Cara Lepore

@FurmanU & @JohnsHopkins grad | @Bengals & @Reds fan | Views are my own

[Cincinnati Bengals @Bengals]

Loaded.

[Warren Sharp @SharpFootball]

some thoughts on Lawrence to Cincy...

<buckle up>

Dexter Lawrence is a 28-year old stud

he spent most of his career playing vs elite interior OLs of the Eagles & Cowboys

he's been double-teamed at the highest rate in the NFL

he's now playing in the AFC North

Ravens lost their C
Steelers might start a 42-yr old QB
Browns have Deshaun or Shedeur

Lawrence should FEAST

the Giants were TERRIBLE when he wasn't on the field

last year, even in a "down" year for Lawrence:

Giants defense with...

Dexter Lawrence OFF the field:

#32 YPA (8.4)
#31 sack rate (4.1%)
#27 EPA/pass (+0.13)
#26 pass success (47%)
#23 pressure rate (32%)

Dexter Lawrence ON the field:

#7 pass success (40%)
#8 YPA (6.6)
#9 sack rate (7.7%)
#10 EPA/pass (+0.09)
#22 pressure rate (33%)

that was a "down" year for Dexter

the team was top-10 vs the pass when he was out there

bottom-10 when he wasn't

want a larger sample?

last 3 years:

Dexter Lawrence OFF the field:

#32 YPA (7.7)
#31 pressure rate (29%)
#31 pass success (48%)
#30 EPA/pass (+0.14)
#30 sack rate (5.5%)

Dexter Lawrence ON the field:

#8 pass success (42%)
#8 sack rate (7.4%)
#10 EPA/pass (+0.02)
#13 YPA (7.0)
#15 pressure rate (36%)

and again, the context is VITAL:

he was obviously the #1 best player on the Giants defense

every team knew it

they double teamed him at the #1 highest rate and he STILL made this big of a difference

and that was despite playing some of the NFL's top offensive lines in the NFC East as it relates tot he Eagles and Cowboys for YEARS

oh, and then there's this pretty ridiculous nugget:

[Gridiron Grading @GridironGrading]

As a part of our draft prep, we have scored all players drafted since 2015 on NFL production (Career Approximate Value and PFF grades).

Dexter Lawrence ranks #1 of the 218 DTs in the database.

There’s an argument to be had that the Bengals traded for the best DT in the NFL.

[Adam Schefter @AdamSchefter]

A Bengals trade for Dexter Lawrence is unprecedented: This is the first time in the common draft era that dates back to 1966 in which the Bengals ever have traded a Top-10 pick for a player, per ESPN research.

[Jonathan Cohn @CitizenCohn]

Quite the advertisement for “gold-standard science”

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

Christina Koch was a firefighter at the South Pole at -111°F before she ever applied to be an astronaut. That was maybe the fourth most interesting line on her resume. She grew up in North Carolina, got three degrees from NC State, and her first real job was building deep-space instruments at NASA.

Then she left for Antarctica. Spent three and a half years bouncing between the Arctic and Antarctic as a research scientist, including a full winter at the South Pole base. That means going months without sunlight or fresh food, with a crew of about 50 people and no way out until flights resume. While she was down there, she also joined the glacier search-and-rescue team.

After coming back, she went to Johns Hopkins and built instruments for two NASA missions (one of them is still orbiting Jupiter right now). She figured out how to start a tiny vacuum pump that NASA designed for a future Mars rover. Johns Hopkins nominated it for their Invention of the Year in 2009. Then she went back to the field. More time in Antarctica and a stretch up in Greenland. A government research station in northern Alaska, near the top of the world. Then she ran another one in American Samoa, near the equator.

In 2013, NASA selected her from 6,300 applicants. Eight people got in. Her first space mission was supposed to be a normal rotation on the International Space Station, but NASA extended it. She ended up staying 328 straight days and orbiting Earth 5,248 times, covering about 139 million miles (roughly 291 round trips to the Moon). Up there, she ran over 210 experiments, including tests of cancer drugs in zero gravity and 3D printers that can build structures close to human tissue. Six spacewalks, 42 hours floating outside the station. She learned Russian for the training. She flies supersonic jets.

Right now, Koch is on Artemis II, heading for a flyby behind the far side of the Moon. The crew launched on April 1 and is on track to travel about 252,000 miles from Earth, which would break the all-time human distance record of 248,655 miles set by Apollo 13 in 1970. That record has stood for 56 years, and it was set during a disaster that nearly killed the crew. Fred Haise, one of the Apollo 13 astronauts, is 92 now. He told Koch: "I heard you're going to break our record."

Nobody had left Earth's neighborhood since December 1972. Koch and her three crewmates are the first in 53 years, and they are coming home at about 25,000 mph. That is faster than any crewed spacecraft has ever come back through the atmosphere.

[Cincinnati Reds @Reds]

WE'RE SO BACK

[The Players’ Tribune @PlayersTribune]

Hey y’all, A.J. Green here. This is for Rondale. ❤️ https://t.co/xPQn50vyiB

[Mark Chalifoux @markchalifoux]

Bummer of a day but I haven’t lost any faith in Duke Tobin.

Because I had absolutely no faith in Duke Tobin.

[NCAA March Madness @MarchMadnessMBB]

FURMAN IS BACK IN THE DANCE 🪩

The Paladins win the SoCon title to clinch their second NCAA Tournament appearance in four years 👀 #MarchMadness

[Eric Topol @EricTopol]

This week @TheLancet cover
and link to their accompanying editorial
https://t.co/sNrxBIFGjP

[Sam Stein @samstein]

NEW: In a year of troubling health policy developments, the FDA's refusal to accept Moderna's mRNA flu vaccination stands out for its wantonness. read @CitizenCohn who has the best, most sobering, report on this major news.

https://t.co/Fg8t910bay

[Bengalscentre @benga1scentre]

Ja'Marr Chase in 2024:

• 127 catches
• 1,708 yards
• 17 TDs
* Triple crown winner *

Not a single OPOTY vote

Jaxon Smith-Njigba in 2025:

• 119 catches
• 1,793 yards
• 10 TDs
*Offensive play of the year*

[Cincinnati Reds @Reds]

Go-ahead Geno RBI mood:

[ATBBTTR @ATBBTTR]

Bring Geno home just so he can say hi to Jim Day again

[The Washington Post @washingtonpost]

Alison Luchs, who has worked at the National Gallery of Art for 47 years, agreed to learn Gen Z slang and make videos because she wanted to raise interest in the museum’s art.

She never expected to slay. https://t.co/BsOhypLSh5

[Matthew Herper @matthewherper]

I don't know how to ask for a moment of silence amid the madness that is X.

But please take a moment to reflect on the heroism of William Foege.

Foege, who died Saturday at 89, was a key architect of the eradication of smallpox using the vaccine. This is one of humanity's great victories over a terrible disease and a triumph of science. If you haven't, go order or download his book, "House on Fire," which chronicles that epic fight. He was head of the CDC from 1977 to 1983.

He was a towering, six-foot-seven reminder that rationality can win against scourges that have beset mankind for all of history.

[Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus @DrTedros]

As a founding member of @WHO, the United States of America has contributed significantly to many of WHO’s greatest achievements, including the eradication of smallpox. WHO has always engaged with the US, and all Member States, with full respect for their sovereignty.

Unfortunately, the reasons cited for the US decision to withdraw from WHO are untrue. The notification of withdrawal makes both the US and the world less safe.

We hope the US will return to active participation in WHO in the future. Meanwhile, WHO remains steadfastly committed to working with all countries in pursuit of its core mission and constitutional mandate: the highest attainable standard of health as a fundamental right for all people.

Read the full WHO statement: https://t.co/kPowKl76hS

[Sarah Despres @sarahdespres]

⁦@SecKennedy⁩ says children no longer need to be protected against certain serious illnesses. Read about those infections and decide whether his advice to America’s kids make sense. https://t.co/iG5fgRvW99

[derek guy @dieworkwear]

A Washington Post article suggests that, beyond a certain threshold, larger homes don't make people happier. Instead, well-being is correlated with affordable housing in walkable neighborhoods where they feel socially connected.