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Atlanta Falcons Reason for Pessimism The Atlanta Falcons had an excellent regular season last year, winning 13 games. But many of them were by remarkably close scores. I remember the Carolina game and the Hail Mary pass from Matt Ryan to Roddy White to position the Falcons for the winning field goal. That game could have gone either way. The same in regards to the Oakland game - won by three. The Arizona game? Won by four. The Tampa Bay game was won by one. The Saints game was won by four - on the last play of the game. And the playoff game at home against Seattle - a 30-28 win in the last minute. Thats six games that could have gone either way and in a very tough NFC South. The Falcons will need that late game skill again. The rushing attack was 29th and on defence was 24th - being 21st against the run and 23rd against the pass. The Falcons are a very good team that needs to improve. The biggest concern is cornerback. Asante Samuel will take care of one side but the other may be a rookie. Either Desmond Trufant or Robert Alford. Either way, starting a rookie cornerback is a risk but Atlanta may not have a choice. Reason for Optimism Matt Ryan has signed a new big time contract and heres why. He has 56 wins in his first five seasons and the record for wins in their first six seasons is 60 by Ben Roethisberger. Matt Ryan may surpass that significant record as soon as week on Monday night Football at home against the Jets. As a team the Falcons were +13 in takeaway and giveaway and second in third down completion percentage. Thank you, Matt Ryan. All the Falcons need to be the best offence in football is for Steven Jackson to stay healthy and the best three receivers in football - Jones, White and Gonzalez to do what they do. The other key component is Osi Umenyiora as a pass rusher on one side and Kroy Biermann on the other side. They must play well to offset the youth in the secondary. Give credit to the Falcons in that they were one more good play from a Super Bowl appearance and still may have eight new starters in the effort to improve. Reality: Tough, tough division. New Orleans will be better and Tampa Bay as well. Carolina always plays Atlanta tough. But the Falcons have great receivers and an improved defence depending on the two young cornerbacks. The two games against New Orleans will probably determine the division. Theyll finish first in NFC South. New Orleans Saints Reason for Pessimism Last year, the New Orleans Saints allowed an all-time record for yards allowed with 7,O42. They also had nine games of 25 points allowed or more. Their total defence was ranked 32nd, their rushing defence was 32nd, pass defence 31st and their scoring defence was also 31st. Can that defence now contain Matt Ryan, Cam Newton and an improving Josh Freeman? Until proven, its the biggest question with the Saints. They do have three good young players in free agent Keenan Lewis from Pittsburgh, John Jenkins at the nose from Georgia and Kenny Vaccaro out of Texas. But can all three be 16-game starters? Reason for Optimism You cant undervalue the presence and accountability of Sean Payton back as head coach. In the last three years with him, the Saints won 37 of a possible 48 games and won it all in 2009. Without him, they were 7-9. Even if the defence plays mildly better, the Saints can win games on their own - second in total offence, first in passing offence, third in scoring offence and fourth on red zone efficiency. The only negative number was rushing offence, which was 25th. But you know that will improve with Payton back. And you know the Saints wont start the season 0-4 again. Reality: If the defence catches up with the offence, then the Saints are a playoff team again this year. The have two key games with Atlanta to open the season at home, then its off to Thursday Night Football on Nov. 21. That will probably determine the division. The Saints finish second in the NFC South - but not by much. Tampa Bay Buccaneers Reason for Pessimism The Bucs are a team that could finish first or last in the NFC South. They started the season a strong 6-4 but ended it a poor 1-5. And the one win was against an Atlanta team in Week 17 that had little to play for. The concern for the Bucs is quarterback Josh Freeman. He did have a great year in terms of passing yards and touchdowns passes, but threw 10 of his 17 interceptions over three games late in the season - which kept the Bucs out of the playoffs. Still, Tampa Bay spent money in free agency and if that pans out then what was one of the worst secondaries will become one of the best. In one of the oddest years in defence, the Bucs finished first against the run and 32nd against the pass. Can that pass defence catch up with the run defence? Reason for Optimism There are some hidden gems of talent on this years Bucs team. Doug Martin was spectacular last year and a big reason was Carl Nicks at left guard and Donald Penn at left tackle. Vincent Jackson had a good year, Gerald McCoy lived up to his high draft pick status as a defensive tackle and Mason Foster played well at middle linebacker. Finally, Darrelle Revis, Mark Barron, Eric Wright and Dashon Goldson make up talent wise an excellent secondary. A lot will depend on Josh Freeman and the pressure is on. Greg Schiano has not said it is his job to lose and they also drafted quarterback Mike Glennon. The Bucs could be a 10 win team. Reality: Just like the Panthers, the probable is who do the Bucs move ahead of into the playoffs? The Saints or the Falcons? I say its possible but the Bucs will finish third in the NFC South. Carolina Panthers Reason for Pessimism This is probably it for Ron Rivera. For the last two years, the start of the season has been disastrous but and the end of the season has been terrific. Last year, the Panthers won five of their last six but lost six of there first seven. Statistically, there was nothing that outstanding about what Carolina did on offence or defence. They finished Top 10 on defence and 12th on offence - pretty good . Not dominant, but pretty good. They do need to find another receiver other than Steve Smith, but thats been an issue for years and if they do then Cam Newton will have another year as good as his rookie campaign. In that year, Carolina won 12 games and made the playoffs. The pressure is on this year - more than ever. Reason for Optimism Over the last five years, Carolina has won 12, eight, two, six and seven games - so theyre on their way back (only one game from .500 football!). Also, seven of their losses were by seven points or less. With Newton, his touchdown runs are down but his touchdown passes were up. With three good running backs in Jonathan Stewart, DeAngelo Williams and Mike Tolbert, Newton does not have to throw thew ball 30 times to win. And with three good linebackers led by Luke Kuechly and two good outside pass rushers, the Panthers made their first and second pick defensive tackles to make it stonger than ever. Reality: The Panthers are a good team in a very tough division. They also have one of the toughest schedules playing six playoff teams. A lot will depend on how well Newton continues to progress, but he will have to out play Drew Brees and Matt Ryan to be a playoff team. Possible, but not probable. Carolinas fourth in the NFC South. Steve McNair Jersey . - Defensive end-linebacker Mike Neal apparently is returning to the Packers. Bruce Matthews Jersey . While he was away, it was the division-rival Baltimore Orioles conducting a little business of their own, scooping up Ubaldo Jimenez on Monday evening to a reported four-year, $50-million contract. http://www.titansstoreonline.com/ .The league also seems to have a fairly active Twitter account www.twitter.com/bikinihockey that features the description “We provide a positive alternative to the hockey community and a venue for adult female hockey athletes to continue in their sport. Earl Campbell Jersey .com) - SirDominic Pointer posted career highs of 24 points and seven steals to lead No. Custom Tennessee Titans Jerseys . He spent the rest of the game making up for lost playing time. Green scored a career-high 36 points, including eight in overtime, and the Phoenix Suns beat Denver 112-107 on Tuesday night to hand the Nuggets their fifth consecutive loss. ST. LOUIS -- Frederik Andersen made sure the Anaheim Ducks wouldnt go on any kind of a losing streak. The rookie made 34 saves, and Ryan Getzlaf scored his 25th goal to lead the Ducks to a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night. Anaheim, which had an eight-game winning streak snapped on Friday in Chicago, has won 19 of 21. The Ducks have won nine of their last 11 on the road, and they lead the NHL with 79 points. Anaheim is 20-0-2 at home. Matt Beleskey and Cam Fowler also scored for the Ducks, who have a league-best 37 points on the road. Andersen (12-2) has won three straight. Anaheim had its three-week winning run halted with a 4-2 loss on Friday. Instead of dwelling on the setback, the Ducks took control against the Blues and grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first 29:13 against St. Louis. "If you lose, you just want to get back on the horse and win the next night," Andersen said. "We just stayed poised and focused." Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau was pleased with the way his club bounced back. "Its hard to win as many games in a row as we did and lose," he said. "Then youre coming back against (one) of the best percentage teams in the league. It would be pretty easy to say, Hey, we had a good run. Lets take this next one off." But they didnt. "This is a prideful group," Boudreau said. Getzlaf got the turnaround started with a goal just 5:37 in. His tally, off a pass from Corey Perry, set the early tone. "We were able to rebound and play our game," Getzlaf said. "We showed that we needed to bounce back after a tough loss." Getzlaf, who added an assist, has 14 points in the last nine games. Barret Jackman and Jaden Schwartz scored third-period goals for St. Louis, which lost back-to-back games in regulation for just the second time this season. Anaheim scored three times on its first 11 shots against Briian Elliott, who had a franchise-record, 13-game home winning streak snapped.dddddddddddd Beleskey squeezed a shot through Elliott early in the second period. Elliott made the initial save, but the puck trickled through his legs into the net. "I tried to squeeze it," Elliott said. "Its a goal you definitely want back." Fowler then tallied on the power play with a shot from the top of the circle to push the lead to 3-0 midway through the second period. Schwartz got the Blues to within 3-2 with a power-play goal at 14:31 of the third. Andersen took over from there with a key stop of a shot by T.J. Oshie with 2.6 seconds left. The Blues pulled their goalie with 1:08 remaining, but Andersen held onto the lead. "He was fabulous, good since Day One when he got here," Boudreau said of Anderson. "He was calm. I thought he did a real good job near the end, especially for a first-year guy." Anderson made 15 saves on 17 shots over the final 20 minutes. "We showed a lot of character and kept working for each other," Andersen said. "This shows what kind of team effort we can have." St. Louis is 1-7 against California teams this season. The Blues lost 4-1 to the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. "A three-goal deficit in this league against any team is tough," St. Louis captain David Backes said. "Hopefully, we can get something out of that third period." NOTES: St. Louis LW Alexander Steen returned to the lineup after missing 11 games because of a concussion. He had four shots in 20:56 of ice time. ... The Blues have an NHL-best, plus-57 goal differential. ... Anaheim RW Teemu Selanne didnt play in the second of back-to-back games, as usual. ... RW Chris Stewart played in his 200th game with the Blues. ... The Ducks are 22-3-4 in games in which they score first. ... Anaheim is 19-1-5 in one-goal games. 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