Sportsbook directors follow the money when it comes to cheering for particular teams. They are solidly behind the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers this weekend. Both are sizable underdogs in the NFL playoffs, with the majority of the money from casual bettors going to the favorites. The Packers are 7 1/2-point underdogs at FanDuel Sportsbook in the wild-card round at the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday. Pittsburgh is an even bigger dog at plus-10 on Sunday at the Buffalo Bills.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — Matthew Stafford arrived in Detroit as a hotshot 21-year-old quarterback. He left three years ago as a grown man with a wife and four daughters all born in Michigan.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Jayden Reed and Dontayvion Wicks were coming off relatively disappointing finishes to their college careers when they began their rookie seasons in the NFL. Bo Melton spent much of the past two years toiling on practice squads.

Matthew Stafford vs. the Lions. Mike McCarthy vs. the Packers. Tyreek Hill vs. the Chiefs. The NFL’s wild-card weekend is all about reunions and some rematches, too. Stafford leads the Los Angeles Rams to Detroit to face his old team where he spent 12 seasons and didn’t win a playoff game. McCarthy’s Dallas Cowboys host Green Bay, the team he led to a Super Bowl title with Aaron Rodgers 13 years ago. Hill and the Miami Dolphins head to Kansas City, which won one Super Bowl with the dynamic wide receiver and one without him last season. The upstart Houston Texans take on the Browns for the second time in three weeks.

The Sports Network in Canada is reporting Keith Pelley is leaving the European tour as CEO. TSN says Pelley has reached an agreement to lead Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainments. That's one of the largest sports groups in North America with ownership in six major sports leagues. Maple Leaf's primary holdings are the Toronto Maples Leafs of the NHL and the Toronto Raptors of the NBA. Pelley would be leaving at a critical time in golf. He has worked closely with the PGA Tour and was partners in the proposed commercial deal with Saudi backers of LIV Golf.

Buffalo Bills rookie Dalton Kincaid occasionally wonders what he'd be doing had he not given football a second chance in high school. Kincaid told The Associated Press he thinks he would be selling real estate rather than enjoying a season in which he broke several of the team's receiving records for rookies and tight ends. He quit football following his freshman high school season, before being lured back in his senior season. Kincaid's emergence has provided the Bills with a reliable secondary threat behind Stefon Diggs entering the playoffs. Buffalo is the AFC's second-seeded team and hosts Pittsburgh on Sunday.

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington wide receiver Jalen McMillan and standout left tackle Troy Fautanu both announced their plans to declare for the NFL draft on Wednesday.

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — It has been more than 23 years since the Miami Dolphins won a playoff game.

NCAA President Charlie Baker says Michigan won the national championship fair and square. He also defended his decision to inform the school and the Big Ten during the season that the NCAA was investigating a potential scouting and sign-stealing scheme. The second half of Michigan's perfect season was shadowed by the investigation and led to the Big Ten’s three-game suspension of Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh. Baker says the investigation was prompted by evidence from a third party and the work could take months.

Luis Severino worried about whether he was tipping batters to his fastball and changeup last season, a flaw the 29-year-old right-hander hopes to correct before he reports to the New York Mets for spring training. Severino says he thinks he needs “to address that now." New center fielder Harrison Bader was also on a Zoom call with reporters Wednesday to discuss his $10.5 million, one-year deal. Mets President of Baseball Operations David Stearns spoke publicly with media members for the first time since Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto turned down New York for a $325 million, 12-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Dec. 27.

Career highlights of Nick Saban, the Alabama coach who has reportedly decided to retire.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — Now the Harbaugh family goes for the sweep.

ATLANTA (AP) — Philadelphia center Joel Embiid, the reigning NBA MVP, missed the 76ers' game at the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday night with swelling in his left knee.

Corey Perry met with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman this week and remains eligible to sign with any team, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Antoine Griezmann scored against Real Madrid in the semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup on Wednesday to surpass Luis Aragonés as Atletico Madrid's all-time top scorer with 174 goals.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Milwaukee Bucks coach Adrian Griffin says Damian Lillard will be available for Thursday’s matchup with the Boston Celtics after missing a game for what the team labeled as personal reasons.

BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Never flashy or full of himself, Amari Cooper downplayed his record-setting performance a few weeks ago in Houston.

HONOLULU (AP) — Justin Rose is among 39 players at the Sony Open who started the new PGA Tour season last week at Kapalua, one of the eight signature events for the elite that offer $20 million in prize money and more FedEx Cup points than regular tournaments.

Iconic coach Nick Saban is retiring after leading Alabama to six national titles in 17 seasons and winning another at LSU.  The 72-year-old Saban, who restored a program once ruled over by Bear Bryant to the top of the college football world since taking over in 2007. His decision was first reported by ESPN. Saban led the Crimson Tide to eight Southeastern Conference championship and six national titles. Alabama lost to Michigan in the College Football Playoff semifinals.

Juan Soto, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Pete Alonso are among 194 players across Major League Baseball still negotiating salaries for the 2024 season leading into Thursday’s deadline to exchange proposed salaries in arbitration. Four players reached agreements on one-year contracts Wednesday: Colorado right-hander Cal Quantrill for $6.55 million, Kansas City left-hander Kris Bubic for $2.35 million, Pittsburgh righty JT Brubaker for $2,275,000 and Atlanta righty Huascar Ynoa for $825,000. Soto, Guerrero and Alonso headline the list of 194 abitration-eligible players still without a deal. If an agreement isn’t reached before Thursday’s deadline, players and teams swap proposed salaries to be judged by an arbitrator.

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) — The Tennessee Titans have requested an interview with Las Vegas interim coach Antonio Pierce, potentially giving the Raiders competition should they eventually offer him the full-time job.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Two late goals in extra time gave Real Madrid a 5-3 win over Atletico Madrid in the semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — Liverpool staged a second-half fightback and scored twice in a three-minute span to beat Fulham 2-1 in the first leg of the English League Cup semifinals on Wednesday.

EAGAN, Minn. (AP) — The arrival of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as Minnesota Vikings general manager two years ago initiated a personnel strategy he branded a “competitive rebuild,” shaped by an organization disinterest in tanking and a dire need for a younger and more financially flexible roster.

Aaron Rodgers’ Tuesday appearances on “The Pat McAfee Show” are over for the rest of this NFL season, possibly longer. McAfee announced at the beginning of his Wednesday show on ESPN that his fourth season of doing a weekly segment with the New York Jets quarterback had concluded. As his staff applauded in the background, McAfee said a lot of people would be happy to hear that news, including himself. Rodgers implied during a Jan. 2 appearance on McAfee’s show that comic Jimmy Kimmel’s name might appear on a list of associates of Jeffrey Epstein, a millionaire accused of sex trafficking involving underage victims before he died by suicide.

Rory McIlroy is offering another proposal to golf's fractured landscape, suggesting that players need to give up their status as independent contractors unless they want to go back to competing for prize funds from 10 years ago.

Defensive coordinator Wink Martindale and the New York Giants have parted ways after coach Brian Daboll fired two of his most trusted assistant coaches. The Giants announced the separation on Wednesday after more than a day of talks on how to work around the final year of Martindale’s contract. He was supposed to earn in the neighborhood of $3 million in 2024. No details of the split were released. The departure of Martindale means Daboll has to replace two coordinators and four assistants in the wake of a disappointing 6-11 season.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — The Chicago Bears are sticking with coach Matt Eberflus in 2024 after the team showed improvement over the second half of the season.

PHOENIX (AP) — The NCAA Division I Council approved a package of rules Wednesday related to how athletes are compensated for their celebrity endorsement work and proposed allowing schools to be more involved with such transactions that now total in the millions of dollars across the country.

UConn says forward Aubrey Griffin will miss the remainder of the season after doctors confirmed she suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee last week. The fifth-year senior forward was going up to contest a layup in the third quarter of the Huskies 94-50 win last Wednesday over Creighton when she grabbed her knee and collapsed to the floor. She decided to wait for an official diagnosis until the team returned from its two-game road trip to have the knee examined by UConn doctors, who confirmed the injury.

ROME (AP) — Lazio advanced to the Italian Cup semifinals by beating Roma 1-0 on Wednesday in a tense derby that saw three players sent off.

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — While the Washington Capitals try to return to the playoffs with the third-oldest roster in the NHL, coaches and players kept a keen eye on the world junior championship in Sweden.

Pete Carroll is out after 14 seasons as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, responsible for two NFC championships and the only Super Bowl title in franchise history during his long tenure. The 72-year old coach is moving into an advisory role with the organization, according to a statement from owner Jody Allen on Wednesday. Seattle closed the regular season with a 21-20 win at Arizona on Sunday. The Seahawks entered the final two weeks of the regular season with the chance at reaching the playoffs for the 11th time with Carroll in charge, but a Week 17 loss to Pittsburgh left Seattle in need of help it didn’t get to close out the season.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Clippers have signed two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard to a contract extension, the team said Wednesday.

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Just over a year after Lionel Messi led Argentina to the World Cup title in Qatar, international soccer is back in the Middle Eastern nation for the Asian Cup.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — There was always the hope, and perhaps even the expectation, that Chris Jones would still be wearing a Kansas City Chiefs jersey this season when he walked out of Arrowhead Stadium following their victory in the AFC championship game last year.

Police in South Florida say a man fatally shot a 30-year-old Buffalo Bills fan during an altercation outside Hard Rock Stadium after the Bills defeated the Miami Dolphins in the final regular season game. Miami Gardens police say Dylan Brody Isaacs and his friends had an altercation with a driver as they were returning to their vehicle after Sunday's game. Police say the driver pulled out a gun and shot Isaacs, who died at the scene. The man then fled in a Honda Accord, which was located in Palm Beach County the next day.  Detectives have identified and interviewed a suspect, but police haven't released the person's name.

Erik Spoelstra was hosting a clinic in the Philippines this past summer while the Miami Heat coach was there as an assistant with USA Basketball for the World Cup. One of the kids asked about his longevity with the Heat. Over the next few minutes, Spoelstra talked about friendships, loyalty and how fortunate he is that the Heat value stability. The latest reminder of all that came Tuesday with Miami signing Spoelstra to a history-making deal spanning eight years and worth roughly $120 million, the biggest contract in terms of total salary ever given to an NBA coach.

DALLAS (AP) — Marc-Andre Fleury’s quest to claim sole possession of second place in career NHL goaltending wins will wait until Friday.

Troy Lesesne has replaced Wayne Rooney as coach of D.C. United, two months after Lesesne was fired by the New York Red Bulls. The 40-year-old agreed to a three-year contract. Lesesne took over the Red Bulls from Gerhard Struber on May 8 with the team in last place. The Red Bulls made the playoffs by finishing eighth in the Eastern Conference and beat Charlotte in the first round before losing to Cincinnati. Lesesne coached New Mexico United in the second-tier United Soccer League Championship from 2018-21, then was hired as a Red Bulls assistant coach in January 2022.

Former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Julio Urías won’t be charged with a felony after his arrest in September on suspicion of domestic violence. A charge evaluation worksheet from the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office says Urías was arguing with his wife when he “pushed (her) against a fence and pulled her by the hair or shoulders.” However, the document says, “Neither the Victim’s injuries nor the Defendant’s criminal history justify a felony filing.” The DA is turning the case over to the city attorney to consider filing a misdemeanor. Urías still faces possible punishment from Major League Baseball, which could suspend the 27-year-old pitcher if it finds he violated the league’s domestic abuse policy.

ZURICH (AP) — The Brazilian and Argentine soccer federations were both fined by FIFA on Wednesday for a brawl between rival fans ahead of their World Cup qualifying game in November.