Buffalo hires first full- time female coach
The NFL has its first fulltime female coach.
Kathryn Smith was promoted by the Buffalo Bills on Wednesday night to take over as special teams quality control coach on Coach Rex Ryan’s staff.
She will assist special teams coordinator Danny Crossman and his assistant Eric Smith, f illing the role that opened after Michael Hamlin was not retained following the season.
Smith is well- known within the Bills staff after spending this season as an administrative assistant for the team’s assistant coaches. She spent the last seven years working alongside Ryan.
She was the New York Jets player personnel assistant when Ryan took over as coach in 2009. Smith then served as Ryan’s assistant in 2014.
Kelly is formally introduced by 49ers
Chip Kelly said Wednesday at his formal introduction as coach of the San Francisco 49ers, that he doesn’t worry about criticism and he’s content ting General Manager Trent Ba
alke call the shots when it comes to personnel. “I want to just coach football,” Kelly said at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara. “I’m hands- on. I lead with my feet, not with my seat.”
And he’s not ready to name Colin Kaepernick his quarterback — though Kelly likes both Kaepernick and
Blaine Gabbert, who ended the season as San Francisco’s starter.
Asked whether he left a bad taste with players in Philadelphia, where he was f ired by the Eagles after Week 16, Kelly said, “I’m not governed by the fear of what other people say.
“I don’t know if I can be significantly different. I think you have to be yourself in terms of how you do things,” Kelly said. “But we all learn.”
A Patriot and a hero
New England Patriots linebacker Darius Fleming didn’t hesitate when he saw a woman trapped in a smoking car: He kicked out the window, enabling her to escape.
Fleming, 26, said he was on his way home from practice last Thursday when a truck up ahead slowed down to turn, causing a three- car collision behind it.
He pulled over to see if he could help. What he saw was a woman unable to open her doors or windows as her car began to fill with smoke.
“I saw her panic on her face,” Fleming told reporters.
The 6- foot- 2, 250- pound linebacker needed a few kicks to break the passenger- side window, cutting his right leg on the glass as he pulled it back out of the car. The woman climbed out safely and thanked him.
Fleming needed 22 stitches to close the gash. He played with the injury Saturday in New England’s 27- 20 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Etc.
Suspended Cleveland Browns Josh Gordon has applied to the league for reinstatement from his ban for multiple violations of the league’s substance abuse policy, a person with direct knowledge of the process told the Associated Press. ... Ray Horton has reportedly been hired as new Browns Coach Hue Jackson’s defensive coordinator.