Though it's still not clear who if anyone is running the show in Buffalo, someone had enough juice to land second-year quarterback Brian Brohm.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Bills have signed Brohm from the Packers' practice squad.

Per the Journal Sentinel, the Packers matched the two-year deal that the Bills presented to Brohm.

And so ends the short stay of Brohm in Green Bay.  At a time when plenty of Packers fans are carping about the performance of G.M. Ted Thompson, the fact that he officially has squandered a second-round pick from only a season ago will do nothing to close the pieholes of the Cheeseheads.

Only two years ago, Brohm was regarded as a possible top-five selection, with speculation that his former Louisville coach, Bobby Petrino, would reunite with his pupil via the high first-round pick that the Falcons were destined to secure.

Two years later, Petrino is long gone from the NFL.  Brohm, who fell all the way to the bottom of round two in 2008, is now getting a second chance.

The prompt arrival of Brohm in Buffalo after the termination of coach Dick Jauron suggests that Jauron didn't like Brohm.  Surely the franchise didn't make this decision in a day; our guess is that someone had been lobbying for the move, Jauron had been blocking it, and now that Jauron is gone, in comes Brohm.

Ronnie Brown's contract year has met an early end.

Twelve hours after PFT first reported that Brown could miss the season, the Dolphins have made it official.  According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, Brown was placed on injured reserve in advance of Thursday night's game against the Panthers.

Brown was originally announced to have an ankle injury, but the Dolphins later called it a "foot" problem.  It's unclear exactly what the nature of Brown's injury is.

It's a deeply disappointing finish to a promising campaign for Brown.  He was on pace to set career highs in rushing yards as the leader of Miami's Wildcat attack.  His 2007 season was also cut short after seven games because of a torn ACL.

With Brown out, Ricky Williams and Pat White may head the Wildcat offense.  The Dolphins also could simply put the ball in Chad Henne's hands more often.

The good news for linebacker/special teamer Arnold Harrison is that he was claimed off waivers after getting dumped by the Steelers.

The bad news is that the Browns were the team to pick him up.

Mike Florio learned the news via a league source, and phoned it in to yours truly.  And I've basically phoned in this post, using the same joke Mike did on the horn.

With their secondary rocked by injuries, the New Orleans Saints have agreed to terms with veteran free-agent cornerback Chris McAlister, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

McAlister was the tenth overall pick in the 1999 draft, and he spent ten years with the Ravens.  He fell out of favor last year, during coach John Harbaugh's first season with the team.

In September, McAlister was telling friends that he planned to sign with the Raiders.

It remains to be seen whether McAlister has anything left.  But the Saints have a need, and now McAlister could end up getting a ring to go with the one he won in his second NFL season.

To create a spot for McAlister, the Saints cut rookie quarterback Chase Daniel.

The Baltimore Ravens have waived kicker Steve Hauschka, officially making a move that's only surprising because it didn't happen sooner.

Hauschka missed his fourth field goal of the season on Monday night, a 36-yard attempt that went wide left. Ravens coach John Harbaugh said after the game that he talked to Hauschka, and that the kicker knew he was on thin ice.

"We've been evaluating the kicking position," Harbaugh said. "Steve and I had a great talk on Tuesday night, and he'll be the first to tell you that he needs to kick better than that. He kicks better than that in practice and he's kicked better in games up until this point. He just didn't do the job tonight and I think he knows that."

Said Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, "Every one of our players has to step up to a Ravens' level of play and that was not happening for Steve right now."

It's unclear who the Ravens' next kicker will be, but former Jets kicker Mike Nugent and former Cowboys kicker Billy Cundiff worked out for the team last week, and Aaron Wilson of the Carroll County Times tweets that they're the top candidates.

Hauschka leaves the Ravens having made 10 of 15 field goal attempts in 17 games. In October he missed a potentially game-winning kick against the Vikings, and this month he missed a kick that would have kept the Ravens alive in a close game against the Bengals.

As expected, the Bengals have announced the acquisition of running back Larry Johnson.

Defensive tackle Orien Harris drew the short straw.  He was cut to make room for Johnson.

Johnson will meet the media at 3:00 p.m. ET.  Hopefully, he won't behave like he did the last time he was in the presence of reporters.

It's official.  Larry Johnson will become the latest football player with a troubled past to continue his career wearing a helmet that looks like a pumpkin that served as a machete sharpener.

Per a league source, the deal is done.

The terms aren't yet known.  Under the labor agreement, Johnson will be able to keep any pay from the Bengals and the balance of his $4.55 million salary from the Chiefs.

With Falcons running back Michael Turner hobbled by a high ankle sprain, the team has brought back running back veteran Aaron Stecker, as expected.

And the Falcons have cut the guy that signed when they cut Stecker -- receiver Troy Bergeron.

We hope Bergeron didn't buy green bananas.

The New York Jets have announced that the team has parted ways with cornerback Ahmad Carroll.

A first-round pick of the Packers in 2004, Carroll signed with the Jets as a free agent in 2008.  Last year, he appeared in 16 games with no starts.  This season, he played in six of nine games with no starts. 

Carroll, who made 30 special-teams tackles in 22 games, had been inactive the past two weeks.

If Carroll clears waivers, he'll become an unrestricted free agent.

No team enjoys carrying two punters.

So with usual Redskins punter Hunter Smith able to play this week, Washington released Sam Paulescu and activated rookie safety Lendy Holmes from the practice squad.

Holmes will help fill in for Chris Horton, who was placed on injured reserve last week.

And that's about all we can think to say about this punter transaction.

Jay Cutler has doled out a lot of abuse of late.

He punished Bears fans and fantasy owners with five interceptions Thursday night, not to mention viewers tuning in to Thursday Night Football looking for a quality game.

Now he's been fined $20,000 for "abusive conduct" toward a game official in Chicago's loss to the Cardinals five days ago, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. 

Cutler was flagged during the game for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty when he complained to referee Ed Hochuli about a non-call on a fourth-and-4 in the third quarter in which Cutler thought Greg Olsen was held.

See, Mike: Cutler does care!

(Amazingly, Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris was fined only $7,500 for punching Cardinals guard Deuce Lutui in the same game.)

While one Roy Williams has disappointed in Dallas, the former Cowboy safety Roy Williams has been trying to revive his career with the Bengals.

The strong safety played well while starting four games in Cincinnati, but the team was forced to end his season Friday when it placed him on injured reserve with a forearm injury. The chronic forearm problem for Williams also ended his 2008 season early.

Williams returned Wednesday to a full practice before sitting out Thursday, so it appears he suffered a setback.  The Bengals are relatively deep at the position with Chinedum "Nedu" Ndukwe taking over.  Hard Knocks favorite Tom Nelson will now be more involved in the defense.

Williams' absence will hurt the Bengals rush defense, but they have got used to playing without him all year.  He will be a free agent this offseason.

The Bengals activated wideout Maurice Purify, who will help take Chris Henry's place among the wideout group.

Before the 2008 NFL Draft, the Bills felt like they needed a better red zone threat.  Enter James Hardy, the team's second round pick that was taken eight spots ahead of Philadelphia's DeSean Jackson.

Hardy underwhelmed as a rookie, catching only nine passes in 14 games as he struggled to adapt to the pros. He lost playing time to seventh-round pick Steve Johnson, then tore his ACL in Week Fifteen.

Hardy will try to erase the memory of his disastrous rookie year after getting activated Wednesday from the physically unable to perform list.  There's another big receiver in town now that is supposed to be the team's red zone threat, but he's hurting, and probably not in Buffalo for long.

Of course, Bills coach Dick Jauron probably isn't sticking around either.  Hardy has seven games to show the front office and the next coaching staff that he wasn't a wasted pick.

Acquired for a pair of fifth-round draft picks on draft day, Ellis Hobbs was fitting in pretty well as a Philadelphia Eagle.    He was usually the team's nickel back and gained the the primary kick return job during the season.

Hobbs' season is now suddenly over because of a neck injury suffered Sunday night against the Cowboys.  The team announced Wednesday that Hobbs will be placed on injured reserve.

Rookie wideout Jeremy Maclin took over for Hobbs on returns Sunday, and is likely to get more work there.  Joselio Hanson should get more consistent playing time at cornerback with Hobbs out.

Most famous for giving up the game-winning touchdown to Plaxico Burress in the Super Bowl, Hobbs will bring 47 games of starting experience to free agency next year.  (And plenty of quotes for the collection of reporters that cover him.)  The Eagles could bring him back as a restricted free agent if there is no new collective bargaining agreement.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have followed their first win of the season by sending two of their players to injured reserve.

Gone are safety Will Allen and linebacker Rod Wilson.  Allen started two games and served as a special-teams captain.  Wilson plays as a reserve.

The Bucs filled the roster spots by bringing back linebacker Matt McCoy and promoting cornerback Derrick Roberson from the practice squad.

McCoy returns after being cut twice this year.  He was in the starting lineup in Week One.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick was his usual noncommittal self on Tuesday when asked whether the team might sign former Chiefs running back Larry Johnson.

But Belichick did acknowledge that the team plans to discuss it before the 4 p.m. deadline for putting in a waiver claim.

"We'll discuss that organizationally this afternoon," Belichick said today, per the Boston Herald. "We'll decide then if there's anything we want to do. To be honest with you, we've just been focused on Indianapolis, and our pro people are figuring that. We kind of do that every week at this time. Our pro people go through the guys that are available, whether it's waivers or teams that have injuries or changes to a guy's status or guys we want to work out or other teams work out.

"After all that, it's not just about one guy, but after all that gets done, we'll talk about the whole thing in a group and what our plans are for the whole week. Whether it's to work a guy out or claim a guy or talk to his representative, whatever happens. That's something we'll do between now and 4 o'clock."

At first glance, Johnson wouldn't seem to be the type of guy Belichick would want around. But Belichick has had success in the past with acquiring a talented but disgruntled running back -- Corey Dillon was widely viewed as a locker room cancer with the Cincinnati Bengals, but once he became a Patriot, he suddenly became a team player and ran for 1,635 yards in 2004.

Maybe Belichick sees a little bit of Dillon in Johnson.

Chiefs running back Larry Johnson is scheduled to return from a one-game suspension today.

But since the Chiefs can't send him home with pay for the rest of the year, they're planning to simply send him home.  With pay.

Per a league source, the Chiefs will be cutting Johnson today.

Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Johnson will be able to collect the balance of his $4.55 million base salary as termination pay, unless someone claims his contract via waivers.  Given Johnson's antics from two weeks ago, it's unlikely that another team would pick up the salary obligation (roughly $2.14 million) along with a per-game active roster bonus of $60,000 and change.

So the Chiefs likely will end up having to pay Johnson $2.14 million not to work.

Assuming he clears waivers, Johnson would become a free agent.  And he'd be free to sign with any team that might need a running back for the stretch run.

Some have speculated that the Patriots would sign him.  One league source has predicted to us, however, that coach Bill Belichick would not be interested. 

Injuries could be a factor, too.  If, for example, Adrian Peterson (the Viking, not the Bear) goes down on Sunday against the Lions (Detroit still owes Minnesota one for what they did to Billy Sims), the Miami-or-bust Vikes would likely be interested in doing another deal with the devil.

Packers center/guard Jason Spitz had a strong start to the last year of his rookie contract, winning the team's starting job in training camp.  But he couldn't shake a persistent back injury, and the team placed him on injured reserve Saturday, ending his season.

The team called up wide receiver Biren Ealy to replace Spitz on the roster.  Ealy is likely to fill the team's fourth receiver role this week, unless Donald Driver is an unexpected scratch.

Spitz was drafted in 2006 along with Daryn Colledge in the first 75 picks; the two were expected to lead a youth movement on Green Bay's offensive line.  (Tony Moll, now with Baltimore, was taken in the fifth round that year.) 

In a move that could spell the end of Bobby Engram's 14-year NFL career, the Chiefs released the veteran wideout to make room for running back Kolby Smith. 

Smith is a third-year player with starting experience who spent the first eight weeks of the season on the physically unable to perform list.  He should have a role Sunday against the Jaguars backing up Jamaal Charles and could be a key figure for the Chiefs if the team chooses to deactivate Larry Johnson down the stretch.

Engram was essentially pushed off the roster by Chris Chambers, who the Chiefs claimed on waivers this week.  The former Seahawk came to Kansas City to provide a veteran presence, but quickly lost his playing time to Bobby Wade.  He finishes with only five catches as a Chief.

While Engram won't go down as an all-time great, he was one of the best slot receivers in the league for much of his career.  He caught 45 passes in a season eight times and ranked tenth among active players in receptions with 650.

The ink isn't even dry on Ty Law's new contract with the Denver Broncos, and Law is already talking about getting on the field in two days.

At the team's press conference to announce his signing, Law said he wants to play on Monday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he noted that he signed with the Jets during the 2008 season and played just a few days later.

"They're trying to get me ready to play this week in a limited fashion," Law said. "I did it last year. . . . I'm just going to kind of wing it and go out and do the best I can. But right now they're just shoving a lot down my throat because the terminology is totally different."

ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that Law signed a one-year, $800,000 deal that includes a $200,000 signing bonus and up to $400,000 in incentives.

Both Law and Broncos coach Josh McDaniels said the signing was a good fit because they know each other from their days together in New England, and because Law wants to play for a playoff team.

"First, I'm familiar with a lot of their guys here. They're hungry. They're winning and then, my familiarity with Josh McDaniels. I've won a few championships with him," Law said. "Other than going back to New England, this would be the ideal situation for me."