The Kansas City Chiefs earned the AFC's top seed for the third time in Patrick Mahomes' five seasons as their starting quarterback. Even if they win in the divisional round as they've done every year under Mahomes, the Chiefs would only get to host another AFC championship game if it's not against the Buffalo Bills. The NFL decided that if it's a Chiefs-Bills matchup, that title game will be played in Atlanta. That's because the Bills' game at Cincinnati was canceled following Damar Hamlin's medical emergency on Jan. 2. The Bills could have secured the No. 1 seed by beating the Bengals.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs will have a familiar route through the playoffs no matter what direction it goes. In the divisional round, the Chiefs could face former Andy Reid assistants now leading the Jacksonville Jaguars and Baltimore Ravens, an AFC West rival in the Los Angeles Chargers or longtime star Tyreek Hill with his new team, the Miami Dolphins. And in a potential AFC title game, the Chiefs would face the Bills in a rematch of two years ago or the Bengals in a rematch of last year. Kansas City also played Buffalo in last year's divisional round in an epic overtime thriller before losing to Cincinnati in overtime with a spot in the Super Bowl on the line.
OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — The Baltimore Ravens are still practicing without Lamar Jackson. But Thursday did include one significant development. There was an update from the star quarterback’s Twitter account. Jackson tweeted that he's suffered a grade 2 PCL sprain. He says there's still inflammation surrounding his knee and his knee remains unstable. Jackson hasn’t practiced since injuring his knee in a Dec. 4 win over Denver. He missed the final five games of the regular season. Now the Ravens face the prospect of playing their postseason opener at Cincinnati without him Sunday night.
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Ezekiel Elliott is no longer the lead running back for the Dallas Cowboys. The two-time rushing champ shares the backfield role with Tony Pollard. The understudy is the team's leading rusher going into a wild-card playoff game at Tampa Bay on Monday night. Elliott's teammates and coaches grade his value on a scale beyond production on the field. Quarterback Dak Prescott is the leader among Elliott's supporters. They've been the face of the Dallas offense since their remarkable rookie season together in 2016.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Derek Carr posted on Twitter that he is ready for the challenge of playing in a new city. Those were his first public comments since being benched by coach Josh McDaniels with two weeks left in the season. Carr was the Raiders QB for nine seasons. He owns multiple team records, including most career passing yards with 35,222 and passing touchdowns with 217. The Raiders have until Feb. 15 to release Carr or his $32.9 million salary for 2023 will be guaranteed.
UNDATED (AP) — Big 12 men's basketball is off to roaring start. No. 11 Kansas State has already surpassed last season's overall win total at 15-1 and is 4-0 in conference play along with No. 2 Kansas and No. 14 Iowa State. That comes as Texas Tech and West Virginia have lost their first four conference games. The last time the Big 12 had multiple teams open league play 4-0 with multiple other teams going 0-4 was 2012-13. The Big 12 is still the only league in the county with half of its teams ranked, and every team still has a winning record.
UNDATED (AP) — Derek Mason announced on social media that he is stepping down as Oklahoma State's defensive coordinator and taking a sabbatical from coaching football. Mason took over this past season after Jim Knowles took the same position at Ohio State. Under Mason, Oklahoma State allowed 28.9 points per game, fifth in the Big 12, and surrendered 435.7 yards per game, eighth in the 10-team conference. Mason joined the staff this season after being defensive coordinator at Auburn in 2021. He was the head coach at Vanderbilt from 2014-2020 and was defensive coordinator at Stanford before that.
UNDATED (AP) — Clemson is working to hire TCU assistant Garrett Riley as its next offensive coordinator, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because a deal was being finalized and still needed approval from the school’s Board of Trustees. The board’s compensation committee had a meeting scheduled for Friday with a lone action item on the agenda: Football assistant coach contract. Tigers coach Dabo Swinney announced earlier that offensive coordinator Brandon Streeter would not return to the coaching staff. Streeter is a longtime member of Swinney’s staff who was promoted to offensive coordinator after last season.
NEW YORK (AP) — Trevor Bauer was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers, who cut ties after the pitcher’s unprecedented 324-game suspension over sexual misconduct allegations was reduced by an arbitrator. Los Angeles designated Bauer for assignment on Jan. 6, the last day to restore him to the roster, after arbitrator Martin Scheinman cut the suspension imposed by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred to 194 games. The Dodgers placed the pitcher on waivers Thursday and any team can claim Bauer by Friday. Bauer is owed about $22.5 million from the remainder of his $102 million, three-year contract, making a waiver claim unlikely.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — At the NCAA convention, outgoing President Mark Emmert said goodbye, incoming President Charlie Baker introduced himself and the state of college sports was declared unstable. Baylor President Linda Livingstone says college sports is "both thriving and threatened.” Livingstone is chairwoman of the NCAA’s Board of Governors. Earlier in the day the Division I Board Division I Board of Directors approved a host of recommendations intended to reform the top-tier of college sports, from membership standards to the size of championship brackets. But Livingstone re-iterated federal intervention is needed to help preserve college sports.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Former Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines led a group of about two dozen demonstrators outside the NCAA convention. They were protesting the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports. They also threatened the NCAA with legal action if it doesn’t change its policies. Gaines competed in last year’s NCAA swimming and diving championships against Penn’s Lia Thomas, who became first transgender woman to win a national title. Eighteen states have passed laws banning transgender athletes from participating on girls' or women's sports teams.
THURSDAY SCORES
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Final (7)UCLA 68 Utah 49
Final (8)Gonzaga 75 BYU 74
Final (9)Arizona 86 Oregon St. 74
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Oklahoma City 133 Philadelphia 114
Final Miami 108 Milwaukee 102
Final Boston 109 Brooklyn 98
Final Toronto 124 Charlotte 114
Final Cleveland 119 Portland 113
Final 2OT Dallas 119 L.A. Lakers 115
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final Seattle 3 Boston 0
Final Detroit 4 Toronto 1
Final OT N-Y Rangers 2 Dallas 1
Final Winnipeg 4 Buffalo 2
Final Carolina 6 Columbus 2
Final Montreal 4 Nashville 3
Final Tampa Bay 5 Vancouver 4
Final Minnesota 3 N-Y Islanders 1
Final Calgary 4 St. Louis 1
Final Chicago 3 Colorado 2
Final Ottawa 5 Arizona 3
Final Vegas 4 Florida 2