Patriots hire Schiano as new defensive coordinator

For the second time in two offseasons, the New England Patriots are hiring a new top defensive assistant.

And for the second time in a row, the franchise is turning to a familiar face for the role.

The Boston Globe reports that former Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano will be hired as defensive coordinator with the Patriots, who lost linebackers coach and defensive play-caller Brian Flores to the Miami Dolphins when he took the team's head coaching job one day after New England won Super Bowl LIII over the Rams.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick has a close relationship with Schiano, who had routinely consulted with Belichick during events like the NFL scouting combine.

“I think Coach Schiano is a great defensive coach and he’s really coached all the positions — line, linebacker, DBs,” Belichick said in a press conference back in December 2015 when asked about the number of Rutgers players on New England’s roster.

Twins Devin and Jason McCourty and Duron Harmon – all of whom are defensive backs – played under Schiano at Rutgers, where he was a head coach from 2001-’11.

For the last three years, Schiano had served as Ohio State’s defensive coordinator under coach Urban Meyer, who is also a close friend of Belichick.

Brown involved in domestic incident: The NFL will investigate a recent domestic dispute involving Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown for which he was not arrested.

The incident took place Jan. 17 in Hollywood, Florida, where Brown has an offseason home. According to the incident report from the Hollywood Police Department obtained by USA TODAY Sports, a woman drove to Brown’s home to drop off their daughter and to get money from Brown for the daughter’s haircut. The report states that Brown opened the door and their daughter went into Brown’s home before he closed the door.

According to police, the woman then yelled to Brown asking for the reimbursement for the haircut. After Brown opened the door, the woman “positioned herself so Brown couldn’t shut his front door.”

At that time, Brown told the woman multiple times she had to leave though she acknowledged, according to police, that she refused to move. The report then states that Brown “used both hands to push her out of the doorway,” causing the woman to fall backward to the ground.

According to the report, police later photographed an injury to the woman that showed “an abrasion to her left forearm” though the woman “advised of no other visible injuries.”

The report then states that the woman later met with police and declined to give a statement or press charges against Brown. Police then told the woman that the state’s attorney’s office could still seek to file charges, and the report indicates that the woman “became irate with detectives and stated she did not wish to have Antonio Brown arrested” and later said she “wished to cancel” the report.

Falcons cut Bryant: The Atlanta Falcons are releasing kicker Matt Bryant, ending the 10-year run of the team’s alltime leading scorer.

The decision Wednesday to not renew the team’s option on the 43-yearold Bryant comes despite another strong season in 2018, when he made 20 of 21 field goals and 33 of 35 extra points. His only missed field goal was from 53 yards at Green Bay.

Bryant missed three games with a hamstring injury.

Falcons owner Arthur Blank said in a team statement Bryant “will be remembered as one of the greatest Falcons of all time.”

Bryant said on his Twitter account he plans to extend his career.