Patriots’ Law Will Miss Postseason

The New England Patriots put Ty Law on injured reserve Friday and said the four-time Pro Bowl cornerback will miss the entire postseason.

The 10-year veteran sat out the last nine games of the regular season after breaking his left foot in an Oct. 31 game at Pittsburgh.

The Patriots have this weekend off after finishing the regular season 14-2 for the second straight year.

“We are disappointed for Ty,” Patriot Coach Bill Belichick said. “He has worked extremely hard to return this season and we all hoped it would happen.”

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A sensational debut season made New York Jet Jonathan Vilma the Associated Press defensive rookie of the year.

Vilma earned 21 votes from a national panel of 48 writers and broadcasters who cover pro football.

He finished the season second on the team with 116 tackles, two sacks, three interceptions, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.

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Baltimore Raven Ed Reed outplayed his illustrious buddy and training partner Ray Lewis in winning the Associated Press defensive player-of-the-year award.

Reed earned 20 votes from a national panel of writers and broadcasters who cover pro football, beating Steeler linebacker James Farrior, who had 16.

He is the first safety to win the award in 20 years.

Reed led the NFL with nine interceptions and set a league mark with 358 interception return yards.

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Joe Gibbs began the off-season overhaul of the Washington Redskins’ offense, hiring West Coast offense veteran Bill Musgrave as quarterback coach.

“He brings in a lot of new ideas,” Gibbs said.

Musgrave’s hiring came at the end of four days of meetings in which the Redskins’ coaches critiqued the roster from top to bottom to plot a strategy for free agency. They also talked with several players, including left tackle Chris Samuels, whose contracts need to be renegotiated to clear room under the salary cap.

Musgrave was recently fired after two years as Jacksonville’s offensive coordinator and has worked with Redskin assistants Don Breaux and Joe Bugel. Musgrave also coached Washington quarterback Mark Brunell for one season with the Jaguars.

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The NFL refused to retract wording in a letter to Denver Bronco safety John Lynch that warned he could be ejected for making another illegal hit like the one that knocked Indianapolis Colt tight end Dallas Clark out of a game last weekend. The league fined Lynch $75,000 for the helmet-to-helmet hit.

With the fine, NFL disciplinarian Gene Washington sent a letter reprimanding Lynch for the hit and informing him that officials for Sunday’s playoff rematch at Indianapolis have been alerted to keep an eye on Lynch and to eject him if warranted.

Lynch’s attorney, Harvey Steinberg, responded with a letter to the NFL appealing the fine and demanding that language threatening ejection be rescinded.