SPORTS digest

Falcons shake up their defensive coaching staff

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga.

After squandering a 25-point lead in the Super Bowl, the Atlanta Falcons are shaking up their defensive staff.

The team said Wednesday that coach Dan Quinn has dismissed coordinator Richard Smith and defensive line coach Bryan Cox, though there’s a chance Smith could stay with the Falcons in an advisory role.

The changes mean the NFC champions will have two new coordinators next season. Kyle Shanahan left to become head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and was replaced as offensive coordinator by Steve Sarkisian .

Also, the Falcons promoted Keith Carter to running backs coach with Bobby Turner reportedly leaving to join Shanahan’s staff in San Francisco. In addition, they will need a new quarterbacks coach; Matt LaFleur is expected to be named offensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams.

Smith will likely be replaced by a coach already on staff. The Falcons are considering defensive backs coach Marquand Manuel, linebackers coach Jeff Ulbrich and defensive passing game coordinator Jerome Henderson.

Manuel interviewed for the defensive coordinator post in Jacksonville last season.

The 61-year-old Smith served as defensive coordinator during Quinn’s first two seasons in Atlanta, after previously working as a linebackers coach in Denver.

Officials: hockey player died from head trauma

PHILADELPHIA

A teenage hockey player in Montgomery County has died from a head injury.

Officials say 18-year-old Nick Bond, of Springfield, complained of a headache and later collapsed after playing a game at the Wissahickon Skating Club Sunday morning. The teen was taken to Einstein Medical Center, where surgeons began operating to relieve pressure on his brain.

Hospital officials say Bond died Monday afternoon.

The Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office says Bond died from complications from head trauma. Bond’s death has been ruled an accident.

Assault charges against Spadafora are dropped

PITTSBURGH

Prosecutors dropped assault charges against former lightweight boxing champ Paul Spadafora for allegedly stabbing his brother and kicking his mother during a family dispute, though he’s still charged with threatening city police officers who intervened, and spitting on one.

Spadafora waived a preliminary hearing Wednesday on an aggravated assault charge, for allegedly spitting at the officer, several counts of making terroristic threats and resisting arrest stemming from the Dec. 21 fracas.

The charges against his family members were dropped because they failed to show at Wednesday’s preliminary hearing and two prior hearings that were also postponed because Spadafora’s mother, Ann, didn’t show up, defense attorney William Difenderfer said.

Difenderfer plans to seek a bond hearing next week so Spadafora can get out of jail and enter an in-patient alcohol treatment program. The remaining charges will be “resolved” — the attorney didn’t say how — in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

Spadafora, 41, won the vacant International Boxing Federation lightweight belt in 1999 but surrendered the title in 2003 and was charged with shooting his then-girlfriend. He spent 13 months in a state prison boot camp, and several boxing comebacks have been pockmarked by alcohol-related arrests.

Royals announce $16M, 2-year deal for Hammel

KANSAS CITY, Mo.

The Royals have announced their $16 million, two-year contract with Jason Hammel, a move designed to shore up the starting rotation after the death of Yordano Ventura in a car accident last month.

Hammel will make $5 million this season and $9 million next season, and the deal announced Wednesday includes a $2 million buyout of a 2019 mutual option.

Associated Press