ATLANTA - Fighting for a division title even with a losing record, the Atlanta Falcons knew they couldnt afford another defeat.Not after the New Orleans Saints won earlier in the day.Led by Julio Jones, the Falcons came up with the matching victory Sunday to stay tied for first in the anemic NFC South.Nothing weak about this showing by Atlanta, which got a career day from Julio Jones, piled up 500 yards of offence and cruised to a 29-18 victory over the punchless Arizona Cardinals, who suddenly find themselves in a bit of desperation mode.When we play consistent football, we can put that type of performance out there, said Falcons coach Mike Smith, who relieved some of the heat on his job a week after taking the blame for poor clock management in a loss to Cleveland on the final play.Jones hauled in 10 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown. Matt Ryan completed 30 of 41 for 361 yards with a couple of scores. Matt Bryant set a career high with five field goals, though most of them werent much longer than extra points.The Falcons (5-7) dominated against a team that had given up less than 300 yards in each of its four previous games.These are the type of games youve got to win in November and December in order to play in January, Ryan said.Arizona (9-3) still leads the NFC West after its second straight loss, but now by only one game over defending Super Bowl champion Seattle. More troubling for the Cardinals, they had gone more than 11 quarters without an offensive touchdown until a meaningless score with just over a minute remaining.Asked about his teams struggles, coach Bruce Arias said, Each man has to look in the mirror and find that answer.Steven Jackson broke off a 55-yard run — his longest since 2009 — on the Falcons opening possession to set up Ryans 1-yard touchdown pass to Levine Toilolo on fourth-and-goal.Jones hauled in a 32-yard scoring pass for Atlantas other TD.Bryant handled the rest of the scoring.The Falcons remained tied for first with the Saints, who won 35-32 at Pittsburgh, and hold the tiebreaker edge. It was Atlantas first win outside the division (they are now 1-7) and their first over a team with a winning record.Arizonas Patrick Peterson said earlier in the week that he was looking forward to going against Jones, the cornerback claiming he had won the majority of the battles since their days as Southeastern Conference rivals.Not on this day.I just didnt play my best game, Peterson said. He made the best of his opportunities. I just came up short.Jones eclipsed his previous career best of 182 yards receiving and made sure the Falcons didnt miss their other top receiver, Roddy White, who was out with an ankle injury.(Peterson) is a very good player. We think Julio is a really good player, too, Ryan said. Julio went out and competed really hard, made some really good catches for us. He stepped up when we needed it.The Falcons lost a touchdown when Devin Hesters 70-yard punt return was wiped out by an offensive facemask penalty just short of the goal line. The odd call came as he was trying to ward off Cardinals punter Drew Butler, who appeared to have an even tighter grip on Hesters facemask.It didnt matter.Not the way the Cardinals are struggling on offence with Drew Stanton at quarterback instead of Carson Palmer, who is out for the season.It sure didnt help that star receiver Larry Fitzgerald missed his second straight game with a strained left knee, and running back Andre Ellington went out in the first half with a hip injury.About the only Arizona highlight came with the Falcons looking to build on their 17-0 lead after the first quarter. Rashad Johnson intercepted a pass from Ryan and went 88 yards the other way for a touchdown.That was the Cardinals lone trip to the end zone until Stantons 3-yard pass to Stepfan Taylor with 1:05 remaining.Notes: The Cardinals missed a chance to wipe out Jones longest play, a 41-yard reception in the third quarter. The replay clearly showed that Ryan only got one foot inbounds, but Arians failed to challenge the call. ... Bryants previous career high was four field goals in a game. He connected from 20, 23, 21, 45 and 28 yards, improving to 22 of 24 on the season. His only misses have been from 57 and 59 yards. ... Arizona S Tyrann Mathieu left the game with a broken thumb.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL___Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 Panthers Stitched Jerseys . - Urijah (The California Kid) Faber finds himself in an unaccustomed position Saturday night at UFC 175 — on the preliminary card. Panthers Official Jerseys . Now, the hottest team on the ATP are pointing their sights on qualifying for the eight-team season finals in London next November. 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The light-heavyweight champion and number one ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the world is on an 11-fight UFC winning streak, the longest in the history of the weight class.SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Another challenge. Another challenge met. C.J. Fair rebounded from his worst game of the season with 19 points, Jerami Grant added 12 in an expanded role down low, and No. 1 Syracuse beat Clemson 57-44 on Sunday night to remain unbeaten. No matter what or who theyve faced this season, the Orange have found a way to win. Fair, who was 2 for 13 for a season-low six points against Notre Dame on Monday, responded with an 8-for-13 shooting night in playing K.J. McDaniels of Clemson to a virtual standstill. McDaniels also scored 19 and had a game-high 10 rebounds, three more than Fair, and both played 39 minutes. "Its all about going to the next game. You dont want to dwell on a good or bad game. We had good rhythm coming into this game," Fair said. "I just needed to be aggressive and not really force things. Coach is always stressing that. Thats what I was trying to do, play off my teammates. "Without wearing myself out, I wanted to wear him (McDaniels) out," Fair said. "When the best player on the opposite team is guarding you, you want to make their job hard. I just wanted to keep him busy." Syracuse (23-0, 10-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) extended its school record for wins to start a season and matched the program mark for consecutive wins, established in the 1916-17 and 1917-18 seasons. It was the third meeting between the teams and first in Syracuse, and the Oranges first victory. "They have very good pieces that fit together," Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. "Everybody has a role. They embrace their role. Theyre very unselfish. There doesnt look to be any jealousy." Syracuse has faced a slow pace for most of the season and when the Orange went ahead 48-37 on Tyler Ennis lefty layup with 6:56 to play, coach Jim Boeheim could breathe a sigh of relief. "You really dont want to be behind in a slow game," Boeheim said. "There arent going to be a lot of points scored." This victory came with the 6-foot-8 Grant playing substantial time in the second half at centre with starter Rakeem Christmas on the bench with four fouls and Baye Moussa Keita next to him with a sprained right knee. A month ago, before hulking sophomore centre Dajuan Coleman was lost for the season to a knee injury, Syracuse had 15 fouls to give at the position. "Its fine. Whatever my team needs,&quoot; Grant said.dddddddddddd"I think thats what makes us a great team. I need to get used to it. Ive just got to know where all the rebounds are, know where other people are." It was the 10th time Clemson (15-7, 6-4) had faced the No. 1 team in the nation, and the Tigers have yet to win. The last time Clemson played a No. 1 team was against North Carolina, an 86-81 loss in the 2008 ACC tournament, and the Tigers last true road game against the nations No. 1 team was Feb. 8, 2004, an 81-55 loss at Duke. "It was frustrating," Jaron Blossomgame said. "There were some good things, but from a team standpoint, were all competitors. We want to win. We feel like every game we go into we can win." Trevor Cooney finished with 11 points for the Orange and Ennis, from Brampton, Ont., had six points, five assists and one turnover. Syracuse shot 44.4 per cent (24 of 54) and held the best defensive team in the nation to 14-of-41 shooting (34.1 per cent). The Orange also committed just five turnovers and dominated the paint, 32-14. Syracuse led by nine at the break and extended the lead to 39-27 on Fairs nice scoop off the glass with 15:40 left. The Tigers answered with a 10-3 spurt to get right back in it as Christmas went to the bench with his fourth foul. Jordan Roper started the surge with a 3 from the right wing, McDaniels followed with a free throw and a dunk, and Josh Smiths hook in the lane pulled Clemson to 42-37 with 10:41 to play. Fair responded with a pair of free throws and a pretty runner crossing the lane to boost the lead back to nine with 8:27 left. After Damarcus Harrisons 3-pointer, Grant came back with a baseline drive off the glass at 4:45 to boost the lead to double digits. Cooneys 3 from the top of the key extended it to 15 with 2:03 left. Clemson entered the game leading Division I in scoring defence, yielding an average of 55 points per game. The Tigers also ranked eighth in field goal percentage defence (.378) and 12th in blocked shot average (6.1). Syracuse shot 50 per cent (13 of 26) in the first half and held the Tigers to 6-of-22 shooting (27.3 per cent) while blocking three shots to two for the Tigers in gaining a 31-22 lead at the break. Keita sprained his right leg with just more than 6 minutes left in the opening half and went to the locker room to be evaluated. He did not play in the second half. Cheap Lions Jerseys Cheap Packers Jerseys Cheap Jets Jerseys Cheap Dolphins Jerseys Cheap Patriots Jerseys Cheap Jaguars Jerseys Cheap Titans Jerseys Cheap Chargers Jerseys Cheap Giants Jerseys Cheap Saints Jerseys Cheap Buccaneers Jerseys Cheap 49ers Jerseys Cheap Seahawks Jerseys Cheap Rams Jerseys Cheap Vikings Jerseys Cheap Colts Jerseys ' ' '