This is the January 11, 2013 news archive. View today's Atlanta Sports news and rumors.

Atlanta Sports News and Rumors

Paul Millsap Destroys the Rim

Ashley Brooke Nevel, dimemag.com

Paul Millsap gets around Josh Smith to throw down the two-handed slam in tonight’s matchup between the Utah Jazz and Atlanta Hawks.

D. Orlando Ledbetter, ajc.com

Beginning now, this blog is moving to a new home within AJC Sports, and we are making some other changes that we hope the members of this blog community will enjoy. Game stories, features and articles and player profiles will move from the blogs into ou…

CNNSI.com

Hawks rally, finish strong to end skid versus Jazz

Ashley Fox, ESPN.com

Franchise aims to forget its star-crossed past with a run to the Super Bowl

Associated Press, ESPN.com

The Washington Wizards say point guard John Wall has received "full medical clearance" and will make his season debut Saturday night against the Atlanta Hawks.

CNNSI.com

The Toronto Blue Jays and catcher Henry Blanco have agreed to terms on a one-year, $750,000 non-guaranteed contract.

Michael David Smith, profootballtalk.com

Days after the Falcons lost director of player personnel David Caldwell to the Jaguars, they’ve promoted from within to replace him. The Falcons announced that Lionel Vital, formerly the associate director of player personnel, has been moved up a notch …

Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com

Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch missed practice on Wednesday and Thursday with a foot injury, putting his availability for Sunday’s playoff game against the Falcons in doubt. There is now no doubt. Lynch practiced on a limited basis on Friday, and …

Doug Farrar, yahoo.com

Seattle Seahawks at Atlanta Falcons Sunday, January 13, 2013, 1:00 p.m. ET Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Ga. There are many interesting match-ups to track when the Seattle Seahawks take the Georgia Dome turf against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, but the key b…

ESPN.com

The Atlanta Falcons just released their final injury report for Sunday’s game against Seattle, and it doesn’t contain any major surprises. Defensive end John Abraham (ankle) is listed as questionable, but he participated in practice on a limited basis…

Don Banks, CNNSI.com

The NFL's divisional round means we're down to the league's elite eight in the playoffs, and that's when the Super Bowl pairing starts to first come into view. There are still 16 potential matchups for Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans next month, and her…

CNNSI.com

With the divisional round of the playoffs at hand, the potential Super Bowl matchups are within sight. Don Banks evalauates all the possible pairings and ranks them all.

ESPN.com

Five nuggets of knowledge about Sunday’s game between the Seahawks and Falcons: No. 1 doesn’t matter: The Falcons earned the NFC’s No. 1 seed, but recent history says being No. 1 doesn’t carry the clout it once did. From 1990 through 2006, No. 1 s…

Mark Bowman, MLB.com

The D-backs are running out of potential places to trade Justin Upton, and there is once again reason to at least wonder if the Braves could add another Upton to their outfield mix.

Tom Ley, deadspin.com

D-Block is a video web series that is produced by the Atlanta Falcons linebacking corps and broadcast from the team's locker room. It's wonderful. Earlier this week, D-Block somehow managed to get a shout out from Mark Wahlberg while he was promoting hi…

Michael Cunningham, ajc.com

Bill Reader, deputy sports editor at The Seattle Times, puts a spin on the tired traditional “city vs. city” story by examining the respective pop culture benchmarks of his city and Atlanta rather than arguing about traffic, parks and airports. (He st…

D. Orlando Ledbetter, ajc.com

D. Orlando Ledbetter, ajc.com

Seattle's Marshawn Lynch pushes off Falcons defender Curtis Lofton to score a touchdown in the second half last season. AP FLOWERY BRANCH — Here’s a look at how the Falcons run defense matches up against Seahawks run offense. Falcons starters: Weaksid…

Mike Florio, profootballtalk.com

Last week, Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis parlayed his sudden pledge to retire into a rousing victory in what necessarily was his final home game. This week, Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez could help the Falcons get a little extra lift from a similar situ…

ESPN.com

There is only one man in the Atlanta locker room that knows what it feels like to win a postseason game in a Falcons’ uniform. That’s center Todd McClure, who can recall Jan. 15, 2005 like it was yesterday. “I’ve played in a lot of games and they …

Stuart Miller, nytimes.com

Fred McGriff's Hall of Fame credentials would be clearer had he not been overshadowed in baseball's steroid era.

ESPN.com

A quick reminder that our weekly NFC South chat will be held Friday at 1 p.m. ET. I’m expecting lots of questions on the Atlanta Falcons as they prepare for Sunday’s playoff game with Seattle. But we won’t limit ourselves. Even though it’s the off…