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2B
♦ TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2006
NFL
STANDINGS
National Football Conference
NFC EAST
W L T PCT PF PA STRK DIV CONF
Philadelphia 1 0 0 1.000 24 10 Won 1 0-0 0-0
Washington 0 0 0 .000 0 0 O-0 0-0
Dallas 0 1 0 .000 17 24 Lost 1 0-0 0-0
NY Giants 0 1 0 .000 21 26 Lost 1 0-0 0-0
NFC NORTH
W L T PCT PF PA STRK DIV CONF
Chicago 1 0 0 1.000 26 0 Won 1 1-0 1-0
Minnesota 0 0 0 .000 0 0 - 0-0 0-0
Detroit 0 1 0 .000 6 9 Lost 1 0-0 0-1
Green Bay 0 1 0 .000 0 26 Lost 1 0-1 0-1
NFC SOUTH
W L T PCT PF PA STRK DIV CONF
Atlanta 1 0 0 1.000 20 6 Won 1 1-0 1-0
New Orleans 1 0 0 1.000 19 14 Won 1 0-0 0-0
Tampa Bay 0 1 0 .000 0 27 Lost 1 0-0 0-0
Carolina 0 1 0 .000 6 20 Lost 1 0-1 0-1
NFC WEST
W L T PCT PF PA STRK DIV CONF
St. Louis 1 0 0 1.000 18 10 Won 1 0-0 0-0
Arizona 1 0 0 1.000 34 27 Won 1 1-0 1-0
Seattle 1 0 0 1.000 9 6 Won 1 0-0 1-0
San Francisco 0 1 0 .000 27 34 Lost 1 0-1 0-1
American Football Conference
AFC EAST
W L T PCT PF PA STRK DIV CONF
NY Jets 1 0 0 1.000 23 16 Won 1 0-0 1-0
New England 1 0 0 1.000 19 17 Won 1 1-0 1-0
Miami 0 1 0 .000 17 28 Lost 1 0-0 0-1
Buffalo 0 1 0 .000 17 19 Lost 1 0-1 0-1
AFC NORTH
W L T PCT PF PA STRK DIV CONF
Cincinnati 1 0 0 1.000 23 10 Won 1 0-0 1-0
Pittsburgh 1 0 0 1.000 28 17 Won 1 0-0 1-0
Baltimore 1 0 0 1.000 27 0 Won 1 0-0 0-0
Cleveland 0 1 0 .000 14 19 Lost 1 0-0 0-0
AFC SOUTH
W L T PCT PF PA STRK DIV CONF
Indianapolis 1 0 0 1.000 26 21 Won 1 0-0 0-0
Jacksonville 1 0 0 1.000 24 17 Won 1 0-0 0-0
Tennessee 0 1 0 .000 16 23 Lost 1 0-0 0-1
Houston 0 1 0 .000 10 24 Lost 1 0-0 0-0
AFC WEST
W L T PCT PF PA STRK DIV CONF
San Dieijo 0 0 0 .000 0 0 O-0 0-0
Oakland 0 0 0 .000 0 0 - 0-0 0-0
Kansas City 0 1 0 .000 10 23 Lost 1 0-0 0-1
Denver 0 1 0 .000 10 18 Lost 1 0-0 0-0
Troy far from a pushover
opponent for Georgia Tech
By Adam Van Brimmer
Morris News Service
ATLANTA - One college
football team got Georgia
Tech’s attention Saturday
night, and it wasn’t Ohio
State.
Troy’s near-upset of
Florida State in Tallahassee,
Fla. changes the public per
ception of next Saturday’s
game between the Yellow
Jackets and the Trojans.
What looked like just
another Jacket tune-up for
Atlantic Coast Conference
play becomes a scary non
conference game for Georgia
Tech.
Georgia Tech head coach
Chan Gailey anticipated the
Trojans would be a tough
opponent all along.
“I wasn’t terribly
shocked,” said Gailey, who
heard the score when he got
home Saturday night fol
lowing the Yellow Jackets’
38-6 victory over Samford.
“I knew Troy would play
great and it would be hard
for FSU to get up for that
ball game. It was a tough
situation for FSU and Troy
is a good football team.
“I thought it would be
a tough, tight ball game. I
didn’t think it would be any
type of blowout.”
The Trojans, in just their
fifth season as a Division
I-A program, have tal
ent to fit their schemes.
Head coach Larry Blakeney
recruits to his wide-open
passing offense and aggres-
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sive blitzing defense.
Florida State coach
Bobby Bowden compared
Troy’s team speed to that of
the 2000 Oklahoma team.
Led by quarterback Josh
Heupel, the Sooners won
the national title that sea
son.
Troy’s athleticism was
almost too much for a
Seminole team coming
off an emotional victory
against rival Miami five
days earlier. Florida State
suffered the predictable let
down, and the Trojans took
advantage.
“It was like a nightmare,”
Bowden said following
FSU’s 24-17 win against
Troy on Saturday. “It was
like a bad dream. I was
trying to run, and my legs
won’t go. I was trying to
scream, but my voice won’t
go.
Troy’s spread offense will
be another challenge for
Georgia Tech’s young sec
ondary. The Trojans line up
in five wide receiver sets
most downs, and quarter
back Omar Haugabook is as
big a threat running as he
is passing. Haugabook com
pleted 29 of 46 passes for
219 yards and a touchdown
against Seminoles. He did
throw three interceptions,
however, and was sacked
three times.
Georgia Tech’s young
secondary has played well
against two good passing
teams so far, thanks in
part to a good pass rush up
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front.
The Yellow Jackets rat
tled Notre Dame quarter
back Brady Quinn in the
opener and overwhelmed
Samford’s quarterbacks
Saturday.
Safeties Djay Jones and
Jamal Lewis intercepted
passes and returned them
for touchdowns in a 38-6
win against Samford.
“We as a defense have the
ability to make things hap
pen,” Lewis said afterward.
“We can put points on the
board. We can contribute in
many ways.”
Jones likely won’t chip
in this week. He bruised
a thigh muscle against
Samford and is doubtful
for the Troy game, Gailey
said. The Jackets should
be healthy otherwise, bar
ring injuries in practice this
week.
Defensive end Michael
Johnson, who missed the
first two games with an
undisclosed injury, will play
against the Trojans. So
will punt returner Andrew
Smith, who limped off the
field late in Saturday’s
game with an minor ankle
injury.
Noteworthy: Georgia
Tech head coach Chan
Gailey’s first head coaching
job was at Troy. He led the
program to a Division l-
AA national championship
in 1984. Troy moved up to
Division I-A in 2002.
SPORTS
Falcons dominate Panthers
in season opening victory
By Scott Micbaux
Morris News Service
CHARLOTTE - One team
came into Sunday’s season
opener generating Super
Bowl buzz. Another team
left looking like the better
bet.
For the second straight
season, the Atlanta Falcons
opened by beating the team
that handed them their final
loss the year before. That
the Carolina Panthers had
put a particularly stinging
beatdown on them in the
Georgia Dome and drove the
Falcons to all but quit in
the finale might have made
Sunday’s dominating 20-6
victory a little more satisfy
ing.
How much influence did
the bitter taste from last
year have?
“I think zero,” said Falcons
coach Jim Mora. “We didn’t
watch the film. We didn’t
talk about it. It never came
up.”
Sure, coach.
While there were plenty
of reasons Sunday’s season
opener took a 180-degree
turn from last year’s season
ender between the same two
teams, the defense stood out.
And one player in particular
- John Abraham.
Of all of the offseason
acquisitions who made the
Falcons front office look like
geniuses at this stage of the
season, Abraham was the
most illuminating Sunday.
The three-time Pro Bowl
defensive end with the Jets
looked as comfortable in
Bank of America Stadium
as he used to look just more
than an hour down the road
when he starred for South
Carolina’s Gamecocks. At
least he did until he limped
into the locker room with
a groin injury that looms
as a major concern for the
Falcons.
“It felt like a home game,”
said Abraham. '‘To play well
really felt good.”
Abraham was the most
disruptive player on the
field, registering two sacks,
forcing two fumbles and
swatting down a pass. He
was the player the Panthers
kept talking about after the
game while using words like
“embarrassing” to describe
what the Falcons defense did
to them.
“It wasn’t just me; I think
the whole team played well,”
Abraham said. “A lot of
times people say I’m a spot
light player because I try to
make the plays I’m supposed
make. But I wouldn’t have
had the possibility of mak
ing those plays if my team
mates around me weren’t
doing the right things, too.”
Abraham was amused by
all the fuss over his debut
performance in a Falcons
uniform. It’s not like it was
totally different than what
he did in four seasons with
the New Yok Jets.
“I’ve done this my whole
career,” Abraham said.
“That’s what’s amazing to
me because everyone is act
ing like it just happened.
If you watched me in New
York, it was the same way.
No one knows me in the
South as much as they knew
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South.”
The Falcons brought their
own kind of thing to the
NFC South. A caveat should
be added that the Panthers
played without their big
gest playmaker - superstar
receiver Steve Smith. Even
so, the Falcons defense toyed
with last year’s NFC run
ner-ups. Abraham and his
fellow veteran acquisitions
- safeties Lawyer Milloy and
Chris Crocker and nose tack
le Grady Jackson - meshed
beautifully with the talent
already on hand to limit the
Panthers to 215 total yards.
“It paid dividends,” cor
nerback DeAngelo Hall said
of the new blood. “These
guys are invaluable to us
and it showed today.”
While the defense stepped
up, Warrick Dunn and the
offense delivered a world
of hurt to the Panthers on
its own. You would expect
strong numbers from the
rushing offense that ranked
the best in the NFL two
straight seasons, but posting
252 yards and cutting huge
swaths of ground through
the rushing defense that
ranked fourth in the league
a year ago was a little more
than expected.
“As long as we rush over
200 yards, there are not many
people in this league that
can beat us,” said Falcons
tight end Alge Crumpler,
who caught one of Vick’s
two touchdown passes.
That the Panthers came
into the season with all
of the championship hype
would seem to bode well for
the club that totally out
classed the host favorite by
dominating both sides of the
line of scrimmage. This was
how it used to be in this
rivalry series, when Atlanta
won 12 of 14 games from
1998 to 2004. Maybe being
swept by the Panthers last
year was the aberration.
That’s at least what
Falcons veterans Patrick
Kerney and Keith Brooking
stood up and told the team
before kickoff.
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“We owned this series,”
said Crumpler. “It was just
one year where we goofed
off.”
With a schedule that
opens with three consecu
tive division games, the
Falcons couldn’t afford to
sleepwalk into the season
- particularly coming off a 1-
5 season in the NFC South.
They take on Tampa Bay
next week in Atlanta before
traveling to New Orleans in
the grand re-opening of the
Superdome.
“It lets you know immedi
ately, right now, what kind
of shape you’re in,” Hall
said. “You’re gonna be in
good shape in the division
or you’re going to be in bad
shape. If you play well in
this division, you’ll be good
in the NFC period.”
The way the Falcons con
trolled the game Sunday,
they sent a statement that
Atlanta must be reckoned
with. But the modest way
they handled manhandling
a presumed conference
favorite showed the Falcons
learned from a season in
which they started 6-2 and
closed 2-6.
“You’ve rarely heard about
Atlanta all offseason and I
think that’s good for us,”
said Abraham.
“We were 8-8 last year and
a lot of people had us in a
slump. We’ve got to work
our way out.”
Sunday was a promising
start.
“We started on the right
note,” Abraham said. “The
biggest thing for me is not
to get big-headed from just
one game.”
Those were sentiments
echoed throughout a rela
tively subdued locker room
considered the magnitude of
the opening victoiy.
“It’s just one of 16,” said
Mora. “Unless you come
back out and prove it, it’s
just that.”
True enough, but it cer
tainly was a big one.
Reach Scott Michaux at
(706) 823-3219 or scott.
michaux@augustachronicle.
com
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