By Phillip Barton (u/museproducer) and Matt 'Trumpets' Ragsdale (u/mattpt55)
Starting with this one, the Editorial Team will offer some features also in audio format. You can find this one here in the voice of the authors.
If you rather download it, you can do so following this link.
Before we begin, we need to give a special thank you to the moderators at NASCAR. They joined us in this project and have been ever willing to help us with information on rules and unique facts about the race, and answering our questions about the sport as a whole.
And we would be remiss to not give a special thank you to u/the_colbeast, whose seemingly endless vault of information about NASCAR has been invaluable to us for this weekend and hopefully for many to come in the future.
Thank you so much, and we hope to have further collaborations with you all in the future!

Intro

The Daytona 500 is one of the most famous races in motorsports. It is held in the same way as the Indianapolis 500, Monaco Grand Prix, Bathurst 1000, or 24 Hours of Le Mans for many fans. And yet, for most F1 fans, it is hard to look at the Daytona 500 and think of it as being in the same league as a Formula 1 Grand Prix at tracks like Spa or Silverstone.
In Formula 1, cars are made to be as lightweight as possible, made of mostly composite materials. In NASCAR, cars are still made with a steel tube chassis covered with a mixture of carbon fibekevlar and fiberglass body panels.
While a Formula 1 car is powered by a V6 hybrid power unit with around 1000 hp depending on the power unit manufacturer, in NASCAR they are still using the throaty ~~carbureted~~ V8 made by Toyota, Ford or Chevy (depending on the team), with an output of about 750 hp.
Ed. note: apologies for the slip up here - we got our history and current day wires crossed.
A Formula 1 car is typically developed from before the start of the season onward, with changing aero parts on the car occurring regularly sometimes from race to race or even from session to session. In NASCAR, the body of the cars stay relatively the same, with different aero packages required depending on the track as mandated by NASCAR’s governing body. And that is just the differences in the cars.
So what then is the allure for an F1 fan to watch the Daytona 500? As far as things are concerned these are two very different sports under the wide umbrella that is motorsport as a whole. Formula 1’s fanbase is even seen to be of a very different culture, with international reach and an image of being a wealthy gentleman's sport, whereas NASCAR comes off as a more simplistic, blue-collar sport with roots tied to the United States of America alone. Yet Formula 1 drivers have appeared in NASCAR stock cars for decades.
What follows is an attempt to convince you, a Formula 1 fan, to give this race a shot. To accomplish that, we will have to go back to before the first Daytona 500. Back to a time before the existence of the Daytona International Speedway even, when stock cars were raced on the sandy beaches of Daytona, instead of the asphalt speedway we know today.

Daytona’s History

From the Beginning to the End of the Petty Era

The Daytona 500 heralds the start of the NASCAR season and, as with most races, it can trace its origin back to a place, Daytona Beach, a man (Bill France Sr.) and a date (December 14, 1947), when the idea of NASCAR was first conceived at the Streamline Hotel.
Bill France had the meeting because, as a driver, he was getting increasingly tired of shady promoters bogarting the prize money after races ended. He realized, much like Bernie Ecclestone would do much later in F1, that if he organized the teams and drivers, they would be able to control (or at least influence) their destiny.
By the time the meeting took place, however, stock car racing was very much an established regional thing, with its mythic origins reaching back to the roots of Prohibition (which for those who are not from the USA, was a shocking time between 1920 and 1933 when all alcohol was illegal – not that it mattered, as the country drank more than ever).
In an effort to keep the Roaring Twenties parties going, illegal stills would produce an alcohol know locally in the South as moonshine, which intrepid drivers (also known as bootleggers) would then take from isolated mountain tops in the Appalachian Mountains down to more populated regions, usually at a high rate of speed and often being chased by the local constabulary as well. This obviously started an arms race between the police and the bootleggers, leading to both sides searching for ever-increasing performance, either to reach their delivery points with minimal interference or to apprehend the law-breakers.
Once Prohibition was over, this should have been the end of bootlegging and the need for fast cars, right? Nothing of the sort happened. The bootleggers were now in the business of evading taxes and drivers had a new weapon: the Ford V-8 engine, which in a fit of cosmic irony was invented by a teetotaller, Henry Ford. He had even banned his workers from drinking, but ultimately he helped give rise to a sport that floated to prominence on the backs of rivers of whiskey.
For it turns out, not being satisfied with risking imminent death in a blaze of high proof glory while being chased at insane speeds down back roads, bootleggers began having contests to see whose car was fastest. By the late 1930s, these were beginning to be regular occurrences that would draw crowds and by the time Bill France got around to organizing NASCAR a decade later, there were already purpose built venues for the racing of said cars.
If, perchance, you were to be racing at Daytona International Speedway in the 500, and you had the mental capacity, at close to 200 mph (320 kph) and running inches from your competitors, to glance up, you would see the words "World Center of Racing" plastered across the top of the grandstands as you crossed the finish line. A bold claim to be sure, but one rooted in reality if one travels far enough back in time, to the turn of the previous century.
The start of Daytona as a race venue goes back to 1902, when a race between Ransom Olds, founder of Oldsmobile and Alexander Winston, founder of Winston Motor Works, staged a race on the hard packed sands. The width of the beach, 500 feet, and the length, 27 miles, made it perfect for land speed record attempts. Fifteen were made, culminating with Sir Malcolm Campbell (there was an ongoing rivalry between British and USA drivers), who in 1935 did a 276.82 mph (445 kph) run. On a beach...
In addition to the land speed record attempts, 13 other organized races were held on the beach, and when the clubhouse was built close to the Daytona portion of the beach, the name stuck.
In 1936, the city of Daytona chucked up a purse, and hired Sig Haugdahl to design a course and organize the event. Sig used the road that ran parallel to the beach, A1A, to make a 3.2 mile circuit.
Although the race was a disaster, with the city losing money and the race having to be red flagged due to the course becoming undriveable, the following year the Elks Club was willing to give it a go, although they too lost money and decided that perhaps race promotion was better left to the experts.
Which is where Bill France stepped in. In 1938, his first year organizing the race, the race at Daytona made money for the first time. The second time, he made even more (US$20,000 to be exact) and, despite being a competitive driver, it began to become increasingly obvious which side of the bread his butter was on.
World War II interrupted his run of success, but once NASCAR was formed two years after the war was over, it began to sanction the races on the beach as stock cars were becoming an increasingly popular attraction. By 1953, France knew that the venue was beginning to limit what he could achieve and thus the plans for the current track were born. The old Road Course was used for the last time in 1958 and, in 1959, the event moved to the brand new 2.5 mile tri-oval super speedway for the inaugural Daytona 500.
That first race did not disappoint the roughly 41,000 fans gathered either, with a 3-wide finish that took 3 days to decide as Lee Petty crossed the line with Johnny Beauchamp and Joe Weatherly. Beauchamp was declared victor, but Petty protested and after 3 days and reference to a newsreel of the finish, Petty was announced as the actual winner. In later years, Petty would opine that France knew he had won and had done it on purpose, to generate publicity for the race.
The following year, the race was won by Junior Johnson, who managed the feat despite being in a car that was nearly 22 mph down on top speed. After noticing in practice that he could trail a faster car without losing time, he also realized he could "slingshot" by the faster car as well. He used this tactic to win the race and this innovation was rapidly copied by other drivers leading to the sophisticated use of drafting, still in vogue to this day with modern drivers on all superspeedway races.
The 1962 race was won by Fireball Roberts, and it was the third straight year he had started on pole. That win also was the second in a row for team owner and legendary mechanic Smokey Yunick, which made him the first owner to win the race more than once.
Smokey was also legendary for dancing on the head of a regulation, a trait shared by many F1 legends. So much so that he was often referred to as the American Colin Chapman, though looking at the dates it could well have swung the other way. Perhaps the most talked about episode of his creative interpretations of regulations was his 1966 car driven by Curtis Turner.
It was so much faster that everyone knew he was cheating, but no one could figure out how. Eventually, it was discovered that the roof had been lowered and modified, the windows had been altered and the floor raised, allowing him to lower the car and making it effectively 7/8 the aerodynamic profile of an actual stock car. This quite naturally led to some rapid rewriting of the scrutineering procedures.
Smokey was also renowned for his expertise with fuel systems: at one race, after installing 11 feet of extra tubing to add 5 gallons of extra fuel capacity, NASCAR officials pulled the fuel tank for inspection as they were suspicious and told him they had 9 items he needed to fix before the race. His response was "better make it ten" as he started the car sans fuel tank and drove it back to the pits. He also used a basketball in the fuel tank that was inflated when capacity was checked and deflated when the car was fueled for the race. Smokey's mindset was perhaps best illustrated by a quote from his autobiography "All those other guys were cheatin' ten times worse than us, so it was just self-defense".
In 1964, Richard Petty (nicknamed "The King") stood atop the podium for the first time in the history of the Daytona 500, the start of the winningest run in the history of the race and at the beginnings of a career that also saw him win more races than any driver in NASCAR ever. At the end of it all he would tally 200 victories, 123 poles, and 7 Daytona 500 wins, along with 27 wins in one season, 1,027 starts and 10 consecutive wins, all of them records, in a career that has yet to be approached by any driver since.
It was 1963 that put him on the map in NASCAR, running a Plymouth with a Hemi engine. The engine was so dominant that he crushed the 1964 Daytona; not only did he win, leading 184 of the 200 laps, but NASCAR promptly banned the engine for the following season, leading to a boycott of NASCAR by Chrysler.
The 1966 season was set to be the last hoorah of the so-called Generation 1 cars. They were nothing more than a stock frame and body, with the doors strapped shut and a heavy-duty rear axle to keep the car from flipping. That season saw Petty become the first driver to win the Daytona 500 two times. This time round was much less of a walk over for The King as he had to come from 2 laps down after tire troubles early to retake the lead on lap 113 before going on to win by more than a full lap, the work by his pit crew crucial to his victory.
The following season, with the debut of the Generation 2 cars, teams could now use a modified frame. Even though that would be the year Petty would go on to notch his 27 wins (a season record), it would be an upstart and the only non-American ever to win the 500 (by birth at least): Mario Andretti. The race that year featured 36 lead changes and 54 laps of yellow flag running. Innes Ireland, who had just raced his last season in F1 the previous year, also took part that year (he finished in 27th place, out of 50 participants).
Petty would not win again until 1971, and despite the long shadow he cast over NASCAR for well over two decades, other names rose to prominence during his dry spell at the 500. Cale and LeeRoy Yarbrough (amazingly unrelated to one another) would notch 5 wins between them, with LeeRoy winning 1 and Cale 4. Bobby Allison would eventually rack up 3 wins at Daytona, while his brother would play a pivotal role in Petty's 1979 win.
In 1974, the race was shortened to 450 miles as a result of the oil crisis (Petty winning that one as well), but it was back to the full 500 miles the following year.
In 1977, Janet Guthrie became the first woman to start the 500, going from 39th to 12th. She would finish 11th in 1980, her third and final run at the 500, while also becoming the first woman to qualify and race in the Indy 500 later that year, also racing in it 3 times, with a best result of 9th in 1978 (driving with a fractured wrist no less).
But for long-time fans of the 500, two years stand out as pivotal in the '70s: 1976 and 1979.
The 1976 race was an epic, featuring a lengthy duel between Richard Petty and David Pearson. On the final lap, Pearson made the pass on Petty and led down the backstretch, but Petty attempted an overtake into Turn 3 but failed to clear Pearson. The resulting contact sent both into the wall and then into the infield grass, both coming to rest just yards from the finish. Pearson managed to restart and cross the line for the win while Petty, with an assist from his quick-thinking pit crew pushed the car across the line to finish 2nd.
In 1979,the race would thrust the Daytona 500 and NASCAR into the national spotlight, and in many ways gave both the race and the sport the reputation that they carry to this day. CBS (one of the three major TV networks at the time) had just signed an agreement to broadcast NASCAR and the Daytona 500 was to be the first race carried live, lights to flag, on USA television. In addition, a major snowstorm had blanketed the Northeast, ensuring a large audience for this first of its kind broadcast.
A large storm had drenched the track the night before, and as Ken Squier and David Hobbs settled in the booth, the first 15 laps were run under the green and yellow flag conditions to help dry the track.
An early lap contretemps saw Donnie Allison take out both Cale Yarbrough and his brother Bobby. All managed to carry on, but they had lost laps to the leaders sorting the damage and it would take Donnie until Lap 178 to reclaim the lead, with Yarbrough again close behind him and chasing. On the final lap, Yarbrough attempted to slingshot as Allison came down to block him. Neither driver would give way and the inevitable contact sent Yarbrough's inside wheels onto the turf. He lost control of his car and came back onto the track, hitting Allison's car, the pair winding up in the outside wall of Turn 3 before sliding down the banking and into the infield as a surprised, and no doubt delighted, Richard Petty came through to notch his 6th win of the iconic race.
While Petty celebrated, Bobby Allison had pulled alongside the stranded drivers to offer his brother a ride back to the pits, and Yarbrough, who evidently felt that the early race contact had cost him the victory and was not happy with the outcome of his late move either, started jawing with Bobby and then proceeded to smack Allison in the face with his helmet. This brought Donnie into the melee. He grabbed Yarbrough and pulled him away from the car as Bobby exited the car and started swinging.
The whole thing was topped off by a marshal tackling Yarbrough and both Allisons to the ground, snippets of the confrontation broadcast live to a massive TV audience. The next day, the race was a topic of national conversation and, just as with the original race, it was the kind of controversy that guaranteed a large and ever-growing audience for the sport. Both drivers naturally blamed the other for the accident but both wound up being fined and placed on probation by NASCAR for the incident.
After that, the trajectory of NASCAR and the Daytona 500 in particular, as a national and eventually international event was set. Petty would go on to win his 7th and final 500 in 1981, the first year of Generation 3 cars, but his long reign as The King was entering its twilight as the pressure from below became ever greater and the years took their toll.
He would go on to claim his final win in 1984 at Daytona, not at the 500, but at the Firecracker 400, and he finished his racing career, which began in 1958, at the end of the 1992 season at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Dale Earnhardt to Modern Era

As Petty’s career waned to its eventual end, another driver started capturing the first glimpses of the spotlight, ironically in that very same infamous ‘79 Daytona 500 win for Petty.
He even led the race for a few laps before finishing 8th, which was a marvelous result for his first time at Daytona. It was to be just the opening salvo of a career that became one of the staples of USA racing, long since his tragic death. His name is both loved and hated within the NASCAR community, but there is no denying it accelerated the series’ rise in popularity. His skillful but aggressive driving style made him a force to be reckoned with on the track and earned him many enemies on and off it. And who might you ask that be? Dale “The Intimidator” Earnhardt.
Although he would match Petty in NASCAR championships, his record at Daytona was less than spectacular. Eventually, the 500 was considered a cursed race for Earnhardt, but while he was unable to dominate at Daytona, other names from his era had a better time there.
The 1980s saw the debut of the Generation 3 cars, which were the first time the NASCAR cars would no longer be “stock”. Finally, the sport had outgrew the possibility of buying the winning car from Sunday.
Ford started the aero wars when the nose on the Thunderbird did not match the one sold to customers. GM responded with a limited run “bubble back window” on their Pontiac Grand Prix and Chevy Monte Carlo, and the eventual rise of Buick’s Regal Grand National (whose homologation special is considered a bit of a collector's car with the unique edge of being a V6 turbo unlike its NASCAR counterpart).
The Generation 3 cars’ performance and wheelbase were set during this era, with the wheelbase of 110 inches holding up to this day. In the early 80s, the manufacturers were focusing on fuel efficiency and smaller cars were desirable.
Daytona during the 80s had a star-studded cast, many of them repeat winners. Petty won his last Daytona 500 in 1981, Cale Yarbourogh added two more wins to his Daytona tally, and Bill Elliot (aka Million Dollar Bill or Awesome Bill from Dawsonville) and Bobby Allison also collected 2 Daytona wins each.
You might be wondering what engineering was like during the 80s? Formula 1 was exiting its era of ground effect cars to welcome the turbo engines while NASCAR was seeing its own explosion of importance of aerodynamics. This led to the cars seeing speeds never before seen in NASCAR, with cars now going over 200 mph. After an accident on a different speedway led NASCAR’s insurers to tell the series to slow the cars down, the restrictor plate was introduced in 1988. This restrictor plate reduces the amount of air that can be allowed into the engines, reducing the power and, consequently, the car’s top speed. It was used until 2019, with a “tapered spacer” taking its place since (and doing the exact same thing).
By the 80s a new trend started: families racing on track. But, unlike in Formula 1, where we rarely see family members going head to head, NASCAR had no such limitations. In the first 500 with restrictor plates in place, the winner was the driver whose accident the prior year led to the implementation of the plates: Bobby Allison. And who finished in 2nd place, sharing the podium with Bobby? Davey Allison, his son. Sadly, both of Bobby’s race driving sons were killed in the early 90s. Davey died as a result of injuries sustained in a helicopter crash in July 1993, while Clifford was killed during practice for a race at Michigan International Speedway in August 1992. They were 32 and 27, respectively. The 1988 win is still the record for oldest driver to win the Daytona 500: Bobby was 50 years old.
But during the late 80s another war was mounting. Much like the Bridgestone vs Michelin tire wars of the early 2000s in Formula 1, a war between Goodyear and Hoosier was underway.
Initially, in 1988, it seemed to be a blip in the radar, but it quickly spiralled out of control as both tire manufacturers did their best to combat the tire failings that plagued that season. At the start of 1989, Goodyear brought a new tire that was supposed to take over the entire grid.
But it too failed, and it failed in a spectacular way, as the reigning champion Bill Elliot and Dale Earnhardt both suffered tire blowouts leading into the Daytona 500. That led drivers to stock up on Hoosier tires as insurance, as teams were not tied to a particular supplier. The eventual winner, Darrel Waltrip, won on Hoosiers, but that would be the last glory for the company. Goodyear refined their tire and that spelled the end of the war. It was a David versus Goliath fight, however, as Hoosiers was a 16-person outfit, while Goodyear had thousands.
Then the 90s arrived and, with that, another generation of NASCAR cars. Now, the “stock” cars were not even using the body panels of the cars they supposedly represented. They were stock cars only in name, as teams hit the wind tunnel to grab as much performance as possible since their engines were no longer a consistently reliable source of performance for the cars. The advances did not happen instantly, of course, but as teams slowly sought areas where they could bend and extend the lines, performance gains were found everywhere, including now running fiberglass noses, tails, and bumpers in a bid to save weight.
It was during this era of NASCAR that Earnhardt finally won at Daytona. It is crazy to think that a 7-time champion needed nearly 20 years to achieve a victory in one of the series’ most prestigious races, but that is what happened. In 1998, the curse was finally broken, and Dale finally stood at the top of the podium. It is hard to imagine a winner who was happier to finally conquer their white whale. That joy, sadly, would not last long.
As the 2000s started, Daytona would be where the last chapter in The Intimidator’s storied career would be written. While his son Dale Jr. fought for the win in the 2001 Daytona 500, Dale Sr. collided with Sterling Marlin and Ken Schrader in the final lap, the #3 car hitting the outside wall while Schrader impacted it on the side. The violence of the crash would cause a basilar skull fracture, and Earnhardt would be pronounced dead shortly thereafter. Many NASCAR figures compared his death to Ayrton Senna’s in 1994, with a few drivers commenting that they were young racing fans when Senna passed and comparing the impact of Earnhardt’s death to the Brazilian’s at Imola.
For many fans of Earnhardt, just as with Senna’s, his death meant that the sport would lose a legion of viewers, with some commenting that Dale Sr.’s passing would kill NASCAR.
The loss of a towering figure such as Earnhardt would obviously lead to changes and one of the most important ones was that the HANS device would now be mandatory. An era of NASCAR was over, but the sport would live on, just as Formula 1 did after that dreaded weekend in Imola.
The team that carries the Earnhardt name would finish 1-2 in the 2001 race and, following Dale Sr.’s passing, the Earnhardt team would continue to do well at Daytona, especially with the Generation 4 car.
Michael Waltrip would win at Daytona an additional time in 2003, followed by Dale Jr. winning an emotional victory in 2004. The following season, Jeff Gordon won his 3rd Daytona 500, while Jimmy Johnson won the next one in 2006.
For 2007, a new generation of NASCAR race car was unveiled. Unlike its predecessors, the so-called “Car of Tomorrow” took the sport into a whole new direction. The emphasis was on driver safety and as a result a common chassis and body was developed for the cars, leading it into more of a spec series than ever before. An even more exciting development was the arrival of Juan Pablo Montoya.
Montoya had been racing previously in IndyCar and decided to give NASCAR a shot. One might wish that his Daytona record was one of glory, but unfortunately it is perhaps one that might be considered embarrassing. He would race in the 500 seven times, with a best result of 6th in 2011 (with Earnhardt Racing).
The 2007 cars saw service until 2012, when they were replaced by the Generation 6 cars, which are in their last year of use in NASCAR. When the Generation 6 cars debuted in 2013, the series also introduced a special set of rules for the Daytona 500 and the other superspeedway tracks. With the start of stage racing in 2017, the sport definitely changed from what had been the standard for NASCAR and the 500, with some fans complaining that the races have been a bit too convoluted, leading to a downturn in viewership.
But when the “Great American Race” is on, you can count on the fans turning their TVs on on Sunday. This year will not be different.

Rules & FAQ

Just like every motorsport series, NASCAR has a mountain of regulations to govern every contest.
But in order to understand what you are watching, the most important thing to know is that NASCAR runs basically on 3 different types of track, Oval, Road and Superspeedway.
The Daytona 500 falls into that third category and what sets it apart is not just the ridiculous top speeds but the fact that the cars can essentially run flat out. Because of it, managing the draft becomes essential to doing well at the race. Anyone that ever watched the Tour de France or any other bike race has seen the riders in a single or double file line during a race and that is basically the idea for the superspeedways.
At Daytona, the cars will do the same thing, and falling off the leading pack can be the end of a race, as cars can sometimes go 3 to 5 seconds faster while drafting than by themselves. A single misstep could see you lose 30+ places, and it is often called a freight train when it happens.
Another frequent tactic with the draft is dropping back just a bit from the car ahead and accelerating into the draft, so you can exit a corner with a massive speed advantage, called a slingshot. Running side by side slows cars down as there is also a side draft, so cars from the same manufacturers will usually work together during the race.
Pitstops are crucial, just like in Formula 1, and drivers will always want to get them done during yellow flags if possible. A full stop for tires and fuel will take just 10-12 seconds, but even so teams will sometimes skip changing some tires, usually leaving the left tires in place to save time.
Despite that, under green flag running, there is an undercut potential, especially if new tires are taken and your competitors tires are old and worn. Often cars of the same manufacturer will pit together so they can work together on pit exit. One big difference to F1 is that, under yellow flags, the gaps are closed first before the pitlane is opened, with lapped cars usually being waved around before the track goes green.
These days, NASCAR races are run in 3 stages (at Daytona, they will be 65, 65 and 70 laps), with the top 10 drivers at the end of each stage getting points in addition to those awarded at the end of the race. The end of each stage features a yellow flag period where the field is reassembled and, in the absence of other carnage, all the drivers will likely want to pit. But large numbers of cars in the pits at the same time can also breed disaster and the pit window being around 40 laps should mean varied strategy, especially as dropping as little as two tenths of a second can cost you double-digit positions during a crowded pitstop.
Now we get to the fun stuff, qualifying. And by fun, I mean complicated.
The first session of qualifying is a single timed lap and the two fastest times of the session start in the first two positions for the race. The next day, all the odd numbered finishers compete in Duel 1, a 60 lap race that sets the order for the inside line at the start while Duel 2, featuring the even numbered finishers from the single lap session, sets the order for the outside line. Non-charter teams (meaning teams that are not guaranteed a spot in the race) also get two spots from single lap qualifying and two more in the Duels which will bring the field up to 40 starters.
Lastly, a quick word about the remarkably confusing number of series.
If it is a Cup race, that is like F1, while Xfinity is akin to F2, Camping World Truck to F3, and anything beyond that would be the equivalent of F4 and its regional variants. Drivers can (and will) compete in more than one series based on sponsorship and results.
If you are looking for someone to keep an eye on, Denny Hamlin might be worth watching as he will be attempting to become the only person to ever win three 500s back to back.

F1 Ties

While not many drivers have appeared on both F1 and NASCAR grids, many Formula 1 drivers have given it a go. And it seems that, as the years go on, more drivers express interest in NASCAR.
In the modern era Lewis Hamilton and Tony Stewart have traded cars, and Fernando Alonso has ventured the possibility of driving for a NASCAR team in the future. But that is only scratching the surface of the ties between the two racing series.
In the past, four F1 drivers took a chance in NASCAR.
Jim Clark, Mario Andretti, Jochen Rindt, and Innes Ireland all took part in NASCAR races, but only Andretti and Ireland raced at Daytona, with Andretti being the only Formula 1 driver to win the Daytona 500.
Jacques Villeneuve, Kimi Räikkönen, the aforementioned Juan Pablo Montoya, and Scott Speed all have tried their hand at NASCAR. Despite the skills of these drivers, two of which were champions in Formula 1, their results are not impressive. Juan Pablo Montoya, who has had the longest running career in NASCAR, only managed a best championship finish of 17th and a 6th at Daytona.
Finally, Haas owner Gene has a NASCAR team, currently jointly owning Stewart-Haas Racing with Tony Stewart. The team has won the championship twice (2011 with Stewart and 2014 with Kevin Harvick) and had Max Papis (7 F1 starts with Footwork in 1995) drive for one race in 2008. In 2019 co-owner Tony Stewart took Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean for laps around CotA, which the former F1 Haas drivers seemed to enjoy quite a bit. For the 2021 season, Stewart-Haas Racing will race four Ford Mustang GTs, #4 for Kevin Harvick, #10 for Aric Almirola, #14 for Chase Briscoe, and #41 for Cole Custer.
Between drivers, there is a lot of respect between the series. Hamilton and Stewart’s car swap was the most recent one, but on the day Senna died, Dale Earnhardt used his winning press conference to offer condolences to Senna’s family and, during a yellow flag, the track observed one minute of silence in honor of Ayrton.
And, how can we not mention the reason for Daniel Ricciardo running with the number 3. That was Dale Sr.’s number and Ricciardo has shown not only a great love for the series but a lot of admiration for Dale Earnhardt's skills as a driver.
Finally, after this year NASCAR will change their cars quite dramatically. The 4-speed manual will be retired in favor of a 6-speed sequential and, although the engines will remain as they are, the Generation 7 cars have been designed with a hybrid system in mind (with much of the same howling seen in Formula 1 currently going on in NASCAR circles about noise, etc.) and it seems to be a given that they will eventually be hybrids. Will the hardware updates be enough to entice drivers from Formula 1 to try their hand in NASCAR one day? Only time will tell.

Conclusion

Tomorrow, a thundering herd of V8 monsters will be unleashed at Daytona.
If any of this sparked your curiosity, tune in to the 500 and experience the thrill of stock car racing.
Do you miss racing and need something to fill the void until Formula 1 starts? Do you crave intense racing, bumper to bumper action from start to finish? Do you want to witness cars in fierce on-track battles where any mistake is a catastrophe? Do you perhaps wish for a chance to sit down and see a driver win who did not start on the front row to win the race?
Well, this is your chance. And this is not just some random race. This is a storied event, with roaring engines, squealing tires, and drivers using all their ability to coax unwilling machines to do their bidding, all for one shared dream: to stand on the top step of the podium and rain champagne down on their team.
Join us for the live race discussion at NASCAR and let us see what this 500 brings.
We would like to thank Daniel Gilligan for our intro/outro and Dan Dectis for the theme song.
Daniel (u/DAGilligan) is an actor based in London and you can reach him via PM or through the Formula1 moderation team. He is also the lead commentator for frseries, the Formula1 and F1Game official F1 2020 racing experience. You can watch live races (and previous race replays) on the FRS Twitch channel.
Dan (u/mulsanne) is a multi-instrument artist based in San Francisco and his latest album, Covert Overtures, is available through Bandcamp.

Official r/NFL Week 17 Power Rankings

Welcome to the Official NFL Power Rankings! From initial odds stacked against a full season to a successfully completed week 17, please take a second to reflect on these great months of football. We'd like to thank everyone involved with making the unlikely a reality, and also all who read and contribute to these ever improving rankings. 18th try is the charm, right? Discuss! 30/32 reporting

#	Team	Δ	Record	Comment
1.	Chiefs	--	14-2	Somehow, the Chiefs found a way to meaningfully lose in a game the outcome didn't matter in. Willie Gay Jr, Rashod Fenton, and DeAndre Baker all got injured with the first two players having significant roles on the offense when the starters are playing. Baker, who was a major part of the Chiefs' plans in the secondary in 2021, also broke his leg. On the positive sign Chad Henne got his first TD in 6 years and Darwin Thompson had a nice day for himself. The Chiefs now will wait and see who they play from wildcard weekend and will need to bring their A-game in a tough AFC to repeat as champions.
2.	Bills	--	13-3	The Bills starters played the first half of this game, with backups getting the second. They each put up 28 points. Miami put up 26 in the whole game. Talk about an extra shot of confidence heading into the playoffs. A 56 point outing is huge against any team, but Miami came in with the number one scoring defense in football (although it didn’t help that the Dolphins offense couldn’t stay on the field). This is a team that isn’t just winning games, they’re blowing people out. If you’re any other team in the AFC, the Buffalo Bills are just about the last team you wanna see right now. There could be a deep playoff run in store, and for the first time in 30 years, Marv Levy’s words are again relevant: where else would you rather be than right here, right now?
3.	Packers	--	13-3	We may have lost Bakh, but didn't seem to hinder the Packers too much in Chicago. 1 seed is clinched, Davante Adams clinched a share of the franchise receiving TD record, and Rodgers all but clinched his 3rd MVP. The NFC runs through the Frozen Tundra this year.
4.	Saints	--	12-4	The Saints head to the playoffs for another year, with efficiency being the key measure of success for this team. A top 5 defense in every yardage and scoring metric has done its job while the offense has used the ball well to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Season 2020 has so far been a success for the team, but as every Saints fan knows, the bounce of the ball is what matters in seeking the Philosopher's Stone of the Lombardi Trophy.
5.	Seahawks	--	12-4	Might be sounding like a broken record at this point, but maaaaaan this team needs to improve on offense. It's the playoffs, and this team is certainly capable of getting hot and going on an epic postseason run, but it's gotta see improvement on offense. Russ hasn't been the same, throwing 28 touchdowns in the first 8 weeks of the season, opposed to 12 in the final 8. The defense has seen major improvement, able to generate pressure and get to opposing quarterbacks as of late. With weapons on offense that include the duo of DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, a sputtering offense is simply inexcusable. Hopefully the Seahawks can put things together and end the Rams season tis weekend.
6.	Ravens	+1	11-5	404 yards is the fourth most for a single-game, team-wide. Lamar Jackson is also the first QB with two 1000 yard rushing seasons. The team is rolling over bad teams and can run against bad defenses. Defense better get healthy in time for the playoffs, because there's 3 offenses in the playoffs that have already hung 34+ on this team, and another one will definitely be able to cross that threshold. Can Lamar finally win a playoff game? Harbaugh's Ravens are always good on the road...
7.	Buccaneers	+1	11-5	Any talk of a close game was thrown out the window when Atlanta gave up a healthy 21 points in the fourth quarter. Concerns of Tom Brady's arm staying effective late into the season are louder than ever, as he failed to throw for 400 yards for the 17th time this season.
8.	Steelers	-2	12-4	Unfortunately for the valiant, upstart Dolphins, the Steelers decided to send Mason Rudolph out there to the Dawgs. Somehow, in classic 2020 fashion, the Steelers had a chance to send the game into overtime, but fell short. It was a familiar sight for Steelers fans to see that the team can fall way behind and come back regardless of who is at QB. And lose. Or not. Who the hell knows? Playing Cleveland in back to back weeks looks like exactly what the team wanted. But be careful what you wish for...you just might get it.
9.	Titans	--	11-5	On Sunday, the Titans became the first NFL franchise to have two 2,000 rushers (and only franchise with 3 over 1,900) with Derrick Henry's 250 yard performance in the franchise's original city. Every game moving forward will be a question of the offense outscoring a turnstile defense.
10.	Colts	--	11-5	The Colts are in the playoffs, and though a tough trip to Buffalo awaits it's hard not to feel optimistic as a fan. The coupe de grace of this crazy season was the redemption of Jonathan Taylor, a player prematurely written off as a bust after a few weeks. Even Derrick Henry gave props to the player who put the team on his back and carried the Colts to victory on Sunday. After everything this year and amidst the ongoing pandemic, one is reminded is that sports boil down the big challenges in life into discrete, relatively meaningless objectives. We all have points in our lives where people doubt us. With fortune, we're given an opportunity to prove those people wrong. It's just in sports, sometimes you can do that by literally running the doubters into submission. The future is bright, one has to believe.
11.	Browns	--	11-5	After almost two decades, the Browns playoff drought is over. With the first 11 win record since 1994 the Browns will face the Steelers again in a Sunday night Wild Card match up. Playing Pittsburgh in back to back weeks looks like exactly what the team was going to have to do, and the are ready. Go Browns! COVID UPDATE: GODDAMN IT!
12.	Rams	+1	10-6	The Wolf of Ball Street, John Wolford, was a breath of fresh air with his mobility, but the result of any QB controversy might not be the cure to an anemic offense that has failed to score a TD since week 15. It’s the defense that got them to the playoffs, and it will have to be the defense again to win a playoff game. If the offense can get back to earlier season form, the Rams have a chance to make a run.
13.	Dolphins	-1	10-6	The Dolphins are a good, but flawed team, however with the third pick in the draft, they're in a prime situation to fix those flaws in 2021. The year ended poorly, but they finished better than anyone expected for the 2nd straight season, and going forward playoffs should be expected from this team for the next few years. The Dolphins have a lot to look forward to and a lot of reasons to believe that things will work out.
14.	Bears	--	8-8	The Bears' "resurgent, job-saving" offense scored an impressive 16 points. Trubisky went 2-7 with one INT on pass attempts of more than 6 yards; the offense scored one touchdown in five red zone trips; and an Amber Alert went out for Allen Robinson who went missing during the game.
15.	Cardinals	--	8-8	Sure the Cardinals improved in 2020, but the regression really showed in the second half of the season. There will be a lot of questions in the offseason regarding just how they missed the postseason and the blown opportunities. They wouldn't have done much in the postseason anyway and should be asking themselves how to position themselves to be ready next year.
16.	Raiders	--	8-8	In the only meaningless game of the year the Raiders beat the Broncos after going for and converting a 2-point conversion, the same way they lost to the Broncos at the end of last season. The Raiders finish 8-8 this season, bringing the Raiders non-losing season total up to 4 since the 2002-2003 season. As always, there's always next year.
17.	Washington FT	--	7-9	Well, The Washington Football Team is king of trash mountain and while they're NFC EAST champs at 7-9 they don't need to apologize to anybody. If they maintain the level of play they put on the field during their 4 win stretch and 5 out of their final 7 they can play with anybody. Their biggest issue however remains their offense and Alex Smith's lack of mobility. 17-20 points won't get it done against the offensive powerhouses of the league. Despite the still existent flaws, Ron Rivera in one year has done so much to change the culture and bring some respect back to this franchise and who knows what they could accomplish over the course of his tenure. And as a cherry on top, Chase Young came up big again in the most important game of the season cementing his Defensive Rookie of the Year status.
18.	Vikings	--	7-9	Justin Jefferson broke the NFL record for rookie receiving yards, with his final 133-yard game putting an exclamation mark on a year where he ranks first among all WRs in DVOA, second in PFF grade, second in yard per route run and first in yards over expected. A 7-9 finish for Minnesota is undoubtedly disappointing, but Jefferson and the rest of the Vikings' rookie class, together with hope for better injury luck, give Vikings fans plenty of reason to be more optimistic heading into next year.
19.	Chargers	+1	7-9	Facing KC's backups on the grounds of Arrowhead Stadium, the Chargers took their last game of the 2020 season and ran away with it, coming up with their 4th straight win and finishing the season at 7-9. Justin Herbert has now broken too many records to count, and came up just short of the rookie season passing yards record. Very safe to say he's going to win OROY and now has to focus on continuing to improve in the coming seasons. There were about an equal number of bright spots and big problems this season, but something that can be said for sure about this team is that it continues to be very close to dangerous but is still missing the right stuff. Potential moves in coaching, free agency and the draft will attempt to find the answers the Chargers need as they prepare for a playoff push in 2021.
20.	49ers	-1	6-10	Squandering a 10 point lead to lose to the Seahawks puts an end to this tumultuous season for the 49ers. Heading back to the Bay area after injuries and exile defined this season, more changes loom as their Defensive Coordinator takes head coaching interviews.
21.	Patriots	+2	7-9	The 2020 Patriots campaign ends on a hopeful, but uncertain note as we are reminded that sweeping the Jets remains one of life's great pleasures. For 2021, the Patriots are headed into offseason in rebuild mode once again, and seemingly with a new face at QB for the second year in a row. 7-9 is pretty disappointing after recent Patriots' success but with FA losses, opt-outs, Covid scratches and some close ass losses the 2020 Patriots fought hard, wringing every last bit out this roster. Watching the Playoffs without the Patriots is a bummer we pray will be rare.
22.	Giants	+3	6-10	In a season full of highs and lows, most Giants fans can walk away from 2020 feeling better about their HC than they have in a long, long time. That said, they have nobody to blame but themselves for missing out on the playoffs. Giants fans everywhere will take the feeling of beating the Cowboys over a higher draft pick 10 out of 10 times. Now we look forward as the team tries to build up this offense to once again become truly competitive.
23.	Panthers	-1	5-11	The Panthers finally did it: they pulled Teddy Bridgewater. Of course, Coach Rhule said that it was due to an "ankle injury" (though, according to the NFL, teams are required to send a medical update to the media if there is an injury to player, and the Panthers did not do so for Teddy), we finally got to see XFL legend PJ Walker play... And man, was he awful. He ended up throwing 3 INTs, and managed to look even worse than that stat-line. All of that is bundled up in the fact that we're now looking at teams interviewing Joe Brady, our OC, for their HC job and we dropped to #8 in the Draft because of a meaningless win against Washington. This was one of the most frustrating seasons as a Panthers fan, and I only hope that we can continue to #KeepPounding from here.
24.	Cowboys	-3	6-10	If you watch Sunday backwards, the day went good, but not great, for the Dallas Cowboys. After Washington locked up the division, losing the game against the Giants netted them 3 or 4 draft slots. All in all, though, this season is just like that horrible trainwreck of a on-man play that a friend from college put on: they invited you, and you agreed to participate but didn't know what you were getting in to, and then once you showed up you couldn't leave, because you were committed, and now its finally over, and you're just so relieved. Dallas got a good look at their roster, and their depth, and what they could scrounge up odd the street in October at a lot of positions, and hopefully can use that data to make smart decisions in the spring. Finally, and most importantly, why haven't they paid Dak yet? It's been allowed for like 18 hours at the time of writing this!
25.	Falcons	-1	4-12	Hopefully 2021 is the year Blank realizes announcing "Falcons for life" isn't effective in contract negotiations. There are major questions heading into the offseason, but any new coach might find more answers on this roster than realized. Fortunately, Raheem Morris doesn't count. With a top 5 pick for the first time since Matt Ryan was drafted in 2008, there will be room for difference makers on this team even with a subpar cap situation.
26.	Broncos	--	5-11	Time is a flat circle. Week 17, Broncos hosting the Raiders. All comes down to a two-point conversion. The Raiders choked it last year, the world went down a dark path. Perhaps things going opposite this year will lead to a brighter tomorrow? Stay tuned.
27.	Texans	+2	4-12	There's a solid chance this was the last time fans will see JJ Watt take the field for the Texans, and that's just depressing. This season has taken a lot of out everyone, and there doesn't seem to be a hell of a lot to look forward to this offseason as the folks off Kirby Drive will have to compete in a very active HC/GM market, with no guarantee of success. As with all Americans, Texans fans will look to the new year with a glint of hope, however misplaced that may end up being.
28.	Lions	+2	5-11	293 yards and 3 TD's from Stafford, 2 that went to Marvin Jones Jr (and a third that was called back thanks to a controversial call), and 3 sacks on Kirk Cousins. Although the Lions lost the game, the players were having fun. Rookies Quintez Cephus and D'andre Swift both are getting more comfortable in their roles; becoming more sure handed and running powerfully. Will Stafford resign a long term contract? Will Golladay? Will Marvin Jones Jr? Fuck. Whatever the future is for the Detroit Lions, most fans would agree that the franchise is slowly heading into the right direction.
29.	Eagles	-2	4-11-1	Someone once said, "You can't purposefully lose a football game on primetime television" to which Doug Pederson rolled up his Croft & Barrow sleeves and said, "Not with that attitude you can't."
30.	Bengals	-2	4-11-1	In two games against the Ravens the Bengals had a -59 point differential, in 14 games against everyone else they were -54. A humbling end of the season, but it looks like the Bengals will be bringing head coach Zac Taylor back for a third year. The Bengals hope that several assistant coaching changes, upgrades to the offensive line, and a healthy roster will be enough to make the Bengals more competitive in 2021.
31.	Jets	--	2-14	In what was news to ~~coach~~ Mr. Gase and literally nobody else, the season ended with making medicine ball heave Newton look like an MVP again.
32.	Jaguars	--	1-15	Disaster. There simply isn't a more apt word to describe this hellacious season. Occasionally the team would show a glimmer of being a professional sports team, but it'd quickly fade as mistakes and lack of talent piled up. Now the jobs are piled next to the draft picks. Hopefully whoever next is brought in to run the show can start to make things... well, less shit.

A Case Study: Did Brian Dennehy ever play football in Bryant-Denny Stadium?

State Of The Club #1 - Celtic FC

HOW’S IT GOING
In Memoriam
Celtic lost 2-1 at home to St Mirren last night. In any other season, this would be a shocking read, but for 2020/21, upsets have become more common in Scottish football; neither one of the Old Firm will contest the Scottish League* Cup final, with minnows St Johnstone and Livingston talking their spot, while Rangers have capitalised on their rival’s weaknesses to have a fantastic season so far. Rangers record of 23 wins in 26 games is unfathomable, as is their impressively astute attacking and disciplined defence. Where it has all gone well for Steven Gerrard and co, it has went in the opposite direction for Celtic, who’ve squandered an opportunity to create history.
Is it callousness? Is it elitism clouding reality? To me, it’s a myriad of disastrous decisions made over the past years that have snowballed into what Hoops fans are suffering as a ‘crisis’, after winning another trophy and sitting pretty in second. But for a club as historically successful as Celtic, it simply isn’t good enough being second, as for the vast majority of their existence, they’ve been contenders for the league. You don’t win 51 titles for nothing. Granted, the parity and predictability of the Premiership is worrying, with only four clubs have scalped the trophy otherwise. It took Sir Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen (thanks babe for that xx) to topple the two giants, and nobody has done it since. 35 years of a trophy being juggled between Celtic and Rangers. Both clubs have grown to expect domestic dominance, particularly Celtic, who had been frothing at the mouth after Ranger’s liquidation, hoping to use this golden opportunity to make long-standing history; the perfect 10.
PERFECT 10
The objective in Glasgow was simple. For the green side, they could achieve a landmark achievement as the ultimate oneupmanship over their rivals, while the blue side had to stop them and re-reach the Scottish summit. It’s been nothing but the blues for Celtic, both literally and metaphorically. They’ve had to watch their dream of superiority and uncontainable control of ten consecutive league titles get evaporated, due to their own setbacks and the great season Rangers are having. The Old Firm means more than just two big football clubs going at each other’s throats like siblings, but to be the bigger man in a fixture that has defined Scotland’s sport, for when they face off at either Ibrox or Celtic Park, there’s more at stake than the three points; politics, religion and social status.
Some of the readers may well know of the underlying sectarianism and Catholic chants hymned at Old Firm matchups. A Rangers win is also a win for unionists and their Protestant fans, while for Celtic victories represent their Catholic nationalism. This of course doesn’t apply to all the supporters of both teams, as some just love to watch their team win, and be good at winning, but the implications beneath the surface and beyond the result are too great to be ignored.
So for Celtic, achieving the perfect 10 would be the supreme goal, a milestone for their club and fan base and there would likely be scenes of celebrations and protest all across Glasgow if this happened. However, it’s nearly February, and with an insurmountable 23-point deficit, that sense of supremacy is now fickle.
WHAT HAPPENED THIS SEASON
A few days ago, Celtic dispatched Hamilton Accies 2-0, yet Neil Lennon still looked like a dejected ghost in the post-match interview. His eyes were dead, his voice seemed weary and his general demeanour showcased a manager who has lost control and stability. A December trip to Dubai exposed Lennon’s fierce attitude to media criticism, which only stoked the fire beneath him as people found his comments laughable, especially Celtic fans. Media and supporters have been calling for Lennon’s sacking for months, but the owners haven’t acted on it and now the consequences are becoming more and more dire. Things started well in the league. Despite dismal performances in the Europa League (a competition they entered after losing to Hungarian side Ferencvaros in the Champions League playoffs), they hadn’t lost any league game before their first encounter with Rangers on the 17th of October, which they lost 2-0. This was followed by a manic 3-3 draw with the greatest team in footballing history, Aberdeen, then a 1-1 draw with St Johnstone amplified the pressure on Celtic as they fell 13 points behind, which at this point seems a mercy. They’d won two of their last 12 games at this point, and Celtic fans were already declaring it a disaster. Lennon stayed defiant and was hopeful he could overturn the deficit, but that hasn’t happened. Another Old Firm defeat, three consecutive draws, and now yesterday’s defeat to St Mirren have all led to Rangers storming ahead of the pack. It says a lot when Livingston, managed by a former rehabilitated inmate, look more threatening and impressive than a quadruple-treble winning Celtic side.
It’s more than the manager becoming disillusioned and his tactics failing, but the likes of Odsonne Edouard have failed to be as impressive as they usually are, Leigh Griffiths and James Forrest are both injury prone. Aside from Ajer, the team look clueless and have lost that killer drive to win and win and win which led to their modern monopoly. It doesn’t help that the players who did show drive and quality left for bigger roles. Kieran Tierney went to Arsenal, flexing his Scottish skin by wearing a short-sleeve shirt at a snowy night against West Brom, and the recent departure of Frimpong to Bayer Leverkusen. It’s clear that the allure of trophies have dulled and dilutes these players, who seek a larger challenge, but also don’t want to be embarrassed by the likes of Ross County, Sparta Prague and St Mirren.
One last factor to consider is the lack of fans. Every team has suffered this issue, but have handled it to varying degrees. Rangers are excelling expectations, Livingston are pushing for Europe and are in a cup final and Hearts are comfortable at the top of the Scottish Championship.
BEST CASE SCENARIO
First on the road to recovery would be sacking Neil Lennon, as his explosive remarks and ill-fated tactics have proven him to be not good enough at handling a genuine challenge when his team aren’t cantering to a league. Then, get a coach and can reinstate that motivation and hunger for success into the squad in a similar way to how Brendan Rodgers did it and is continuing that at Leicester. This winter window was their biggest chance at a major turnaround, but their signings seem tepid and uninspired. By now, the title’s a goner. Even if they embarked on a mad winning run, even beating Rangers once or twice, the gap is too wide to have a chance of regaining ground. On FiveThirtyEight, Rangers are at odds to win the league at >99%, which is a guarantee. We know of Steven Gerrard’s tendency to slip up at the sight of silverware, but this is too large an advantage to not see James Tarvenier lift the trophy when the time comes.
It says a lot when the best case scenario sections includes their biggest enemy lifting the trophy and ending a historical run.
If you read this far, thank you, and leave any suggestions for other clubs you’d want me to look into.

Game Matchups Preview Playoffs Round #2: Bills vs. Ravens

Before every Bills’ game I spend some time, probably too much time, digging into how the Bills roster stacks up against their opponent’s. While doing this I specifically look at 5 matchups; Bills’ Pass Offense vs. Opponent’s Pass Defense, Bills’ Rush Offense vs. Opponent’s Rush Defense, Bills’ Pass Defense vs. Opponent’s Pass Offense, Bills’ Rush Defense vs. Opponent’s Rush Offense, Bills’ Special Teams vs. Opponent’s Special Teams. After doing all of this I try to come up with reasons “Why We Will Lose” and “Why We Will Win” ultimately leading to a prediction. Below I present 2020’s 18th iteration of this analysis for the Bills upcoming home game against the Ravens. Included is a scale to rank the advantage in each matchup from 👏👏👏👏👏 (Massive Advantage) to 👏 (Minimal Advantage).
NOTE: If you have followed this series all season long be prepared, these playoff posts are very long and highly detailed. If this is your first time reading, I hope you enjoy and can find the time to finish the whole thing.
Bills’ Passing Offense vs. Ravens’ Passing Defense
After yet another great performance throwing the ball the Buffalo Bills are proving that they can beat anyone and everyone through the air. In their past 4 games the Bills have played the #11 (DEN), #18 (NWE), #6 (MIA), and #8 (IND) pass defenses, according to Football Outsiders Pass Defense DVOA, and have gone 108/153 (70.6%) for 1415 yards and a 12:2 TD:INT Ratio (Josh Allen’s stats here). Making the Bills recent run of success more impressive is that they have been successful against starkly different schemes, with tangible evidence the past two weeks. The Dolphins, who predominately run man coverage, were shredded for 388 passing yards, 124 of which came while targeting First Team All-Pro CB Xavien Howard. The Bills followed up this performance with Josh Allen picking apart the Colt’s Zone First Scheme for a Playoff leading passer rating of 121.6 (His regular season Passer Rating was 107.2). All of this leads to the following conclusion, with the way the Bills are playing right now there does not seem to be any specific scheme, team, or player that is capable of stopping the Bills’ passing attack.
Against the Ravens the Bills will need to find a way to beat Press Man Coverage. With one of the most physically gifted set of DBs in the NFL, headlined by Marcus Peters and Marlon Humphrey, the Ravens are particularly adept at this scheme. Their top two corners have both earned All-Pro honors at least once in their career primarily due to their physicality, but it is their ball skills which put them over the top. In 164 combined games Peters and Humphrey have 42 INTs, 20 FF, 11 FR, and 9 Defensive TDs. With the growing expectation that the Bills will primarily run 10 personnel (1RB, 4WR) the Ravens will likely spend the majority of Saturday in their Nickel package meaning that Jimmy Smith will join the previously mentioned CBs on the field. This sets up likely man matchups of Peters on Diggs, Smith on Brown, Humphrey in the Slot covering Beasley, and one of the two safeties (Chuck Clark, DeShon Elliott) on Gabe Davis. In this alignment the Ravens would be forced to choose between blitzing the safety not covering Davis or having that player shade deep over the top to Diggs side of the field. At the end of the day this will be a game of 1-on-1 matchups with the winner determined by which side can consistently beat the other.
The Ravens’ Press Man is able to excel because of their skill in the secondary but where it becomes one of the most dangerous schemes in the NFL is their proficiency and consistency in rushing the passer. For the 3rd straight season the Ravens lead the NFL in Blitz %, this year blitzing 44.1% of the time (Dolphins are 2nd at 40.6%). This facilitated an environment where the Ravens were able to pressure opposing QBs on 24.0% of their drop backs (NFL-11) and sack those QBs 39 times (NFL-14). The Press Man and Pass Rush work in concert by reducing the ability for offenses to complete quick short passes which then allows the pass rush more time to disrupt the QB. The Ravens will send anywhere from 5-8 players at the QB with the players primarily running up field being Patrick Queen (MLB) and Matt Judon (OLB) but when forced into Nickel concepts the Ravens will not hesitate to send either safety. All of this allowed the 2019 Ravens to put constant pressure on Josh Allen during their game last season ultimately resulting in 5 sacks for a loss (6 total) with 4 of them occurring with 5+ blitzers (#1, #2, #3, #4). It is however important to note that the Buffalo Bills offense from 2019 looks absolutely nothing like they do in 2020, in fact it is remarkable how drastically different they truly look.
This matchup comes down to the Bills receivers being able to beat whichever DB is lined up in front of them. If the Bills can accomplish this, then it will allow Allen to get rid of the ball before the Ravens pass rush is able to get to him. If the reverse were to occur it will create an environment where multiple blindside forced fumbles and/or interceptions may occur which would be incredibly difficult for the Bills to recover from. While on paper this matchup may be extremely close the reality is that the Bills simply have to many weapons that excel at beating man coverage for the Ravens to consistently stop. Stefon Diggs is widely regarded as one of the best receivers against man coverage in the entire NFL while the quickness of Cole Beasley provides for the ability to continuously beat man coverage in the intermediate range. Couple this with the Ravens struggles in covering TEs and RBs while still considering that the Ravens will need to find a way to contend with Gabe Davis and John Brown and the Bills, surprisingly, have a massive advantage here.
EDGE: Bills 👏 👏 👏 👏
Bills’ Rushing Offense vs. Ravens’ Rushing Defense
With Zack Moss going down with a season ending injury Wildcard weekend most Bills’ fans have spent this week wondering who RB2 will be behind Devin Singletary. Up until Thursday afternoon it was very clearly a three-horse race between T.J. Yeldon, Antonio Williams, and Devonta Freeman but via a statement from Sean McDermott we now know the winner of that race. T.J. Yeldon will suit up on Saturday night and be the RB2 behind Devin Singletary. McDermott also did make it very clear that this did not preclude the Bills from activating Antonio Williams for the Ravens game. Regardless of if it is one or two backs behind Singletary we can say with a fair degree of certainty that he will be the Bellcow back moving forward for Buffalo, meaning you can expect him to see north of 75% of the offensive snaps. One concern with that is in games where Singletary has exceeded 60% of offensive snaps (6) in 2020 he has a Y/A of 3.6 and in all other games he has a Y/A of 5.1. Let me make this abundantly clear, and see all of my previous posts for proof, I believe that the majority of the issues running the ball in 2020 are due to the blocking up front and not the RBs carrying the ball however, this stark contrast in Y/A should be a concern moving forward for a Bills’ team who at times will need to show they can move the ball on the ground if they want to continue winning football games.
This section now lends itself to a breakdown of the backups to Singletary on Saturday, one we know, and one is a maybe. With that in mind we start with T.J. Yeldon who has demonstrated the ability to be a competent runner of the football throughout his career with an acceptable 4.1 Y/A. Yeldon possesses exceptional agility for a player that is 6’1” 225lb and at times in his career has been one of the more dangerous receiving options in the NFL coming out of the backfield. The main knock Bills’ fans have on Yeldon is his fumbling where he has lost the ball 7 times on 677 career touches (1 per 97), for context Singletary has 5 on 374 (1 per 75). Next to discuss is the new darling of Bills Mafia, undrafted rookie Antonio Williams. One of the bigger unknowns on the Bills’ roster, Williams busted onto the scene against Miami with 83 all-purpose yards on 13 touches for 2 TDs in just one half. Out of UNC the 5’11” 215lb RB, who looks and plays much bigger, possesses exceptional lateral quickness and does not shy away from contact making him a dangerous player once he gets to the second level. Also, while it is highly improbable, we see him Saturday, I would be remised to not mention the signing of 2-time Pro Bowler Devonta Freeman who just a few years back was considered one of the best RBs in the game. Freeman suffered a groin injury in 2018 which required surgery which has since deprived him of some of the quickness that made him one of the biggest home run threats in the league. Still, Freeman provides a veteran presence with gas left in the tank, at just 28, he could be an integral part of the Bills’ Playoff push. All these players may play a factor if the Bills continue to advance in the playoffs, but Bills Mafia should fully expect T.J. Yeldon to do so on Saturday night.
If and when the Bills do run the ball, they will be doing so against a team which ranks 26th in the NFL (The Bills rank 24th) in Y/A against at 4.6. The Ravens also rank 27th in both 20+ A (1 per 32) and 40+ A (1 per 127) which is indicative of their blitz dependent defense. When the Ravens defense aligns with the proper gap they typically bring the ball carrier down in the backfield as the team has combined for 71 TFLs but when they miss ball carriers tend to pick up chunk yardage leaving their secondary to clean up free runners. This of course assumes the ball carrier can bypass the Ravens’ 3-4 alignment which is championed by one of the deeper DLs in all of football. On the right side is, long time Broncos DE, Derek Wolfe who typically lines up somewhere from the B to C gap and is one of the better run stuffers at the position. In the middle is the behemoth known as Brandon Williams who specializes as a NT, a dying position in the NFL that Williams still excels at. Lastly left of Williams is Calais Campbell who while listed as a DE plays more like a DT because of the blitz packages which the Ravens use. Campbell may be 34 and towards the end of his career but this exceptionally physical and athletic lineman will threaten Bills LG Ike Boettger all night.
The last group of players to cover for the Ravens is one of the most athletically gifted groups in the entire NFL, the Ravens LBs. Strength, Speed, Quickness, you name it, the 6 primary LBs on this team have it all. They are headlined by 21-year-old MLB Patrick Queen who ran a blazing 4.5 at the rookie combine in 2020. About as promising as they come Queen lead the Ravens in Tackles and TFLs and will challenge Josh Allen on any QB Draws the Bills may attempt. Next to him is either Pass Rush specialist Matt Judon or Pass Coverage specialist Tyus Bowser. Judon earned his second straight Pro Bowl selection because of his propensity to pressure the QB with his 4th straight season of 6+ sacks from the OLB position. Bowser, not nearly the pass rusher Judon is, instead has 3 INTs this season and an astounding 42.2 passer rating against (On just 15 targets). There are other players of note like ILB L.J. Fort, long time vet Pernell McPhee, or even the highly sought after Yannick Ngakoue but all you really need to know is that regardless of pass or run this unit has the ability to get into the backfield or chase down players that get outside of it.
EDGE: Ravens 👏 👏
Bills’ Passing Defense vs. Ravens’ Passing Offense
Against the Colts the Bills’ struggled at times against the pass with the most damage coming from the Colts’ TEs and the 6’4” rookie WR Michael Pittman. In isolation Phillip Rivers 300+ pass yard day implies that the secondary struggled covering their responsibilities, in reality the issue lay elsewhere. Rivers finished the 2020 season with a Time-to-Throw of just 2.52s (NFL-6) which he continued into the playoffs making it difficult for the Bills to get any pressure on the Indy QB. In fact, it was so difficult that the Bills had only 1 QB hit the entire game. This is the same team that in their last 6 games, post their Bye Week, was averaging 5.5 QB Hits per game. With the Bills running the Palms Scheme they are highly dependent on either pressure or extended Time-to-Throw in order to get into their secondary transitions, neither of those happened on Saturday which is why the Colts were so successful through the air.
Against the Ravens the Bills should be able to get more players in the vicinity of Lamar Jackson than they did Rivers. Of the 41 players with more than 128 pass attempts in 2020 Lamar ranked 38th in Time-To-Throw holding onto the ball for an average of 2.98 seconds. This was a primary reason that Lamar was sacked 29 times (NFL-13) and fumbled the ball 10 times. Obviously, the challenge here is that while teams can occasionally get pressure on Lamar, and even bring him down, the counter of his rushing ability poses a bigger threat (More on that in the rushing section). Credit is still due to Lamar and his OL who lost 2019 All-Pro LT Ronnie Stanley to an ankle injury just 6 games into the season and had to flip their RT, Orlando Brown Jr., over to LT and plug and play from there. While the main threat of Lamar is undoubtedly his legs, he did finish 2020 with 2757 passing yards, 26 Passing TDs, and just 9 INTs by utilizing his receiving weapons to the best of their abilities.
At receiver the Ravens don’t have one imposing weapon, but they do have a slew of good options. First and foremost of these options is 2019 1st round draft pick Marquise “Hollywood” Brown who some tried to drop the “Bust” tag on in the middle of the season after he had a 4-game stretch where he caught just 6 balls for 55 yards and 1 TD. In opposition to that ideal try taking those 4 games out of the season and then pacing it to 16 games, when doing that Browns’ season would be 65 catches for 892 yards and 9 TDs, a solid season for any NFL player. He also answered the bell Wildcard weekend raking in 7 catches for 109 yards against a stout Tennessee secondary. Outside of him the only other receivers of note are Willie Snead, a vet who built his name in New Orleans and is a solid option at WR, Devin Duvernay, a lightning quick 2020 3rd round draft pick, and Miles Boykin, their big bodied WR who has a knack for bodying opposing defenders. But by far their most dangerous weapon in the passing game is not a WR but instead their TE, one of the best in the league, Mark Andrews. Andrews is a walking Tonka Truck that is built the same way as Dawson Knox with better hands and a more complete set of receiving skills. This is Lamar’s check down option which is a primary reason he shared the team lead in receptions (58) and finished second in receiving yards (701) meaning he should be the Bills’ biggest concern in the air on Saturday night.
For the Bills to dominate this battle they will need to get pressure on Lamar while simultaneously maintaining contain to avoid him escaping the pocket. Assuming they can accomplish this, which is a tall order, they will need to avoid letting all 3 of the Ravens primary receivers beat them deep and put a big body, say Tremaine Edmunds, on Mark Andrews. RBs have yet to prove a consistent threat for the Ravens through the air in 2020 accounting for just 15.8% of targets and 18.3% of catches but are something to monitor Saturday night as the Bills try to contain Lamar while putting a spy in the middle to avoid a big run. Buffalo must win this matchup, and should, if they have any chance of winning this game. A takeaway or two through the air wouldn’t hurt either.
EDGE: Bills 👏 👏 👏
Bills’ Rushing Defense vs. Ravens’ Rushing Offense
The Bills had no answers against the Colts run game Wildcard weekend giving up the most rushing yards they have since the Cardinals game on November 15, 2020. Most of Buffalo’s success came when the Colts most powerful back, Jonathan Taylor, was running the ball holding him to just 3.7 Y/A but they had issues with the quicker players. Nyheim Hines only rushed the ball 6 times but accounted for 75 yards on carries of 4, 1, 29, 3, 33, and 5. This stat line should worry a Bills’ fan base that is hoping the Bills can beat a team stacked with shifty players and advance to their first AFC Championship Game since 1993.
The Ravens offense is built off an option scheme the likes of which the NFL has never seen. This offense can execute everything and anything on the ground and it all starts with QB Lamar Jackson. On option plays the QB will generally key off one defender and read which “option” said player chooses to defend. An example, a designed handoff to the right side of the line except all linemen wash down to the left and leave the defensive end unblocked. When this occurs it forces the defensive end to choose between scraping down to the RB taking the supposed handoff or to maintain contain on the QB (See example here). Lamar Jackson is an expert at reading such defenders and even in the rare event where he keeps the ball when he should hand it off, he has the athleticism to beat the defender to the edge. When handing the ball off he primarily will be handing it to Gus Edwards or J.K. Dobbins. Gus the Bus is bigger than Melvin Gordon but plays with the speed of Alvin Kamara which has allowed him to maintain a Y/A of 5.0+ in each of his first 3 seasons. J.K. Dobbins is the smaller, faster, and quicker of the two which makes for a good change of pace from Edwards. This three headed monster has created for the Ravens one of the best rushing attacks in NFL history which continues to defy the mantra that the NFL is just a passing league.
The second part of the Ravens that make them so deadly running the football is their offensive line. At the two guard spots are Bradley Bozeman (LG) and Ben Powers (RG) who each possess incredible strength which allows them control defenders at the time of the snap. Neither is exceptionally gifted at pulling or blocking in the open field but their strength couples nicely with the athleticism of the Ravens backfield. Between them is Center Patrick Mekari who took the starting Job from Matt Skura midway through the season after snapping issues forced him to the bench. Mekari is a big bruiser like his guards Bozeman and Powers which gives the Ravens just south of half a ton of Man in the middle of their line. At RT is veteran D.J. Fluker who was chosen 11th overall by the San Diego Chargers in 2013. Fluker now on his 4th team in 8 seasons is a competent RT crushing the scales at nearly 350lb but is dealing with a nagging knee injury which is something to monitor. Last is LT Orlando Brown who was laughed at for only putting up 14 on the bench press at his combine three years ago and has quieted the doubters by being named to his 2nd straight Pro Bowl. In all this is an above average OL built perfectly for a Lamar Jackson lead offense.
Buffalo will need to slow down the Ravens run game if they have any chance of winning on Saturday and this may be an odd thing to read, but the Bills defense actually lends itself to do just that. There has been discussion all week on Reddit, Twitter, and everywhere else of who will play the spy for the Bills against the Ravens and while they assuredly will occasionally spy, with Edmunds, Milano, or Poyer, the Bills’ Palms Scheme is actually proficient at slowing down mobile QBs. In this scheme the Bills will have multiple defenders zoned in the middle of the field, effectively playing a coverage spy on Lamar while also holding an advantage on the outside via their tradeoff concepts. In the event Lamar does break outside the pocket the Bills defense allows the boundary guarding CB to step forward to Lamar while the safety over the top takes the receiver. This is how the Bills defense is built and while an incredibly difficult scheme to run it is one the Bills have mastered. Don’t take this description of the Bills’ defense to say they will nullify Lamar Jackson but realize that the Bills have the tools to somewhat contain him, that is assuming they play a perfect game.
EDGE: Ravens 👏 👏 👏 👏
Bills’ Special Teams vs. Ravens’ Special Teams
Throughout 2020 the Bills’ average starting field position was their own 30.7-yard line (NFL-6). Against the Colts their average starting field position was their own 15.4-yard line. The Bills would obviously go on to win this game, but field position has proved to be an indicator of success in 2020 as each team finishing within the Top-8 made the playoffs. This leads to a defense of one of the Bills most polarizing players, Andre Roberts, who has been integral to the Bills’ success in this measure and the insinuation that he was a major contributing factor in the Bills’ field position issues Wildcard weekend is not backed up by any tangible evidence. In the first half of the Colts’ game the Bills’ average starting field position was the 7.8-yard line primarily because of an exceptional Colts’ ST unit and the bend, don’t break, style of the Bills’ defense. How did each of the Colts’ first 6 drives end? Punt downed at the Bills’ 3, Magical kickoff dies on the Bills’ 15, Punt fair catch at the Bills’ 11, Kickoff returned by Roberts’ to the 12 with a 6 yard penalty bringing it back to the Bills’ 6, Colt’s Turnover on Downs at the Bills’ 4, Colts kneel before halftime. For the Bills’ this game was an aberration, and one I have confidence they will clean up against the Ravens, mainly because I have confidence in Andre Roberts.
Outside of the return game the Special Teams group for Buffalo continues to be one of the best in the NFL. Corey Bojorquez rightfully received a vote to the All-Pro team, and it could be argued he deserved more. Bojo punted 4 times Wildcard Weekend averaging 47.0 Y/P with a Net Y/P of 43.5. These numbers would have been significantly higher had he not purposely drilled in I20 punt which only required a 29-yard kick. At kicker is another player who arguably deserved some All-Pro consideration, rookie Tyler Bass. This kid has been on complete fire the past 10 weeks going 42/43 on XPs and 18/19 on FGs with his only miss coming from 61 yards out. I was personally skeptical on Bass coming into the season, but my goodness, this kid is a stud. There is one more player on the Bills’ Special Teams that got an All-Pro vote, Tyler Matakevich. A guru at the position the man nicknamed “Dirty Red” is around the ball carrier on every kick and tossing people around on every return. Bills’ fans know more than most that Special Teams players can have a huge impact on a team and the Bills’ have a ton of great ones.
The Ravens also have one of the better Special Teams units in the NFL. For most of the season Devin Duvernay handled KR while James Proche took care of PR however, in recent weeks Duvernay has taken control of both. Averaging 11.5 Y/PR and 27.5 Y/KR, with a 93-yard return for a TD, Duvernay is a dynamic rookie with open field speed that few can match. Just like the Colts game this will likely effect the Bills’ short kick strategy meaning a lot of touchbacks when the Bills kick off. Punting for the Ravens is the 38-year old veteran Sam Koch who the Ravens have under contract until he is 40. Koch had his lowest Y/P (44.5) in a decade but finished 8th in the NFL with a Net Y/P of 42.8, a difference of just 1.7. Koch rarely allows players to return the ball and when they do, they are averaging just 4.8 Y/R. Last is the best to ever do it, Kicker Justin Tucker. Tucker has a 90.7 FG% in the regular season throughout his career with a career long of 61. As automatic as they come if you see Tucker on the field there is basically no tradition Bills’ fans can do that would make him miss.
EDGE: Bills 👏
Why We Will Lose
The Ravens have steadily improved the entire season and are peaking at the perfect time. Improving their odds of advancing is that the Ravens’ strengths matchup well against the Bills’ weaknesses. On defense the Ravens excel against the pass and have been able to put pressure on every QB they have played in 2020. That pressure should be extra concerning for a Bills’ team that has seen their star QB struggle at holding onto the football, now realize that the Ravens had a combined 25 forced fumbles in the regular season and start panicking. In reality the Ravens only weakness on defense is against the run which is something that they shouldn’t particularly care about when playing a Bills team who has struggled running the ball and should find a more difficult go of things after losing their RB2.
On offense the Ravens continue to be one of the best running teams in history. Whether it be Gus Edwards, J.K. Dobbins, or Lamar Jackson doesn’t matter because whoever has the ball will be able to effectively move it on the ground. This means consistent yardage with the occasional big run sprinkled in. That continuous success ultimately will keep the ball out of the hands of Buffalo’s offense while putting up points for Baltimore which is a typical strategy against a Bills team that has struggled against the run in 2020. Making matters worse is the Bills’ can’t just bail out to stop the run because if they did attempt this Lamar Jackson, the 2019 MVP, has shown the ability to make big plays through the air and will do so against this Bills’ team. The Ravens offense is built to beat a team like Buffalo, as is their defense, which is a recipe for a Baltimore victory.
Why We Will Win
The 2019 Bills lost to the Ravens 24-17. The 2020 Bills are a significantly improved version of that team with an MVP caliber QB. The Bills offense had no answer for the Ravens pressure last season which is a primary reason they went out and got a receiver that could specifically help with handling that scheme. That receiver is your first team All-Pro WR, Stefon Diggs, who has dominated every single player that has tried to guard him this season. You factor him in with Buffalo’s other 3 options at the position and the Bills suddenly have the ability to put up points against a Ravens’ defense that is one of the best in the NFL.
On defense the Bills may not have had the same success in 2020 that they did in 2019 but they have continually improved all season long. This game comes down to the Bills’ ability to contain Lamar Jackson and a healthy Matt Milano makes that slightly easier. Dark horse candidate to have big game is A.J. Epenesa who the Bills coaching staff has surely coached up to not do to much and instead do his 1/11th. And that is just what every single Bills’ player must do, their 1/11th, do that and you won’t stop Lamar Jackson, but you can reduce the damage he inflicts. If Buffalo accomplishes that your Bills will be heading to their first AFC Championship game in nearly 30 years.
Prediction: Bills 27 – Ravens 24
This is going to be a close game whichever way you slice it. On paper the Ravens seem to have the matchups but in reality, the Bills seem to have the ability to win them. Because this will be so close this game likely comes down to which team makes fewer mistakes, inclusive of turnovers. With the way the Bills are playing right now you must trust Josh Allen more than Lamar Jackson to hold onto the ball. At the end of the night though this will be a battle of heavyweights with the last one standing being one game away from Super Bowl Sunday.

2021 SMR Predictions (M1 to follow in a few days)

Making a Plan: Earn 40 Platinum medals

One of the things I enjoy about Pokemon Go is the ability to pre-plan to achieve things in the future. For example, if you start working on XL candy when you hit level 40 and level up 3 pokemon to 49.5, by the time you hit level 46, you'll be able to complete the "level 3 pokemon to their max level' task quickly. If you don't work on it in advance, it'll take you longer to complete; you may not have focused on XL candy as much, leaving you short, for example.
From a previous datamined list of level up tasks, one that hasn't been used yet is "Earn 40 platinum medals". In all likelihood, this will be one of the tasks needed to complete for Level 50 (or possibly level 49), but you can start working on this now. Since some platinum medals can take a year or more to achieve, planning which ones you'll need to get and what you can do now to get them will help immensely with completing this task.
First, the good news: there are currently 59 Platinum-eligible medals available in Pokemon GO, including the 'type' medals (Schoolkid, Black Belt, etc.), and they count towards your total Platinum medals. This means, to some extent, you can pick and choose which ones you want to focus on; if you get 17-18 of the 'type' medals to Platinum (Dragon Tamer is hardest to work on/complete), you'll only need 23-22 of the remaining 40.
Some of the medals are mostly or totally under Niantic's control, and you can only progress or complete on their schedule; for example, no one can get Ultra Hero Gold or Platinum until Niantic makes Giovanni available a bunch more times. At (heavily optimistic) once/month starting this month, we'd be looking at close to 4 years before that medal goes Platinum for people who've been doing as many as they could. As a second example, no one can complete the Hoenn Platinum medal until Niantic releases Kecleon. Mega Evolution Guru Platinum (46 different species) won't be obtainable until Niantic releases 46 different Mega evolutions--which at current rates also looks like a 'many years from now' process. And there's a few more medals that are similarly limited. I'd recommend not making any of these part of your plan for 40 Platinum, since you'll be frustrated if Niantic doesn't make it possible.
So, even with being able to choose from the remaining 23-22 medals, odds are you'll have to complete some Platinum medals you think are tedious, time consuming, 'expensive', or all 3. FTP players can complete 40 Platinum medals, but you'll need to be more efficient, be willing to take longer, and/or willing to deal with more tedium. I'll be giving my opinion on each medal to help you decide if it's going to be one of the 40 you plan to work on. I'm currently at 34/40, so I'll also note which ones I have and which ones I'm working on actively. I think a task will take too long if it would take me more than a year to complete, but your mileage may vary.
'Type' medals : These are perhaps the easiest to get, requiring you to catch 2500 of a given type. Focus on the ones you don't have by choosing Pokemon of that type when you're catching from a cluster of assorted Pokemon. There's a little bit of Niantic control here in what spawns you see (Dragons, Ice types during summer, etc), but generally possible to complete almost all of these in a year. ( I have all but Dragon; one Dragon-type community day or significant wild spawn event would put me over the top. Dragon Tamer Platinum is one of the medals that's part of my plan for 40 Platinum)
Jogger: Walk 10,000 km. Easy but tedious; the more time you spend walking and playing, the more you complete. I'd say most people will have this medal by the time they need it. I have this.
Kanto: Register 151 Kanto Pokemon. Easier, thanks to the upcoming Kanto event; a great opportunity to complete this if you haven't, and trading for ones you need. I have this.
Collector: Catch 50,000 Pokémon. Easy, if done over time. Progress can be quicker by being less selective which Pokemon you try to catch, and regularly cleaning out the Poke-storage.
Scientist: Evolve 2000. Easy, a little tedious; evolving when you have extra candy (even if you're going to transfer it anyway) helps complete this. I have this.
Breeder: Hatch 2500. Easy, but very tedious, esp. if FTP; focus on 2k and 5k eggs, then clear out the 8/10/12's during reduced hatch distance events. Using paid incubators can speed up the process by hatching more than one egg at a time, but is pricey. I have this.
Backpacker : Visit 50000 pokestops. Easy (unless you're rural). Another medal that's likely to be complete by the time it's needed. I have this.
Battle Girl: Win 4000 gym battles. Easy, somewhat tedious, and you'll need to build Pokemon that can take down gyms efficiently, and potions/revives. At 18 battles to take down a fully stocked gym (without defender berrying), roughly 223 gyms. I have this.
Ace Trainer: Train 2000 times. Easy but tedious, requiring battling the Team leaders over and over. I have this.
Pikachu Fan: Catch 1000 Pikachu. Easy/Moderate, but dependent upon Niantic continuing to have Pikachu spawn during events. I have this.
Johto: Register 100 Johto Pokemon. Moderate, more likely needing trading to complete. I have this.
Berry Master: Feed 15000 Berries to gyms. Easy/Moderate but tedious, depending on your spinning/gym habits. Remote feeding and feeding other people's Pokemon helps. I have this.
Gym Leader: Defend Gyms for 15000 hours. Moderate, somewhat tedious; depends on how many gyms you have access to, and how much turnover they have. Since 50/coins a day is key to FTP players, they're more likely to already be working on this one. I have this.
Pokemon Ranger: Complete 2500 research tasks. Easy/moderate, depending on how many Pokestops you have access to; More stops means more selection, and completing the easy tasks and throwing away hard to complete tasks helps. I have this.
Idol: Become Best Friends with 20 Trainers. Easy. Assuming enough gifts or remote PVP, can be completed in 90 days, 0-20. I have this.
Great League Veteran: Win 1000 Trainer battles in the Great League. Easy/Moderate but tedious; If working on this medal, take advantage of Go Battle league's 25 battles/day. Tanking may lead to quicker wins/losses. Friends can give quick wins if they're willing to throw matches. I have this.
Cameraman: Have 400 surprise encounters in go snapshot. Easy, but very tedious; expect this one to take nearly a year, taking advantage of the 5xday photobomb opportunities when they're active. I have this.
Hero: Defeat 2000 Team GO Rocket members. Easy/Moderate, depending on your access to pokestops; 6/day completes in a year. I have this.
Sightseer: Visit 2000 unique pokestops. Difficult unless you're willing to visit multiple cities' worth of pokestops, and tedious. Interesting that this seems to track lifetime, but other new badges only track since roughly Mar 2020(?). Don't have it, about 600 away; not working on it.
Fisher: Catch 1000 big Magikarp. Depending on your Biome, Moderate/Difficult, and tedious. Since they're always possible through one research task, not fully dependent on Niantic having them spawn. Karp rec'd in trade, if large enough, count towards this badge. Don't have it, about 400 away; not working on it.
Youngster: Catch 1000 tiny Rattata. Moderate, and dependent on Niantic having Rattata in the spawn pool. Rattata rec'd in trade, if small enough, count towards the badge. Am at 997, patiently waiting for them to enter the spawn pool so I can complete this medal as part of my plan for 40. It's unlikely Niantic will keep them out of the game for too long.
Battle Legend: Win 2000 Legendary Raids. With remote raids, this is Easy/Moderate but tedious and expensive to do quickly, requiring about 6 raids/day to finish in a year. If FTP, assuming 50/coins a day from gyms, nearly 2 years at 3 remote+ 5 daily pass raids every 5 days. Don't have it, about 700 away; not working on it.
Hoenn: Register 135 Hoenn pokemon. Impossible until Niantic releases Kecleon, then Difficult, requiring trades most likely. At 134/135; not planning on this medal.
Gentleman: Trade 2500 pokemon. Moderate/Easy but tedious, if you can find people willing to make large numbers of quick trades from that days' catches. Best if you can work on this with a friend, since you'll want to make lots of trades quickly, then dump, catch a lot, and do it all again. About 1300 away, but this medal is part of my plan for 40 as a backup if the Youngster or Dragon Tamer medal doesn't happen.
Pilot: Earn 10,000,000km across the distance of all Pokemon trades. Difficult and tedious; if completed at the same time as the Gentleman medal, each would have to be 4000km apart. Even with eggs from long distance friends, this medal is for people who travel a lot. Over 7 million away; not working on it.
Sinnoh: Register 107 Sinnoh Pokemon. Impossible at the moment. Completely dependent on Niantic releasing them. At 102/107; not planning on this medal.
Ultra League Veteran: Win 1000 Trainer battles in the Ultra League. Easy/Moderate but tedious; If working on this medal, take advantage of Go Battle league's 25 battles/day. Tanking may lead to quicker wins/losses. Friends can give quick wins if they're willing to throw matches. Roughly 200 away, but am working on it.
Master League Veteran: Win 1000 Trainer battles in the Master League. Easy/Moderate but tedious; If working on this medal, take advantage of Go Battle league's 25 battles/day. Tanking may lead to quicker wins/losses. Friends can give quick wins if they're willing to throw matches. Roughly 400 away, but am working on it.
Unova: Register 156 Unova Pokemon. Impossible; completely dependent on Niantic releasing them, then difficult and trade dependent. At 128/156; not planning on this medal.
Purifier: Purify 1000 Shadow pokemon. Easy (but stardust expensive), somewhat tedious if you're already working on the Hero Medal; Moderate and much more tedious if you're limited in stardust or not doing too many Rockets. Am over 900; will probably complete this medal next (unless tiny rats start spawning again).
Triathlete: Achieve a Pokemon catch streak or Pokestop spin streak of 7 days, 100 times. Easy; can complete in a year from 0-100. This is one of the new badges that only started counting March (?) of last year. At 77; this medal is part of my plan for 40.
Rising Star: Defeat 150 different species of Pokemon in raids. Moderate/Difficult, possibly expensive, and tedious; no good way to track which species you've done, and which you've not. Also only started counting Mar of 2020(?). Also dependent on Niantic featuring species in raids you haven't done before, and you having the passes to do those different raids. At 71; not planning on this medal.
Unown: Catch 28 Unown. Nearly Impossible, due to spawn rate. Despite the description, catching a lot of a single letter only gives 1 towards the medal--it should say catch 28 different Unown. Massive trading required. Not planning on this medal.
Champion: Win 2000 raids. Moderate/Tedious, and expensive. FTP are unlikely to ever complete, due to getting more out of Legendary raids per pass used. Not planning on this medal.
Ultra Hero: Defeat the Team GO Rocket boss 50 times. Impossible, and likely to remain so for many years. Not Planning on this medal.
Best Buddy: Have 200 Best Buddies. Moderate, but almost the most tedious task possible. Assuming max 'quick' hearts/buddy and using all 20 buddy switches/day, you'll get 20 best buddies every 50+ days; at best, 500 days(nearly 2 years) if you never mess up. I'm roughly halfway, and it'll take ~9 months to finish. This medal is part of my plan for 40, as a backup if the Youngster or Dragon Tamer medal doesn't happen.
Rising Star Duo: Win 2000 raids with a friend. Moderate/tedious, and expensive. This is one of the new medals that only started counting March (?) of last year. Not planning on this medal.
Picknicker: Use a lure module to help another trainer catch 2500 pokemon. Difficult/tedious, and potentially expensive. This is one of the new medals that only started counting March (?) of last year. Highly dependent on large numbers of players walking past your lure (pre-covid community days), and Niantic has been fiddling with whose catches count for whose medal. Not planning on this medal.
Kalos: Register 72 Kalos Pokemon. Completely dependent on Niantic releasing them. Not planning on this medal.
Successor: Mega Evolve a pokemon 1000 times. Easy, but tedious. Been keeping a Beedril mega evolved for days--seem to get enough energy from tasks to still be positive on Mega Energy. May not complete unless needed.
Mega Evolution Guru: Mega Evolve 46 different species of pokemon. Impossible until Niantic releases those species' mega evolutions. Not planning on this medal.
Wayfarer: Earn 1,500 Wayfarer Agreements. I've not done one, so I don't know how long 1, 10, or 100 agreements would take. If you're doing Wayfarer, you'll know how long this would take you, and if the medal is a good choice for you. Not planning on this medal.
TLDR: have a plan to get Platinum Medals so you'll have them when you need them. I'm working on Dragon Tamer, Youngster, Ultra League Veteran, Master League Veteran, Purifier, and Triathlete.
Edited in both Wayfarer and Collector.

Ideas & Feature Requests (January 2021)

Hey everyone. I've incorporated the feedback from Pixonic (August 2020, October 2020, December 2020, and January 2021). My goal is to try to get Pixonic to respond directly to this thread periodically (3-4 times a year). This will be linked to the weekly suggestions thread by the auto-moderator. Be sure to use the "Pixonic Suggestion" flair so I can easily sort through all the suggestions!
Ideas & Feature Requests
This thread is a place where you can discuss your ideas for the game or request features you would like to see in coming versions of the game.
This sub appreciates any contributions you can make to existing ideas, but we suggest you do not post your idea before reviewing previous Pixonic ideas / suggestions threads. It is highly likely another Commander already submitted the same idea!
Please be aware that posting a ruled out idea may result in your thread being removed altogether and posting an idea already suggested might result in your thread being closed with a reference back to this thread.
A few tips to submitting an idea or suggestion:
Title: Choose a good title - be very specific. Instead of naming your thread "suggestion", "idea", try something like "Hawks are Over Powered." This will help other users find and contribute to your thread, and drive more discussion around the topic.
Point: Use clear, concise points or explanations, concept art or screenshots where applicable. General, unspecific, high-level ideas are great, but the Pixonic team can't do much without the proper information!
"I think Hawks are way too powerful in the game because of their high firepower. Players running multiple Hawks make the game frustrating and boring for me."
Suggestion: Give constructive and helpful suggestions that are realistic. Why will the idea work?
"Decrease the Hawks firepower so it only impacts Titans and does not cut through bots' defenses. This will allow other bots to effectively counter Hawks and bring better balane to the game."
For all, keep in mind Pixonic is a business. I realize many of us have little experience in owning a gaming company, but try to consider how Pixonic would make a profit or be successful in the business model when giving a suggestion. Pixonic wants players spending money AND playing a lot--so how does your suggestion support that?
Threads will be removed if it includes profanity and / or insults. Comments like "make everything for free" or "XXX (i.e. Matchmaking, the game, targeting, etc.) sucks--solution: make the game better, or un-nerf everything" will just be deleted. This also isn't the place to report bugs or to rant.
Given the nature of the game the developers and producers cannot always say what is coming in the next version or what is being worked on. Also, please don't expect a response to every thread or idea. The best ideas will be discussed frequently by the Community and will surface to the top in that manner (or through up/down votes). Do not spam your thread or ideas just because no one is responding!

Response (December 2020)
Response (January 2021)

Frequently Requested Ideas
Below are ideas submitted by users for Pixonic to consider. It does not imply they are being worked on. Please do a search before starting new feature requests, especially if they are listed below.
These ideas and suggestions are either acknowledged and are being worked on, or have been ruled out by the dev team for the time being. Posting these ideas may result in your thread being removed without notice.
Frequently Requested:

Battle Modes
- Titan skirmish (Status: in Dec 2020 Max, WR Producer stated: " We agree that it would be a lot of fun. We'll try to introduce Titan Skirmishes next year, but it won't be a priority – there's so much to do.")
- Additions to custom matches (Status: in Dec 2020 Max, WR Producer stated: "The general idea of Custom Matches is not to provide an additional game mode, but to give you a playground where you can test your builds to understand if they are suitable for real combat. In Max's opinion, current functionality of Custom Matches fits just well in this concept." Detailed comments in original post)
- Beacon hold time should be considered for HP (Status: in Dec 2020 Max, WR Producer stated: " We already have some ideas on how to expand the honor reward list (e.g. rewarding players for applying Suppression or Lock-down effects). The idea with beacon hold time sounds like a nice addition to our plans. ")
- Faction vs. Faction skirmish
Boosters
- Pause booster timer while waiting for match (Status: in August 2020 the Pixonic producer stated they agreed with this concept and were looking into it; in Dec 2020 Max, the WR Producer stated: "We had plans for a complete rework of Boosters. Unfortunately, we had to cut those plans off to release Drones and prepare for Remastered. We believe we'll have time to work on Boosters in 2021.")
- Faster reload times (Status: in Dec 2020 Max, WR Producer stated: "Thing is, there is a technical tie between reload animation and reload time. It's one of those legacy mechanics that've been haunting the game for years already. Until we refactor the entire block, it's impossible for us to change the reload speed on most of the weapons. But in general idea is good, though we see it as a Passive Module rather than a Booster.")
Bots
- Raijin increased resistance instead of damage
- Add 3 Passive modules to each bot
- Allow energy shields to recharge at all times
- Nuclear Fission Snipers
- Egyptian Themed Bots
- Medusa
- Arbiter Shield Concept
- Overhead view (like Nightingale) for Invader and Mercury)
- Altitude control of flying bots
Community Features
- Allow friends in-game or via other platforms (i.e. Discord) (Status: in Dec 2020, Max WR Producer stated: " We call it "Platform Merge iteration 2" and it's on the list for 2021."; in January 2021 Max WR Producer stated: "For technical reasons, we don't want to add integrations with other platforms as far as the friends system is concerned. In fact, we'd also like to get rid if the existing integration and make all friends features completely native to the game. There will be a rework of the friends system this year. Stay tuned!"; In Jan 2021 Pix stated ability to invite friends direclty is coming soon)
- Pixonic sponsored WR Tournament (Status: Oct 2020 Pix CM said it was coming; in Dec 2020 Max WR Producer stated: "We have a couple of competitive features prepared for the next year. We'll tell you more in our New Year videos."; In Jan 2021 Pix stated tournaments will be introduced into each season)
- Clan Wars
- Cross-Platform (Status: In Dec 2020, Max WR Producer stated: "This is basically a cross-platform account, like PixAccount. The idea has been around for a couple of years already. It should be implemented on the scale of the whole company, not only War Robots project, of course. But yes, it's something we definitely want to have in the future.")
- Incorporate lore into rewards or abilities, etc. (Status: In Jan 2021, Max WR Producer stated: "It's a great idea and it might work! *Promises to talk to the game design department about it*")
- Story / campaign mode
Drones (Status: October 2020 Pixonic CM announced Drones were being overhauled)
- Remove random chip / slot generator
- Preset hangar to save time in battle
Hangars
- Allow useage of bots across hangars in battles (or same bot for multiple hangars)
- Hangar presets
- Upgrade / build multiple bots or weapons at a time (possibly benefit of having multiple hangars)
- Limit number of sambe bots you cna use in active hangar
- Allow us to see other players' drone hangars (Status: In Jan 2021, Max WR Producer stated: " Yes, one day. We have some improvement plans for Drones, including UI. Hopefully, our UI team will find a way to show more info on drones in hangar.")
- Allow 7 bots per hangar but only use 5 (like Drones)
In-Game Communication / Clan Management
- Improved chat and in-game features
- Active/Live “Online Status” examples: colored icons, on/off indicator, etc.
- Current League Icon next to all clan members
- Indicate last online date
- Clan voice chat
- Global Chat
- Report button for players violating the game's ToS or hacking, etc. (Status: according to the Pixonic producer in Aug 2020, a report button is supposed be included in a future release--no further details were given; confirmed by Pix CM in Oct 2020)
Maps
- List maps in Alphabetical order in pull down menu (Status: In Jan 2021, Max WR Producer stated: "With only 13 maps in the game, it isn't difficult to find what you are looking for. However, if it can be done fast, we will try to squeeze it into the production plan.")
- New map concepts
Matchmaking / Leagues (Status: This is how the MM works; they constantly do minor tweaks; this is my response on death squads)
- Modified league points
- Add additional league (Status: In Jan 2021, Max WR producer stated: "We are considering this idea right now, but rather a new league between Masters and Champions."; In Jan 2021 Pix stated a rework to Legendary leagues is coming soon)
Performance / Technical Features
- Targeting system rework / improvement (Status: Targeting seems to be part of the base code and allows other features in the game to operate, such as stealth, meaning there are multiple dependencies. Pixonic did minor tweaks to targeting to address shooting Ao Mings in the air from the ground and vice versa, but according to Pixonic CM in Oct 2020 a major rework will not be considered until after Pixonic migrates to new servers in 2021; In Jan 2021 Pix stated improvement to targeting system will be worked with expected release in Aug 2021).
- Lag (Status: According to Pixonic the 6.4 update should address lag along with server overhaul)
- Limit character length and types of characters in user names (Status: In Jan 2021, Max WR producer stated: "Yes, we'll need to do that sooner or later.")
- Font size for iPhone users
- Drones menu rework
- Purchase confirmation button
- Add commas to numerical figures
- Allow weapons and modules to be viewed together at the same time for each bot
- Allow custom search-organization for hangars and inventory
Pilots
- Reduce the gold cost
- Reduce the randomness of skills
- Titan pilots
- Universal pilot skills
- Legendary Pilots for Fujin and Raijin
- Legendary Pilots for all Bots
Rewards / Events / Operations / Chests
- Remove 2,500 components from Tier 1 prizes in Events
- More gold-based deal offers
- Overdrive weekend that reduces or eliminates costs for component conversion in WS
- Daily Log In Rewards
- Choose type of crate progression (Status: In jan 2021, Max WR Producer stated: "The league chests need a rework, that's for sure. We have some plans for an overhaul or even an alternative feature in 2021.")
- Honor based gold system
- Pt-Gold-Silver Forge system
- Announce odds of winning prizes from chests, events, etc.
Titans
- New Titan Oasis
- New Titan Odin
- Nodens should be able to see stealthed allied bots for healing
- Add Nodens heal targeting button
- Make Titans available in custom games
- Motherboards (like microchips for bots)
- Additional abilities
Weapons / Equipment

Ruled Out (for now):

Reload button (Status: Been requested numerous times over the years. Pixonic had a reload button in a test server in ~2016 but removed it without explanation and has not indicated it will be implemented at all in the future).
Donating (or trading) any resources to (with) other players or accounts (Status: a type of resource donation system used to be in the game but it was abused by players who created multiple accounts and clan-hopped to exploit it. It does not look like any trading system will be implemented in the future).
Stats (Status: In Dec 2020 Max, WR Producer stated: "We agree that there are players who love in-depth statistics. However, War Robots is a "midcore" game and we predict that the feature will not be popular enough among our players.")
- Legends League stats (bots / weapons)
- Stats of each bot at the end of the battle
- Specific bot in your hangar stats for last 50 games
- Advanced stats tab
E-Sports, community leagues, official API ecosystem (Status: in Dec 2020, Max WR Producer stated: " Nope. That would require too much work and resources.")
Battle Pass for Operations (points / currency rewards) (Status: in January 2021, Max WR Producer stated: "We are fine with how Operations work in War Robots right now.")
Allow training hangars to test out bots before buying them (Status: In Jan 2021, Max WR Producer stated: "It's a nice idea in general and we had it on the roadmap for 2021. However, after the final evaluation, the feature's business value/effort proportion proved to be too unfavorable to include it into the plan. You can still test out some of the new content using Hangar X.")
Allow factions to add boosts / skills / features to bots and hangars (Status: in Jan 2021, Max WR Producer stated: "It's a very interesting concept, yet as War Robots meta is not built around the lore, it will lead to power players choosing factions that suit the current meta, while the lore factor will be neglected. So the faction power bonus is unlikely to appear in the game. However, we will work on including more lore-based features in War Robots and our other games.")
New MM formula (Status: In Jan 2021, Max WR Producer stated: "First of all, big thanks to the author of the original post. You did a great job with the calculations and data! *applause*. The concept of the Hangar Power matchmaking is great. It provides those sought after equal matches in most of the cases... on one condition — all players play fair. Right at the point when someone decides to abuse the system, it all falls apart. We struggled with it really bad before we introduced Leagues. (Yes, tankers are also a problem, but we can at least spot them and suspend or ban their accounts.). Your idea with the high-tier robots contributing more to the HPS is a good one. And still, it doesn't provide a guaranteed solution to the problem. Between Tier 1 (Destrier) and Tier 4 (Ao Jun) there is also Tier 2 and Tier 3. That's where it gets painfully difficult to balance the system so that high-level players aren't able to disintegrate mid-levels with just one bot. We had some attempts at a similar algorithm with the Design and Analytics teams in 2019. During several months of tests we couldn't come up with a solid version, that we ourselves wouldn't be able to abuse as players.")
Synchronize platform releases (Status: In Jan 2021, Max WR Producer stated: "It's not possible due to our internal releasing procedures.")
Give Pt or Gold for selling Titans / Bots / Weapons that used Pt or gold to purchase them (Status: In Jan 2021, Max WR Producer stated: "No. With the current economy of the game, the availability of resources directly affects the availability of the content. At this point, we don't want to make the powerful content more available.")

Le Bilan - Ligue 1 Matchday 23 : The Big Four

Two days after the invasion of the training center by their supporters, Marseille knew another rocky day on tuesday as André Villas-Boas resigned, invoking disagreements with the direction regarding the sporting decisions. So it's with a total serenity that the team was back on the pitch in Lens, a team they lost against two weeks ago.
Not a lot top matches to follow this matchday but it was interesting to see if Paris managed to make up for the upsetting loss in Lorient last sunday and if Lille and Lyon could capitalize on it.

Appetizers

Deprived from the confrontation in Marseille last sunday, Rennes had the opportunity to take three points against the fellow Bretons from Lorient. And it started that way when Martin Terrier opened the score early in the game. But as usual lately, Rennes didn't manage to be dangerous enough to get a second goal and were punished by a late equalizer from Quentin Boisgard. Now 8 points behind Monaco (though with a match to play), Rennes' potential CL spot seems far gone. As for Lorient, it's another good result for the Merlus following the upset against PSG four days ago.
After four wins in a row by a one goal difference, Lille finally managed to make the score blow up. The victims were Bordeaux who after a good sequence had the unfortunate luck of playing consecutively Lyon and Lille. One more time, Yusuf Yazıcı scored an important goal early in the second half before his north american partners Timothy Weah and Jonathan David added their contributions.
The fuckup of the day has to be credited to Strasbourg who were on an easy path to getting three points, ahead 2-0 at the 83rd minute against a team, Brest, who had lost their last four matches. Unfortunately for the alsatians, they were not able to hold the result. First it was Gaëtan Charbonnier who reduced the gap, then Jérémy Le Douaron after four minutes of additional time who gave a precious point but more importantly who stopped the dark series of the Bretons.
Much like against Bordeaux last friday, Lyon suffered in Dijon, though more on an attacking point of view this time, but gathered the essential. Rudi Garcia, who coached Dijon for five years, can thank Paquetá who scored the sole goal in the middle of the first half, keeping Lyon two points behind Lille and one ahead of Paris.
Speaking of Paris, the club from the capital had to make everyone forget about the loss in Lorient, "an accident" according to Mauricio Pochettino. Once again facing the last team in the ranking (that still got twice as many balls in the penalty box as PSG), this evening was much easier for the parisians, even though they were still deprived from Marquinhos, Navas and Verratti, on top of Neymar, suspended. Di María finally provided a noteworthy performance with a goal and an assist, before Mbappé, the other struggling parisian, lobbed Reynet beautifully in the second half.
Six wins in a row for Monaco, clearly the most in-form team of the league. But this one has a special taste as it was during the Riviera derby against the ever struggling Nice and their new-look central defense (Todibo-Saliba). Two Ben Yedder goals (including a missile of a free-kick) sandwiched the Lees Melou equalizer. The bad news for Nice, the 10th defeat of the season aside, is the injury of Jeff Reine-Adélaïde, an awful ACL rupture, his second in 14 months and the second of the season for Nice after Dante a few months ago.
Arkadiusz Milik must wonder where he set foot one week ago. At least he would have if he didn't come from Naples. Anyway after 30 minutes against Monaco where he couldn't do much, the Pole was in the starting eleven for the first time and he managed to be on the scoresheet tap-ining the second OM goal of the day right before half-time. The thing is, life isn't supposed to be easy for Marseille at the moment. And the fact that they had two central defenders playing as midfielders shows that on top of everything else, they also were lacking players. And the second half was to the advantage of Lens who took only 20 seconds to get closer before equalizing 15 minutes later. In the end the 2-2 almost looks like a disappointing result for the home team who completely dominated the last 45 minutes and could have scored a lot more.
Records are meant to be broken and Nantes hired the right man to do just that. After becoming the first Nantes coach not to win in his first five matches, Raymond Domenech doesn't want anyone to take his title so another draw made the tally go up to six (and in total 14 consecutive matches without a win for the Canaris). This time, it was Saint-Étienne who had the opportunity to take points. It took a long time for les Verts who were down for 20 minutes after the Kolo Muani goal but Mahdi Camara managed to equalize.
Oddly enough, only the top 4 won their matches yesterday, widening the gap between them and the rest.

Main Course

Matches

Home	Score	Away
Stade Rennais	1-1	FC Lorient
Terrier 14'		Boisgard 83'
FC Metz	1-1	Montpellier Hérault SC
Sarr 47'		Laborde 70'
Girondins de Bordeaux	0-3	Lille OSC
		Yazıcı 54', Weah 66', David 89'
RC Strasbourg	2-2	Stade Brestois
Thomasson 8', Aholou 70'		Charbonnier 83', Le Douaron 90'+4
Stade de Reims	0-0	Angers SCO

Dijon FCO	0-1	Olympique Lyonnais
		Paquetá 22'
Paris Saint-Germain	3-0	Nîmes Olympique
Di María 18', Sarabia 36', Mbappé 68'
AS Monaco	2-1	OGC Nice
Ben Yedder (p) 28', Ben Yedder 51'		Lees Melou 47'
RC Lens	2-2	Olympique de Marseille
Sotoca 46', Medina 61'		Thauvin 37', Milik 45'+3
AS Saint-Étienne	1-1	FC Nantes
Camara 57'		Kolo Muani 36'

Table

#	Team	Pts	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1	Lille OSC	51	23	15	6	2	40	15	+25
2	Olympique Lyonnais	49	23	14	7	2	47	20	+27
3	Paris Saint-Germain	48	23	15	3	5	53	14	+39
4	AS Monaco	45	23	14	3	6	46	32	+14
5	Stade Rennais	37	22	10	7	5	31	24	+7
6	FC Metz	35	23	9	8	6	28	21	+7
7	RC Lens	35	23	10	5	8	34	33	+1
8	Angers SCO	34	23	10	4	9	29	34	-5
9	Olympique de Marseille	33	21	9	6	6	29	24	+5
10	Girondins de Bordeaux	32	23	9	5	9	26	27	-1
11	Montpellier HSC	29	23	8	5	10	35	42	-7
12	Stade de Reims	28	23	7	7	9	30	31	-1
13	Stade Brestois	27	23	8	3	12	35	43	-8
14	OGC Nice	26	22	7	5	10	24	31	-7
15	RC Strasbourg	25	23	7	4	12	32	36	-4
16	AS Saint-Étienne	23	23	5	8	10	22	36	-14
17	FC Nantes	19	23	3	10	10	22	37	-15
18	FC Lorient	19	22	5	4	13	27	43	-16
19	Dijon FCO	15	23	2	9	12	15	32	-17
20	Nîmes Olympique	15	22	4	3	15	17	47	-30

1-2 Champions League group stage
3 Champions League qualifiers round 3
4 Europa League group stage
5 Europa Conference League play-offs
18 Relegation play-offs
19-20 Relegation to Ligue 2

Goals

Player	Team	Goals	This week
Kylian Mbappé	Paris Saint-Germain	15	(+1)
Boulaye Dia	Stade de Reims	12
Wissam Ben Yedder	AS Monaco	11	(+2)
Memphis Depay	Olympique Lyonnais	.
Kevin Volland	AS Monaco	.
Ludovic Ajorque	RC Strasbourg	10
Karl Toko Ekambi	Olympique Lyonnais	.
Andy Delort	Montpellier HSC	9
Tino Kadewere	Olympique Lyonnais	.
Gaël Kakuta	RC Lens	.
Moise Kean	Paris Saint-Germain	.
Burak Yılmaz	Lille OSC	.
Habib Diallo	RC Strasbourg	7
Franck Honorat	Stade Brestois	.
Gaëtan Laborde	Montpellier HSC	.	(+1)
Florian Thauvin	Olympique de Marseille	.	(+1)
Yusuf Yazıcı	Lille OSC	.	(+1)

Assists

Player	Team	Assists
Jonathan Bamba	Lille OSC	8
Florian Thauvin	Olympique de Marseille	7
Gaëtan Laborde	Montpellier HSC	.
Andy Delort	Montpellier HSC	6
Memphis Depay	Olympique Lyonnais	.
Ángel Di María	Paris Saint-Germain	.
Kylian Mbappé	Paris Saint-Germain	.
Kevin Volland	AS Monaco	5
Romain Perraud	Stade Brestois	.
Junior Sambia	Montpellier HSC	.

COVID Championship

(May not be 100% accurate)

Team	COVID cases
AS Saint-Étienne	19
OGC Nice	17
RC Lens	14
FC Lorient	13
Paris Saint-Germain	.
Montpellier Hérault SC	11
FC Nantes	10
RC Strasbourg	9
Lille OSC	.
Olympique de Marseille	.
Olympique Lyonnais	6
AS Monaco	.
Dijon FCO	5
Nîmes Olympique	.
Stade Rennais	.
FC Metz	4
Angers SCO	3
Girondins de Bordeaux	1
Stade Brestois	.
Stade de Reims	.

Dessert

Top 3 Goals of the Week

#	Player	Match
1	Wissam Ben Yedder	AS Monaco vs OGC Nice
2	Kylian Mbappé	Paris Saint-Germain vs Nîmes Olympique
3	Pape Sarr	FC Metz vs Montpellier Hérault SC

The Toulouse Corner

It's been a month and a half since we discussed about Ligue 2 so it's more than time to give you a complete update.
First of all, much like its big sister, the league is very close at the top with seven teams having a decent chance to go up at the end of the season. A group that now contains Valenciennes who have been the most consistent team since the new year with 4 wins and 2 draws, allowing them to gain four places in the ranking.
At the top, the first two teams lost on tuesday : the leader Troyes fell in Clermont, another contender for the promotion, while their local rival Auxerre, who despite two losses in a row previous this match are still in the battle, were beating Toulouse to make up for it.
Troyes is an interesting case. Now coached by the former Toulouse and Marseille player Laurent Batlles, the team, which is now under the City Group banner, has been under the spotlights lately due to their playing style and the tactical system put in place by Batlles, a 3-4-3 diamond that attracted some attention from the spanish press that compared it to the old systems used by Johan Cruyff at FC Barcelona and Louis Van Gaal at Ajax. The coach denied having been inspired by them, saying he's just setting up a system favoring his players' strengths but nevertheless, it's not often that Ligue 2 is looked upon by the foreign land (besides the usual english and german raids during the transfer windows).
If we except the recent loss in Auxerre, Toulouse have been extremely consistent and definitely look like a promotion team. Indeed, they had not lost since early november, an epic accident that I related here. In the meantime, the Violets have aggregated 10 wins and 3 draws with the same good players still leading the team (Spierings, Van den Boomen, Adli).
Paris FC however still suffer from inconsistency perfectly displayed by their last game against Niort. The parisiand lead 2-0, then 3-1 before letting two goals in, conceding another frustrating and preventable draw. The team that looked like a train heading towards Ligue 1 a couple of months ago is unfortunately further and further from the goal.
At the bottom, Châteauroux are now the Lanterne Rouge despite a 4-0 two days ago against Chambly. Ahead of them, Pau which won their last two matches and are maybe on the path of salvation, but more notably and shockingly Guingamp with an appalling 22 points in 23 matches. The Bretons who lost in additional time in Grenoble have won one match in the last 3 months and a half and could be an unexpected candidate for relegation in National 1, a level they have not been at in the last ten years.
The complete Ligue 2 results
Ranking

L'Équipe Team of the Week

https://imgur.com/a/FSN0tbk

Quotes

Christophe Galtier, Lille coach :

It is the victory of a group, those who start the match, those who finish, and those who are unfortunately in the stands who are also behind the group. It is a great satisfaction to see a state of mind like that. [...] I exchange, I share and I also impose many things on my players, with a lot of humility, demands and ambition, which is not synonymous with pretentiousness. Do you know why it's a winning coaching ? Because I have good players at my disposal.

Franck Haise, Lens coach :

The score was not hyper logical but the players were present until the end. There is a little disappointment not to put the third goal in because the second period is totally in our favour, even if I don't forget that Marseille had a big chance at 2-1. I'm not surprised we're at this level because we've been working on this for months but I'm pretty happy with what the players are producing and have been for a while.

Christophe Pelissier, Lorient coach :

It is often said that you don't change a winning team. Against Paris I had changed seven players, I changed six today, because I've been telling the players from the beginning that it's not a team that's going to be successful, it's a group. On Wednesday at half-time against Dijon (down 2-1) we almost had one foot in Ligue 2. One week later, we can hope. [...] We had a lot of headwinds between the results and Covid. The rain will come back, but for the moment we are taking advantage of the good weather.

Wissam Ben Yedder, Monaco forward :

Since Toulouse, I don't think I've scored a free kick. I was feeling good about this beautiful play combination. I am very proud because it is also the winning goal. I'm used to scoring more in the box and being on the lookout for the second ball. This goal is important. It allows us to win this 100th derby.

ThePr1d3, Rennes supporter :

Rennes is the exact opposite of the beltway. It circulates very well but it's never dangerous.

Next matchday

Saturday 06/02, 17:00
FC Lorient - Stade de Reims
Saturday 06/02, 19:00
Olympique Lyonnais - RC Strasbourg
Saturday 06/02, 21:00
RC Lens - Stade Rennais
Sunday 07/02, 13:00
Stade Brestois - Girondins de Bordeaux
Sunday 07/02, 15:00
AS Saint-Étienne - FC Metz
Nîmes Olympique - AS Monaco
Montpellier Hérault SC - Dijon FCO
OGC Nice - Angers SCO
Sunday 07/02, 17:00
FC Nantes - Lille OSC
Sunday 07/02, 21:00
Olympique de Marseille - Paris Saint-Germain
Thanks a lot to Hippemann and NotMeladroit for all the clips and the tables ! For more news about the best league in the world (except for the other four) and to improve your french, come and subscribe to /Ligue1.
All feedbacks are welcome !
Previous matchdays :
Season 2020-2021
M1 - M2 - M3 - M4 - M5 - M6 - M7 - M8 - M9 - M10 - M11 - M12 - M13 - M14 - M15 - M16 - M17 - Mid-Season - M18 - M19 - M20 - M21 - M22
Season 2019-2020
M12 - M13 - M14 - M15 - M16 - M17 - M18 - M19 - M20 - M21 - M22 - M23 - M24 - M25 - M26 - M27 - M28

champions league winning odds 2020 video

Champions League betting at bwin: bet on single matches of Europe's most exciting football league or the outright winner of the 2020/21 season today. Get the latest odds for your chance to win big! [ December 14, 2020 ] Winning Odds and Chances for 16 teams in UEFA Champions League 2020-21 European Leagues [ December 14, 2020 ] Koeman unhappy with Riqui Puig for leaking information to media European Leagues [ December 14, 2020 ] Tottenham update: Mourinho’s words on Lloris, Levy on Alli, Doherty on Aurier European Leagues [ December 14, 2020 ] Paul Pogba sends out a message on social ... Champions League Final Odds. The following are the betting odds for the 2020 Champions League final. Odds are courtesy of DraftKings sportsbook (NASDAQ: DKNG) and are an aggregate of available ... Champions League betting on the European football club championship. Get outright and match odds, plus tips, free bets, offers and money-back specials UEFA Champions League, home odds > 2.75, away odds > 2.10, tie odds > 3.42 - soccer predictions. Upcoming football predictions and previous results: UEFA Champions League, home odds > 2.75, away odds > 2.10, tie odds > 3.42. soccer betting tips calculated according to historical statistics and bet365 and 188bet opening betting odds. Odds as of January 27 at Bovada. See Odds Shark’s Best Soccer Sites. Favorites Drawn Against Lesser Opponents . While there is no such thing as an easy path through the UEFA Champions League, winning the group that qualifies each winner for a fixture against a side that came second is a clear advantage and one that this year seems starker than ever. Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Bets + £10 Casino Bonus T&Cs apply. Min deposit £10 • A qualifying bet is a ‘real money’ stake of at least £10 • Min odds 1/2 (1.5) • Free Bets credited upon qualifying bet settlement and expires after 7 days • Free Bet stakes not included in returns • Deposit balance is available for withdrawal at any time • Casino Bonus must be claimed within 7 ... Odds taken on October 1 at DraftKings. Group A. Reigning champions Bayern Munich are unsurprisingly joint favorites to win the competition once again along with Manchester City even though there has been an unexpected setback in their new domestic campaign.. Five weeks after their victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the 2019-20 final in Lisbon, Bayern suffered a shock 4-1 defeat by Hoffenheim ... Track the odds movement for every major football club in the 2020/21 UEFA Champions League The Round of 16 draw is complete and Bayern Munich are still +275 favorites View teams individually or compared to others trending in the same direction Champions League Winners 2020 – Odds & Predictions. Here are the best odds from Swedish Betting company Unibet on the winner of the UEFA Champions League 2019/2020.. This season Liverpool won the Champions League against Tottenham Hotspurs in the final.

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UEFA Champions League Round of 16 Leg 2 Preview Live ...

The Lakers are the betting favorites to be crowned world champions for the 17th time, but LeBron James and company will have their work cut out for them. htt... 💰 💰 💰 $1000 SBR Bounty Freeroll Poker Tourney, sign up HERE: http://c.sportsbookreview.com/poker For more free sports picks head on over to SBR: https://www.... For more previews, top predictions and betting tips across the top 5 European leagues, Champions League and Europa League visit our football page: https://ww... UEFA Champions League Draw : Knockout Fixture 2020 Prediction Thirteen-times winners Real Madrid on Monday were drawn against English champions Manchester City while title-holders Liverpool will ... Who will win the Champions League in 2020? The draw has been made, but what do the numbers say? Statman Dave looks at some key stats for Squawka to see which... The Champions League 2019/20 is about to start again - the biggest stage of world’s football. Kick off’s Danya Barsalona and Ed McCambridge are back to give ...

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champions league winning odds 2020

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