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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- CLEATS WAAT FOR THE TAILGATE ° PARTY?WE'LL t*£EP APPETI- J ~~J (m£AtT)= THg g>PLL ngbu rcuyved M 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 BsL \ THIN*: vcu cm Burl V [c)2006 BdlHii>dvDisMßj^niversaHPres^S£ndicat«^^ 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 flfggnJSrty 1*75 ExH 158 * 987*8877 DONATE TO GOODWILL. ♦ A * M www.goodwillworks.org Building lives, families, andcommum^^u^^^^^^ me in the North. I’m try ing to bring my thing down 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. Qttm* Heals Do hu have s< methinfi ores ses to sell and It’s under w If, so, call cur Co ®mterp ms classified dent + He'll limit l wT«HUmer per week ■ must nmtfl 3 lines , tttS Hip Hop & Tap Class! HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL “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 Register Today! Preschool Classes Ballet, Tg Jan also available! M 1 f flca/mu/ 438 S. Pleasast Hill Rd, *£f<f)ctnne lamer Bobias, GA 7761