Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
The Detroit Red Wings equaled an NHL record with their 20th straight win at home, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 Sunday night on the strength of Johan Franzen's tiebreaking goal early in the third period.
PBT: Boston's Rajon Rondo continues to be named in trade talks, which is madness. The Celtics guard creates offense and makes everyone around him better, which was evident in Sunday's win over the Bulls.
Arc: Syracuse is among a solid group of No. 1 seeds in our latest tournament projections, but the middle of the pack is much more murky.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods greeted their Sunday pairing at Pebble Beach with optimism. But the day would end happily only for one.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
NEW ORLEANS - Drew Brees had four turnovers, was sacked five times, and his team was down by three touchdowns in the waning moments of the first half.
The Saints still won. On the road. By double digits.
Generally, teams can’t win that way in the NFL. Then again, conventional wisdom goes out the window when a club is on pace to break the league’s all-time single-season scoring record.
“Honest to God, we knew it was going to happen,” Brees said, recalling the locker room mood at halftime of the Saints’ 46-34 comeback win at Miami on Sunday. “Sure enough, it did.”
New Orleans has scored 45 or more points in a game four times this season. The Saints have averaged 39.7 points through their first six games. That puts them on pace to challenge the single-season scoring record owned by the 2007 New England Patriots, who averaged 36.8 points. Those Patriots went 16-0.
And it hasn’t just been the Saints’ vaunted offense putting up all the points during their 6-0 start. Big plays by the defense were part of the reason New Orleans scored 43 points in the last 30:02 at Miami.
New Orleans’ first touchdown in the final seconds of the first half was set up by safety Roman Harper’s forced fumble and linebacker Scott Shanle’s recovery. Then came two interceptions returned for scores in the second half by safety Darren Sharper and cornerback Tracy Porter — with Porter’s coming in the final minutes and keeping New Orleans perfect against the point spread as well.
“Our mentality on this defense is, ’Why can’t we make a big play and score?’ and we did that,” Shanle said. “Obviously you only get so many possessions in a game for your offense and if you can score on defense, that is a huge momentum swing.”
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The Dolphins game marked the first time all season the Saints were forced to come from behind, and they appeared to be on the ropes, down 24-3 late in the first half.
Known best for Brees’ prolific passing, New Orleans won in Miami with more guts and muscle than finesse.
While Brees passed for 298 yards and one touchdown to Marques Colston, he scored twice on quarterback sneaks and also made a key block on Reggie Bush’s 10-yard touchdown, helping the running back get to the corner on a reverse.
Mike Bell rushed for 80 punishing yards in the second half, knocking tacklers flat on their backs and preventing the Dolphins from pressuring Brees as much as they had in the first half.
“Everyone thinks we’re a finesse team and we’re always up early, but here we showed that we can come from behind,” Bell said. “There was a major (deficit) at halftime, and we came back, and persevered, and we stuck together.”
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Whether they can run the table in the regular season and set a single-season scoring record is another matter.
The ’07 Patriots twice scored more than 50 en route to a season total of 589 points, including 52 against Washington and 56 at Buffalo. They also scored 48 at Dallas, 49 at Miami and scored 38 points four times.
Fittingly, if the Saints continue their torrid pace and truly threaten to equal the Patriots’ perfect ’07 regular season record or challenge their all-time scoring mark, New England will have a say in the matter: Tom Brady’s bunch is scheduled to visit New Orleans on Monday night, Nov. 30.
Rotoworld: Oregon RB LaMichael James and Oklahoma State WR Justin Blackmon among top 10 players who are being overhyped for the 2012 draft.
Rotoworld: Texas A&M QB Ryan Tannehill among the 10 players who will slip down draft boards, but probably shouldn't.
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Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
