Matt Ryan leads Falcons over Packers
Alex Marvez is a Senior NFL Writer for FOXSports.com. He’s covered the NFL for the past 16 seasons as a beat writer and is the former president of the Pro Football Writers of America.
Arthur Blank says he still gets nervous when his Atlanta Falcons are in a tight late-game situation.
Fortunately for him, Blank’s team is as chilled as their quarterback’s nickname.
Chalk up another close victory for the Falcons and Matt Ryan – aka Matty Ice. This time, the Green Bay Packers were the ones left out in the cold Sunday with a 20-17 loss.
Ryan calmly worked his fourth-quarter magic once again, putting the Falcons into position for a 47-yard Matt Bryant field goal with nine seconds remaining.
“Just another day in the Dome, huh?” a smiling Mike Smith said afterward.
Atlanta’s head coach then laughed, but his club’s penchant for winning in crunch-time is no joke. The Falcons are now 6-1 in games decided by eight points or fewer.
“They have confidence in their ability,” a relieved Blank told FOXSports.com afterward. “That’s the most important thing. They don’t blink.”
Such clutch play has Atlanta (9-2) in the driver’s seat for home-field advantage throughout the postseason. That would give Atlanta the inside track for Super Bowl XLV, especially considering Ryan has a 19-1 record inside the Georgia Dome since becoming a starter in 2008.
Pacquiao Defeats Margarito, Boost Claim at No. 1
Manny Pacquiao won by unanimous decision over Antonio Margarito Saturday night in Arlington, Texas, adding to his list of titles and further cementing his claim as the world’s top boxer.
In a match that took place before a crowd of 41,734 at Cowboys Stadium, Mr. Pacquiao (52-3-2, 38 knockouts) gave up 17 pounds and almost five inches to Mr. Margarito. But he was not only the faster fighter, he was also the more powerful. Moving side to side and in and out, Mr. Pacquiao landed blistering shots from every angle. Over the course of 12 rounds, he launched 1069 blows and landed over 400 power punches.
The southpaw’s trademark straight left and right hook did the most damage. Mr. Margarito–who crouched over as the fight went on, removing some of his height advantage–was a mask of blood and bruises by the midway point. In the ninth round, Mr. Pacquiao started asking the referee to halt the bout for fear that he might do permanent injury to his foe.
Mr. Pacquiao’s victory gave him the WBC super-welterweight championship. An icon and a congressman in the Philippines, He already has world championships in a record seven weight divisions.
Goodell on hand for the NFL Network season premiere
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who attended the 2010 NFL Network’s premiere broadcast, had high praise for Falcons owner Arthur Blank.
“I think we are both fortunate to have Arthur Blank, the NFL and this community,” Goodell said. “He’s not only committed to putting a first-class franchise together for this community, but he’s also very important on the league level. … He serves on a lot of our committees and is a great member for the league.”
Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis complained earlier in the week about playing Thursday games, just four days after playing on Sunday. He said 99 percent of the players would vote not to play the games.
“Well for the second half of the season, this is a great way to be able to continue bringing more football to more fans,” Goodell said.
With a potential lockout looming over next season, Goodell didn’t have any good news on the labor negotiations.
Hamels Pitches Phillies Past Reds, Into NLCS
The banner was draped over the railing of the upper deck in left field, its red block letters crystallizing the hopes of towel-waving Cincinnati Reds fans who jammed Great American Ball Park in record numbers for Game 3 of the National League division series. It read, “We Still Believe.”
The Reds trailed by two games to none in the series, had thrown away a four-run lead to lose Game 2, and Sunday night needed to beat Philadelphia Phillies starter Cole Hamels, who was 6-0 against them with a 1.07 earned run average in seven career starts.
The left-handed Hamels, the 2008 World Series most valuable player, tossed a five-hitter to win, 2-0, and give the Phillies their first postseason sweep.
The Phillies, who are trying to become the first National League club to win a third consecutive pennant since the St. Louis Cardinals in 1944, did not need additional starts from Roy Halladay or Roy Oswalt to finish off a Reds team making its first playoff appearance since 1995. Philadelphia will face the winner of the San Francisco-Atlanta division series in the N.L. Championship Series beginning Saturday.
India hopes to salvage pride as Commonwealth Games begin
When India won its bid for the 2010 Commonwealth Games seven years ago, the event instantly became an emblem of national prestige. But as the country prepares to open the games Sunday evening, an opportunity to burnish its global image has instead become an embarrassment.
The litany of problems plaguing the games — collapsed footbridges, filthy dorms, cartoonish corruption — have made headlines around the world and left Indians to wonder why a country so promising in many regards is incapable of organizing an event when the eyes of the world are focused on it.
The answer, to many of those involved with the games, is that India’s political culture, if prized for its commitment to democracy, often seems unable to transcend its own dysfunction.
No one in charge
There were at least 21 governmental or quasi-governmental agencies involved in preparing for the games, yet none was in charge, forcing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to try to take command as things went awry in August. Analysts say the absence of a clear line of authority translated into an absence of urgency and accountability.
Alabama once again displays its will to win
On such afternoons are national champions built. Down 20-7 on the road against an Arkansas team that had seemingly written the perfect script for its biggest home win in history, No. 1 Alabama simply would not wilt. No. 1 Alabama would not relent. No. 1 Alabama would not concede anything on a day when it seemed like absolutely everything was against the Crimson Tide.
Through three quarters Alabama had given up almost 400 yards of offense against a team and a quarterback who could seemingly do no wrong. But there was still time. Alabama knew it. And so did Arkansas.
“We always say that whoever plays us has to play us for 60 minutes,” guard Barrett Jones said. “You can’t stop playing. And we didn’t.”
Alabama’s offense scored 17 points in the final 15:44, the defense got two timely interceptions and the defending national champions stormed back to take a 24-20 victory in front of 76,808, the largest crowd ever to watch a game at Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium.
“We didn’t play Alabama football in the first half, but we never panicked,” said running back Mark Ingram, who put himself squarely back into the Heisman Trophy race with 157 yards rushing and scored the winning touchdown with only 3:18 left. “We just started executing our offense. Our defense made some mistakes early, but they picked it up in the second half. We knew we could come back. We’ve been in games like this before.”
Sabathia Struggles as Yankees Limp to Finish
The game between the Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays on Thursday featured two contenders for the Cy Young Award pitching for two teams hoping to contend for a World Series championship.
But neither C. C. Sabathia of the Yankees nor David Price of the Rays — both left-handed aces — were nearly as sharp as they were in their previous confrontation, on Sept. 13.
And a 10-3 Tampa Bay victory at Yankee Stadium in the final meeting of the regular season between the teams left a few questions about what has become an ersatz pennant race, including:
¶Does baseball’s divisional setup and wild-card formula — established to enhance the late stages of the season — inadvertently diminish such competition when two teams matched head-to-head are both virtually assured of postseason play?
¶Would the first-place Yankees, now a half-game ahead of the second-place Rays in the American League East, actually be better off finishing second and settling for the wild-card berth?
For English Men, a Shutout in the Wimbledon Draw
When Wimbledon released its draws Friday morning, attention here focused not on Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or the Williams sisters. Instead, tennis fans here bemoaned the lack of an English men’s singles player in the main draw, a first in the 133-year history of the tournament.
Two Scots will have to serve as Britain’s hope, another historic low, along with six British competitors on the women’s side. Fourth-seeded Andy Murray remains the only realistic British singles contender, male or female, and he has spent the past few weeks dismissing concerns regarding his lack of motivation.
Meanwhile, the English continue their search for the next Tim Henman, a four-time semifinalist at Wimbledon. Or the next Fred Perry, the last British man to win this tournament, back in 1936.
Crowd Gathers to Watch Woods, but Warms to Els
They came in great numbers to see Tiger Woods tee off just past 8 a.m. on Friday. And within an hour, it seemed half the crowd tromping around the Pebble Beach Golf Links trailed the threesome of Woods, Ernie Els and Lee Westwood.
Woods had made himself even more of a hot-button attraction — if that was possible — when he caustically blamed his poor putting Thursday on bumpy, late afternoon greens. Now, with the more favorable and desired morning tee time, how would Woods fare?
In this case, the fans watching Woods expressed themselves with a recurring soundtrack of groans. Woods was missing putts on nearly every green, and with each came another collective groan. Eventually, the missing became so expected, it was greeted instead with silence — the crowd was groaned out.
After Lakers win, Celtics’ Glen Davis bounces back, talking smack
Nothing like a little boasting after taking a drubbing. The forward says the Celtics will win Game 7 on Thursday in L.A. because they ‘deserve it more.’
As soon the Lakers finished destroying the Celtics, 89-67, in Tuesday’s Game 6, evening the series at three games apiece, Celtics forward Glen Davis started drooling.
Not the literal drooling he did in the “Shrek and Donkey” Game 4, when he (Shrek) dropped 18 points and photographers snapped some dribble leaving his lips as he roared following a key bucket as Nate Robinson (Donkey) climbed his back.