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including a 3-pointer by John Salmons for a 97-72 lead
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. Falcons Jerseys China . - Osi Umenyiora still goes online to play video games against his buddy Victor Cruz.Oddly enough, their game of choice is FIFA soccer. Cruz usually takes Manchester United, while Umenyiora prefers either Chelsea or Man City.Im not going to lie. He wins the majority of the time, Cruz said. But I come back when it matters, so Im cool with that.On Sunday, theyll be opponents in that other kind of football, in a game that really matters.Umenyiora, who spent the first decade of his career with the New York Giants, will line up for the first time against his former team as a defensive end for the Atlanta Falcons.It seems downright surreal to everyone involved.Umenyiora was such a key and immensely popular member of the Giants for so long, helping the team to a pair of Super Bowl titles. He made the Pro Bowl twice and had 75 sacks during his tenure with New York, including a career-best 14.5 in 2005.Im excited to see a lot of the familiar faces, Umenyiora said. I was there for 10 years, basically a third of my life, so I met a lot of people, have a lot of good friends there. Most of the good things in my life came from that organization.This certainly isnt a case like Steve Smith, who took such pleasure in beating his former team last week. The Baltimore Ravens receiver had 139 yards receiving and two touchdowns in a 38-10 rout of Carolina, then angrily spouted that the Panthers stabbed me in the back.There are no hard feelings for Umenyiora.I left there on really good terms with everybody, Umenyiora said. So I dont have any of that, I want to come back and kick the Giants in the teeth, stuff like that. Ive got a job to do. Weve got to get back to winning. We have a big one on the road this week. Thats pretty much all Im focused on.Umenyiora, who turns 33 next months, hasnt made much of an impact in his two seasons with the Falcons (2-2). While he had a team-high 7.5 sacks last season, the Falcons struggled to get pressure on the quarterback.This season, hes been demoted to a backup role. Umenyiora has six tackles through the first month of the season and is still looking for his first sack. He looks out of place in the Falcons preferred 3-4 alignment, not quite mobile enough to handle an outside linebacker role, not quite big enough to take an inside spot.Umenyiora hopes hell get an opportunity to go after Giants quarterback Eli Manning, a player who was always hands-off to him in practice when he played for the Giants.Ive never had a chance to get even close to him, Umenyiora said, trying to hold back a smile.He doesnt really recognized these Giants (2-2), who have gone through extensive turnover the last two seasons and this year brought in a new offensive co-ordinator, Ben McAdoo, to install a West Coast-style offence.Manning and the Giants struggled at first with the transition to a system that relies on quick reads and throws, losing their first two games. But theyve scored 75 points the last two weeks, looking particularly impressive in last weeks victory at Washington.If the Falcons tried to pick Umenyioras brain about what to expect from his old team, he wouldnt have much to offer.I dont know this offence at all, so theres nothing Ive been able to give our team, he said. Everything about that team looks different than when I was there.Well, not everything.The Giants still have Cruz, their flashy receiver. And offensive tackle Will Beatty, a player who still speaks fondly of Umenyiora (and vice versa). They all wish they could have stuck together a little longer.To see Osi in a different uniform is unfortunate, Cruz said.Even Tom Coughlin, the Giants hardscrabble coach, sounded a bit moved by the thought of Umenyiora wearing red instead of blue.Its still a little bit sad to see ol Osi over there, Coughlin said. He was such an integral part of our team.Notes: Falcons G Justin Blalock missed practice for the second day in a row. Blalocks absence makes it increasingly likely that Atlanta will have three new starters on the offensive line against the Giants. ... WR Harry Douglas, who didnt play last Sunday against the Vikings because of a foot injury, also missed practice.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL___Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 ;Cheap Falcons Jerseys . - A lot of scenarios ran through Terrell Suggs head when the Baltimore linebacker prepared to face the Pittsburgh Steelers. Wholesale Falcons Jerseys Free Shipping . You can watch all the action on TSN2 beginning at 7pm et/4pm pt. Pineda won his second straight start last Wednesday against Chicago, as he held the Cubs to just four hits over six scoreless innings to run his record to 2-0, while lowering his ERA to 1.DENVER -- Toronto coach Dwane Casey wasnt ready to celebrate after the Raptors ended a decade-long drought in Denver. He was too upset about his teams lacklustre finish. DeMar DeRozan scored 19 points, Terrence Ross had 18 and Toronto, after opening a 25-point lead, settled for a 100-90 victory over the Nuggets on Friday night. "We will take the W, but it was not a quality finish," Casey said. "I let the players know I was disappointed in the close. You cant come in and feel like you have the game won with a 20-point lead. You have to continue to execute, be strong with the ball and continue to execute defensively if you want to be serious about winning in this league." Jonas Valanciunas and Kyle Lowry added 13 points apiece for the Raptors, who snapped a nine-game losing streak in the Mile High City dating to 2003. Still, Caseys postgame critique on his teams fourth-quarter play -- the Raptors were outscored 20-14 in the period -- outweighed any sense of relief over the end of the streak. "We have to finish a lot better," Lowry said. "This is the NBA. Teams are going to make a run. Were not going to be negative. We won the game. But we have to finish better than that." The Nuggets were dealing with their own problems. They announced during the game that guard Nate Robinson had season-ending surgery earlier Friday to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. Robinson was injured in a spill underneath the Nuggets basket during the first quarter of Wednesday nights loss to the Charlotte Bobcats. The Nuggets also were without leading scorer Ty Lawson, who missed his second consecutive game Friday with a left rotator cuff strain. "We dont want anybody to feel sorry for us and we wont feel sorry for ourselves," Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said. "We just have to continue to fight, stay positive, keep working and just be more fundamentally sound." J.J. Hickson and Evan Fournier led the Nuggets with 18 points apiece. Hickson also had 13 rebounds. Randy Foye, normally a shooting guard switched to the point in the absence of Lawson and Robinson, had 10 points and a career-high 16 assists. But he also committed eight of the Nuggets 26 turnovvers, which led to 29 points for Toronto. Youth Calvin Ridley Jersey. "Randy played 43 minutes, Evan 38 minutes, and theyre not accustomed to playing that many minutes as well," Shaw said. "They started getting tired, then we started losing our fundamentals and throwing the ball all over the place. That was our biggest thing tonight." Hickson said it is also going to take some time for players to adjust to new, sometimes unfamiliar roles thrust on them by the backcourt injuries. "Its going to be a process," Hickson said. "I cant say its going to be a long process, because we dont have much time. It has to be a quick process. But I think once guys get adjusted and settled in, well be good." Toronto moved to a season high four games above .500 (25-21) and tied a franchise record with its 11th win in January. The Raptors also won 11 games in January 2002. Leading by seven at halftime, the Raptors put together an 11-2 run late in the third quarter to go up 84-68 with 2:46 left in the period. DeRozan ignited the surge by driving through traffic and putting in a reverse layup off the glass and helped keep it going by knocking down a pair of jumpers. By the start of the fourth quarter, the Raptors led by 16 points and 50 seconds later, Valanciunas dunked to stretch Torontos advantage to 90-70. After Timofey Mozgov scored on a turnaround jumper for Denver, Toronto reeled off seven straight points, including a 3-pointer by John Salmons for a 97-72 lead with 8:47 left. The Nuggets made a late push with a 14-2 run cutting it to 99-86 on a dunk by Kenneth Faried with 3:32 remaining. But Ross then blocked Fourniers driving layup attempt and after Valanciunas made one of two free throws, the Nuggets lost another possession on a turnover by Foye, failing to get the deficit under double digits. The Raptors turned a steal into a breakaway dunk by Ross for a 60-53 lead at halftime. The rim-rattling jam brought the Raptors bench to its feet. NOTES: Foye had 11 assists in the first half, most by a Nuggets player in a half since Steve Blake had 11 on Feb. 14, 2007. ... Toronto won for the first time in Denver since an 81-74 victory on Dec. 30, 2003. ... Hickson has had a double-double in 12 of his last 23 games. Cheap Brewers Jerseys Cheap Twins Jerseys Cheap Mets Jerseys Cheap Yankees Jerseys Cheap Athletics Jerseys Cheap Phillies Jerseys Cheap Pirates Jerseys Cheap Padres Jerseys Cheap Giants Jerseys Cheap Mariners Jerseys Cheap Cardinals Jerseys Cheap Rays Jerseys Cheap Rangers Jerseys Cheap Blue Jays Jerseys Cheap Nationals Jerseys ' ' '
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