Clan-Members » nd blocked three more shots than Lo

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- When Luke Kuechly was carted off the field with a concussion, the tears streaming down his face as he left, it appeared the Carolina Panthers might be ready for another collapse.Their defensive leader was gone and another big fourth-quarter lead was crumbling.Instead, the Panthers did just enough to hold on and beat the New Orleans Saints 23-20 on Thursday night in a game marred by injuries to key players.When Kuechly went down the lead was at 10, and players gathered around him as he was put on a cart near midfield. Carolina would give up another score, but hold on for itsr third win in four games.We rally behind that guy, defensive end Charles Johnson said about Kuechly. Hes our leader. When you see a leader go down like that, we just rally behind him. Im keeping Luke in my prayers.The Panthers, who surrendered a 17-point lead and lost to the Kansas City Chiefs last week, entered the fourth quarter with a 23-3 lead before injuries began to take their toll. Along with Kuechly, the Panthers lost two-time All-Pro center Ryan Kalil (shoulder), top pass rusher Mario Addison (foot) and cornerback Leonard Johnson (chest) to injuries. The Saints lost running back Mark Ingram to a head injury in the third quarter.It was the Grim Reaper walking around out there, Panthers quarterback Cam Newton said.Saints quarterback Drew Brees seemed to seize the momentum.Brees, who had been held to 171 yards and no touchdowns in the first three quarters, rallied the Saints back to 23-20 with touchdown passes to Brandon Coleman and Coby Fleener.But an 18-yard reception by Kelvin Benjamin on a third-and-10 with 2:39 left in the game proved pivotal, taking enough time off the clock where Brees only had 14 seconds to work with on his final drive. He couldnt manage to get his team into field goal range.Newton finished 14 of 33 for 192 yards, including a 40-yard touchdown pass to Ted Ginn Jr. as the Panthers (4-6) pulled even with the Saints for third place in the NFC South.Our mantra is to Keep Pounding and it speaks volumes in situations like this, Newton said. I will take an ugly win over a pretty loss.Jonathan Stewart also ran for a touchdown and Graham Gano had three field goals.Carolinas next two games are on the West Coast -- at Oakland and Seattle.Hopefully, the time off will give us enough time to heal up for this long road trip, safety Kurt Coleman said. And also you wonder if it wasnt a Thursday game and it was a Sunday game, would there be these type of injuries? You never know. ... Im just going to pray for everybody. Not only our team but their team.BETTER DEFENSEBrees finished with 285 yards passing.That was a dramatic difference from the last time the two teams met on Oct. 16 when Brees threw for 465 yards and four touchdowns in a 41-38 win over the Panthers.They did exactly what we hoped and that was keep the ball it in front of them, Rivera said of his young secondary. You cant ask for the guys to do a better job.KICKING WOESSaints coach Sean Payton was upset after the game about the teams continuing struggles on special teams, including a blocked field goal that was returned 73 yards by Kuechly before the half to set up Ginns touchdown catch.Last week the Saints lost to Denver when a potential game-tying extra point was blocked and returned for a 2-point defensive conversion.Fundamentally weve got to be able to kick an extra point. ... Weve got to be able to, you know, kick a field goal thats a makeable one, Payton said. Weve just struggled in that area. It cost us at New York, it cost us last weekend (against) Denver and it cost us again tonight. And weve got to be smart enough in the game early to understand that the turnovers arent good.LOSE SOME, WIN SOMEMaybe Ginn is just too fast for officials.In the first quarter Ginn appeared to score on a 14-yard run, but officials reviewed the play and ruled his knee was down at the 1-yard line taking away a touchdown. Then, in the closing seconds of the second quarter, officials ruled Ginn was out of bounds on a pass from Cam Newton. But after instant replay officials overturned the ruling and gave Ginn a 40-yard touchdown catch.UNDER PRESSURENewton was under heavy pressure for most of the first half, taking a sack on third down that took his team out of field goal range -- the second time he has done that in as many weeks.A COOL BREESBrees eclipsed 3,000 yards passing for the 13th consecutive season, tying Peyton Manning for the second-longest streak in NFL history.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFLNew York Yankees Store . During the athletes parade, the 23-strong Ukrainian team was represented by a lone flagbearer in an apparent protest at the presence of Russian troops in Ukraines Crimean peninsula. Hideki Matsui Jersey . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. https://www.cheapyankees.com/1821g-miguel-andujar-jersey-yankees.html . The Clippers were angry about blowing a big lead; the Kings didnt like being in that kind of hole and nearly digging themselves out only to lose. Giancarlo Stanton Yankees Jersey . -- The Sacramento Kings are set to become the first major professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin virtual currency for ticket and merchandise purchases. Joe Girardi Yankees Jersey . Speaking Thursday on TSN 1050 Thursday, the Leafs GM also touched on the questions surrounding the teams leadership and the struggles of his big-name free-agent signing. “Its not from lack of effort from the coaching staff.LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Jeff Walzs belief his team can always play better didnt stop the Louisville coach from finding positives in a victory that welcomed another player into an exclusive club.Mariya Moore scored nine points to surpass 1,000 career and No. 4 Louisville held Chattanooga to 30 percent shooting for a 63-47 victory on Monday night to wrap up site play in the Hall of Fame Challenge.Playing their third game in as many days, the Cardinals (6-0) were never threatened in their tuneup ahead of Sundays Challenge matchup against third-ranked South Carolina. They controlled the pace, spread the ball around and held Chattanooga (3-3) to 17 of 57 shooting from the field in ending its two-game winning streak.I thought we did a lot of really good things in that first part of the game, said Walz, whose team shot 44 percent and made 18 assists on its 25 baskets. We got the pace going that we wanted, we executed well, and we passed the ball, a lot of good things.When we subbed, we kind of took a step back and thats something I talked to our bench players about. ... We should go forward. That part was a little bit of a concern for me, but overall our effort was good.Besides becoming Louisvilles 27th player to break 1,000 points, Moore had seven assists and four rebounds. Myisha Hines-Allen had 10 boards along with seven points.Moore was presented with a specially-designed ball after the game and said of her milestone, Its a blessing. It just shows hard work, I guess, but Im more happy that were 6-0.Queen Alford scored 20 points and Jasmine Joyner had 15 rebounds and seven blocks for Chattanooga. The Mocs committed 19 turnovers in its third game of the Challenge, an eight-team, round-robin competition being played at several sites. The event continues Sunday in Sprinngfield, Massachusetts.ddddddddddddPOLL IMPLICATIONSLouisville followed up its one-spot rise in the poll with an easy win ahead of Sundays showdown against third-ranked South Carolina that will affect its ranking.THE BIG PICTUREChattanooga: The Mocs 1-of-8 start from the field helped dig 25-12 first-quarter hole that they spent the rest of the game trying to climb out of. We came out tentative in a way that surprised me, coach Jim Foster said. We played with effort, but we needed 40 minutes of effort and just got 30. For the first 10 minutes, it wasnt where it needed to be.The Mocs finished even on the boards (36-36) and blocked three more shots than Louisville (8-5) thanks to Joyner, who has 29 rebounds and 16 rejections the past two games.Louisville: The Cardinals shot 50 percent in the first half before cooling off to 44 percent for the game. While their scoring total was the lowest this season, 11 of 13 players scored while playing for the third straight day. Louisville also made all 10 free throws, its best single-game percentage with double-digit attempts going back to 2000. The Cardinals entered the game averaging 65 percent from the line.UP NEXTChattanooga: The Mocs return home from their weekend in Louisville to host Wisconsin-Green Bay on Friday.Louisville: The Cardinals face their first major test this season against No. 3 South Carolina on Sunday when the Hall of Fame Challenge moves to Springfield, Massachusetts. It will mark the first game between the schools since the Cardinals won 74-47 Nov. 29, 1991, one of just four wins over the Gamecocks in 20 meetings.---More AP College Basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org ' ' '