Applications » tackle Terron Armstead has sat out numerous recent pra

NEW ORLEANS -- Unabashed optimist that he is, Drew Brees might be the last person to downgrade expectations for a New Orleans Saints squad coming off a winless preseason.Ive been part of plenty of preseasons where, man, we looked like rock stars ... and then we had a slow start to the regular season, Brees said. Ive also been on teams where we looked awful in the preseason and we jumped out to a fast start. So does preseason perfectly indicate whats going to happen at the start of the season? No.The Saints are coming off two straight 7-9 campaigns -- their first consecutive losing seasons since Sean Payton became coach in 2006.Other than Brees, right tackle Zach Strief, punter Thomas Morstead and safety Roman Harper (reacquired in free agency), the current Saints bear little resemblance to the 2009 team Payton coached to a Super Bowl title. There is now lots of youth in key positions, which can be a liability, but also can mean theres considerable potential for improvement.Weve been able to win a lot of games here with a certain formula. I felt like we lost that formula a little bit for the last two years and hopefully were back on track, Brees said. I like our team. I like the work ethic. I like the approach of these guys. ... You want toughness, character, guys that love football and that love to compete and I feel like we have those elements, and now its got to all come together.At 37, Brees skills do not appear diminished; he led the NFL in yards passing last season. He also is highly motivated because he is entering the final season of his contract. If his offensive line holds up -- which is no guarantee given its preseason form -- Brees should have the talent he needs at receiver, tight end and running back to move the ball -- particularly with the addition of tight end Coby Fleener.But that wont necessarily produce victories if the defense, which has ranked second-to-last two years running, doesnt improve under coordinator Dennis Allen, who took over last November when Rob Ryan was fired.Allen has put a premium on organizational details in an effort to eliminate confusion with substitutions and pre-snap alignment which dogged the unit a year ago. New Orleans also has a number of new players on that side of the ball, but first-round draft choice Sheldon Rankins, a projected starter at defensive tackle, might not be available for a couple months because of a broken fibula suffered during training camp.Allen said he saw his unit trending in the right direction during the preseason, but also stressed, I do not think you ever really 100 percent for sure know until you start playing real games.Here are some things to watch as Saints try to become relevant in the NFC playoff race again:LINE ITEMS: Highly regarded left tackle Terron Armstead has sat out numerous recent practices and preseason games with nagging injuries, so he enters the season with his durability in question. Payton planned to start 2015 first-round choice Andrus Peat at right guard, but moved him to left guard later this preseason. Peat was drafted as a tackle, but the Saints hope he has the versatility to thrive at guard while veterans Armstead and Zach Strief occupy the tackle spots. Veteran Max Unger remains at center and young linemen Senio Kelemete and Tim Lelito are competing at right guard.DEFENSIVE TURNOVER: After pass rusher Paul Kruger was released by Cleveland, he became the latest addition to a revamped defense whose new faces also include linebackers James Laurinaitis, Craig Robertson and Nathan Stupar; defensive tackles Sheldon Rankins, Nick Fairley and David Onyemata; and defensive backs Vonn Bell, Erik Harris, DeVante Harris and Ken Crawley.Meanwhile, projected starting cornerback P.J. Williams is a 2015 draft pick who is new to the active roster because he spent his rookie season on injured reserve.TOUTING THOMAS: Michael Thomas, a rookie receiver drafted in the second round out of Ohio State, has made a slew of spectacular plays in practice and preseason games. Payton wasnt inclined to downplay the hype surrounding his newest threat in the passing game. I dont follow fantasy football, but, shoot, Id try to have him, Payton said.YOUTH MOVEMENT: A number of players with no regular-season experience are expected to start or contribute regularly this season. They include Thomas, Rankins, Williams, Bell, Tull, DeVonte Harris, Erik Harris and Crawley. Onyemata also could emerge. Starters or regulars with only one full season of experience include Peat, cornerback Delvin Breaux, linebacker Stephone Anthony, and receivers Willie Snead and Brandon Coleman.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL Buy Jordan Shoes Online Australia . However, he did make them miss him a little less. Cundiff, who had the unenviable job of replacing Dawson last season, agreed Thursday to a one-year, $1. Air Jordan Shoes For Sale Australia .C. at the helm of the top team in the Eastern Conference. His tenure as the GM in Vancouver was all too brief. Though he led the Canucks to what was then a franchise record-shattering campaign in just his second season, Nonis was gone and replaced one year later. http://www.wholesaleairjordanaustralia.com/ . LOUIS -- Theres no telling how these wacky World Series games will end. Air Jordan Cheap Wholesale . -- The Magic have their first victory of the new year. Air Jordan Online Australia .S. Open champion Justin Rose birdied the first hole with a blind shot he hit to a foot of the pin, and he stayed in front Tuesday until he completed a 4-under 67 for a two-shot lead over Jason Dufner in PGA Grand Slam of Golf. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Human Rights Watch said Thursday that a pattern of covering up police killings has thwarted efforts to curb violence in Rio de Janeiros slums ahead of the Summer Olympic Games in Brazil.Many of the people killed by police in recent years were unarmed, in custody or trying to flee, according to the 109-page report. Authorities have said that in most cases, the police had come under attack, but prosecutors told the rights group that in the majority of the cases there was no confrontation.The city is gearing up for the Olympic Games that begin on Aug. 5, with security as one of the main concerns. Rights groups have condemned the increasing use of excessive force in slums and outlying areas. Human Rights Watch said the lack of investigation and prosecution of officers to some extent unraveled a security overhaul that had shown progress.You cant be an effective police officer in a community if people distrust you, fear you, they even hate you, said Daniel Wilkinson, managing director of the Americas division at the organization. Its compromising any effort to improve public security and fulfill this promise for the Olympics.Rio police have had a long track record of carrying out extrajudicial killings with more than 8,000 deaths by law enforcement since 2006. However, Wilkinson said police killings dropped from 2007 to 2013 after an effort to reduce crime in violent slums through the use of a new community police force.But police killings have been rising in the past three years in Rio de Janeiro state, with 645 people killed in officer-involved shootings in 2015, compared to 416 in 2013.They failed to deal with this basic problem, which is that there are a lot of cases of police executing people, Wilkinson said. Theres almost zero accountability. These cases arent investigated, they are not prosecuted and people can get away with them. IIt was no surprise that after initial progress, the problem of police killings started to bounce back.ddddddddddddThe rate of 3.9 police killings per 100,000 people in 2015 is almost five times that of South Africas and nearly 10 times that of the U.S.The New York-based rights group interviewed 34 current and former police officers who detailed a culture of combat that rewards them for killing instead of arresting drug-trafficking suspects. They said they covered up killings by planting guns on victims, or removing them from crime scenes to deliver dead people at hospitals, destroying evidence in the process.The organization said it studied 64 cases and found that forensic evidence in half of them was inconsistent with officials accounts. Autopsies in 20 cases showed the dead had been shot at close range, something not typical of shootouts. The report also showed that Rio police killed five people for each person they injured from 2013 to 2015, a number the group says is the opposite of what one would expect.The investigative police are usually tasked with investigating police killings, but detectives often do not visit the scenes of the deaths or even interview all of the officers involved, the report said, adding that prosecutors filed charges in only 15 of the 3,441 police killings between 2010 and 2015.Wilkinson said some recent changes in the justice system bear some promise, such as turning officer-involved killings over to the states homicide division instead of neighborhood precincts. The group also recommends increasing the number of prosecutors who investigate only police abuse and improving internal investigations within the police.Rio de Janeiro state security officials did not respond to a request for comment. ' ' '