Blainville, Que., having to wait until Tuesday to play Romanian Sorana Cirstea. TS

CHARLOTTE - Reaching .500 is usually not the recipe for first place in any sport but thats exactly where the New Orleans Saints and Carolina Panthers find themselves as the two NFC South rivals get ready to meet on Thursday Night Football. The winner of tonights contest at Bank of America Stadium will take over sole possession of the top spot in the division, a testament to just how bad the NFC South has been thus far. A Week 8 loss to Seattle dropped the Panthers to 3-4-1, percentage points clear of New Orleans, which is 3-4 and coming off its most impressive win of the season, a 44-23 drubbing of Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. The 2-6 Falcons and 1-6 Buccaneers round out the disappointing foursome. If you said at the start of training camp or OTAs, hey, you have a chance in Week 9 to be playing for first place, would you take it? Yeah, Id take it, offensive coordinator Mike Shula told the Panthers website. Thats the mindset. You have to keep moving forward and forget about whats happened. The Saints will arrive in the Queen City knowing they are 0-4 away from the Bayou this season and have lost seven straight regular-season games away from New Orleans dating back to 2013. Carolina has its own concerns, most notably a 1-4-1 record over the last six games following a 2-0 start to the season. The truth of the matter is we had opportunities and we didnt make them on both sides of the ball, said Panthers coach Ron Rivera. You have to take advantage of opportunities in the red zone by putting the ball in the end zone. When you have third down and long, you have to be able to stop them. The Panthers were inside the red zone on their first two possessions last Sunday against Seattle and came away with two field goals. Later, they suffered a turnover inside the 20-yard line. As a result, all of the Carolina scoring in a 13-9 loss came from three Graham Gano field goals. The Seahawks, who have never lost three straight games with Russell Wilson under center, were on the verge of doing exactly that in Charlotte before Wilson willed his team to a come-from-behind road victory, firing a touchdown pass to tight end Luke Willson with 47 seconds remaining to lift Seattle to the hard-fought win. Cam Newton struggled for the second straight week for Carolina, completing just 12-of-22 passes for 171 yards and an interception. He missed both of his throws and was sacked twice on the Panthers final possession. We didnt play our best football, Newton admitted. The next opportunity awaits on Thursday and Im anticipating that to be a great game for us. Rookie wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin continued to be a bright spot offensively for Carolina, recording four catches for 94 yards, including a career-long 51- yard reception in the fourth quarter to set up one of the teams three field goals. Benjamin currently leads NFC rookies with 571 receiving yards and five touchdowns. For the Saints, Drew Brees tossed three touchdown passes in Week 8 as New Orleans pulled away in the second half during the triumph over Green Bay. The game was deadlocked at 16 at halftime, but the Saints intercepted the red- hot Rodgers twice over an 11-attempt span in the final 30 minutes, quite the accomplishment because the veteran QB hadnt tallied a pick in his previous 213 throws. Brees, meanwhile, completed all 11 of his passes in the second half and finished 27-of-32 overall for 311 yards. Mark Ingram carried the ball 24 times for 172 yards and a touchdown and Brandin Cooks caught six passes for 94 yards and a score and added a 4-yard TD run for the Saints, who squandered a fourth-quarter lead for the third time this year in the prior weeks 24-23 loss at Detroit. Jimmy Graham hauled in all five of his receptions for 59 yards and a touchdown in the second half in the triumph. I think the tempo was better today and I think thats something well continue to emphasize, Brees said. Division foes since Carolinas inaugural NFL season in 1995 -- first in the NFC West from 1995-2001 and now the NFC South beginning in 2002 -- the Panthers and Saints will be meeting for the 39th time with Carolina holding a slim 20-18 advantage in the all-time series. The two clubs will meet again in Week 14 in New Orleans. WHAT TO WATCH FOR Brees generally excels at night. Since joining New Orleans in 2006, the star signal caller has led the Saints to an impressive 22-10 mark in primetime games, the third-best record of any team during that span. And despite their pedestrian record the Saints have been as explosive as ever offensively and are tops in the NFC, averaging 445.4 yards per game, far ahead of Carolina (332.5 YPG). Brees in second in the conference with 2,227 passing yards but the issue has been ball security and New Orleans has a minus-six turnover ratio coming in, a stark contrast to the Panthers positive plus-four mark. Certainly theres all sorts of goals and theres big picture, small picture and I think what weve tried to do is really focus on the smallest picture - and thats our own team getting better, Saints coach Sean Payton said. New Orleans cleaned up things against the Pack and were plus-two in that game so its possible the worm has turned or at least the impact of Ingrams game against the dismal Green Bay run defense created more balance and enabled Brees to stop forcing the issue. If thats the case, the recipe could be there for a sequel because the Carolina D is a far cry from the unit that dominated in 2013 and is surrendering 378.5 YPG, slightly better than the often-maligned NOLA stop unit which is giving up about 12 yards more per contest. The Panthers gave up at least 37 points-or-more in four of their previous games until righting the ship a bit against the Seahawks. The main struggle has been to stop the run, as Carolina has surrendered 135.2 YPG on the ground, 28th best in a 32-team league. Offensively the Panthers hope to solve their red-zone woes and turn those Gano 3s into 7s. Carolinas 46.2 percent TD efficiency inside the 20 is also 28th in football. Its tough when you dont score touchdowns and miss opportunities, Rivera said. You have to make hay down in the red zone. The offense could be in line for a boost with the potential return of running back DeAngelo Williams, who has missed the previous four games with a balky ankle. Itll be a nice boost, said Rivera. When he and Jonathan (Stewart) get rolling and doing the things they do thats a huge thing for us. That could be a nice shot in the arm. OVERALL ANALYSIS Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me five times? Lets just say its tough to pick the Saints away from the Superdome but this is the team trending in the right direction and no one is happy about the way Carolina is looking. Furthermore, despite that lack of road success, New Orleans has been very close to getting over the hump, leading into the fourth quarter in three of their four road setbacks this season and losing those games by a total of just six points. So, lets be a glutton for punishment one more time here and figure on Payton and Co. finally figuring out a way to finally win one outdoors. Theres no more important game than this quick turnaround, the Thursday night game at Carolina, said Brees. This was the team that won the division last year. We are going to need our best performance to beat them. Sports Network predicted outcome: Saints 23, Panthers 20 Cheap Air Max 95 . Messis father, Jorge Horacio Messi, is apparently still under investigation for an alleged 4 million euros ($5.3 million) in unpaid taxes from Messis image rights from 2007-09. Messis public relations firm confirmed Spanish media reports that the state prosecutor has asked for Messi to be dropped from the investigation that began in June 2013. Wholesale Air Max 95 For Sale .5 million, four-year contract with the Texas Rangers that could be worth $32. http://www.airmax95sale.com/ . Clevelands manager had just watched his team lose 5-3 to Kansas City, which completed a 2-6 homestand and dropped the Indians 2 1/2 games behind Detroit in the AL Central. Discount Air Max 95 . Many of those eyes are in the United States of America, a country that the sport has wanted on its side for some time. On Sunday the football Gods delivered once again, only this time it was time for good old USA to experience as much heartache as joy. Wholesale Air Max 95 . Basketball fans around the globe will be watching as Kobe Bryant makes his season debut - 240 days after tearing his left Achilles - against Toronto, a team he has used as his own personal punching bag.PARIS -- About the only thing getting between Canadian tennis star Eugenie Bouchard and a berth in the second round of the French Open was the weather. Bouchard overcame a rain interruption of nearly 90 minutes before finishing off a decisive 6-0, 6-2 win over Israels Shahar Peer on Monday. The tournaments 18th seed beat Peer for the second time this season and fourth in her career over 58 minutes of actual playing time. Montreals Bouchard, the 20-year-old former junior Wimbledon champion, arrived to Roland Garros with her highest career WTA ranking. She moved up to 16th after winning her first WTA title on Saturday, beating Karolina Pliskova in the final of the Nuremberg clay court tournament. "Today the court was actually a bit slower because of the conditions," said Bouchard. "I find the courts here are generally like fast clay courts, so I like them. Its fine for me. "Im confident, but Im usually always confident and believe in myself, and know whenever I walk on the court I always believe I can win the match. But Im just trying to take it one week at a time. Last week is last week. I have another tournament this week. Thats all Im focused on." Bouchard had a 3-1 lead in the second set when the weather turned wet. She won the first seven games of the match against Peer, reaching 4-0 in 13 minutes and polishing off the opener in a brisk 27 minutes. Peer finally won the third game of the second set but was never a threat. When the pair returned, Bouchard extended her second-set lead to 4-1 and saved a break point for a 5-2 lead before breaking Peer in the final game to advance on a second match point. Bouchard next plays the winner of a match between Germanys Juulia Goerges and Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal.dddddddddddd Later Monday, Toronto native Sharon Fichmans match against sixth seed Jelena Jankovic was suspended due to darkness. The match will resume Tuesday with Fichman leading 7-5, 1-5. Fichmans match against Jankovic can be seen to its conclusion live on TSN GO, Tuesday at 6:30am et/3:30am pt. Vancouvers Vasek Pospisil was defeated in his opening match, beaten by 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 by Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili to remain winless at Roland Garros. The 31st-ranked Canadian, whose season has been compromised by back problems, broke in the third set as his opponent served for the match. But Pospisil lost his own serve a game later and went down on a fourth match point from a backhand wide. Pospisil ended with six aces and 27 winners but also committed 55 unforced errors as he lost in the Paris first round for a third straight year. He admitted that he was struggling physically but did not want to go into detail. He said that his problem is "fixable" and that he has plans to play Wimbledon. "Today was not what I wanted. I dont want to talk about the back," he said. "The back is much better now but there are still some demons I have to face. "I wasnt able to focus on the competition today, It a combination of a lot of things -- I didnt recognise myself on the court today, thats the disappoinbting part." Officials began cancelling last matches in late afternoon, with qualifier Aleksandra Wozniak of Blainville, Que., having to wait until Tuesday to play Romanian Sorana Cirstea. TSNs coverage of the French Open continues on Tuesday at 5am et/2am pt on TSN2 and at 10am et/7am pt on TSN. ' ' '