FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The New England Patriots have filled a key vacancy in their front office, promoting Matt Groh to director of player personnel.

Groh assumes the post vacated by Dave Ziegler after he left to become general manager of the Las Vegas Raiders. Ziegler joined former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who was hired as the Raiders’ new head coach last month.

Groh is entering his 12th season in New England and spent last season as the team’s college scouting director. He originally joined the organization in 2011 as a scouting assistant and also spent six seasons as an area scout and two as a national scout.

Groh is the son of longtime NFL and college coach Al Groh, who served as the Patriots’ defensive coordinator and linebackers coach from 1993 to 1996. The elder Groh coached alongside Bill Belichick when both were assistants with the New York Giants. Groh was linebackers coach in 1989 and 1990 when Belichick was the Giants’ defensive coordinator.

Following last April’s NFL draft, Belichick lauded the work of Matt Groh, Ziegler and scouting consultant Eliot Wolf, whom he said “carried the ball” throughout the team’s draft process.

Wolf interviewed for open GM jobs following this past season, but remains on staff. He also was sent by the Patriots alongside Groh earlier this month to evaluate college prospects at the annual Senior Bowl.

Groh’s hiring comes a week after New England rehired former special teams coordinator Joe Judge as an offensive assistant less than a month after he was fired as head coach of the Giants.

RATINGS: An estimated 101.1 million people watched the Los Angeles Rams win the Super Bowl over the Cincinnati Bengals on NBC and Telemundo, up from 2021 and capping a stirring playoff schedule for the NFL.

Last year’s game had a television audience of 95.2 million, the lowest since 2006. Nielsen last year increased its original estimate of 92 million, saying it had undercounted the amount of people who watched the game outside of their home.

NBC said another 11.2 million people streamed this year’s game, putting the total audience at 112.3 million people.

Nielsen said that 99.2 million people watched the game on NBC, and another 1.9 million on the Spanish-language network Telemundo.

STEELERS: The Pittsburgh Steelers have hired Pat Meyer as their new offensive line coach.

Meyer joins the Steelers after spending the last two seasons in the same position for the Carolina Panthers. Meyer replaces Adrian Klemm, who left before the end of last season to take a job at the University of Oregon. Chris Morgan, who filled in an interim basis after Klemm’s departure, was hired by the Chicago Bears this month.

Meyer takes over a unit that struggled for much of the 2021 season. The Steelers finished near the bottom of the NFL in most offensive categories, including points (21st), yards (23rd), yards rushing (29th) and yards per rushing attempt (29th).

SEAHAWKS: The Seattle Seahawks finalized their coaching staff  with the promotion of Clint Hurtt to defensive coordinator and the hiring of Karl Scott and Sean Desai to the defensive staff.

Hurtt has spent the past five seasons as the defensive line coach for Seattle. He replaces Ken Norton Jr., who was fired after last season.

Desai joins Seattle as the associate head coach-defense after spending last season as the defensive coordinator in Chicago. Scott will be Seattle’s defensive passing game coordinator and defensive backs coach.

Seattle also announced changes on the offensive side. Sanjay Lal will return as wide receivers coach and offensive passing game coordinator. Lal worked for Seattle in 2020 before spending last season with Jacksonville.

Andy Dickerson will serve as the offensive line coach after Seattle let go of veteran coach Mike Solari. Dickerson was Seattle’s run game coordinator last season. That role will now be filled by running backs coach Chad Morton.

Nate Carroll will be a senior offensive assistant and Dave Canales will take over as quarterbacks coach after the departure of Austin Davis.