Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
LIVE VIDEO: NBCSports.com shows Washington-New York, with alternate camera angles, HD views and more.
PBT: Jeremy Lin wasn't his hot self on Saturday, but he still led the Knicks to victory.
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) -England defender Joleon Lescott preserved Manchester City's two-point lead in the Premier League by scoring a second-half winner in a 1-0 victory at Aston Villa on Sunday.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
AP file
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Coach Charlie Weis, who used what he learned from Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick to turn around Notre Dame’s offense, turned to them again to try to fix a Fighting Irish defense that has struggled the past two seasons.
After Weis fired Rick Minter as defensive coordinator, he called his mentors as well as Cleveland Browns coach Romeo Crennel and University of Virginia coach Al Groh for advice. Weis said they all recommended New York Jets defensive backs coach Corwin Brown.
Weis introduced Brown as Notre Dame’s new defensive coordinator Friday and named former Irish signal-caller Ron Powlus the new quarterbacks coach, replacing Peter Vaas.
Weis, who didn’t take questions during the news conference, said he wanted someone familiar with his system.
“I won’t have to concern myself with knowing what we’re doing, because I know what we’ll be doing. Because it’s a system that I grew up in as I started on the defensive side of the ball my first year,” he said.
Brown, a 36-year-old Chicago native, has been defensive backs coach with the Jets for the past three seasons. He played for the New England Patriots from 1993-96 and Jets from 1997-98 while Weis was an assistant coach for those teams.
Brown said whether he runs a 3-4 or 4-3 defense at Notre Dame will depend on the personnel.
Weis said another reason he wanted to hire someone with a background in a system he is familiar with is because he will be busy teaching Powlus how to be a quarterbacks coach while also trying to develop someone to replace Brady Quinn.
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Powlus said he got the coaching bug after several years in the business world.
“The more removed I was from the game, the more I missed it,” he said. “I finally said to myself” ’Why am I not doing what I want to do?”’
It took a while for the light bulb to go on, but when it did, Jonas Gray finally showed the talent many had expected from the blue-chip prospect from Detroit. In a recent interview, Gray, who is rehabbing an ACL injury to get ready for the NFL Scouting Combine, expressed the confidence and support he has for head coach Brian Kelly.
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Jeremy Lin hit a free throw with 4.9 seconds left to overcome a dreadful second half and lift the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory, 100-98, over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday night.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
