ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Falcons have been through this before. A promising start to the season, only to get sidetracked by a deflating loss.A year ago, it led to a total meltdown.A victory Sunday over the Green Bay Packers would go a long way toward showing this team is different.The Falcons (4-3) are coming off their second straight loss, a 33-30 setback to lowly San Diego that had the feel of a game Atlanta totally gave away.The Falcons squandered a 17-point lead at home, the Chargers comeback aided by Matt Ryans crucial interception late in regulation.Then, in overtime, Atlanta coach Dan Quinn made the ill-fated decision to go for it on fourth-and-short in his own end of the field. The Chargers held, setting up the game-winning field goal.A similar defeat in 2015 sparked a six-game losing streak that turned a 6-1 start into an 8-8 finish.We started off so good, safety Ricardo Allen recalled. Then we didnt do so good for a stretch. Me personally, I even felt a little panicky, man. Sometimes youre like, `I just want to get back to the way it way it was. You try to push, you try to press, you try to do things that you shouldnt be doing. Thats something you cant do. Youve just got to do your job.Green Bay (4-2) is beginning a stretch of four road games in five weeks, facing an Atlanta offense that leads the league in scoring (32.7 points per game) and total yards (433.6). While Ryan has done a good job spreading the ball around, theres no doubt about his favorite receiver.Julio Jones leads the Falcons with 40 receptions for 830 yards, more than twice as many catches as anyone else on the team.The Packers know theyve got their work cut out.Ive never seen anyone like him, period, cornerback Demetri Goodson said. Hes big, hes fast, he runs great routes, hes strong. Just the total package.Heres some other things to watch for when the Packers visit the Falcons:NEW RUNNERS: Knile Davis is expected to be a bigger part of the offense in his second game with the Packers. The running back was acquired in an Oct. 18 trade with Kansas City to bolster Green Bays injury-depleted backfield.With less than 72 hours to prepare, Davis carried only two times for 1 yard in a victory over Chicago. Obviously, hes had a lot more time to get up to speed for the Falcons. I like what he brings to the table, Packers coach Mike McCarthy said.Atlanta could also have some changes at running back after Tevin Coleman went down with a hamstring injury in the loss to the Chargers. Terron Ward was promoted from the practice squad, and the Falcons also signed former 1,000-yard rusher Stevan Ridley to bolster their depth behind starter Devonta Freeman.BEASLEY EMERGES: OLB Vic Beasley is finally showing why the Falcons drafted him No. 8 overall in 2015. After a disappointing rookie season, hes become a force at getting to the quarterback. Beasley has 5+ sacks in the past three games, leaving him tied for fourth in a league with 6+ overall.Atlanta will be counting on him to put some heat on Green Bays Aaron Rodgers, who is coming off a franchise-record 39 completions against the Bears.THIN SECONDARY: The Packers will face Atlantas potent passing attack without their top two -- and possibly top three -- cornerbacks at the beginning of the season.Damarious Randall underwent surgery for a groin injury and is out this week, while Sam Shields is on injured reserve after sustaining a concussion in the season opener.In addition, Quinten Rollin has missed the past two games with a groin problem. If Rollins cant go, the Packers would be left with the young tandem of Goodson and LaDarius Gunter, along with versatile Micah Hyde.MATTY ICE: Ryan leads the league in passing yards (2,348) and is the second-rated passer behind New Englands Tom Brady. But late-game interceptions the past two weeks have rekindled memories of 2015, when Ryan was plagued by a series of perplexing turnovers that contributed to Atlantas meltdown. Ryan is eager to get back to the form he showed during a four-game winning streak.EXTRA REST: For the second week in a row, the Falcons will be playing a team coming off a 10-day break. The Packers havent played since their Thursday night win over the Bears . San Diego also had extra time to prepare for Atlanta after playing on Thursday night. Quinn called it a quirk of the schedule and doesnt think it will have any impact on the game.---Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry .---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Josh Sweat Super Bowl Jersey . Klitschkos management company says the bout will be the Ukrainian fighters 25th world championship fight. 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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Stanford coach John Dunning made his players laugh by taking a few pictures of them while they talked to the media after winning Saturdays NCAA volleyball final 3-1 over Texas.Consider that when he won his first national championship, in 1985 with Pacific, the idea of photography with a phone would have sounded like science fiction.Dunning also mentioned that one of his primary hitters on that team 31 years ago was 5 feet, 6 inches tall. You know, libero-sized now.Thats how much the game has changed: Kathryn Plummer is a foot taller and is a ball-control player, Dunning said of the National Freshman of the Year, who not only led Stanford in kills (18) Saturday, but as he said, is a tremendous passer.Plummer is one of four rookies who played huge roles in this championship, Stanfords seventh, which ties Penn State for the most in NCAA history. The Cardinal also had a freshman at setter in Jenna Gray, who seemed older than her years directing the team; at libero in Morgan Hentz (27 digs), who covered the floor like a tarp; and at middle blocker in Audriana Fitzmorris, who like Plummer is 6-6 and has a lot of power. She had 10 kills and contributed to the Cardinals 12 total blocks.If youre a championship team with that many freshmen playing key roles, you have to feel great about what the next few years could bring. Is Stanford going back to a dynasty mode, similar to 1992-2004, when the Cardinal won their first six titles?OK, that might be a little too much to say right now, considering how it has become harder than ever to win a championship in volleyball. Dunning chuckled, because in the immediate euphoria of Saturday, he had barely even thought about the next day, let alone next season.Its going to be a little easier than this year. Because when we started, we had zero players in the same position as last year, Dunning said of how the puzzle fit together in 2016. I dont know what next year will bring, but I guess everybody should look at us and [say] we have some good players returning.One that wont be back, though, is middle blocker Inky Ajanaku, who capped her career as the most outstanding player of the Final Four after scoring 20 points in the semifinal over Minnesota and 20.5 against Texas.Ajanaku came in with a much-heralded recruiting class in 2012, and that is the group she thought she might win a title with. But she suffered a knee injury in the summer of 2015 and had to redshirt last year. The Cardinal had a disappointing ending to that season, being upset in the NCAA second round by Loyola Marymount.Ajanaku came back to lead a very different team in 2016, with so many freshmen, sophomores and position changes. It wasnt easy. In fact, she acknowledges it was flat-out uncomfortable for a while, and that was part of why Stanford lost seven matches. Thats the second-most ever by a championship team; only 1981 winner Southern Cal lost more, with 10.But the talent, the size, the ambition -- all of those things were there when the Cardinal began the season. It just had to come together, and Ajanaku had to be a big factor in facilitating that. She credited hher family, teammates, team trainers and Dunning for helping her not lose confidence while she was coming back from her injury.ddddddddddddJohn is one of the people who will continue to look you in the eye and say, I will never give up on you, Ajanaku said. He will try any method of coaching to make sure youll succeed in the sport and as a person. He has an incredible volleyball mind.But it had been 12 years since Stanford had won a national championship, and for a school that collects those in abundance in many sports, thats a long drought. Dunning acknowledged as much, and his Texas counterpart, Jerritt Elliott, could empathize.I know what this means to him, said Elliott, who is now 1-3 in NCAA finals. Because as a coach, you start doubting yourself, start looking at all the different things you can do better. Hes such a great coach; I dream to get to five championships.Dunning won his first two titles at Pacific. Now he has three at Stanford, a program that has made the most NCAA finals (15) and the most final fours (20) in Division I womens volleyball. History lives with Stanford all the time; the Cardinal are surrounded by it.And its even in their blood, at least in one case: Senior Kelsey Humphreys mother, Wendy Rush Humphreys, was an All-American setter for the Cardinal from 1984 to 1987, when Stanford lost three times in the NCAA championship match.One of those, in fact, was to Dunnings Pacific team. Humphreys joked that her mom told her to bring one home for the family, and thats what she did.For the Stanford volleyball family, this is very meaningful. Since the Cardinals last title in 2004, they had lost some very difficult matches. In 2006, 07 and 08, they fell in the NCAA final. In 2010 and 13, they lost intense, high-caliber five-set matches in the elite eight. In 2014, Stanford lost in the national semifinal to Penn State.And on the personal side, the Cardinal dealt with a tragedy in 2012, when sophomore Samantha Wopat died. Her twin sister, Carly, continued as one of Stanfords top players, but it was a heartbreaking thing for Dunning and the program to get through.Yet Stanford persevered, and this year the Cardinal ended up with what turned out to be the perfect mix of youth and experience. Dunning said it wasnt necessarily his intention to have put together such a formidably tall team -- its hard to plan such things in recruiting -- but thats what he got.And although the Cardinal finished tied for second in the Pac-12 and then got the No. 6 seed, by NCAA tournament time their chemistry and confidence were both soaring. Even going down 0-2 in sets to Wisconsin on the Badgers home court in the regional final didnt stop the Cardinal. Ajanaku told them then it wasnt going to end that way and that they had to keep believing.The freshman class coming in, we had a lot of expectations for ourselves, Plummer said. I dont think there was any doubt in our mind that a national championship could be a possibility. And now its real, and its awesome. Youth NFL Jerseys Cheap Cheap Jerseys Online China Jerseys Wholesale Cheap NFL Hoodies Wholesale NFL T-shirts Stitched Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys 2020 ' ' '