The NFL’s 2024 postseason field has been winnowed by nearly half following the conclusion of a highly unsatisfying wild-card round – five of the six contests decided by at least a 12-point margin.

Hopefully the quality of the games improves in the divisional round, which often unfolds as the most entertaining cluster of matchups on the NFL calendar. At minimum, it will feature what are theoretically the league’s two best teams, the Chiefs and Lions both returning to action following their hard-earned bye weeks. Sunday evening will showcase Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen, arguably the league’s two best players and the presumptive MVP finalists, in the weekend’s capstone pièce de résistance.

We’ve ranked the eight teams that still have a chance to play on Super Sunday, from worst to best, in terms of their championship viability, aka playoff power rankings (previous rank in parentheses):

8. Houston Texans (12)

A team that so frequently played to its level of competition this season – and sometimes decidedly failed to manage that – more than met the moment Saturday against the turnover-prone Los Angeles Chargers. But now the Texans not only have to overcome the rested, top-seeded Chiefs at Arrowhead, they have to overcome their own underwhelming playoff history. Houston is 0-5 all time in the divisional round (the losses by an average of 16.4 points) and 0-5 on the road in postseason.

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7. Washington Commanders (11)

We noted last week that no rookie quarterback has ever taken his team to the Super Bowl, and Bo Nix’s Denver Broncos are already making tee times and resort reservations. But Jayden Daniels continues to perform beyond his years, the presumed Offensive Rookie of the Year coolly leading Washington to its first postseason win in nearly two decades. Yet it’s still worth wondering if he has enough help on either side of the ball to keep pace with the hungry Lions in their den, where they’ve scored 40+ points four times and exceeded 30 two other times at Ford Field this season.

6. Los Angeles Rams (7)

The offense was efficient in Monday night’s victory over the 14-win Minnesota Vikings. But a youthful defense was truly exceptional (9 sacks, 2 takeaways – one returned for a TD). It will have to show up again in Lincoln Financial Field’s far more hostile and frosty environs for the Rams to advance past the Eagles. It’s also worth wondering how long a team that’s been at least fueled in part by playing for its wildfire-ravaged city and been the recipient of the goodwill of the division-rival Arizona Cardinals can maintain its focus and motivation given the ongoing distractions in the everyday lives of the players, coaches and staff.

5. Buffalo Bills (5)

The Ravens are a serious obstacle in their path to Super Bowl 59. The Bills are 9-0 at Highmark Stadium, but they’ve also been getting off to slow starts for the past month – averaging fewer than 10 first-half points in their past four games. No matter how good Allen is and has been, that could be lethal against a Baltimore squad that’s been scoring just about at will over that same stretch.

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4. Baltimore Ravens (3)

The Bills are a serious obstacle in their path to Super Bowl 59, too. As noted previously, the Ravens have averaged 32.6 points in the five games since their Week 14 bye, though the 28 Baltimore posted in Saturday’s wild-card win against Pittsburgh was the fewest during that period. Yet if the defense continues to allow just 11.4 points on a weekly basis, scoring 28 will be more than sufficient. Bad Buffalo weather could be an equalizer, QB Lamar Jackson engineering three points in his only other postseason appearance in Western New York four years ago, when freezing temperatures and gusty winds neutralized the Ravens offense.

3. Philadelphia Eagles (4)

Their wild-card win wasn’t exactly akin to a preseason affair. But the Philly offense looked rusty – the Eagles sat key starters in Week 18, and QB Jalen Hurts was playing for the first time since suffering a concussion three weeks previously – which wasn’t really that big a deal given all the mistakes the Green Bay Packers made and the body count claimed by a voracious injury bug. The Eagles defense was dialed in Sunday, and it seems likely Hurts and Co. will be, too, given the team-wide acknowledgement that they didn’t live up to their capabilities.

2. Detroit Lions (2)

Given how hard they always play – even when nothing is explicitly at stake, which was the case in their Week 17 game at San Francisco – the week off had to be a huge benefit for a team that needed to chill and whet its appetite for more kneecaps. The down time also apparently means RB David Montgomery (knee) will rejoin an offense already oversaturated with ability, options and schematic variance. One X-factor will be the ability of an undermanned defense to handle Daniels, one of the few multi-dimensional quarterbacks Detroit has faced this season … and remember what Allen did to the Lions in Buffalo’s 48-42 win at Detroit last month.

1. Kansas City Chiefs (1)

There’s suddenly a Golden Raye of hope here. On to the football. Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes and Co. have basically had the luxury of working unfettered in the playoff laboratory since Christmas. The team’s core players are refreshed (older ones like TE Travis Kelce and DT Chris Jones needed to be) as the elimination phase of their unprecedented Super Bowl three-peat bid arrives. And, some due respect to the Texans – they’ve lost four straight to the Chiefs since last beating them in 2019 – but K.C. is 6-0 in the divisional round since Mahomes was promoted to QB1 in 2018. That aside, despite unfailingly being in playoff mode when required, Reid’s team also raises the intensity level multiple levels in January. Game on.

***

MLB free agency has been ongoing since the end of the World Series. However, with less than two months until the start of spring training, the biggest remaining free agent is someone who’s never played in MLB before.

Free agent pitcher Rōki Sasaki is the latest superstar arm to come out of Japan. Given the success of guys like Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Shota Imanaga in recent years, it makes sense why so many teams would want to add Sasaki to their squads.

Sasaki opened his free agency window on Dec. 9, meaning he only has 45 days – until January 23 – to make a signing decision, or he would be forced to play another year with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Pacific League. The decision is coming soon, so here’s what to know about MLB’s next big Japanese pitcher.

Roki Sasaki stats

Sasaki has played four seasons with Chiba Lotte in Japan. Here are his career stats:

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ERA: 2.02
W-L: 30-15
IP: 414.2
SO: 524
SO per 9: 11.4
SO/BB: 5.76
WHIP: 0.883
HR per 9: 0.3

Sasaki boasts incredible velocity, bringing arguably the hardest fastball Japan has ever seen. Sasaki has reached as high as 102.5 mph, albeit during a warmup game for the 2023 World Baseball Classic. For reference, the highest velocity Ohtani has reached in MLB is 101.4.

In Sasaki’s first start of the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Sasaki threw 10 fastballs. Not one was under 100 mph. His splitter can reach over 90 mph as well, which would make it one of the deadliest putaway pitches in Major League Baseball.

On April 10, 2022, Sasaki threw arguably the greatest game in NPB history, tossing a perfect game with 19 strikeouts.

Rōki Sasaki measurements

Per Baseball-Reference, the 23-year-old Sasaki is 6-foot-2, 187 pounds, giving him roughly the same measurements as 2024 All-Star Matt Strahm. For comparison, Strahm’s average velocity on his fastball sat at just 93.4 mph in 2024.

Latest Rōki Sasaki rumors

On Monday, it was announced that both the San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees were out of the running for Sasaki. As expected, the race for Sasaki will likely come down to the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, with the Toronto Blue Jays being considered longshots after Sasaki visited the club last week.

Sasaki’s signing window remains from Wednesday, Jan. 15 to Thursday, Jan. 23.

Educators and reading enthusiasts throughout the country rejoiced when cameras caught the Eagles’ leading receiver reading a book while he was on the bench late in the second half Sunday. Even better, the clip of Brown thumbing through his well-read copy of “Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life” remains a topic of conversation several days after the game.

Clips of Brown reading are still circulating on social media. Eagles coach Nick Sirianni talked about it Tuesday and anchors on Philadelphia’s local Fox station were reading as their show began Monday. ‘Inner Excellence’ is now No. 1 on Amazon’s list of best-selling books, with one person writing, “A.J. Brown recommended this book, so I’m looking forward to reading it. Fly Eagles Fly.”

At a time when kids are reading at some of the lowest levels ever, Brown making reading all the rage could be a game-changer.

“We’re in a reading crisis,” said Sasha Quinton, executive vice president and president of School Reading Events at Scholastic.

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“We need help. Somebody like A.J. Brown reading is so powerful not only for the child, but for parents, too, to inspire them. It’s carrying a dual impact, which is tremendous.”

It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that all of America is reading less. We were already spending more time on screens — computers, tablets, cell phones — before the pandemic, and that exploded during COVID when school, work and free time were all taking place online. Kids now spend 1.5 more hours on screens a day than they did before the pandemic, Quinton said.

That, coupled with a shift in teaching that emphasizes standardized testing, has meant kids do very little reading for fun anymore. In Scholastic’s most recent Kids & Family Reading Report, the number of kids aged 6 to 17 who said they read five to seven days a week dropped from 37% in 2010 to 28% in 2022. According to the latest American Time Use Survey, released last summer by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, adolescents aged 15 to 19 read for fun for just eight minutes a day.

More concerning, 53% of kids 12 to 17 in the Scholastic report said they didn’t enjoy reading books for fun or enjoyed it only a little.

The academic ramifications of that are obvious.

Kids who read develop a better capacity to comprehend and write because the grammar and vocabulary used in books is more complex than what’s found on social media, said Catherine Snow, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. They also develop better cognitive skills because they’re not only absorbing what they’re reading, they’re incorporating it with what they already know.  

“That integration is something that doesn’t happen if what you’re reading is little bits of trivia,” Snow said.

But it also has an impact in everyday life. Quinton said there are adults who cannot understand the labels of their medications or comprehend their doctor’s instructions because they don’t have the reading comprehension. The same for contracts and directions.

“The big message is there are opportunities for learning from reading a book that are being forfeited if kids never read books,” Snow said.

“We’re not going to get kids to read books just by telling them to,” Snow added. “Having this little nudge that one piece of a route to success for an athlete is knowing how to read and reading well and enjoying reading is a great message.”

Particularly for younger kids, Quinton said.

Studies have shown that interest in reading for fun begins declining around age 9. At that age, parents are no longer reading to their kids and kids are getting more involved in extracurricular activities. Like sports. They’re also starting to figure out who they are and what interests them. Like sports.

If those kids see Brown reading, or hear him say he likes reading, it might encourage them to pick up a book, too.

“Reading improves our students’ performances in the classroom. It also gives our scholars exposure to different cultures, people and places,” Tony B. Watlington Sr., superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia, said in a statement to USA TODAY Sports.

“Seeing Eagles receiver A.J. Brown read lets our children know that they can perform at an exceptional level in sports and in the classroom,” Watlington added. “They don’t have to choose.”

In fact, reading makes Brown an even better player.

Brown is a big reader — two books a month, mostly non-fiction — and said he finds that re-reading passages that made an impression on him between drives helps him stay focused and centered. He’s had a book with him on the bench each week; the wild-card game was just the first time anyone spotted it.

“When they see somebody reading on the sidelines, and choosing to do it, and it’s joyful for them and they’re using it to better themselves, it really does carry significant weight because kids want to emulate their heroes,” Quinton said. “It’s powerful.”

Athletes are often role models because of what they do on the field. Brown is setting a terrific example by what he does off the field, too.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.

When Bill Belichick fled to the college ranks in December, this season’s NFL coaching carousel seemingly was left without a figure who would loom over the search process. At least that was the case until Monday night.

That’s when news broke that Colorado coach Deion Sanders had been in touch with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, who earlier in the day confirmed the team was parting ways with Mike McCarthy after five years. Sanders himself later confirmed the connection.

‘To hear from Jerry Jones is truly delightful, and it’s intriguing,’ Sanders told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Monday night. ‘I love Jerry and believe in Jerry. After you hang up and process it, and think about it, it’s intriguing. But I love Boulder and everything there is about our team, the coaches, our student body and the community.’

Even with no formal interview set, perhaps the biggest brands in football coaching and American team sports have now been linked to one another.

Sanders, 57, engineered rapid turnarounds both at Jackson State and Colorado. In his second season leading the Buffaloes, he posted a 9-4 mark while helping Travis Hunter win the Heisman Trophy. Between his impressive track record in the college ranks and Hall of Fame work as a cornerback for the Cowboys – including playing a key role in helping the franchise win its last Super Bowl title during the 1995 season – it’s easy to understand how the interest on Dallas’ part first materialized.

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But as Sanders well knows, not all coaching jobs are comparable to one another – least of all the ones that involve working for Jones, the owner, general manager and decision-maker standing over all matters related to ‘America’s Team.’ And even with the two sides expected to continue discussions, several roadblocks or even potential deal-breakers could be ahead.

Here are seven reasons that Sanders’ candidacy with the Cowboys might eventually fizzle out – with the caveat that both sides could prove this piece wrong in the coming weeks:

1. There’s no easy path for the Cowboys to land Shedeur Sanders

Though Deion Sanders has long signaled he’s more than content to remain in Boulder, he did recently acknowledge intrigue in one potential setup at the pro level.

‘The only way I would consider (an NFL job) is to coach my sons,’ Sanders said last week on ‘GMA3: What You Need to Know.’

Sanders emphasized that would mean both football-playing sons: Shedeur, the quarterback who claimed the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, and Shilo, a safety.

Jones certainly has been an advocate for folding family into one’s career – just watch his star turn during his ‘Landman’ cameo for confirmation. And finding a way to secure Shilo shouldn’t be too much of a problem for any franchise interested in the Sanders family. But getting a shot at the former might be a dead end for Dallas.

Put aside the Dak Prescott matter for one minute – we’ll come back to it. The Cowboys are currently set to pick 12th in the first round of April’s NFL draft. Shedeur Sanders, meanwhile, is widely projected to be a top-three selection in a class short on surefire Day 1 signal-callers. To move up to either of the first two spots currently owned by the Tennessee Titans and Cleveland Browns, respectively, the Cowboys might have to give up something resembling what the Chicago Bears ceded two years ago. The package to get to No. 1 featured wide receiver DJ Moore, the No. 9 overall pick, an additional first-rounder (which would become the top pick in 2024) and two second-rounders.

That would be quite the ask in any interview, especially given that Jones couldn’t negotiate with other teams from a position of strength in any scenario in which he tried to move up. But that’s all likely a pipe dream, anyway, in part because of point No. 2.

2. Trading Dak Prescott is a non-starter

Jones is just over four months removed from making Prescott the highest-paid player in league history with a four-year, $240 million extension. Even after a trying 7-10 campaign in which Prescott suffered a season-ending hamstring injury, moving on from the 2023 MVP runner-up and one of his personal favorites in order to embark on a costly pursuit of an unknown – albeit a talented one – would constitute a remarkable about-face for Jones.

It’s also entirely unviable.

Moving Prescott before June 1 would incur a dead cap hit of $103.2 million, according to Over The Cap, a figure that would be more 20% higher than the Denver Broncos’ record $85 million blow for releasing Russell Wilson.

There’s also the little matter of Prescott having a no-trade clause. That essentially means no dice in Dallas for a potential Shedeur and Deion pairing.

3. The personnel problem

Running into a wall in any potential push for Shedeur would be just one of the first of what likely would be many player-acquisition frustrations for Deion.

At Colorado, Sanders was able to rapidly reshape the team’s roster to his own liking through use of the transfer portal. In Dallas, he’d largely be saddled with holdovers from the McCarthy era, with Jones resisting all calls to give up his GM powers and annually refusing a wider reset. And with the Cowboys currently projected to be just above the cap threshold, according to Over The Cap, it’s a good bet that Jones will once again turn out his pockets in explaining why the team will yet again sit on the sidelines throughout most of the free agency action.

4. The financial elements might not add up for Jones

Securing Sanders would require Jones to pay an $8 million buyout to Colorado. The cost-conscious owner let his last two coaches’ contracts expire, so this additional fee might be hard for him to tolerate.

And any negotiation with Jones could prove difficult given how he has balked at dead money for coaches, including when speaking with USA TODAY Sports’ Jarrett Bell last summer about McCarthy’s lack of an extension last summer.

5. The experience factor

Maybe Jones is ready to take a leap of faith after his experience with McCarthy. But three of his last four hires have had NFL head-coaching experience, and the win-now mandate remains.

Like any college coach without previous experience leading a professional team, Sanders should be expected to have a learning curve if he makes the jump. Would Jones be able to tolerate that given the makeup of his veteran-laden team?

6. Assembling the right coaching staff could be tricky

Unlike Jim Harbaugh, Sanders can’t rely on past pro coaching connections and a robust existing staff to quickly assemble a group of pro-ready assistants. His most experienced aide for a potential transition would be offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, whose units ranked in the bottom third of the league in scoring during three of his last four pro years as head coach of the New York Giants and offensive coordinator of the Denver Broncos. Is he equipped to ignite an attack that lost its spark and needs to establish something beyond the connection between Prescott and CeeDee Lamb? While Sanders might be able to lock in some of McCarthy’s assistants to help make a transition easier for everyone, the CEO-style head coach might find it hard to surround himself with the proper coaching support, at least in Year 1.

7. The talks might be mutually beneficial even if they lead nowhere

To be fair, there’s ample reason for both parties to explore this opportunity. But the upside for Sanders and Jones doesn’t hinge entirely on a partnership coming to fruition.

Sanders, who in November said he has his ‘kickstand down’ in Boulder, is seemingly due for a contract extension after outpacing expectations just two years into his five-year, $29.5 million deal. Talking over career options with the 82-year-old owner, who is free to spend as much of his estimated net worth of $16.6 billion on coaches as he likes, can’t hurt his cause.

Jones, meanwhile, has seized the spotlight in the middle of the NFL playoffs, with the Cowboys now set to dominate the sports discourse for the coming days.

Recall what he told ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler about her story on the Cowboys’ abundant fan tours.

‘The fact that you and I are talking about an issue that seems, to you, controversial, is very much a part of the plan that will create interest,’ Jones said, according to Kahler. ‘You will create a ton of interest.’

For the moment, at least, Jones and Sanders have done exactly that.

Winning an Olympic medal is a pinnacle moment for most athletes, but the well-earned piece of hardware has turned sour for some of the 2024 Paris Olympics competitors — but, they’ll be getting new ones, if they wish.

Monnaie de Paris, which produced the medals for the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, said it will ‘replace all damaged medals at the athletes’ request’ after multiple complaints about the medals deteriorating and tarnishing.

Shortly after U.S. skateboarder Nyjah Huston won a bronze medal in July, he revealed the award was already showing some wear and tear, adding the front of it was chipped and that it lost its shine. British diver Yasmin Harper also said the bronze medal she won in the women’s 3-meter synchronized springboard diving event had ‘small bits of tarnishing.’

Evidently, Huston and Harper weren’t the only ones that had complaints. French website La Lettre said more than 100 medals from the Games were returned due to the decline in quality. Now, months after the Olympics ended, a process to replace the medals will begin.

“The Monnaie de Paris has taken the issue of damaged medals very seriously since the first exchange requests in August, and has mobilized its internal teams,” it said in a statement to The Associated Press. ‘Since then, the company has modified and optimized its relative varnishing process. The Monnaie de Paris will replace all damaged medals at the athletes’ request during the first quarter of 2025.’

The International Olympic Committee also told the outlet that Paris organizers are in contact with the committees with athletes that have filed complaints, and the replacement process will start in the coming weeks.

USA TODAY Sports has reached out to Monnaie de Paris and the IOC for comment.

The medals were designed by Chaumet, a luxury French jeweler. Each weighing 18 grams, the most significant part of the medals is that every one of them includes a piece of original iron from the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower pieces were used in the hexagon shape in its iron color with the 2024 Olympic Games logo on it. The six metal appendages on the hexagon also came from the original Eiffel Tower.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic continued to build into the Australian Open with a 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-2 victory over Portuguese qualifier Jaime Faria in the second round on Wednesday, taking another step towards a 25th Grand Slam title.

For the top players, the first week of a major is all about finding a groove in the full heat of competition and Djokovic could not have wished for more from his first two opponents, both making their Grand Slam debuts.

On Monday, inspired American teenager Nishesh Basavareddy gave the 10-times Melbourne Park champion the runaround for the first hour of their first-round clash, and 21-year-old Faria presented another set of problems for Djokovic to solve.

Faria’s victory in the opening round was his first at tour level, while Djokovic moved out of a tie with Roger Federer to claim another record merely by taking to the court for his 430th Grand Slam match.

The gap in experience looked like a chasm in a one-sided opening set but Faria stormed back into the contest by winning the second set in a tiebreaker on the back of some fine ball-striking and all-court athleticism.

Djokovic, with one-time adversary Andy Murray again in his coaching box, broke for 4-2 in the third set, however, and fully quashed the threat offered by the world No. 125 in the fourth to set up a meeting with Czech Tomas Machac.

‘I love this court, I love competition,’ the 37-year-old Serbian said after reaching the third round of the Australian Open for the 17th time with his 14th ace of the match.

‘I think I responded well in the third set and particularly the fourth. He was playing lights-out tennis at the end of the second set and start of the third and I had to weather the storm.

‘I told him at the net, ‘the future is bright for you so carry on.’ ‘

Carlos Alcaraz rolls

After clubbing 14 aces in a whirlwind victory at the Australian Open on Wednesday, Carlos Alcaraz made no secret of his aspirations for his retooled serve.

‘Am I a serve bot?’ Alcaraz scribbled on a camera lens at Margaret Court Arena where he thrashed Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 to reach the third round.

Serving has been on the four-times Grand Slam champion’s mind at Melbourne Park after tweaking his motion in the offseason.

He was not thrilled with its performance in his first round win against Kazakh Alexander Shevchenko where he landed less than 60% of his first serves and had six aces.

Wednesday’s figures were more encouraging for the meticulous Spaniard, who more than doubled the ace count and won 32 out of 36 points (89%) on his first serve.

It came after a long service training session with coach Juan Carlos Ferrero on Tuesday.

‘I felt more comfortable on it, yes. I think the serve’s about confidence and feelings,’ he told reporters.

‘Today I felt great. The throw of the ball was great today, which it helps a lot in the serve today.’

Though having won the French Open and a second Wimbledon crown last year with his previous serving action, Alcaraz was unhappy with its accuracy and overall strain on the body.

The new movement is a little more relaxed with a looser wrist to try to improve timing.

Alcaraz said he still has much to improve on if he wants to rival the top ‘serve bots’ like American Reilly Opelka and Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

As third seed with four Grand Slam titles under his belt, Alcaraz would seem a shoo-in for centre court scheduling at Melbourne Park but has played both his matches this year at Margaret Court Arena.

Players can submit their preferences to organisers but there are no guarantees they will be accommodated.

Alcaraz said he would rather play on Rod Laver Arena’s centre court, where women’s double defending champion Aryna Sabalenka and 10-times champion Novak Djokovic had the early slots on Wednesday.

But he was content to keep playing on the lesser courts if it meant an early night’s sleep.

‘Obviously I want to play on Rod Laver, but we have to see the schedule, as well. As I said many times, I don’t like to play night sessions.’