Good Morning! Today is Monday, January 13. Here’s what happened over the weekend in the world of sports.

NFL

Of the five playoff games this weekend, just one of them was close. But regardless, it’s my duty to tell you what happened in each matchup, so here we go:

• The Houston Texans relied on a strong defense and a few clutch plays from quarterback CJ Stroud to beat the Los Angeles Chargers 32-12. For those who weren’t aware, this game was broadcast on Nickelodeon– when Spongebob’s nemesis The Dirty Bubble “captured” Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh, his team was leading 6-0. I’m not saying that’s why LA completely fell apart, but we can’t rule it out. The Texans earned themselves a trip to Kansas City for the divisional round.

• Baltimore literally ran away with the second game on Saturday. The Ravens rushed for 299 yards and controlled every moment of their 28-14 win over the Steelers. Pittsburgh lost their last five games of the season. They’ve also trailed by 21 points or more in each of their last five playoff games, and haven’t won in the postseason since 2017. I’d say more about this one-sided affair, but a picture is worth a thousand words:

• Sunday morning began with the country’s introduction to Bo Nix, who looks like a star in the making. The rookie QB led Denver on a stunning touchdown drive to begin their contest against Buffalo. And then… Nix and his team sorta ran out of gas. Josh Allen and the Bills proved too much for the young Broncos, winning this one 31-7. The victory set up the game we’ve all been waiting for next weekend: Josh Allen for Lamar Jackson, with a conference championship berth on the line.

• The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers 22-10 in the second game yesterday. Credit to Green Bay running back Josh Jacobs for this awesome run, but the better team did enough to win. Philly doesn’t win any style points with this win– Jalen Hurts was 13-21 for just 131 yards– but they survive and advance to the next round.

• Finally, if you stuck with the football for long enough, you were rewarded with a thriller in Tampa Bay. Fourth down conversions, fumbles, and questionable coaching decisions– this game had a bit of everything. In the end, Washington Commanders rookie QB Jayden Daniels was the star of the show; with five minutes left and the game tied at 20, Daniels led his team down the length of the field to set up this game-winning field goal:

COLLEGE SPORTS

We won’t do a full recap since it was all the way back on Friday, but Ohio State beat Texas 28-14 to advance to the College Football National Championship. Jack Sawyer made the play of the game for the Buckeyes– it’s worth watching if you didn’t see it yet. We’ve also got a few highlights from college hoops this weekend:

• Cooper Flagg scored 42 points on Saturday, a new Duke freshman record. The Blue Devils beat Notre Dame 86-78.

• The South Carolina women’s team faced a tough test against (5) Texas yesterday. But the number two team in the country passed with flying colors, beating the Longhorns 67-50.

• I didn’t anticipate recapping the Pitt-SMU women’s game from yesterday, as neither team has more than 10 wins on the year. But then something incredible happened: trailing 46-14 just before halftime, Pitt came all the way back and won 72-59. They outscored SMU 28-0 in the third quarter on the way to one of the largest comebacks in NCAA history.

• The caption on this video explains it all… this might be the play of the weekend:

NBA and NHL

These two sports deserve their own sections (we’ll go more in-depth tomorrow), but they get combined today because it was a busy weekend. One interesting note from each league:

• Nikola Jokic and Russell Westbrook each recorded a triple-double on Friday, becoming the first set of teammates to achieve that feat twice in the same season. Amidst a lot of talented teams, don’t forget about Denver lurking in the west.

• Alexander Ovechkin scored again on Saturday, moving him closer to the all-time goals record. 21 goals away with 39 games remaining… I think he might do it this season.

TENNIS

The first Grand Slam of the year is under way down under, and we’ve already got some highlights:

• Hady Habib became the first Lebanese player to qualify for a Grand Slam, then he became the first Lebanese player to win a match.

• Upset alert! Stefanos Tsitsipas lost to American Alex Michelson in four sets.

Now it’s time for a new segment that I like to call “Australian Open matches that might be happening right now as you read this! Or they might be over, I have no way of knowing for sure.” Welcome to the exhilarating world of time zones… and if you have a chance this morning, flip on ESPN2 (or find your way to ESPN+) to check out these top players:

• Novak Djokovic just went down a break against American Nishesh Basavareddy, who is 4-4 lifetime as a professional tennis player. At the same time, the always-entertaining Nick Kyrgios may or may not be injured midway through the first set. Might either player be at the beginning of a lengthy five-setter? Is a monumental upset about to occur?

• More likely, you’ll catch the end of Naomi Osaka vs Caroline Garcia, a great matchup of veteran pros who hit the ball as hard as anyone.

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

This will most likely be our last Carson Beck update for a while– the former Georgia QB has announced his transfer to the University of Miami. Beck will replace potential first overall pick Cam Ward. He’ll also became classmates with his girlfriend, Hurricanes basketball player Hanna Cavinder.

The New England Patriots hired Mike Vrabel as their new head coach. A former linebacker for their Super Bowl winning teams, Vrabel last coached the Tennessee Titans, where he was coach of the year in 2021.

Want to hear something awesome? Steph Curry sat out this weekend’s game against the Pacers in Indiana due to an injury. Knowing the crowd might be disappointed in his absence, the superstar made time to meet with young fans. Check out the photos here– a pretty cool move by the greatest shooter of all-time.

TODAY’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

AUSTRALIAN OPEN:

• (20) Ekaterina Alexandrova vs Emma Raducanu, 7 PM

• (8) Emma Navarro vs Peyton Stearns, 7:30 PM

• Gael Monfils vs (3) Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, 8:30 PM

• (21) Ben Shelton vs Brandon Nakashima, 10:30 PM

NFL: Vikings @ Rams, 8 PM on ABC/ESPN

“This game is 90% mental and 10% physical for me. I bring it to every game and I read it between each drive,” explains AJ Brown in this Twitter/X post after fans asked he was seen reading a book on the sidelines during the game