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NEW ORLEANS -- Just because Drew Brees always speaks respectfully about even the Saints lowliest opponents doesnt mean hes being insincere when pumps up the Raiders.Oakland hasnt had a winning season since 2002, but Raiders coach Jack Del Rio has a team that appears to be sprinkled with up-and-coming stars who are trending up.They are extremely talented and they have a great quarterback, who I think we all look at and say this guy will be one of the best quarterbacks in the league, Brees said, referring to Oaklands Derek Carr. Defensively, they have some playmakers.Carr didnt quite put up Brees-like numbers last season -- 3,987 yards passing and 32 TDs -- but the talented 25-year-old seems headed in that direction as he enters his third NFL season.It helps to have targets such as second-year former Alabama star Amari Cooper, whose 72 catches for 1,070 led all rookies last season.Then theres Oakland pass rusher Khalil Mack, who had 15 sacks and 23 tackles for losses last season and will face a New Orleans offensive line that struggled throughout the preseason.Khalil Mack is one of the best, if not the best pass rusher in the league -- a guy that you have to a have a plan for and you have to know where he is, Brees said.Del Rio is going into his second season and thinks itll only help to have a staff that remained largely stable in the offseason.You have cohesiveness, you have a group that worked together for a year, Del Rio said. The time and the relationships are important. We work hard at the relationships and I think having that and having that with our staff and having this staff with the players, I think there is value in it.The Saints, meanwhile, are coming off consecutive 7-9 seasons and have a roster heavy on youth and relative inexperience, particularly in the secondary. But that doesnt mean New Orleans cant return to the ranks of NFC contenders, Brees said, particularly if the Saints are able to put up confidence-building victories early on.Id say weve got a great group, and a really tight group, too, Brees said. Now, you want that to translate to wins and success. I know its important for us to start fast. Theres a great sense of urgency there. In years that we have been really good here, we have started fast. That is definitely something that is being talked about.Here are some key story lines heading into the Raiders-Saints matchup:ROSTER SHUFFLE: The Saints will have several key players in Week 1 who werent with the club at all this preseason. Starting defensive end Paul Kruger agreed to join the Saints last week, shortly after his release from Cleveland, but didnt officially join the team until after the preseason finale. This week, New Orleans brought back right guard Jahri Evans and brought in rookie kicker Wil Lutz and veteran cornerback Sterling Moore.RUNNING HELP: Latavius Murray rushed for more than 1,000 yards and made the Pro Bowl as an alternate in his first full season as a starter in 2015. But Oakland wants to be a better running team after struggling for consistency a year ago. Powerful guard Kelechi Osemele was signed in free agency to bolster the line, and Oakland added a couple of rookie backs to ease Murrays load in DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard.NEW TARGETS: Veteran tight end Coby Fleener, lured away from Indianapolis as a free agent, and second-round pick Michael Thomas, a standout receiver from Ohio State who is Keyshawn Johnsons nephew, make their regular-season debuts in a passing game that led the NFL last season.DEFENDING DREW: The Raiders placed a premium on upgrading their secondary this offseason by signing big-ticket free-agent cornerback Sean Smith, safety Reggie Nelson, and using a first-round pick on safety Karl Joseph. That revamped unit will get an intriguing early test. Ever since his early days in San Diego, Brees has feasted on the Raiders, completing 67.5 percent of his passes with 19 TDs in 10 starts.Sometimes he knows the defense better than the defenses, safety Nate Allen said of Brees. We have to give him some different looks and hopefully capitalize on mistakes.REUNION TIME: The Raiders will run into an old friend Sunday when they face New Orleans defensive coordinator Dennis Allen for the first time since he was fired as head coach in Oakland in 2014. Allen and general manager Reggie McKenzie were brought in to rebuild the Raiders following the death of longtime owner Al Davis. Allen was fired four games into his third season with an 8-28 record, but a handful of players he helped bring in remain in key spots, most notably Carr and Mack.---AP Sports Writer Josh Dubow in Oakland contributed to this report.---AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org Cheap San Diego Padres Jerseys . The Australian is competing in his final season in Formula One and still looking for his first win this year. He will look to end Vettels run of six straight race wins on Sunday. Webber, who is fifth in the championship, earned his second pole from the past three races and 13th of his career. Cheap Rickey Henderson Jersey . After Martin Skrtel put the Reds in front from close range at Stamford Bridge after only four minutes, Hazard hit back in the 17th with a superb strike. Etoo gave Jose Mourinhos team a decisive lead from Oscars back pass in the 34th. http://www.cheappadresjerseys.com/?tag=cheap-randy-jones-jersey . -- Matt Ryan needed one of the best games of his career to lead the Falcons and their depleted offence out of their three-game losing streak last week. Cheap Dave Winfield Jersey .Y. - Nelson Mandela will be honoured by the New York Yankees with a plaque in Monument Park. Cheap MLB Jerseys . Francis told several hundred members of the European Olympic Committees that when sport "is considered only in economic terms and consequently for victory at every cost . Formula One is on the verge of a multi-billion dollar takeover by John Malones Liberty Group, with a two-stage $8.5 billion deal expected to get underway on Tuesday.While Liberty and Malone have been linked with the purchase of an F1 stake -- controlling or otherwise -- since February 2014, on-going talks have reached a satisfactory conclusion, according to F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.Speaking to reporters in the Monza paddock, the 85-year-old F1 czar was confident that the sports new owners would not affect his own position. I will do what I have always done, Auto Motor und Sport quoted Ecclestone as saying. What role I play is my decision.In the immediate future, there is no reason to expect much change in direction for F1. But the paddock rumour mill suggests that any guarantees of Ecclestones position remain in place for only the first tranche of the $8.5 billion handover; once the deal has been completed in full it is entirely possible that the man who turned Formula One into a billion-dollar business will find himself in a role more sinecure than senior.So what does the future hold for Formula One under its new owners?First and foremost, expect to see better marketing of F1 in the United States, home to Malones businesses and fortune. As the owner of a multimedia group that includes cable services provision, internet access, and direct-to-consumer sales, Malone is in a unique position when it comes to exploiting his existing businesses to maximise the value of his latest investment.And America is not the only market in which Malones companies hold sway: Liberty Media may be headquartered in Colorado, but through sister company Liberty Global and a 29 per cent stake in Discovery Communications, Malone is also a key media influencer on an international level.Historically, Malones purchases have increased in value after his acquisitions; the American businessman has targeted businesses with unrealised potential and added value before off-loading his stake for a profit. But Malone is no short-term operator: in the early 1990s he spotted the opportunities in digital cable services, and over the course of the following decade his businesses expanded into content creation as well as service delivery.While any $8.5 billion deal has to be seen as something of a gamble given the sums involved -- not forgetting that F1 has no guaranteed longevity beyond the 2020 expiry of the current round of Memoranda of Understanding that replaced the Concorde Agreement -- Malone would not be on the verge of doing the F1 deal had he not spotted opportunities for growth and profit within the sport.Perhaps the most obvious area for expansion is that of general marketing and promotion. The Formula One Group lacks a centralised marketing department, and the bulk of event promotion is done by individual host circuits as thhey attempt to drum up ticket sales in an attempt to claw back the cost of hosting a race.ddddddddddddThere is no centralised cohesive effort to ensure that Formula One remains in the public imagination long after the F1 circus has left town, and little is done to create public anticipation in the run-up. Where such promotional events do take place, it is largely at the behest of individual teams and sponsors: Shell held a Sebastian Vettel fan event before the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim, while Petronas traditionally make the Mercedes drivers sing for their suppers at the twin towers in downtown Kuala Lumpur.If F1s new stakeholders want to get a return on their investment, they have to make the sport more profitable. The most obvious way to do so is to increase the size of the sports fanbase, both those watching at home and those attending grands prix in person.Bringing the sport back to terrestrial television is one way to improve the home audience, but as Malone is a man who made his millions off the back of the subscription TV explosion, it is unlikely that we will see the sport back on free-to-air channels at his behest. Instead it is in his interests to improve the general promotion of the sport so that those not currently interested in Formula One choose to pay their hard-earned cash to check it out, either in person or by subscribing to a service that airs it (preferably one owned by Malone, naturally).In America there is a fine tradition of selling both sport and show as separate entities. Millions of people with little-to-no interest in American football will tune into the Super Bowl for the infamous half-time show. Even high school sports use the lure of cheerleaders to entice the uninterested into the bleachers.This year the Circuit of the Americas provided a perfect example of using the show to boost the sport: COTA secured Taylor Swifts only concert of the year for their Saturday night post-qualifying entertainment, meaning that any tween within reach of Texas who wants to see her play live will need to fork out for a three-day race ticket whether or not they know what F1 is. It may not lead to packed grandstands once the tweens have left on Sunday, but the strong ticket sales have provided a boost to COTAs hopes of a long-term future.Expect to see similar -- and centralised -- efforts to promote the sport when Liberty Media take over. Drivers will be expected to do their part to drum up interest, with high-profile TV appearances in target markets, showcar stunts straight out of the Red Bull Guide to Self-Promotion, and a calendar designed in such a way that it becomes physically and geographically possible to use the sports stars to sell the spectacle. ' ' '