METAIRIE, La. - New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton sounds conflicted when the topic turns to his extraordinary success coaching in the Superdome in recent years.Payton is pleased to remind Saints fans that they can indeed create an advantage for their team by being excruciatingly loud at the right moments. Hes less comfortable playing up the fact that he has coached 20 straight games in the Superdome without losing.Theres a lot of stuff thats gone into that and none of its applicable for this weekends game against San Francisco, Payton said of his personal winning streak in the dome. It really isnt.New Orleans (4-4) plays its next three games at home, starting against the 49ers (4-4) on Sunday, with contests against Cincinnati and Baltimore to follow. Given the Saints success in the Superdome, an opportunity to build on their slim division lead in the shaky NFC South would appear to be there for the taking.Its nice to get in front of the home crowd, Saints quarterback Drew Brees said. I feel like weve got some momentum going. We want to take advantage of this opportunity and this momentum we have.The 49ers won in New Orleans as recently as 2012, but that was when Payton was suspended in connection with the NFLs bounty investigation — and it was the lone season in the previous five in which the Saints missed the playoffs.Last season, San Francisco played the Saints close in the dome, but was hurt by a disputed unnecessary roughness penalty assessed to Ahmad Brooks on his sack and strip of Brees. Without the penalty, the Niners would have recovered the fumble with a 20-17 lead and only 3:12 to play. Instead, the Saints kept the ball and kicked a game-tying field goal, then held the Niners offence before driving for a game-winning kick by Garrett Hartley as time expired.Some Niners players expressed bitterness about that game, which could have put a dent in the Superdome mystique. Instead, it simply went down as part of New Orleans perfect 8-0 home record last season.Including playoffs, the Saints were 9-0 at home in 2011, and most of those games werent close. When Payton returned from suspension, New Orleans home dominance picked up where it left off. The Saints have now won 11 straight in the dome overall since Paytons return and are 3-0 at home this season, most recently routing a Green Bay squad that had come in on a four-game winning streak.Its very difficult to play in the Superdome, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick said. I mean, the Saints are a great team, so theyre going to be tough anywhere, especially at home.San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh added, Its very loud. Its a great environment for football.Just not necessarily for an opposing offence.During the week of a home game, Payton routinely uses media conferences to remind fans to loudly get behind their defence when opposing offences come to the line of scrimmage. This season, hes taken it a step farther, having players like pass-rushing outside linebacker Junior Galette record videos reminding fans to get loud! The videos appear on the domes large video boards at moments deemed advantageous to New Orleans defence.Sometimes Galette looks up from the field and watches his amplified exhortation.I pump myself up, Galette said. Im like, Yeah, Ive got to get it.This season, the Saints average margin of victory at home is 12.7 points. Last season, the Saints won their eight home games by an average margin of 18.4 points.Hopefully, we keep that streak going for a while, Brees said, but then cautioned, just because were playing at home, it does not entitle us to anything.___AP NFL website:
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http://twitter.com/AP_NFL . Cruz set the tone with a two-run homer in the first inning, and Baltimore scored eight times in the eighth to pull away for a 12-3 victory in Game 1. The major league leader with 40 homers during the regular season, Cruz added an RBI single to his early blast off Max Scherzer. .S. President Barack Obama saluted the Stanley Cup winning Chicago Blackhawks at the White House on Monday -- a rare moment for a president hungry to see more victorious teams from his hometown.
http://www.cheapcardinalsjerseyssale.co ... ersey-sale. Pistorius denied the allegation that he said to the close friend of the girlfriend he killed: "How can you sleep at night?" The accusation by Kim Myers provided a bizarre twist during the trial of the world-famous double-amputee Olympian, who is facing 25 years to life in prison if convicted of premeditated murder for shooting dead Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model, at his home last year. . No such luck. Wiggins owned the end of Parkers impressive homecoming. The Kansas star scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half, outplaying Parker down the stretch and helping the fifth-ranked Jayhawks knock off No. . In the calls, Hernandez discussed the murder of Odin Lloyd, including his "belief about his criminal liability" and the "extent of his control over persons charged as accessories," according to the request filed Thursday in Fall River Superior Court.TORONTO - At the ripe old age of 27-years-old Amir Johnson, the final player to have entered the league straight out of high school, finds himself in an unfamiliar situation as his 10th NBA season approaches. Johnson has never been one to pace himself, thats what has made him so valuable to the Raptors throughout his years in Toronto, and as a result hes taken a beating physically. Since coming to the Raptors, hes been remarkably durable, especially when you factor in the countless rolls of tape used on his troublesome ankles and time spent on the trainers table each season. Hes missed just 18 games in five years but by late March and April you can expect him to be hobbling around on one good ankle, if that. Up until last seasons surprising run to the playoffs it hadnt really mattered. A second-round pick out of Westchester high school in Los Angeles, Johnson began his career playing sparingly for a contending Pistons team. Eventually he transitioned to a complimentary role in Detroit before playing out four losing campaigns as a Raptor. By the spring many of his teammates would shut it down, mentally or physically or both, but Johnson kept chugging along. Last year was supposed to be much of the same, but thats not how it turned out and now here he is, participating in his 10th NBA training camp, but first in which hes expected to play a significant role for a playoff-bound club. Hes graduated from X-factor status, a tag that implicates ones game with the unreliability commonly associated with younger players. Amirs notoriously our glue guy, said Dwane Casey, a far more appropriate label for a player that has anchored Torontos defence and produced efficient offence for years. We know who he is. More than ever before, the Raptors need him on the court, as close to 100 per cent as possible during the stretch run and into the post-season if theyre to top last years accomplishments. The question is, how do you slow down a player who has been so effective operating at one speed? Amir, if he doesnt play with energy or if he tries to pace himself, that doesnt help him and it doesnt help us, Casey said. Hes an old pro and he knows how to play. Im not really concerned about him wearing down. Hes just got to stay healthy. The onus, at least to some degree, will be on Casey and the coaching staff to monitor Johnsons usage and perhaps scale back his minutes, not excessively but sporadically throughout the year, something they implemented last March as the forward battled a series of late-season aches and pains. The teams added depth and versatility should help Casey ensure that all of his regulars - including Johnson, DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry - are kept fresh. Patrick Patterson was one of the leagues premier reserves after last seasons trade and figures to have an expanded role in his first full campaign with the Raptors. Tyler Hansbrough has earned praise in camp, having added a jump shot and improvving his spacing and overall court awareness.ddddddddddddJames Johnson can also shift over to power forward, something Casey has experimented with in camp and feels comfortable deploying when they play small. Well watch his minutes, said Casey, but no ones playing that [many] minutes at the position to be overly taxed energy-wise. Johnson is doing his part to prepare for what could be his most grueling year, beginning with his work and innovative approach during the summer. The Raptors forward did not require surgery on either of his tender ankles, to his relief, instead he spent time at the P3 training facility in Santa Barbara, Calif. to help prevent the recurrence of similar injuries. It started with football players and now they expanded to a bunch of basketball players, he said of the cutting-edge sports clinic. What they do is strap you into these little light bulb suits, like they do in video games, and they have a screen where they show you every movement you do. So I was jumping up and down, sliding, seeing which way I land and they break it down to where you can see your skeleton and your bones move in slow motion, when you land and how you land. It could be something where you can just adjust your foot and kind of turn it a different way and that prevents you from maybe rolling an ankle or hurting your back. There, Johnson received feedback on how to refine some bad habits in his movement on the court - running, jumping, landing, etc. Its something he still works on implementing ahead of games and before practice. It takes repetition, but you can get used to it. So I did that this summer and I think it worked out great for me, he said, having also worked with Hall-of-Famer Hakeem Olajuwon on his post moves. Ive been working, strengthening, conditioning and keeping my body healthy. It didnt take long for Johnson to give the Raptors their first scare of the young campaign - if you can even call it a scare, given how often he hits the deck and pops back up. Johnson went down, battling for a rebound late in the second quarter of Fridays exhibition win over the Thunder. It wasnt my ankle, it was actually my foot, he clarified after sitting out the remainder of that game as a precaution. But Im fine. Perhaps his new and improved footwork, coupled with the possibility of reduced playing time, will lesson the threat of injury for Johnson in this all-important upcoming season - its also a contract year for him - but that risk will always be a factor and presumably higher than most on account of the way he plays the game. Whether theyre used to it or not, his teammates and coaches will always cringe when they see Johnson sprawled out on the court, but its par for the course. He may end up their intentionally - after diving for a loose ball or taking a charge - or otherwise, but as long as he continues to pop back up, the Raptors will live with the frequent scare. Hes that valuable. ' ' '
