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5 things Packers must do to win Super Bowl after quiet trade deadline

· Yahoo Sports

The trade deadline has come and gone without the Green Bay Packers making a significant move to upgrade the team, meaning their roster is pretty much set in stone for the rest of the season.

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It was no surprise to see Brian Gutekunst stand pat, as there were very few options that actually made sense for Green Bay, especially if looking only at the players who were actually traded somewhere.

They were obviously not in a position to make big swings like the Bears and Jaguars did for Jeffery Simmons or Jordan Davis at defensive tackle, respectively, due to the hefty draft capital involved. DeForest Buckner could have been an option, but he only wanted to go to the 49ers.

Adding Quenton Nelson to the offensive line would have been nice. He was not cheap though and is a left guard only, with the right side more of the issue right now. Running backs Jonathan Taylor and Tony Pollard ended up not getting moved. 

The Packers already made multiple signings on the offensive line in-season and Kevin Zeitler only saw his first snaps on Sunday. It is fair to let that situation play itself out as Green Bay keeps trying to figure out their ‘best five’ (more on that shortly).

With the roster unlikely to change much from here on out, and fresh off a dominant win in New England, here is what needs to happen for a Packers team that now looks like a real contender to win the Super Bowl:

Avoid more injuries to key players

Green Bay has already had its fill of devastating injuries to important players this season, with Zach Bako-Bewele, Jayden Reed, Edgerrin Cooper and Javon Hargrave all done for the year.

There are still eight regular seasons to go, and more injuries are bound to happen. The Packers cannot afford for any more of the season-ending variety to the caliber of players that have already been lost.

Jordan Love is 1A on that list, and this exceptionally explosive passing attack would also not be the same without either Christian Watson or Matthew Golden.

Tucker Kraft and arguably Jordan Morgan – who has really locked down the left side in pass protection lately – are also indispensable on offense given the lack of options behind them.

On defense, Jonathan Gannon has overcome some big losses, as well as the absence of Micah Parsons without skipping a beat, but there is only so much the group can take before the dam breaks.

They really only have two reliable three-down starters at defensive tackle in Devonte Wyatt and Karl Brooks, although they will hope to get Warren Brinson back from IR at some point.

The real engine of this defense is the secondary though, and if one of the tremendous trio of Evan Williams, Xavier McKinney or Javon Bullard went down, the knock-on effect on the entire unit could be massive.

Green Bay needs to pray to the injury gods that there are no more crushing blows on the horizon if this team is to go on a serious run.

Play Kevin Zeitler

More specifically, play Zeitler at right guard and Laken Tomlinson at left guard. PFF is certainly not gospel, but they gave Zeitler a 73.9 grade in his debut against the Patriots (in admittedly only 20 snaps), while Tomlinson has a 68.1 grade for the season.

Aaron Banks, who is still getting the red carpet treatment despite constantly being injured and not performing when he is in the lineup, has a 39.1 grade on the year.

The persistence with Banks, even forcing Tomlinson out of position to right guard to accommodate him, is likely due to his massive paycheck, and frankly that is not a good enough reason. It needs to stop, and it does seem like the tide is turning after Sunday’s game.

Get Zeitler into the lineup, keep both him and Tomlinson at their natural spots and let the offensive line build chemistry. Once Sean Rhyan returns from injury, they may have a legitimately serviceable offensive line, which looked like a pipe dream two months ago.

Create a functional run game

There were also some green shoots in the run game against New England, as Green Bay managed four yards per carry as a team (the previous average was a paltry 2.85) and Kaleb Johnson had an encouraging day with a 4.9-yard average.

The Patriots are not usually easy to run against, and while the constant threat of the ball being thrown over their heads probably helped, that is an absolutely fine formula for the Packers to lean on moving forward, using the pass to set up the run, rather than the other way around.

If Green Bay can form some semblance of a viable run game by the time the playoffs arrive, centered around Johnson, Josh Jacobs and Karl Brooks, it will be a game changer for what has looked like one of the worst rushing attacks of all time for much of the year.

Get Micah Parsons back to full strength

The wait to see Parsons back on the field has been longer than expected, so hopefully it will be worth it when he finally does suit up, which may come on Thanksgiving eve against the Rams.

Gannon has done a remarkable job with the defense, fashioning it into one of the league’s best. A fit and firing Parsons could take them to a nuclear level.

While it will surely take him some time to get his feet back under him and look like his old self, Parsons needs to be at full power by the postseason to turn this into a true championship defense.

Establish trust in Trey Smack

Sunday was a massive step forward for Smack after some real struggles of late. Relying on a rookie kicker is scary, as it can seem like they are rounding into form at times, before suffering another setback. Progression is not always linear.

That is the cost of doing business, but it can also cost you playoff games, as the Packers found out with Anders Carlson a few years back. By season’s end, Green Bay must be in a position where they are able to trust Smack to deliver when it matters.

This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: 5 things Packers must do to win Super Bowl after quiet trade deadline

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We Asked a Psychic What People Really Want to Know Before Getting Divorced

· Vice

There are few questions more painful than wondering if the person you married still loves you. Especially when you’ve reached the point of asking a psychic because you can’t seem to get an answer from your own spouse.

New York City psychic medium Jesse Bravo has spent 16 years giving readings, and he’s heard his share of unhappy marriages. Some clients want to know if their spouse is cheating. Others are terrified of starting over. A few have already decided to leave but seem to need someone to tell them it’s okay. Most conversations, he told VICE, eventually come down to one question: “Do you see my spouse turning things around, or is it already too late?”

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What gets to him is how much hope people still have, even when their marriages have become miserable. Bravo says some clients arrive knowing what they want to do, but they’re just struggling to admit it. He describes walking them through the good and bad years of their marriage, sharing what he believes he’s receiving from spirit along the way. “By the time we reach the end of that road, I ask them, ‘Now, what is your heart telling you to do?’”

He’s careful about giving anyone a definitive answer, especially when they’re considering something as consequential as divorce.

“This is a decision you have to live with, and I would never make that decision for another human being,” he said.

But not everyone comes looking for reassurance. Some are actually hoping their spouse has done something terrible enough to make leaving easier. Bravo has encountered clients who secretly wanted to discover an affair, simply because it would give them a reason to end a marriage they’d already emotionally abandoned. Others are thinking about the financial implications before they’ve even filed.

One client asked how much money they could receive in a divorce, then took things a step further:

“If I keep the children away from my spouse, do you see me getting more money?”

A Psychic Reveals What People Ask When They’re Afraid Their Marriage Is Over

For Bravo, that question was especially difficult to hear. The client seemed far more interested in the settlement than what a divorce might do to the children. There’s something awful about watching a marriage end with kids being treated as bargaining chips, although Bravo says the conversations that hurt him most are often much simpler.

“The most heartbreaking question for me is when a client asks me, ‘Does my husband or wife still love me?’”

Sometimes, he believes the answer is yes. He describes couples who still care about each other but have become so accustomed to fighting that they can barely communicate without it breaking into an argument. “The love hasn’t disappeared,” he said. “They’ve become so caught up in how they react to each other that they can’t see what’s still there.”

His impressions are spiritual interpretations, of course, and no psychic can establish what another person feels. But the emotions behind those questions are painfully recognizable. There’s also the fear of what happens next. Bravo says people worry about wasting years with the wrong person, getting older, and discovering that the love they once had might never come around again. Financial insecurity comes up, too, although he finds that the emotional fears usually dominate.

Some clients ask the same question repeatedly, hoping he’ll eventually give them a different answer. Others reject every possibility of reconciliation he raises, and he begins to suspect they’ve made their decision already. “They’re no longer looking for a way to save their marriage, but they really want to know what their life will look like after it ends,” he explained.

What struck me most about Bravo’s answers was how often he returned to two people who still want to be loved but have somehow lost the ability to understand each other. They spend years hurting each other, sometimes raising children together, until they’re living under the same roof and feeling completely alone.

I’ve been through a divorce, and it was hands down the hardest, darkest period of my life. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. I also wouldn’t recommend ending a marriage unless you’re 100% sure it’s what you want, because even when you desperately want out, the reality of going through a divorce can be f**king awful.

Maybe that’s why Bravo’s reluctance to tell anyone what to do stayed with me. A psychic can offer his interpretation of what the future holds, but he’s not the one who has to live with the decision.

You are. And you should be damn sure it’s the one you want to make.

The post We Asked a Psychic What People Really Want to Know Before Getting Divorced appeared first on VICE.

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Kennedys file lawsuit to block Trump’s arch over impact on family’s graves

· Global News

The family members who filed the lawsuit are the children and grandchildren of Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, the brothers of U.S. president John F. Kennedy.

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