SPORTS HEADLINES

Broncos advance to AFC title game, beating Bills 33-30 after McMillian’s INT in overtime

DENVER (AP) — Ja’Quan McMillian intercepted Josh Allen’s deep throw in overtime, and Bo Nix led the Broncos into position for Wil Lutz’s 23-yard field goal that sent Denver to the AFC championship game with a 33-30 win over the Buffalo Bills. McMillian’s pick was Denver’s fifth takeaway of the game. He wrested the ball away from Brandin Cooks at the Broncos 20-yard line when a field goal would have won the game for Buffalo. The Broncos will face either New England or Houston for the AFC title next Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High, where Denver has won 14 of its past 15 games.

New York Giants hire John Harbaugh as coach after identifying him as their top choice

The New York Giants have hired John Harbaugh as coach. Harbaugh joins the Giants 11 days after he was fired by the Baltimore Ravens. He is a Super Bowl champion who guided Baltimore to the playoffs in 12 of his 18 seasons there. He and the Ravens won it all a year after the Giants’ most recent championship in the 2011 season. Harbaugh is now tasked with turning around a beleaguered franchise that has just two playoff appearances over the past decade. He gives New York a proven winner after seven coaches since Tom Coughlin failed to get past the divisional round.

Packers and coach Matt LaFleur agree to contract extension, AP source says

A person familiar with the situation says Matt LaFleur has agreed to terms on a contract extension to remain the Green Bay Packers’ coach a week after their season ended with a wild-card playoff loss to the Chicago Bears. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity becasue the deal hasn’t been announced. ESPN and NFL Network first reported the deal. LaFleur had one year remaining on his contract once the Packers’ season ended. New Packers president/CEO Ed Policy had said last summer he’d prefer not to have a coach enter the final year of his contract without an extension.

Man United stuns Man City in Carrick’s first game and Liverpool and Arsenal drop points

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Michael Carrick got off to a flying start as Manchester United coach with a 2-0 win against Manchester City in the Premier League. Taking charge of his first game since his appointment this week, Carrick immediately lifted the gloom over Old Trafford with a victory that will likely live long in the memory of United fans. The former United midfielder has only signed a deal until the end of the season and has 17 games to convince the club’s hierarchy to give him the job on a permanent basis after Ruben Amorim was fired last. And he could not have made a better first impression with a dominant performance against all-conquering City manager Pep Guardiola in the 198th Manchester derby.

Gu warms up for Olympics by retaining her Laax ski slopestyle title despite crash

LAAX, Switzerland (AP) — Two-time Olympic gold medalist Eileen Gu has successfully defended her ski slopestyle title at the Laax Open despite crashing on her second run. Gu had already locked up victory after a high-scoring first run when she crashed hard on her right side on her second go down the course. She appeared to be unhurt. Gu will enter the Milan Cortina Winter Games next month as a top contender. The American-born skier who competes for China won gold in half pipe and big air as well as silver in slopestyle four years ago at the Beijing Olympics.

NFL will honor Martin Luther King Jr. with ‘Choose Love’ stenciled in end zone

NEW YORK (AP) — The NFL will honor the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. by displaying “Choose Love” in the end zones and on helmet decals for all divisional round playoff games this weekend. “Choose Love” and “It Takes All of Us” will appear on opposite end zones at the Super Bowl next month. Teams will select the end zone stencils for the conference championship games. “Choose Love” was first introduced 2022 when the Bills adopted it as a unifying message for their community after a shooting in Buffalo. NFL teams have widely embraced the stencil, which was featured at the Super Bowl last year following an attack in New Orleans.

A champion will be crowned but college football chaos will linger beyond Indiana-Miami title game

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Eligibility lawsuits, the out-of-control transfer portal, bickering over congressional legislation and the decades-old dilemma over coaches and their salaries were the steady drumbeat behind a college football season where nothing felt quite settled. When either Miami or Indiana hoists the national title trophy Monday night, the season will come to an end, but there will be plenty to resolve behind the scenes.

Play begins at the Australian Open with the season’s first Grand Slam

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Play has begun at the Australian Open — the first Grand Slam of the season — with No. 7 seed Jasmine Paolini facing Aliaksandra Sasnovich at the Rod Laver Arena. On the men’s side later Sunday on the same court, No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev faces Gabriel Diallo at Melbourne Park. The No. 1 seeds for men and women headline Sunday’s night session with Aryna Sabalenka and Carlos Alcaraz getting into action. Venus Williams becomes the oldest to play singles in the Australian Open when she plays late against Olga Danilovic of Serbia. Williams is 45.

Women’s tennis has Coco, Sabalenka, Swiatek and more. The men have ‘Sincaraz’ at the Australian Open

With Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Madison Keys divvying up the four Grand Slam titles last season, women’s tennis offers quite a bit more intrigue these days than the “Sincaraz” dominance in the men’s game. Seven of the past nine years ended with four different female champions at the major tournaments. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, meanwhile, have combined to win the past eight Slam trophies. They’ve met in the last three major finals. Alcaraz and Sabalenka play first-round matches in Melbourne on Sunday.

From sideline sprints to surprise interviews, ESPN’s Laura Rutledge enjoys a hectic football season

Laura Rutledge’s schedule during football season is packed. Since 2020, she’s hosted ESPN’s “NFL Live” during the week and “SEC Nation” on Saturdays. This season, she added sideline reporting for “Monday Night Football.” With her work as both host and reporter for both college football and the NFL, the always enthusiastic Rutledge has become the face of football on ESPN. On “Monday Night Football,” Rutledge joined Lisa Salters, who has been on the sidelines since 2012. Rutledge tells The Associated Press she knew her schedule was going to be crazy but she considers it an honor to work on so many shows.

No. 2 Iowa State loses second straight, 79-70 to Cincinnati

CINCINNATI (AP) — Day Day Thomas scored 19 points to lead Cincinnati to a 79-70 win Saturday over No. 2 Iowa State, which has lost two straight after winning its first 16 games. Milan Momcilovic scored a career-high 34 points, hitting eight 3-pointers, for the Cyclones (16-2, 3-2 Big 12) who were looking to rebound after an 84-63 loss to Kansas on Tuesday. But a desperate Cincinnati team made things difficult, forcing 12 turnovers leading to 20 points. Iowa State trailed by as many as 26 points against Kansas and 17 on Saturday. Jizzle James scored 15 points and Sencire Harris and Jalen Celestine each scored 12 for Cincinnati (10-8, 2-3) which has won two straight games after starting 0-3 in the league.