Kritik und Lob » Coyotes Shane Doan and Michalek were bloc

(SportsNetwork.com) - Lets face it, the Atlanta Falcons are lucky to be playing meaningful football in December. But the schedule doesnt shape up as all that fortunate down the stretch. The 5-7 Falcons are now atop the dismal NFC South division in advance of their trip north to face the powerful Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on Monday Night Football. And win or lose in Titletown, Atlanta will remain in control of its own destiny because of a perfect 4-0 record inside the division, along with a looming Week 16 matchup at the Saints, who fell back to 5-8 after Sundays setback to Carolina. If you look ahead, however, you can see things figure to get far stickier for the Falcons starting tonight. While Atlanta has to battle the Packers, who are 6-0 at home this season, New Orleans will face opponents who currently have a 12-26 mark the rest of the way. Conversely, the Falcons face three teams with playoff aspirations (The Pack, Pittsburgh and New Orleans) before finishing off with the now 4-8-1 Panthers. Both the Saints and Atlanta are attempting to avoid joining the 2010 Seattle Seahawks as being the only NFL teams to win a division with a sub-.500 record. The Falcons have won three of four overall, including a big 29-18 win over the NFC West-leading Arizona Cardinals in Week 13 action at the Georgia Dome. Matt Bryant connected on all five of his field-goal attempts in that one and Matt Ryan finished with a season-high 361 yards on 30-of-41 passing with scoring throws to Julio Jones and Levine Toilolo. Jones led all receivers thanks to 189 yards on 10 receptions, Harry Douglas added 116 yards on nine grabs, and Steven Jackson contributed 101 yards on 18 carries. Arizona signal caller Drew Stanton was picked off twice by the much-maligned Atlanta defense, once by Josh Wilson and another by Dwight Lowery. The Packers, meanwhile, took another step toward what would be a franchise- record fourth consecutive division title when they outlasted the New England Patriots, 26-21, in a game that could have foreshadowed Super Bowl XLIX. MVP candidate Aaron Rodgers threw for 368 yards and two touchdowns and kept two NFL-record streaks alive as he outdueled Tom Brady and the Pats. Rodgers was 24-of-38 and has now thrown 360 consecutive passes with 31 touchdowns since his last interception at home, which was over two calendar years ago. Eddie Lacy rushed 21 times for 98 yards and caught two passes for another 17, stretching his Green Bay running back record to four consecutive games with at least 100 yards from scrimmage. Davante Adams had six receptions for 121 yards and Randall Cobb made seven catches for 85 as the Packers ran their winning streak to four games since their bye week. Weve been great at home, said Rodgers. The fans have been excellent with the noise and weve got a good advantage with it. Weve just got to keep rolling. Green Bay leads its all-time series with Atlanta by a 14-12 margin, including a 22-21 win at Lambeau last season while Rodgers was out with a broken collarbone. On Monday nights the Falcons have been dismal historically, compiling a 10-26 mark. The Packers are also underwater but much better at 28-31-1. WHAT TO WATCH FOR Rodgers has thrown for 20 touchdowns without an interception at home this season. Overall, the All-Pro leads the NFL with a 118.6 passer rating and has thrown for 32 scores against just three INTs, captaining a team that scores 31.7 points per game, the best mark in the league. In his four previous career meetings against the Falcons Rodgers has always crossed the 300-yard barrier throwing the ball and has nine TDs against just one INT. Its a big challenge for us this week with Aaron Rodgers, Falcons coach Mike Smith admitted. No doubt, hes playing the best of any quarterback in the NFL right now. Hes got a number of weapons he can get it to. Hes played extremely well at home. I dont think hes thrown an interception at home this season, and I dont even want to talk about how many points theyve scored. The answer to that is 40.9 points while outscoring foes 245 to 106 at Lambeau. I dont know that theres been a quarterback thats had a stretch like hes had in the history of the NFL, Smith continued. Rodgers finished November with 1,233 yards passing with 13 touchdowns and no interceptions for an NFL-best 128.1 passer rating. And more importantly a 4-0 record. No disrespect to any quarterback in the NFL, but right now hes at a level that is much higher than anybody else, Smith said. When you look at his pure statistics, theyre phenomenal. The key to Green Bay at home has been blitzing people out of the starting blocks. The Packers have outscored their opponents by an amazing 79-0 margin in the first quarter of their last five home contests. That number expands to 151-23 at halftime and 14 of those 23 points were scored by the powerful Patriots last week. Foes have been looking up and finding the score 14-0, or in the case of the Pats 13-0, and that has enabled a flawed Packers defense to excel as teams become more one-dimensional. Despite some talent issues on the defensive side Green Bay has allowed just 17.3 ppg in its current four-game winning streak. When you watch the tape, its even more impressive, Smith said. (Rodgers has) got a great grasp of how to attack defenses. Hes extending plays. If he can extend the play and when the play gets off schedule, he can make the throws. Hes been very accurate. His quarterback rating is off the charts. You would think the only way Atlanta can beat the Packers is in a shootout and Ryan isnt too shabby himself, currently second in the NFL with 3,427 passing yards, slightly ahead of Rodgers 3,325. The veteran also has 21 TD passes versus 10 interceptions and a solid 93.7 passer rating. Jones, meanwhile, is one of the best receivers in the game as evidenced last week when he torched the highly-regarded Patrick Peterson time and time again. The Falcons could also get a boost from the potential return of Jones regular running mate, Roddy White, who sat out last week with an ankle problem. Roddy was close to playing (last week), Smith said. He worked with our athletic performance guys late in the week. We felt that it was in the best interest long term for him to not play in the game this past week. We anticipate, with the extra day, that hell be ready to go this week. OVERALL ANALYSIS Rarely is a division leader favored by double digits over another division leader but thats the story here and its hard to imagine a team with so many issues on defense like the Falcons solving Rodgers at Lambeau. We have some big goals, and were getting into December football now with a chance with everything right in front of us, A-Rod said. Expect the Packers to keep rolling here. Sports Network predicted outcome: Packers 34, Falcons 20 Andrew Benintendi Jersey .com) - Al Horford collected 19 points and 16 rebounds and the Atlanta Hawks held off a furious rally to beat the Detroit Pistons 106-103 on Friday night in a game between two of the NBAs hottest teams. Carlton Fisk Red Sox Jersey . The 24-year-old Pruneau played his CIS football with the Montreal Carabins. The six-foot, 200-pound Montreal native had 41 tackles, 3. https://www.cheapredsox.com/2871z-pedro-martinez-jersey-red-sox.html . According to TSNs Farhan Lalji, Richardson is heading to Toronto for a physical and is expected to sign with the Argonauts. Michael Chavis Red Sox Jersey .com) - Novak Djokovic captured a mens Open Era-record fifth Australian Open title on Sunday by defeating rival Andy Murray in the final in Melbourne. Brian Johnson Jersey . The match, billed as a "next-gen" encounter between two of the sports rising stars, lasted two and a half hours. The loss kept Raonic, from Thornhill, Ont., from reaching a third fourth-round spot in Melbourne over the past four years.GLENDALE, Ariz. - Their post-season hopes all but gone, the Winnipeg Jets are content to play spoiler in the NHL Western Conference playoff race. Andrew Ladd scored in regulation and in the second round of the shootout, and Ondrej Pavelec stopped Antoine Vermettes attempt to send the Jets to a 2-1 win over the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday night. Pavelec finished with 28 saves. The Coyotes dropped into a tie for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference with the Dallas Stars, who blanked the Capitals 5-0. Dallas has a game in hand with seven to play. Ladds winning shot hit the post and went off Coyotes goalie Thomas Greiss leg and into the net. "Its a game of inches," Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. "Theres an extra point there youd certainly like to have, but it wasnt for lack of trying. It was a fast, hard, tight hockey game. They got a couple of bounces and we didnt." The Coyotes had chances. Jets wing Blake Wheeler was whistled for a high-sticking penalty with 1:15 left in overtime, but the Coyotes couldnt take advantage and the game went to a shootout. Ladd opened the scoring 10:01 into the first period, firing the puck past Greiss from inside the left faceoff circle. Ladd took a pass from Bryan Little and his wrist shot found the back of the net. Little extended his points streak to seven games. The Jets were coming off a frustrating 5-4 overtime loss at Anaheim the night before and wrapped up a five-game road trip in Arizona. "It was a mental grind for a lot of guys, but I think you look at the Anaheim game, we come up with that win, were looking at a 3-2 (road trip)," Ladd said. "So I think we learned a lot about ourselves this trip and it was nice to finish off this way." Jets coach Paul Maurice said Pavelec was the differennce.dddddddddddd "We knew it wasnt going to be pretty or textbook," Maurice said. Winnipegs 1-0 lead after the opening frame marked the first time the Coyotes had trailed on home ice after the first period since Jan. 20 against Toronto. The Coyotes evened it up 19 seconds into the second period when Zbynek Michalek scored on a close-range shot with Vermette and Mikkel Boedker assisting. "We played against a team that is below us in the standings," Michalek said. "In a shootout its pretty much about luck. We didnt get the point and weve got to move on." Both teams had good chances in the third period, but shots by Ladd and the Coyotes Shane Doan and Michalek were blocked or sailed over the net during the seventh minute. Boedkers shot with 9:50 left in the third hit the post and bounced away. Dustin Byfuglien misfired with 6:25 to play from right in front of the goal and Phoenix centre Kyle Chipchuras shot was saved by Pavelec with 4:30 left in regulation. "We really cant be worried about them," the Coyotes Keith Yandle said of the Stars. "Theyre a good team, theyre going to win games. We have to do our part and win games." NOTES: The fans in the crowd of 13,724 wore more Jets blue than Coyotes red. The Coyotes heard many "Lets Go Jets!" chants throughout the evening. . The Coyotes were without defenceman David Schlemko (lower body injury), right wing David Moss (ankle) and goalie Mike Smith (knee), who missed his fourth straight game though he is skating in practice. . The Jets were without goalie Al Montoya for a second straight game due to injury, so Pavelec got another start. . The Jets hadnt played at Jobing.com Arena since the Coyotes home opener in October of the 2011-2012 season. ' ' '