Steve Spagnuolo

New Orleans defensive end Charles Grant was stabbed in the neck, and a pregnant woman was shot and killed early yesterday in an altercation at a nightclub in southwest Georgia. Grant was assaulted and had an injury to his neck, according to a statement released by Capt. Will Caudill of the Early County Sheriff's Office. Grant was transported to Early Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and later released. Early County Sheriff's deputies responded to reports of a fight around 1 a.m. yesterday at a nightclub in Blakely, which is about 190 miles southwest of Atlanta.

This originally appeared yesterday by Les Bowen on Eagletarian, the Daily News' Eagles blog, at www.eagletarian.com . INTERESTING developments yesterday that could affect the Eagles, none of them originating from One NovaCare Way. The Falcons hired former 49ers head coach Mike Nolan as their defensive coordinator, eliminating them from the Steve Spagnuolo sweepstakes. So the Spagnuolo picture is clearer? Ahh - not so fast! Turns out Spagnuolo interviewed Monday in Indianapolis for the d-coordinator spot there, with new general manager Ryan Grigson, who left the Eagles for that job last week.

Antoine Winfield struggled to come up with the words to describe what it's been like in the nine days since his younger brother was murdered. The Minnesota Vikings cornerback played in the season opener last weekend, four days after learning of the death of 30-year-old Anthony Travis. And when the Vikings take the field against the Colts in Indianapolis on Sunday, he will be playing just three days after attending his brother's funeral. Winfield returned to practice Friday, one day after flying to his hometown of Akron, Ohio, for the services for Travis, who had two daughters.

Steve Spagnuolo has agreed to join the New Orleans Saints as their defensive coordinator, according to reports from Fox Sports' Jay Glazer and the Associated Press. Neither the Saints nor Spagnuolo commented Thursday. Spagnuolo was high on the wish list of many Eagles fans hoping for a change to coach Andy Reid's defensive staff. Instead, he reportedly is going to a team that reached the divisional playoff round but needs to improve on defense. It's still unclear if the Eagles ever reached out to Spagnuolo, a former Reid assistant.

With Steve Spagnuolo off to New Orleans, and an Eagles contingent of coaches and scouts expected to be in nearby Mobile, Ala., on Monday for Senior Bowl practice, it's starting to look as if the Eagles have settled on a defensive coordinator. He has prior experience as a coordinator. His defense ranked eighth-best in yards allowed and 10th in points surrendered last season. Yes, Eagles fans, meet your (not-so) new defensive coordinator - Juan Castillo! A tire deflates.

IF THIS THING is to get turned around by Andy Reid in his 14th season as the Eagles' head coach, the answers lay in the ashes of the first five games of his 13th season. It sounds as if that has been the focus of Reid's last month. Steve Spagnuolo? No Steve Spagnuolo? Yeah, there was that, too. It makes for interesting conversation, and it made for an interesting press conference yesterday as Reid acknowledged he offered the former St. Louis Rams coach a position on his defensive staff earlier this month but then wouldn't say what position he offered.

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Jim Johnson was a football lifer who made a dozen stops along the coaching thoroughfare. He started in college, leaving an indelible imprint, and eventually moved on to the United States Football League. But it was in the NFL where he made his mark - and affected lives. Johnson succumbed to cancer at the age of 68 yesterday, but for many of the players who toiled under him and the coaches that taught beside him, his legacy will live. Long before he made his last and lasting stop as the Eagles' defensive coordinator, Johnson got his NFL start with the Cardinals in 1986.

Omar Gaither underwent surgery yesterday to correct a Lisfranc fracture in his left foot, but coach Andy Reid was reluctant to place the linebacker on injured reserve and end his season. "I'm not going to make any moves here right now," Reid said. "I'm just going to evaluate a little bit at a time. We don't have to do anything right at this minute, so we'll see. Right now, it doesn't look good. " Reid said doctors inserted a screw into Gaither's foot, which is "better than two, which sometimes they have to do. " Gaither injured his foot in the fourth quarter of last Sunday's game at Oakland.

The Mad Scientist brought his lab partner along with him. Shortly after becoming coach of the New York Jets on Monday, Rex Ryan made sure Mike Pettine came with him as his defensive coordinator. Pettine was on Baltimore's staff as a defensive assistant for 7 years. "He and I were just kind of drawn to each other right from the beginning," Pettine said in an introductory conference call yesterday. "We joke with each other that we don't know if we could survive without each other.

Brett Favre was a "distant" teammate who should have been benched for the good of the team, according to two New York Jets players. One of the players, quoted anonymously, told Newsday that when Favre was at the team's practice facility, he spent his down time isolated in an office specially designated for him. "There was a lot of resentment in the room about him. He never socialized with us, never went to dinner with anyone," the player was...