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Daily Horoscope for October 18, 2024
General Daily Insight for October 18, 2024
Saying what we mean and meaning what we say might not be as easy today. With the sensitive Moon facing off against communicative Mercury at 3:15 am EDT, we could be at war within ourselves, feeling one way and saying something completely different. When the Moon works hand-in-hand with consistent Saturn later on, we’ll be able to ground ourselves and come back to reality, aligning our heads and hearts. Thinking about what we say before we say it should save us a multitude of headaches.
AriesMarch 21 – April 19
Your comfort might require you to rely on someone else. It can be hard to put your trust in someone else currently. You may even feel hurt by them, causing you to pull back from the connection. The temptation to melt back into the shadows will be strong, even though something in you likely wants to try and talk it out. Give yourself the time that you need to soothe yourself before making an effort to figure things out. Don’t let wounds fester.
TaurusApril 20 – May 20
Who are you when you’re around certain people? This might be the main focus for you now, with a need to pay attention to how you shift your self-expression in the company of a certain person or group. It could have escaped your notice until this moment, but when you pay attention, you might discover more authentic ways to show up. Trying to become someone else to keep a friend is unlikely to feel good in the long run. Just be yourself!
GeminiMay 21 – June 20
You might be tempted to tell someone how you’re really feeling. This could be someone that rightfully deserves your annoyance, but voicing it right this minute is unlikely to work in your favor. While you probably want to tell them the unbridled truth of how you feel, it’s likely to come out harsher than you meant it to. That risks damaging how others see you! Unless it’s absolutely necessary to speak up, it may be wise to keep things under your hat for now.
CancerJune 21 – July 22
Standing out in a crowd may be challenging. The planets are urging you to swim against the current and say or do something that’s unlike the group that you’re in — and you’re probably aware that this would be a risky move. Instead of being reckless or impulsive, try to channel this energy into being creative or setting up a fun surprise for someone in your life. If something seems like a big risk, don’t hesitate to pull back on the throttle.
LeoJuly 23 – August 22
Your emotions might be hard to hide, particularly if you’ve been trying to be responsible or professional in the face of an emotionally stressful situation. The way you’re feeling is likely all over your face anyway! Be honest if you need a moment away from the hectic energy of your career or another responsibility of yours, and don’t be afraid to ask for help. There might be someone who’s already waiting in the wings for you to reach out to them.
VirgoAugust 23 – September 22
You can get by with a little patience. Brace yourself for delays, reschedules, and miscommunications on your plate, as both travel and communication are affected by Luna and Mercury’s astrological tiff. You might learn information that’s just shy of the truth or be given bad directions or the wrong arrival time — needless to say, check everything twice. While running this wild goose chase can be frustrating, do your best to enjoy the scenery along the way. You’ll make it there eventually!
LibraSeptember 23 – October 22
Obsessing over one area of your life may be causing you to let other matters slip. Analyze your activities — is there someone or something that’s taking up all of your mental space? When you devote so much mental energy to one thing, you risk letting the other important matters in your life fall through the cracks. Pay attention to where your priorities currently lie, and if they’re imbalanced. Once you bring back equilibrium and consistency, you might just see yourself leveling up.
ScorpioOctober 23 – November 21
Your heart might be distracted from what you know to be true. Someone in your life could be criticizing you, not realizing all the obstacles that you’ve had to overcome to get where you are now. They may not have meant to impact you negatively, but their words are potentially playing on your mind and causing you to doubt yourself. Instead of letting it bring you down, remember how you thought of yourself when you were younger and bolder. You’re stronger than you know!
SagittariusNovember 22 – December 21
Sticking with updated habits may be harder than normal. No matter how intent you are regarding following through with any positive habits that you recently began, life could be throwing you curveballs from the areas you’re least expecting. It’s also easier to get exhausted while you’re trying to stay consistent. Overall, this may mean that you need to take something off of your plate so that you can have enough energy and focus to keep up such recent endeavors. Give yourself some grace.
CapricornDecember 22 – January 19
Jealousy can sneak in if you’re not paying attention. There might be someone in your friend group that has something you want, but focusing on that will likely be damaging to your connection if you allow this envy to get the better of you. Alternatively, there may be someone in your group who is jealous of you or another peer of yours, causing drama among you. Pay attention to what you do have, and practice gratitude. The grass isn’t always greener.
AquariusJanuary 20 – February 18
Sentimentality could be clashing against your desire to climb the ladder. You may want to reach higher heights in your career or become more respected, but society has left you with the impression that you must sacrifice a hobby or pastime to achieve such ambitions. This can be a difficult decision to make, so make sure to account for every factor. Make a point of making a pros and cons list before taking action, at least. Maybe you could even balance your goals with fun!
PiscesFebruary 19 – March 20
You may not currently have the words to express yourself. Going through new experiences can be great, but sometimes putting your overall take on them is difficult to put into words right away. Let it settle in — regardless of whether it’s a class you’re taking, a job opportunity, a burgeoning friendship, or another new entry into your life. Allow yourself time to understand how you feel about the people or events at hand. Your soul deserves the space to speak.
Panthers, without Barkov, Tkachuk for fourth straight game, fall to Canucks in overtime
By TIM REYNOLDS
SUNRISE — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and the Vancouver Canucks got their first win of the season, beating the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Thursday night.
Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver (1-1-2), with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.
Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida (3-2-1) and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.
Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness) for the fourth consecutive game.
TakeawaysCanucks: Scoring first hasn’t been an issue for Vancouver, which has taken the first lead in three of its four games so far. But Miller’s score saved the night for the Canucks, who improved to 2-8-0 in their last 10 games in the state of Florida.
Panthers: Mackie Samoskevich got an assist on Florida’s first goal, the first career point for the 24th pick in the 2021 draft out of Michigan. It came in his 13th NHL game.
Key momentHughes’ goal at 6:30 of the second period for a 2-1 Vancouver lead was one that Florida said shouldn’t have counted. Linesman Michel Cormier dropped the puck for a faceoff, but it never hit the ice and bounced off Vancouver’s Nils Aman. The Panthers thought that should be a hand pass. The NHL disagreed and Aman got an assist on Hughes’ score.
Key statLundell has stepped up in a big way with Barkov out of the lineup. He’s got four goals in a three-game span for the first time and his three-game goals-coring streak ties a career best.
Up nextBoth teams are back in action Saturday, Vancouver going to Philadelphia and Florida remaining home to face Vegas in a matchup of the last two Stanley Cup winners.
___
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Republicans say they’re appealing a Georgia judge’s ruling that invalidates seven election rules
By KATE BRUMBACK and JEFF AMY
ATLANTA (AP) — National and state Republicans on Thursday appealed a judge’s ruling that said seven election rules recently passed by Georgia’s State Election Board are “illegal, unconstitutional and void.”
The Republican National Committee and the Georgia Republican Party are appealing a ruling from Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox, who ruled Wednesday that the State Election Board did not have the authority to pass the rules and ordered it to immediately inform all state and local election officials that the rules are void and not to be followed.
The rules that Cox invalidated include three that had gotten a lot of attention — one that requires that the number of ballots be hand-counted after the close of polls and two that had to do with the certification of election results.
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“By overturning the Georgia State Election Board’s commonsense rules passed to safeguard Georgia’s elections, the judge sided with the Democrats in their attacks on transparency, accountability, and the integrity of our elections,” Whatley said. “We have immediately appealed this egregious order to ensure commonsense rules are in place for the election — we will not let this stand.”
The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by Eternal Vigilance Action, an organization founded and led by former state Rep. Scot Turner, a Republican. The suit argued that the State Election Board overstepped its authority in adopting the rules.
The ruling was hailed as a victory by Democrats and voting rights groups, who say rules the State Election Board has passed in recent months could be used by allies of Donald Trump to cast doubt on results if the former president loses the presidential election to Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. Recent appointments to the five-member board have put three Trump-endorsed Republicans in the majority. They have passed new rules over the objections of the board’s lone Democrat and the nonpartisan chair.
County election officials from around the state — the people who run the elections — have voiced concerns over the flood of new rules taking effect so close to Election Day.
The other rules Cox said are illegal and unconstitutional are ones that: require someone delivering an absentee ballot in person to provide a signature and photo ID; demand video surveillance and recording of ballot drop boxes after polls close during early voting; expand the mandatory designated areas where partisan poll watchers can stand at tabulation centers; and require daily public updates of the number of votes cast during early voting.
GATORS PODCAST: Florida seeks to end Kentucky’s stranglehold at homecoming (Ep. 249)
Coming off a crushing loss at Tennessee, the Gators look to end the recent dominance of Kentucky. The Wildcats seek their fourth straight win against Florida for the only time since Bear Bryant was their coach from 1948-51. Mark Stoops seems to have Billy Napier’s number. Napier’s days could already be numbered at UF; a homecoming loss could prove the final straw. During the latest Swamp Things, Mark and Edgar map out the path to a victory the Gators and Napier desperately need.
- What Wildcat win would mean (:00)
- Reason for optimism (5:58)
- Reason for pessimism (7:51)
- Matchup on offense (10:24)
- Matchup on defense (13:29)
- Who has your attention? (16:12)
- On the spot (18:18)
- Unsubstantiated rumor (20:37)
- Final thought: Hall of Fame (23:56)
- Who is winning? (30:22)
- Jeremy Foley’s Corner (32:02)
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
‘Guy with a gun at the gas station’: 911 calls depict woman’s rescue, suspect’s death in Pompano Beach
For customers at a Pompano Beach gas station, a Sunday afternoon errand turned into a life-threatening situation when a man tried to force his way into a woman’s car and was fatally shot during a confrontation, 911 calls reveal.
Brian Semil, 37, of Pompano Beach was shot just before 5 p.m. at the Racetrac gas station in the 500 block of Atlantic Boulevard, according to the Broward Sheriff’s Office. He was pronounced dead at Broward Health North.
The Sheriff’s Office said Semil tried to force himself into a car with a woman and her children inside, and three men intervened. During that altercation, one of the men shot Semil.
One of the callers appeared to be the woman, who told officers in Spanish that she was in the car with her mother and children when a man tried to get inside and wouldn’t let her drive away.
“I was pumping gas, and I was here with my mom and kids, and there was a person — I don’t know if he was on drugs or not — who tried to get into the car and he wouldn’t let me go,” the woman told the call-taker. But then a man nearby stepped forward and “saved me because (the assailant) had come toward me, and he wouldn’t even let me close the door.”
As she was speaking, commotion could be heard in the background.
By the time the woman phoned 911, she and her family had gotten away from the suspected attacker, but she was worried about the man who had helped her get away, who still was at the gas station, she said.
“Oh, look, he’s hurting him!” she told the 911 operator.
“They’re fighting?” the operator asked.
The operator asked her for more information, but the woman said she didn’t know more, explaining she had already gotten farther away from the gas station.
“Is there someone hurt on the ground?” the 911 call-taker asked.
“I don’t know,” the woman replied. “I saw him on the ground. I heard a gunshot, and I left from there.”
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Several other frantic 911 calls came in from customers at the gas station whose Sunday afternoon had suddenly become life-or-death.
“Guy with a gun at the gas station, Racetrac, running around here and stuff like that,” one caller said. He appeared to think the man had driven off, then realized he was still there.
“Come NOW! Come now!” he yelled. “Come now! I’m at the Racetrac. Send an ambulance! Get the cops over here now, God damn it! Hey don’t come next to me, stay over there man, stay away from me.”
Deputies have not said if Semil was armed, but another caller said she saw “a man with a gun trying to rob a lady.”
“I guess he got shot,” she said.
Another woman said her partner had pointed his own gun at the suspect.
“He’s trying to come up to my man,” she told the operator. “He has his firearm pointed at him. I need someone here right now. There’s another man here too with a firearm pointed at him as well. But I need someone here right now.”
She then appeared to yell at the other man. “Get the f*** away from him!” she yelled, then told the dispatcher, “my man’s gonna shoot him!”
The three men who intervened remained at the scene and cooperated with deputies, the Sheriff’s Office said. After investigating, the Sheriff’s Office will forward its case to the State Attorney’s Office.
Semil had a history of felony arrests, court records show. In 2015, he was charged with stealing a woman’s key fob in Fort Lauderdale and driving off with her car, leading police officers on a chase downtown and at one point ramming the car into one of the police cars, according to a probable cause affidavit. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to three years in prison.
Indian government employee charged in foiled murder-for-hire plot in New York City
By ERIC TUCKER and LARRY NEUMEISTER
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department announced criminal charges Thursday against an Indian government employee in connection with a foiled plot to kill a Sikh separatist leader living in New York City.
Vikash Yadav, 39, faces murder-for-hire charges in a planned killing that prosecutors first disclosed last year and have said was meant to precede a string of other politically motivated murders in the United States and Canada.
Yadav remains at large, but in adding him to the indictment and releasing his name, the Biden administration sought to publicly call out the Indian government for criminal activity that has emerged as a significant point of tension between India and the West over the last year — culminating this week with a diplomatic flare-up with Canada and the expulsion of diplomats.
“The FBI will not tolerate acts of violence or other efforts to retaliate against those residing in the U.S. for exercising their constitutionally protected rights,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
The criminal case was announced the same week as two members of an Indian inquiry committee investigating the plot were in Washington to meet with U.S. officials about the investigation.
“They did inform us that the individual who was named in the Justice Department indictment is no longer an employee of the Indian government,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters before the case against Yadav was unsealed. “We are satisfied with cooperation. It continues to be an ongoing process.
On Monday, Canada said it had identified India’s top diplomat in the country as a person of interest in the assassination of a Sikh activist there and expelled him and five other diplomats.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and police officials went public this week with allegations that Indian diplomats were targeting Sikh separatists in Canada by sharing information about them with their government back home. They said top Indian officials were then passing that information along to Indian organized crime groups who were targeting the activists, who are Canadian citizens, with drive-by shootings, extortions and even murder.
India, for its part, has rejected the accusations as absurd, and its foreign ministry said it was expelling Canada’s acting high commissioner and five other diplomats in response.
The murder-for-hire plot was first disclosed by federal prosecutors last year when they announced charges against a man, Nikhil Gupta, who was recruited by a then-unidentified Indian government employee to orchestrate the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader in New York.
Gupta was extradited to the United States in June from the Czech Republic after his arrest in Prague last year.
The rewritten indictment said Yadav recruited Gupta in May 2023 to arrange the assassination. It said Gupta, an Indian citizen who lived in India, contacted an individual at Yadav’s direction, believing the individual to be a criminal associate. Instead, the indictment said, the individual was a confidential source working with the Drug Enforcement Administration.
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As the assassination plot was created in June 2023, Yadav gave Gupta personal information about the Sikh separatist leader, including his home address in New York City, his phone numbers and details about his day-to-day movements, which Gupta then passed along to the undercover DEA operative, according to court papers.
Yadav directed Gupta to keep him updated regularly on the progress of the assassination plot, leading Gupta to send him surveillance photographs of the intended victim, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who advocated for the creation of a sovereign Sikh state.
In a statement, Pannun said the indictment means the U.S. government has “reassured its commitment to fundamental constitutional duty to protect the life, liberty and freedom of expression of the U.S. Citizen at home and abroad.”
He added, “The attempt on my life on American Soil is the blatant case of India’s transnational terrorism which has become a challenge to America’s sovereignty and threat to freedom of speech and democracy, which unequivocally proves that India believes in using bullets while pro Khalistan Sikhs believe in ballots.”
Neumeister reported from New York.
Teen smoking and other tobacco use drop to lowest level in 25 years, CDC reports
By MIKE STOBBE
NEW YORK (AP) — Teen smoking hit an all-time low in the U.S. this year, part of a big drop in the youth use of tobacco overall, the government reported Thursday.
There was a 20% drop in the estimated number of middle and high school students who recently used at least one tobacco product, including cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, nicotine pouches and hookahs. The number went from 2.8 million last year to 2.25 million this year — the lowest since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s key survey began in 1999.
“Reaching a 25-year low for youth tobacco product use is an extraordinary milestone for public health,” said Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, director of CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, in a statement. However, “our mission is far from complete.”
A previously reported drop in vaping largely explains the overall decline in tobacco use from 10% to about 8% of students, health officials said.
The youth e-cigarette rate fell to under 6% this year, down from 7.7% last year — the lowest at any point in the last decade. E-cigarettes are the most commonly used tobacco products among teens, followed by nicotine pouches.
Use of other products has been dropping, too.
Twenty-five years ago, nearly 30% of high school students smoked. This year, it was just 1.7%, down from 2023’s 1.9%. That one-year decline is so small it is not considered statistically significant, but marks the lowest level since the survey began 25 years ago. The middle school rate also is at its lowest mark.
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The results come from an annual CDC survey, which included nearly 30,000 middle and high school students at 283 schools. The response rate this year was about 33%.
Officials attribute the declines to a number of measures, ranging from price increases and public health education campaigns to age restrictions and more aggressive enforcement against retailers and manufacturers selling products to kids.
Among high school students, use of any tobacco product dropped to 10%, from nearly 13% and e-cigarette use dipped under 8%, from 10%. But there was no change reported for middle school students, who less commonly vape or smoke or use other products,
Current use of tobacco fell among girls and Hispanic students, but rose among American Indian or Alaska Native students. And current use of nicotine pouches increased among white kids.
After decades of ill will, hurt feelings ’84 Gators happy to move forward
GAINESVILLE — Former Florida football star John L. Williams had no use for his 1984 SEC championship ring, so he gave it to the one person who cherished it.
Nora Williams tracked her son’s many feats in football and was the longtime keeper of a ring her son rarely wore because the title it represented had been erased.
At her 2013 funeral in Palatka, John L. Williams placed the ring next to Nora during their final goodbye.
“I knew from that point on it would be well taken care of; she guarded it so well,” he told the Orlando Sentinel this week. “Because they took it from us, there’s no need for me to flaunt it around on my finger. So I put it in the casket with her, and she took it with her.”
The bittersweet and symbolic act buried nearly three decades of ill will that until recently would continue to simmer with many members of the 1984 squad.
But Williams, dozens of his teammates, several coaches and others behind the scenes will be honored Saturday night in the Swamp during the Gators’ homecoming game with Kentucky.
For many who’ll attend, a collection expected to be at least 90 people, UF’s recognition is long overdue.
“There’s been a lot of bitterness, a lot of anger,” former offensive lineman Scott Trimble, a standout from Lake Brantley, told the Sentinel. “Not to sound petty or anything, but they kind of ignored us for 40 years. It’ll be cathartic for all of us — kind of, maybe a final, final.”
Former coach Charley Pell assembled the 1984 Gators, who went on to win the SEC title without him. The school fired Pell after three games because of NCAA violations, which later led the SEC to invalidate the championship — at the time the Gators first. (Sentinel file)Some, especially longtime Florida fans, consider the ‘84 squad perhaps the best in school history.
Those Gators won the school’s first and long-awaited conference title, went 9-1-1 and were named national champions by The New York Times. But NCAA infractions placed coach Charley Pell’s program on three years’ probation, led UF to fire him after three games and the SEC to nullify the championship the following spring.
Collateral damage became a group of players featuring 19 of 22 starters who would go on to NFL careers. Among them were three first-round NFL draft picks in the backfield, including Williams; a line tabbed “The Great Wall” and led by first-round pick Lomas Brown; and a defense with future All-Americans and NFL stalwarts Alonzo Johnson, Jarvis Williams and Tim Newton, who starred at Orlando Jones.
“There was a ton of talent,” former Great Wall member Billy Hinson told the Sentinel. “It was a special team.”
Hinson, the team’s starting left guard, has spearheaded the push for recognition and mended fences.
UF athletic director Scott Stricklin warmed to the idea.
“Forty years is a long time,” Stricklin told the Sentinel. “As hard as everyone works to use Florida athletics to engage and keep people connected to the university, we should find a way to stay engaged with them — to let them know that what they did here there’s a level of appreciation.
“A lot of guys on that team had nothing to do with the stuff that went down. This will be an opportunity to heal some wounds.”
Stricklin recalled his first brush with the ’84 Gators during a trip to Gainesville as a freshman student worker at Mississippi State for the SEC’s ’89 baseball and track and field championships.
“The hotel we were staying at had something about the ‘84 team, first SEC championship,” he said. “I remember knowing that it had been stripped and just how hard that probably was on everybody.
“Coach [Steve] Spurrier will tell you his ‘90 team, with the best record in the SEC, should have been champions. So, we have eight we recognize, and there’s 10 teams that played well enough on the field to deserve being SEC champions.”
Former UF quarterback Kerwin Bell still remembers vividly how fans celebrated the Gators 1984 SEC title, later striped by conference decision-makers because of NCAA violations. (Sun Sentinel file)The ’84 Gators started 0-1-1, with a last-minute loss to defending national champion Miami and a 21-21 decision to LSU. UF fired Pell following a Week 3 rout of Tulane.
Interim coach Galen Hall then led Florida to eight straight wins and a 5-0-1 SEC record.
On the flight back from a 25-17 win at Kentucky, featuring a school-record 6 field goals by Bobby Raymond, the Gators learned Mississippi State had edged LSU 16-14 in Starkville to deliver Florida the SEC title.
“We’re jubilant. We’re cheering and yelling and screaming on the plane,” Trimble recalled. “As the pilot came into Gainesville, he actually circled Florida Field and did a little bank so that you could see out the window and look down. We saw all these people in the stadium with the lights on, it was incredible.
“Then we land, we get off the plane, there’s probably 5,000 people at the airport — they’re going nuts.”
The ensuing bus ride to Florida Field, where at least 30,000 fans awaited the Gators, was an unforgettable moment during quarterback Kerwin Bell’s football life.
“The streets were packed, filled with people,” Bell, now the head coach at Western Carolina, told the Sentinel. “I saw 60-year-old men crying — they were so emotional — because Florida had never won an SEC championship. That’s a memory. Through all the things I’ve been able to do in football, that one sticks out the most.”
Soon, memories would be all that remained.
To maintain their SEC title, the Gators agreed to sit out the Sugar Bowl, a 28-10 loss by LSU to Nebraska, and miss a shot for the national title won by upstart BYU of the Western Athletic Conference.
“If we’d have gone and showed up in the bowl game against whoever they put us against, we would have had a chance to win it outright,” Bell said.
In April 1985, SEC presidents voted to invalidate the Gators’ title.
The championship trophy disappeared. Some wonder if it’s collecting in the south end zone storage room, under the scoreboard at the Swamp.
“It’s over there somewhere,” Hinson said. “I was told it was never given back.”
Former Florida player Billy Hinson displays his 1984 SEC Championship ring while holding a photo of himself during his playing days as part of the “Great Wall” — an offensive line considered the best in school history. (Courtesy of Billy Hinson)The school soon painted over a sign on the stadium wall acknowledging the championship.
Hinson, who resides in Jacksonville, and most of his teammates still have their rings. Much more has been lost.
Following Alonzo Johnson’s funeral in February, Hinson decided it was time to save what remained. Johnson’s son will wear his father’s No. 93 jersey Saturday night.
“I was driving back and I said, ‘We got to get this team together,’” he said. “And so I just started calling some guys.”
Then fellow Great Wall member Jeff Zimmerman died March 1. More than 20 people involved with the ‘84 team have passed away.
Hinson said a recent phone call with teammate Scott Armstrong punctuated the importance of reviving relationships that had meant so much 40 years ago.
“It was like we were in the locker room yesterday,” Hinson said. “I told my wife, ‘That is really amazing.’ That’s the connection. Life is very short.
“Heck, we might not be here next year.”
Hinson helped organize a tournament Friday at Gainesville’s Ironwood Golf Course, before the ’84 team is recognized the following night.
Before the game, John L. Williams will serve as Honorary Mr. Two Bits during only his third Florida game since his final season in ’85.
“It’s beginning to mend what has been a bad situation,” he said. “I gave the University of Florida my all when I was there. I feel good about it.”
Yet, Williams, Hinson and their former teammates hope this weekend’s gathering and anniversary celebration is not a culmination, rather a start.
“We need to do something every year,” Hinson said. “The bond we had that was lost for all those years, what we went through … now some of that’s kind of coming back.”
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
Up next …Kentucky at Florida
When: 7:45 p.m., Saturday, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium
TV: SEC Network
Dolphins marvel at Colts QB Anthony Richardson as they get set to defend his dual-threat abilities
MIAMI GARDENS — The Indianapolis Colts appear primed to bring quarterback Anthony Richardson back from his oblique injury, and for the Miami Dolphins on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium, that could present some good or some bad.
First, the good: Richardson’s return means the Dolphins don’t face veteran backup Joe Flacco, who has been very effective in relief of Richardson this year, as he was when he was inserted for the Cleveland Browns last year and won NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
Flacco is completing 65 percent of passes and has thrown seven touchdowns to one interception. Meanwhile, Richardson, the former Florida Gator and second-year dual-threat quarterback, has completed 50 percent of passes this season while throwing three touchdowns and six interceptions. And who knows if he comes out a bit rusty after he last was seen exiting early on Sept. 29 against the Pittsburgh Steelers?
But Richardson also presents mobility and athleticism that’s virtually unheard of among quarterbacks. A freakish athlete at 6 feet 4, 244 pounds, Richardson also has uncanny arm strength to strike way down the field.
In recent history, the Dolphins have had their share of struggles against running quarterbacks. Take Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills or Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens as examples.
“When he pulls the ball down to run, he looks like John Riggins,” Dolphins defensive coordinator Anthony Weaver said, likening the passer to the powerful Jets and Washington rusher of the 1970s and 1980s. “He’s enormous, he’s big, he runs through people, and then he has a hose for an arm. … So just his skill set, his physical attributes, he is certainly still maturing as a player, but I think his ceiling is incredibly high.”
While Miami was not really looking at first-round quarterbacks in Richardson’s 2023 draft class, the unicorn from the Gators who was picked fourth by the Colts still stood out to coach Mike McDaniel.
“I was like, ‘Wow, I haven’t seen that,’” McDaniel said. “Really big, fast and has a cannon. He’s a cool player to watch, very confident and a problem for defenses.
“Anytime you have to play team defense to minimize the impact of a player, that speaks to the player. Pass rush has to be connected to coverage, run fits have to be on point and he can do a lot of things if you allow him to.”
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Every pass play, the Dolphins will essentially have to be prepared to defend two different plays — the one that’s drawn up for Richardson to throw from the pocket and the play he can make by escaping the pass rush. And in between, beyond running with the ball himself, he can extend plays to give receivers more time to get open.
“He can spread the field, and he makes you defend 11 people,” Miami cornerbacks coach Mathieu Araujo said. “From a coverage standpoint, I think the first thing you see is just the extension of plays. … For a guy who’s big and can run, he’s looking to get the ball out of his hand when he does extend the play.”
Dolphins defensive tackle Calais Campbell, who actually was in the same draft class as Flacco as two of the few remaining NFL players in their upper 30s, has seen all types of quarterbacks in his experience. And he had a rousing endorsement for Richardson.
“Richardson is probably the ultimate athlete and probably, from a pass-rusher standpoint, the biggest challenge we’ll have so far this season,” Campbell said Monday as Miami got the week of preparation started coming off the bye.
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But early in his budding career, Richardson appears to be turnover-prone. Miami can look to capitalize on that.
The Dolphins will do it while continuing to move cornerback Jalen Ramsey around on the defense, which could present confusing looks for a young passer.
“I don’t think there’s a position on the football field he hasn’t played,” Weaver said. “You blitz him sometimes like a Sam ‘backer. We’ve put him all over the place. We’ve blitzed him from the corner position. I’m almost ready to put him at inside ‘backer just to try to mess with these offensive guys.”
A big reason the Dolphins can afford to use Ramsey as that “ultimate chess piece” that Weaver famously mentioned when he first took the defensive coordinator position in Miami is fellow cornerback Kader Kohou presenting similar levels of flexibility. When Ramsey goes somewhere new, Kohou, mainly a nickel corner, can fill his usual boundary cornerback role.
“Without Kader being able to do what he can do, it doesn’t allow Jalen to do what he’s done in his career,” Araujo said. “Kader is as big a part of that as Jalen. When you move one guy, someone else has to do another job.”
The Indianapolis ground game can also be minimized if star running back Jonathan Taylor misses another game with his ailing ankle. The Dolphins have struggled in run defense, and Taylor’s absence would shrink the Colts’ ability to throw him and Richardson out there together as a quarterback-tailback rushing duo that could be comparable to the Ravens’ combination of Jackson and Derrick Henry.
“When I watch (Taylor), he reminds me a little bit of (former Jaguars standout) Fred Taylor, in the sense that he has some patience and vision,” Weaver said. “He’s a guy that’s going to dip in and out of holes — Le’Veon Bell type back — and then still has the speed to get away from guys.
“If he doesn’t play, it certainly doesn’t hurt us. If he does play, you always want to play against the best, and I consider him one of those.”
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