The 2008 NFL draft was bittersweet for Peyton Hillis. The University of Arkansas fullback, whose blocking had cleared running lanes for the tailbacks Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, enabled them to be selected fourth and 22nd.
Hillis had to wait another day to hear his name called: in the seventh (final) round, 227th overall.
Still, he landed feet-first in Denver. Mike Shanahan, the Broncos' coach at the time, deployed the rookie as a ball-carrying, pass-catching back, mirroring his college duties pre-McFadden, pre-Jones. Shanahan is known for tailbacks of all shapes and sizes.
Shanahan's successor, Josh McDaniels, was less enamoured and, after a forgettable second season, Hillis was sent to Cleveland for the quarterback Brady Quinn.
Based on early returns, the trade stands as among Denver's worst. As Quinn sits in Denver, Hillis is bowling over tacklers - when not running around them with his impressive speed.
Last Sunday, Hillis torched New England for 184 rushing yards, the most yielded by the Patriots in eight seasons. With 873 rushing and receiving yards, he ranks eighth in the league. He also has scored eight touchdowns.
"Peyton's a load," said Eric Mangini, coach of the Browns. "I mean, I avoid him in the hallway."
The role of Hillis-as-blocking -back has been assumed in Cleveland by Lawrence Vickers, who said, "If you don't want to run into that truck, move out of the way."
For some talent evaluators, Hillis's high football IQ and relentless drive were offset by the eye test: at 1.85m and 109kg he is is heavier and wider than the typical NFL tailback. Luckily for him, the Browns' cupboard was bare at the position.
Nobody is hurting more over Hillis's emergence than Jerry Jones, as if the owner of the Dallas Cowboys does not have enough to worry about. Jones passed on Hillis, a fellow Arkansas alumnus, and instead is stuck with Jones, who has failed to score while gaining 459 rushing/receiving yards.
(As for McFadden, do not colour the Oakland Raiders regretful. He has generated the league's fourth-most yards.)
Sometimes, tagging a player as "versatile" can become a scarlet letter. If the guy gets moved around, the thinking goes, he cannot master one position.
On the day he was drafted, Hillis expressed a willingness to serve wherever he was assigned. "I'm just anxious to play," he said. Wish granted, at the glamour position.
"I want this to be a routine thing," Hillis said. "I want to be known as being consistent and going the whole year through, being the man, tote the rock."
Today’s top games
• Tennessee at Miami: For Randy Moss, the season has become a series of Halloween nights: he changes into another costume. Now with the Titans, Tennessee hopes that Moss, if nothing else, will open the field for tailback Chris Johnson. The Dolphins switched Chads at quarterback – from Henne to Pennington.
• Dallas at NY Giants: The coldest NFC team visits the hottest. The Cowboys ended the misery of coach Wade Phillips by firing him and promoting Jason Garrett, whose pass-happy play-calling has been criticised. The quarterback Jon Kitna, below, has started since the Giants KO'd Tony Romo early in their five-game win streak.
• New England at Pittsburgh: A compelling collision of 6-2 teams and marquee quarterbacks, Brady vs "Big Ben". The Patriots are licking wounds from their worst game, a beatdown by the Browns. The Steelers are prime-time hits (it's their third straight night game) and celebrate homecoming after three on the road.
Today’s other games
Detroit at Buffalo
Carolina at Tampa Bay
Minnesota at Chicago
Houston at Jacksonville
NY Jets at Cleveland
Cincinnati at Indianapolis
Kansas City at Denver
St Louis at San Francisco
Seattle at Arizona
Tomorrow's game
Philadelphia at Washington
Stat of the week
Position players went 1-for-2 on extra-point kicks last weekend after the regular kickers were injured. The Detroit defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh missed off the right post. The New England receiver Wes Welker split the uprights.
sports@thenational.ae
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
Miss Granny
Director: Joyce Bernal
Starring: Sarah Geronimo, James Reid, Xian Lim, Nova Villa
3/5
(Tagalog with Eng/Ar subtitles)
AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Steve Smith (capt), David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, Jackson Bird, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Tim Paine, Chadd Sayers, Mitchell Starc.
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-finals, first leg
Liverpool v Roma
When: April 24, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Anfield, Liverpool
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 2, Stadio Olimpico, Rome
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
Landfill in numbers
• Landfill gas is composed of 50 per cent methane
• Methane is 28 times more harmful than Co2 in terms of global warming
• 11 million total tonnes of waste are being generated annually in Abu Dhabi
• 18,000 tonnes per year of hazardous and medical waste is produced in Abu Dhabi emirate per year
• 20,000 litres of cooking oil produced in Abu Dhabi’s cafeterias and restaurants every day is thrown away
• 50 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s waste is from construction and demolition
Hidden killer
Sepsis arises when the body tries to fight an infection but damages its own tissue and organs in the process.
The World Health Organisation estimates it affects about 30 million people each year and that about six million die.
Of those about three million are newborns and 1.2 are young children.
Patients with septic shock must often have limbs amputated if clots in their limbs prevent blood flow, causing the limbs to die.
Campaigners say the condition is often diagnosed far too late by medical professionals and that many patients wait too long to seek treatment, confusing the symptoms with flu.
Country-size land deals
US interest in purchasing territory is not as outlandish as it sounds. Here's a look at some big land transactions between nations:
Louisiana Purchase
If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.
Florida Purchase Treaty
The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty.
Alaska purchase
America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".
The Philippines
At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million.
US Virgin Islands
It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.
Gwadar
The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
The British in India: Three Centuries of Ambition and Experience
by David Gilmour
Allen Lane
The biog
Name: Marie Byrne
Nationality: Irish
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption
Book: Seagull by Jonathan Livingston
Life lesson: A person is not old until regret takes the place of their dreams
