of its last ten games OVER the total
* DALL has covered three of its last ten road games
* GB has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* GB has covered two of its last seven home games
* GB has won 16 of its last 24 home games SU
* GB has played 12 of its last 17 home games OVER the total


Also...

* DALL has covered eight of the last ten meetings
* DALL has won 11 of the last 13 meetings SU
* Eleven of the last 13 meetings have gone OVER the total


Green Bay springs leaks. Not only did the Packers allow Aaron Rodgers to be sacked six more times last week (making it 37 on the season), they also gave up two touchdowns on special teams. This resulted in an ignominious loss to the Tampa Bay Bucs, which I guess proves that the Packers are not able to bully EVERY bad team in the NFL. In pro football numbers, they are dead even, same as their straight-up record.

Now they come into this home game against Dallas looking for redemption in the worst way, and sporting what they hope is a stronger and deeper running game now that Ahman Green is back in the fold. Green had 45 yards against Tampa Bay last week, and the Pack had 170 rushing yards overall. That makes 462 over the last three weeks.

Green Bay has been trying to patch up some injuries on its offensive line, and they have Mark Tauscher and Chad Clifton in the starting lineup now. Can they deal with a quality rushing attack on the part of the opposition? Maybe; the Pack has allowed just 3.5 yards a rush out of its 3-4 alignment.

Dallas has the hot hand, without question. The Cowboys have a deep rushing attack. They are getting contributions now from both Roy WIlliams (75 yards vs. the Eagles last week) and Mario Austin (TD's in four straight games). Tony Romo has had nine TD passes and just one interception the last four games. Dallas has a technical edge, covering eight of the last ten meetings, while Green Bay has covered two of its last seven home games.

We'd like to think the Packers can come up with a big effort here, and no doubt they'll try, but there are too many fundamentals going in Dallas' favor right now. With the weather expected to be agreeable, we're going to lay the points with the Cowboys, the three-point favorite.

Byers to stand down at election

Former cabinet minister Stephen Byers has announced he will quit Parliament at the next general election.

The North Tyneside MP said he wanted to "pursue other interests", but insisted he would continue to support Labour.

He has been a fierce critic of prime minister Gordon Brown, openly discussing leadership challenges.

Mr Byers, 56, quit as transport secretary in 2002 after an adviser said the 11 September terror attacks made it "a good day to bury bad news".

'Fresh challenges'

He told a monthly meeting of the North Tyneside Labour party on Saturday: "By 2010 I will have held elected positions as an MP and councillor for 30 years. That's over half my life and is a long time - especially in modern politics.

"For me this is the right moment to move on in order to pursue other interests and look to fresh challenges."

Mr Byers served as schools minister after Labour won power in 1997, joining the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1998.

He then moved to Trade and Industry Secretary the same year and became Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions after the 2001 election.

On the backbenches, he was a high-profile Blairite ex-minister pushing for the government to stick to New Labour policies.

He claimed £125,000 in second home expenses over five years for a flat owned entirely by his partner, according to details of MPs' allowances published by parliament.

He also claimed more than £27,000 on renovation, redecoration, maintenance and appliances at his flat in Camden, north London.

Mr Byers said all his claims were within the rules and had been approved by Commons authorities.

Byers to stand down at election

Former cabinet minister Stephen Byers has announced he will quit Parliament at the next general election.

The North Tyneside MP said he wanted to "pursue other interests", but insisted he would continue to support Labour.

He has been a fierce critic of prime minister Gordon Brown, openly discussing leadership challenges.

Mr Byers, 56, quit as transport secretary in 2002 after an adviser said the 11 September terror attacks made it "a good day to bury bad news".

'Fresh challenges'

He told a monthly meeting of the North Tyneside Labour party on Saturday: "By 2010 I will have held elected positions as an MP and councillor for 30 years. That's over half my life and is a long time - especially in modern politics.

"For me this is the right moment to move on in order to pursue other interests and look to fresh challenges."

Mr Byers served as schools minister after Labour won power in 1997, joining the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury in 1998.

He then moved to Trade and Industry Secretary the same year and became Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions after the 2001 election.

On the backbenches, he was a high-profile Blairite ex-minister pushing for the government to stick to New Labour policies.

He claimed £125,000 in second home expenses over five years for a flat owned entirely by his partner, according to details of MPs' allowances published by parliament.

He also claimed more than £27,000 on renovation, redecoration, maintenance and appliances at his flat in Camden, north London.

Mr Byers said all his claims were within the rules and had been approved by Commons authorities.

NCAA basketball officials to start calling fouls on secondary defenders

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The season has just started and already a new rule designed to clarify some of the foul calls has some coaches concerned.

The rule, approved by the NCAA in June, requires secondary defenders to establish position outside of the area directly below the rim to draw a charging call. Essentially, if a player is standing in an imaginary circle beneath the rim and makes contact with a shooter, it's an automatic blocking foul - no matter if the player has position or not.

North Carolina coach Roy Williams likes the idea and hopes it will curb some of the violent collisions under the basket that can lead to injuries. He said his concern is there's nothing to define the area beneath the rim, forcing officials to make judgment calls on where the player was standing.

"The decision to make the imaginary circle underneath the rim, I think that was not the best decision," Williams said Tuesday during a conference call with NCAA officials. "I think our officials are really going to have a difficult time with that. I would have been in favour of putting down a dotted line, if that's what we're going to do."

The rule was put in to stop players from sliding under shooters as they came down after taking a shot. The NBA instituted a similar rule a few years ago, putting a dotted line on the floor to clearly define whether a defender was under the basket.

The NCAA won't have that, leaving it up to the officials to determine if the defender was in the 18-by-24-inch area while still trying to keep track of everything else that's going on.

"Playing underneath the basket just to draw a foul as a guy's coming down is not a good play and I understand the reason for it, but I'd like to give the officials a little help and put the dotted line in there like the NBA," said Williams, whose team opened defence of last year's national championship Monday night with a 88-72 win over Florida International.

Several other new rules or points of emphasis were put into place to take away some of the rough play that's become common in college basketball.

Officials will pay closer attention to 3-second calls to eliminate some of the wrestling matches underneath the basket, and have been instructed to call fouls if a player's balance, rhythm, speed or quickness is impeded, not just if it provides an advantage.

Officials also will be allowed to use replay to determine flagrant fouls. Even if a foul isn't considered flagrant, they're being encouraged to call intentional or technical fouls instead of downgrading to a regular foul.

Those rules Williams had no problem with. He agreed the game is getting too physical and something needs to be done.

"For me and some of my coaching friends, we all the same opinion, we are concerned with the aggressiveness and the rough play, the physicalness of the game," Williams said. "We don't want it to take away the openness the game of basketball, the smoothness and the finesse game that it should be, so there's no question that's my biggest concern

New gas management plan approved

ISLAMABAD: All industrial units and CNG stations will remain closed two days a week on a rotation basis in Punjab and the NWFP during winter, according to a gas load management plan approved by the federal cabinet on Wednesday.

The special meeting of the cabinet held with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the chair decided that CNG stations would remain closed for eight days a month in zones to be defined by the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL).

The decision was taken to overcome the shortage of natural gas, demand for which surges sharply in Punjab and the NWFP during winter.

Gas supply to CNG stations will remain suspended in the Lahore region on the first two days of the schedule. The Lahore region of SNGPL covers all areas from Kasur to Sheikhupura.

CNG stations will remain closed on day 3 and 4 in the Islamabad region, which includes Jhelum, Attock, Murree and Rawalpindi districts.

The shutdown plan in Gujranwala and Peshawar regions will be enforced on day 5 and 6.

The Gujranwala region includes Muridke, Kamoki, Sialkot, Sarai Alamgir and highways.

The Peshawar region covers all parts of the NWFP, except the Hazara division. Gas will not be supplied to CNG stations in Multan, Abbottabad, Faisalabad and Bahawalpur regions on seventh and eighth day.

An SNGPL official told Dawn that tentative date for implementing the plan was Nov 15 and it would continue till March 15 next year. He said that through the plan the company expected to save 25mmcfd of gas.

The CNG sector has rejected the plan. All Pakistan CNG Association chairman Gyas Paracha said the industry had not been taken into confidence on the gas load management plan.

‘It is an impractical decision which will only affect consumers,’ he said, adding that the association would protest against the decision.

Industrial sector
Lahore has been divided into two zones. Faisalabad and other districts of central Punjab have been placed in zone three and Multan, Gujranwala, Peshawar and Abbottabad are in zone four of the schedule.

The textile sector in Punjab has sought 300mmcfd gas to meet export orders, but the government has pledged 200mmcfd for export-oriented industries during winter.

According to government estimates, SNGPL will face a shortage of 1.10 billion cubic feet of gas per day in January.

‘Domestic geysers and heaters alone consume around 400mmcfd and 350mmcfd of gas, respectively, from November to March,’ an official of the petroleum ministry said.

17 Killed in Karachi Train Collision

At least 17 people were killed and over 40 injured today following a collision between a passenger train and a goods train after its driver missed a signal on the outskirts of this southern Pakistani port city.

Officials said the Karachi-bound Allama Iqbal Express rammed into the Super Parcel Express near Jumma Goth railway station this morning.

Senior railways official Yusuf Soomro said the accident occurred because the driver of Allama Iqbal Express missed a signal and hit the cargo train from the rear.

DSP Railways Aftab Memon said the accident appears to have happened because of the "negligence of the driver and that is why the passenger train rammed into the freight train coming from the opposite direction".

Other officials also said the collision took place due to a "mix-up" over signals.

The first two coaches of the passenger train were severely damaged, resulting in deaths and injuries among passengers, including women and children.

Soon after the collision, people from nearby areas rushed to the site of the accident and helped police and rescue service personnel in pulling bodies and the injured out of the train.

Soomro said rescue operations were completed at 2.15 pm local time and the injured sent to hospitals.

Rescue and police officials said that the death toll could rise as some of the injured were in critical condition after being shifted to government hospitals.

Train services were restored on the affected line after four to five hours, Memon said.

Lahore blast hurts 15 people

LAHORE: Fifteen people including 2 police personnel and a traffic warden were injured in a suicide bomb blast at police check post near Babu Sabu Motorway Interchange here Monday.

CCPO Lahore said two suicide bombers riding an explosives-laden car blew it up at the police check post at Babu Sabu Motorway Interchange when the police stopped it. Both the suicide bombers died and body parts have been collected, he said.

The injured were shifted to Mao and Shaikh Zaid hospitals. Police and other law enforcement agencies surrounded the area of blast.

A white-colored Suzuki Mehran bearing no LWN 5090 was used in the attack, police said. The police had prior information about this car. outskirts of the city.

Terror back in Rawalpindi, bomb blast near hotel kills 10, injures many

Monday 2nd November, 2009

Rawalpindi, Nov. 2 : A bomb explosion behind a hotel near the army headquarters in Pakistan's Rawalpindi city reportedly killed 10 people and injured several others on Monday morning.

According to The News, the blast took place near Shalimar Hotel located on Mall Road at 10:40 am.The GHQ is located 500 yards away from blast site, witnesses said.The nature of blast is yet to be ascertained.No group has claimed the responsibility for the attack so far.

Meanwhile, security officials have cordoned off the entire area."We are hearing there was a blast near a hotel. We are checking," a police official was quoted, as sayinh.

The blast comes at a time when the Pakistani army is involved in a massive offensive against Taliban militants in South Waziristan.

There have been several retaliatory attacks since the offensive began last month, including a deadly car bomb blast in Peshawar n Wednesday that killed over 100 people.