Gregg Williams has pretty good knowledge of the coaching staff of the New York Giants.
"Their offensive coordinator [Kevin Gilbride] and I are very good friends," said Williams, the New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator. "We started together at the Houston Oilers in 1990. He was my offensive coordinator with the Buffalo Bills [when Williams was head coach there].
"I've gone against him in Pittsburgh. I've gone against him in Jacksonville. I've gone against him at the Giants. I know him inside out."
And it does not stop there - Tom Coughlin, the New York Giants head coach, has tried to recruit Williams to his staff a few times before.
"He asked me to talk about going down there to interview with him at that time, and I ended up going to the Redskins," Williams said.
"I have a lot of respect for Tom Coughlin for a lot of years. There were a lot of years I was in Tennessee and he was in Jacksonville, and then I was at the Redskins in the division and him with the Giants."
Such is the coaching fraternity in the NFL that sooner or later the family tree of one coaching staff does criss-cross with that of another, and Monday night's game (5.30am Tuesday morning, UAE time, ESPN), featuring the Giants at the Saints is certainly no exception.
For Williams, regardless of the coaches on the New York sideline, it will all come down to how he and his defence stop Eli Manning, the Giants quarterback.
"The big thing with Eli is that I think he's playing very, very well," Williams said.
But that statement would find some contradiction from New York fans. Peyton's little brother has had a rough go of it the past three games with four interceptions against five touchdown passes. Coincidentally, the Giants (6-4) have gone 1-2 over that span.
For Williams, stopping New York begins and ends with stopping Manning.
"I think he's having a very good season," Williams said. "He leads the National Football League in the most number of deep shots. He leads the National Football League in deep completions ... Eli has done a very good job in being able to get the ball in the playmaker's hands."
But he will be without one of those weapons as the Giants placed Michael Clayton, the wide receiver, on injured reserved with a torn meniscus in his knee.
On top of that, New York's offensive line is in a state of flux - with Will Beatty out with a torn retina, the Giants will either move David Diehl from left guard to left tackle or start Stacy Andrews, the back-up.
Neither Coughlin nor Diehl would say who would get the start at tackle, but it is not much of a choice - Andrews has not started a game this season and has never started a game at left tackle in his eight NFL seasons.
So perhaps Williams's job, and that of his defence, is just that much easier.
"They maximise the skills," Williams said. "They're going to take the things that a particular athlete does and fit them into their deal, but then maximise those things and only ask them to do certain things ... We do that here. Sean [Payton, the New Orleans head coach] does a great job maximising what Pierre [Thomas] does, and Mark Ingram, Chris Ivory and Darren Sproles."
Of course he does. Payton, after all, was an assistant with the New York Giants from 1999 to 2002.
Did we say it was a small league?
UAE TV: 5.30am, Tuesday morning, ESPN
If you go
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Seattle from Dh5,555 return, including taxes.
The car
Hertz offers compact car rental from about $300 (Dh1,100) per week, including taxes. Emirates Skywards members can earn points on their car hire through Hertz.
The national park
Entry to Mount Rainier National Park costs $30 for one vehicle and passengers for up to seven days. Accommodation can be booked through mtrainierguestservices.com. Prices vary according to season. Rooms at the Holiday Inn Yakima cost from $125 per night, excluding breakfast.
HIV on the rise in the region
A 2019 United Nations special analysis on Aids reveals 37 per cent of new HIV infections in the Mena region are from people injecting drugs.
New HIV infections have also risen by 29 per cent in western Europe and Asia, and by 7 per cent in Latin America, but declined elsewhere.
Egypt has shown the highest increase in recorded cases of HIV since 2010, up by 196 per cent.
Access to HIV testing, treatment and care in the region is well below the global average.
Few statistics have been published on the number of cases in the UAE, although a UNAIDS report said 1.5 per cent of the prison population has the virus.
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Company%20profile
%3Cp%3EName%3A%20Tabby%3Cbr%3EFounded%3A%20August%202019%3B%20platform%20went%20live%20in%20February%202020%3Cbr%3EFounder%2FCEO%3A%20Hosam%20Arab%2C%20co-founder%3A%20Daniil%20Barkalov%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20Payments%3Cbr%3ESize%3A%2040-50%20employees%3Cbr%3EStage%3A%20Series%20A%3Cbr%3EInvestors%3A%20Arbor%20Ventures%2C%20Mubadala%20Capital%2C%20Wamda%20Capital%2C%20STV%2C%20Raed%20Ventures%2C%20Global%20Founders%20Capital%2C%20JIMCO%2C%20Global%20Ventures%2C%20Venture%20Souq%2C%20Outliers%20VC%2C%20MSA%20Capital%2C%20HOF%20and%20AB%20Accelerator.%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Personalities on the Plate: The Lives and Minds of Animals We Eat
Barbara J King, University of Chicago Press
