Feeling right at home

Detroit's return to playoffs short-lived with 45-28 loss; New Orleans faces San Francisco next after posting NFL-playoff record 626 yards of total offense

By PAUL NEWBERRY

updated 12:06 a.m. ET Jan. 8, 2012

NEW ORLEANS - Drew Brees and the Saints keep pouring on the points, rolling up the wins and rewriting the record books, too.

Brees led an unstoppable offense by throwing for 466 yards and three touchdowns, and New Orleans poured it on in the second half for a 45-28 NFC wild-card victory over the Detroit Lions on Saturday night.

New Orleans broke the postseason mark for total yards with 626, beating the record set 49 years ago.

"We were pulling out all the stops," Brees said. "We play aggressive. We're not going to apologize for that. That gives guys in the huddle a lot of confidence. We're not going to pull the reins back. It's pedal to the medal."

Brees hit on 33 of 43 passes while throwing for the most yards in a regulation playoff game. He highlighted his night with three completions of at least 40 yards.

"We just focus on winning. We're not focused on yards and records," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "I'm serious when I say that."

As usual, the quarterback had plenty of help from an offense that set an NFL record for yards from scrimmage this season (7,474). The Saints (14-3) will travel to San Francisco (13-3) for next Saturday's second-round game.

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Matthew Stafford threw for 380 yards and three TDs for the Lions (10-7), who simply could not keep pace in their first playoff appearance since the 1999 season. They have lost seven straight postseason games.

"It's a learning experience for the whole team. We'll get better. We'll be back," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said. "Obviously it hurts right now."

All-Pro receiver Calvin Johnson had 12 receptions for 211 yards and two touchdowns in his playoff debut for Detroit, but that was not nearly enough as the Saints' defense responded in the fourth quarter with two interceptions by Jabari Greer.

The teams combined for 1,083 yards, tying an NFL playoff record set by Buffalo and Miami on Dec. 30, 1995.

Pierre Thomas rushed for 66 yards and one touchdown, while Sproles added 51 yards, two scores and several other clutch plays.

Marques Colston overcame an early fumble with seven catches for 120 yards, including a 40-yarder to set up Jimmy Graham's short TD grab.

Robert Meachem had four catches for 111 yards, including a 56-yard score. Devery Henderson added a 41-yard touchdown reception.

New Orleans showed guts and got a little good fortune on a decisive 14-play, 80-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter. The Saints ran Sproles around left end on fourth-and-2 at the Lions 40 and gained 3 yards. Soon after, Brees' pass as he was clobbered by Nick Fairley went right through the hands of defensive back Aaron Berry.

Berry would regret that drop two plays later as Sproles bolted 17 yards to make it 31-21.

Stafford tried to get some of that back quickly, throwing deep for Titus Young, but Greer ran under it and picked it off. Four plays later, Brees spotted Meachem behind blown coverage for his long score to make it 38-21.

The Lions became only the second visiting team all year to lead at halftime in the Superdome, where the Saints were unbeaten during the regular season.

'So going into halftime at a deficit, we just realized, 'Listen, just bear down, one play at a time, one drive at a time,'" Brees said, "and I think we scored on every drive in the second half. I guess that's what you hope for."

New Orleans has won nine in a row overall.

The Saints opened the second half by driving 78 yards to take their first lead on Brees' 31-yard pass to Henderson. New Orleans then widened its lead to 24-14 with a 92-yard drive that included what may have been a favorable spot on Colston's third-down grab at the Saints 18. Later, Brees converted a risky dive over the pile on fourth-and-1 at the New Orleans 38 to sustain the drive before finding Colston for a 40-yard gain to the Detroit 3. Brees hit Graham for a score on the next play.

"It was fourth and inches and we felt like we had a rhythm going," Brees said Obviously it was a gutsy call but we've been known to make those types of calls."

The Lions fought back with a quick 80-yard scoring drive highlighted by Stafford's 42-yard completion to Johnson at the Saints 2, setting up Stafford's dive for the pylon on a bootleg that made it 24-21 late in the third quarter.

Detroit could not have planned a much better start to its first playoff game since the '99 season.

Stafford complete five of his first six throws for 70 yards, starting with a 22-yard completion to Johnson on the second play from scrimmage. A 10-yard strike to reserve tight end Will Heller gave the Lions a 7-0 lead.

New Orleans responded by quickly driving into Lions territory, but Colston was stripped by Stephen Tulloch on the 18-yard line and Justin Durant recovered. It was a rare lost fumble for the Saints, who had an NFL low and franchise record low five during the regular season.

New Orleans found the end zone on its next drive to tie it at 7, but Stafford led the Lions right back downfield, hitting Johnson in the back of the end zone for a 13-yard score.

The Saints then fumbled a second time in Detroit territory when Brees was stripped just before throwing by defensive end Willie Young and the ball squirted to Durant for his second recovery. Durant wanted to return it, but the play was inexplicably blown dead. What might have been a touchdown return instead became a stalled drive.

The Saints thought they had tied it when Colston's catch in the back of the end zone was ruled a touchdown, but it was overturned on replay and New Orleans wound up settling for John Kasay's 24-yard field goal and a 14-10 halftime deficit.

Notes: Bernie Kosar still holds the record for yards passing in a playoff game, though his game in 1986 went to overtime when he reached 489 for Cleveland against the New York Jets. ... Detroit's leading rusher was Kevin Smith with only 21 yards. ... The Lions rushed the ball only 10 times and their longest gain was 9 yards. ... The Saints surpassed 500 total offensive yards in five regular season games, with the playoff game being the sixth. ... Brees finished the regular season with seven straight 300-yard or more passing games and easily continued the streak against the Lions.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Feeling right at home

Drew Brees and Darren Sproles lead the high-powered Saints to a 45-28 victory over the Lions and help put to rest memories of last year's early postseason exit. New Orleans will face the 49ers next Saturday.

PFT: You can only slow Saints for so long

PFT: It's only a matter of time before Drew Brees gets the offense rolling, and then there's no stopping the Saints as the Lions found out in New Orleans' 45-28 wild-card victory.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45914425/ns/sports-nfl/

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Argentina's Fernandez sent home, never had cancer

By Hugh Bronstein and Maximiliano Rizzi

BUENOS AIRES | Sat Jan 7, 2012 11:33am EST

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentine President Cristina Fernandez never had cancer despite being diagnosed with the disease last month and having her thyroid gland removed on January 4, her spokesman said on Saturday.

The government announced just after Christmas that the recently re-elected leader had thyroid cancer.

The operation to remove the gland went well, but when it was later analyzed it turned out to have never contained cancerous cells, said spokesman Alfredo Scoccimaro.

"The original diagnosis has been modified," he told a news conference. "The presence of cancer cells was discarded."

Fernandez was originally diagnosed with papillary carcinoma.

Buenos Aires-based thyroid cancer expert Eduardo Faure, who is not on the president's medical team, said a small number of such cases turn out to be "false positives," meaning that no cancer is present.

"The cells may originally appear to be cancer but in 2 percent of cases, after the operation, when a more thorough examination can be performed, it turns out they are not," the doctor said in an interview.

"This result was always within the realm of possibility. It does not mean that the original diagnosis was mistaken."

Several hundred Fernandez supporters had camped out near the hospital where she was treated, carrying banners that said "Strength Cristina." A cheer went up from the crowd when Scoccimaro made the announcement.

The president, who won re-election with 54 percent of the vote in October, is popular among Argentines who agree with her generous welfare spending. Business leaders and farmers in the country's key grains sector however say her state-centric interventions in the economy scare away investment.

Vice President Amado Boudou, the former economy minister and a loyal Fernandez ally, assumed the presidency this week during Fernandez's scheduled 20-day leave of absence.

A skilled orator fond of glamorous clothes, high heels and make-up, Fernandez still wears black as she mourns her husband and closest adviser, former President Nestor Kirchner, who died in 2010.

Many thought his death spelled the end of the couple's idiosyncratic blend of state intervention, nationalist rhetoric and the championing of human rights in grains exporting powerhouse Argentina, a major world supplier of soy and corn.

But Fernandez pulled off a remarkable comeback thanks to a brisk economic expansion and an outpouring of public sympathy, setting the stage for her to easily win a second four-year term, which started last month.

(Reporting By Maximiliano Rizzi; writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Doina Chiacu)

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!!! OTM Fantasy Baseball 2012 !!!

Ok, so last year I posted something, wanting to get involved for the first time. BZ was kind enough to organize and allow me to enter, and it was a blast. I truly enjoyed it very much, and wanted to toss it out there to see what the plans are, or will be for this coming season. I figured we could all figure it out here in this post, and come to a consensus what everyone wants to do.

PS: I'm going to repeat.

Source: http://www.overthemonster.com/2012/1/5/2685688/otm-fantasy-baseball-2012

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Video: Criticism on NLRB Recess Appointments

The two Democratic nominees were stalled by Senate during the holiday recess, says Peter Schaumber, National Labor Relations Board former chairman. Schaumber says in the past, when the Senate stalled a vote, the NLRB remained two members and were not a...

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Nikon D4: Nikon Finally Gets Serious About Video [Cameras]

The $6000 D4 will replace Nikon's flagship D3S and our current favorite top-end DSLR in late February, and upgrade it in just about every way. Here are the basics: It comes in with a 16.2 FX-format CMOS Nikon-designed sensor with pixels at 7.3 microns and an Expeed 3 processor. More »

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Holloway suspect to begin Peru murder trial

LIMA, Peru?? Joran van der Sloot goes on trial in the murder of a young Peruvian woman Friday, nearly seven years after he became the prime suspect in the unsolved disappearance of an American teenager on holiday in Aruba.

Van der Sloot, 24, is charged with killing 21-year-old Stephany Flores in his Lima hotel room on May 30, 2010, after the two left a casino together in the day's wee hours.

The slaying happened five years to the day after the disappearance of Natalee Holloway, a 19-year-old from Alabama who was celebrating her high school graduation on the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba and was seen leaving a nightclub with Van der Sloot. Her body has never been found.

Authorities say Van der Sloot confessed to killing Flores, claiming he became enraged after she discovered his connection to Holloway.

His attorney says the confession should be voided because the defense lawyer present when he made it was state-appointed and no official translator was present.

Police and Flores' family dispute Van der Sloot's version of her death that the defendant was hard up for cash and knew the Peruvian business student had been winning at the casino.

Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year prison sentence for Van der Sloot on murder and theft charges in a trial that will be held at Lima's Lurigancho prison. He is accused of murdering Flores with "ferocity and great cruelty," and prosecutors say he also stole 600 soles, about $220, from the victim.

The handsome, garrulous Dutchman, a staple of true-crime TV shows for years after Holloway's disappearance, has in several interviews described himself as a pathological liar. He's been in custody after his arrest in neighboring Chile just days after Flores' death.

Van der Sloot shares a cell with a Mexican and a Chinese inmate at the maximum security Miguel Castro Castro prison, separated from convicted prisoners, said his lawyer, Jose Luis Jimenez.

He said Van der Sloot spends his days making crafts and reading self-help books.

"His mood is super good," Jimenez said during a telephone interview Wednesday.

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The defendant has granted several jailhouse interviews to media and was confronted there in September 2010 by Holloway's mother, Beth Holloway Twitty, when she accompanied a Dutch television crew. Her lawyer, John Kelly, said at the time that she was determined to get answers about her daughter.

The Associated Press reached Twitty by telephone on Thursday and she had said she no comment on the trial or whether she feels any closer to knowing her daughter's fate.

Van der Sloot has told several people he was involved in Holloway's disappearance, only to later deny it.

U.S. law enforcement officials say he extorted $25,000 from Twitty after offering to lead Kelly to Holloway's body in Aruba, using the money to fly to Lima on May 14, 2010, just days after meeting with Kelly.

The defense will argue that Van der Sloot killed Flores in a state of emotional distress.

"We will challenge the aggravating factors (charged by the prosecution) and seek to reduce the charge from first-degree murder to simple homicide," Jimenez said. That charge carries a prison sentence of from eight to 20 years.

He said his client, whose prominent lawyer father died of a heart attack on an Aruba tennis court in February 2010, was in a fragile state from years of being under suspicion for Holloway's presumed death and other legal problems stemming from that case.

"The killing was impromptu. There was no planning to carry it out," Jimenez said.

Lawyers for Flores' family, who are allowed to participate in the trial under Peruvian law, will try to show that Van der Sloot killed the woman to steal money she won at the casino.

If the court finds that to be true, a conviction could result in Van der Sloot being sentenced to life in prison.

"This guy wanted to take the money of the girl because he, in communications he had with his friends in Holland through Facebook and email, stated that he had no money, that he had no money or food, that his stay in Peru was hard and he told them: 'I am on the verge of prostitution,'" family lawyer Edward Alvarez said in an interview.

Alvarez predicted Van der Sloot would plead guilty Friday in an effort to get a reduced sentence.

Jimenez, the defense attorney, ruled out that possibility.

He said that would require his client to make a confession that accepted all the charges alleged by the prosecution.

The lawyer didn't dispute that Van der Sloot confessed to the killing, but he said the Dutchman's rudimentary Spanish didn't allow him to respond properly during his interrogation.

Van der Sloot met Flores, the daughter of a circus promoter and former race car driver, at the Atlantic Casino in Lima.

Video from casino cameras show the two playing at the same table, then leaving together.

In his confession, Van der Sloot said they planned to play Internet poker at the down-market TAC Hotel where he was staying.

He said in his confession that while they were playing, his computer received an instant message on his links to the Holloway case. He said Flores then struck him, and he became enraged and strangled her.

Hotel video shows Van der Sloot entering the hotel with Flores then leaving alone a few hours later. Her body was found in the hotel room three days later.

Two days later, the Dutchman was arrested in Chile.

That same day, he was charged in Alabama with trying to extort the Holloway family in return for disclosing the location of Natalee Holloway's body.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45889216/ns/world_news-americas/

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