Bills hold off Ravens; previewing Ohio State-Notre Dame CFP championship; Dodgers acquire Roki Sasaki

This is an article version of the CBS Sports HQ AM Newsletter, the ultimate guide to every day in sports. You can sign up to get it in your inbox every weekday morning here.

Good morning to all, but especially to …

THE BUFFALO BILLS

Kansas City, here they come. The Bills are heading to the AFC Championship game after a thrilling 27-25 win over the Ravens. Mark Andrews dropped a potential two-point conversion with under two minutes left in yet another heart-wrenching loss for Lamar Jackson and Baltimore.

Josh Allen wasn’t spectacular, but he was good enough to be ahead of the Ravens after 60 minutes of football. His 16 of 22 for 127 yards isn’t an MVP-like day, although he did also rush for 20 yards and two scores. James Cook had a combined 20 touches rushing and receiving for 82 yards. And Von Miller returned a Jackson fumble 39 yards to set up a set up the Bills’ third touchdown and 21-10 lead going into halftime.

As for all those mistakes by the Ravens:

• The possession before Andrews’ game-sealing drop, he lost a fumble that led to Buffalo extending its lead from five to eight.
• Baltimore also had two other turnovers — a bad Jackson interception and a Jackson fumble after a snap gone awry — plus another failed two-point conversion earlier in the game. Buffalo didn’t have a turnover.
• The Ravens had four drops and five penalties. The Bills had no drops and one penalty.

That’s how you win a game in which you get out-gained 416-273. And now, the Bills get a chance, again, at revenge against the Chiefs. It’s the fourth time in the last five seasons these two have met in the postseason.

• 2023 divisional round: The Chiefs won 27-24 after Tyler Bass missed a potential game-tying field goal.
• 2021 divisional round: The Chiefs won 42-36 in overtime. The Bills led by three with 13 seconds left in regulation, but the Chiefs went 44 yards in 10 seconds to set up Harrison Butker‘s 49-yard field goal, and Patrick Mahomes found Travis Kelce for a touchdown on the first possession of overtime.
• 2020 AFC Championship: The Chiefs won 38-24.

All you can ask for is a chance, and the Bills — who were the only team to beat the Chiefs’ starters this season — have a great one … again.

As for the other winners …

• The Eagles held on for a 28-22 win over the Rams thanks to a monster day from Saquon Barkley (205 yards rushing, two touchdowns) and a crucial sack from Jalen Carter. Jalen Hurts appeared to suffer a knee injury, and though he didn’t miss any time, he didn’t do much after the injury, either. He’s confident he can play in the NFC Championship.
• The Commanders stunned the Lions, 45-31, for the franchise’s first trip to the NFC Championship since the 1991 season. Jayden Daniels is a superstar: 299 yards and two touchdowns passing, 51 yards rushing, zero sacks/turnovers. He’s having the best postseason ever for a rookie quarterback, Jeff Kerr says. Quan Martin had a pick six for a Washington defense that produced five turnovers. More on this one in a bit …
• The Chiefs beat the Texans, 23-14, becoming the first team to win a playoff game despite being outgained by 100 yards and not forcing a turnover. The refs probably helped a bit, but so, too, did the defense sacking C.J. Stroud eight times and Travis Kelce (eight receptions, 117 yards, one touchdown) having a record-setting game. Taylor Swift and Caitlin Clark were there to see it.

Honorable mentions

• Here’s the Championship Sunday schedule.
• Steve Sarkisian got an extension and a raise from Texas.
• The Falcons hired Jeff Ulbrich as defensive coordinator.
• The Bucks are interested in Bradley Beal.
• What a weekend in men’s college basketball! No. 4 Alabama beat No. 8 Kentucky, 102-97, another high-scoring affair for the Crimson Tide. Elsewhere, West Virginia upset No. 2 Iowa State, Vanderbilt took down No. 6 Tennessee, and No. 1 Auburn eked out a 63-61 win over No. 23 Georgia. Here are our winners and losers from the weekend.
• Plus Dayton threw a full-court alley-oop buzzer-beater.
• On the women’s side, No. 2 South Carolina crushed No. 13 Oklahoma,101-60, a record-setting blowout.
• Unrivaled produced a thrilling opening weekend, highlighted by Skylar Diggins-Smith making a game-winning 3 in the first game … and a game-winning foul shot. Here’s the schedule.
• At UFC 311, Merab Dvalishvili rallied past Umar Nurmagomedov to retain his bantamweight title, and Islam Makhachev submitted Renato Moicano to retain his lightweight title. Here are our takeaways, and here are fights that should happen next.
• The USMNT cruised past Venezuela, 3-1.
• Timothy Weah scored a goal for Juventus, while his fellow USMNT stars Weston McKennie and Yunus Musah continued to perform well.
• Alyssa Naeher was named 2024 U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year.
• Sepp Straka won the American Express. Overseas, Tyrrell Hatton won the Dubai Desert Classic.

And not such a good morning for …

THE BALTIMORE RAVENS AND THE DETROIT LIONS

Every time you want to believe in the Ravens, that this is the team, with its MVP quarterback, great running game and stout defense, they do this. Too. Many. Mistakes. In Jackson’s five career playoff losses, the Ravens have committed 13 turnovers and forced only one. This was the first time the Ravens had a negative-three turnover differential since … their AFC Championship loss to the Chiefs last season. Fitting.

Jackson and Josh Allen present a fascinating study. Both 2018 draftees are incredible talents who have improved leaps and bounds but come up short in the playoffs. They are the top two MVP candidates this year.

But Jackson has 11 turnovers in eight career playoff games. Allen has six turnovers in 12 career playoff games, and zero in his past four. Both are marvelous players, and some of the plays Jackson made Sunday were absolutely jaw-dropping. But it’s the mistakes that haunted Jackson once again — he admitted as much postgame — and Jeff says the Ravens blew their best Super Bowl chance with Jackson.

Moving onto the Lions, last year, after they blew a 17-point lead in the NFC Championship against the 49ers, Dan Campbell emotionally told them, “This may have been our only shot.”

It was refreshingly honest from Campbell then, and it proved prescient after Detroit’s stunning loss to the Commanders. Campbell was emotional again, and it’s understandable, again. This is a franchise that rose from laughingstock to powerhouse and league darling.

And then this: Jared Goff turned the ball over four times — thrice in scoring positions — and Jameson Williams threw an ill-advised pass on a trick play that resulted in an interception. Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson might’ve reached into his deep bag of tricks one too many times. A defense devastated by injuries had few answers.

Now you see why it’s so hard to get here. Now you wonder how hard it will be to get back. Detroit has had the good fortune of keeping its coordinators despite its success, but teams are very interested in Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn for head coaching jobs.

Then you consider other year-to-year variance — injuries, acquisitions, improvement/decline, luck, etc. — and you wonder: Has Detroit’s championship window closed? Garrett Podell says …

• Podell: “Detroit has now experienced that same Goff ceiling in consecutive postseasons … He’s great when surrounded by an elite cast of weapons and a top-tier play-caller, but when asked to elevate his team when the lights are brightest — whether that’s been in Detroit or Los Angeles — he’s faltered. … Assuming health is tricky, but one would think it would have to be better in 2025 after Detroit had six defensive starters and 16 total players on injured reserve. … The Lions will be a postseason regular going forward, but … the current window could close soon.”

As for the other losers …

• You work all year for opportunities like what the Rams had — 13 yards from a trip to the NFC Championship — and then you blow one assignment, give up one sack, and the season is over. This is a tough one.
• The Texans showed real toughness hanging with the Chiefs, but it just wasn’t enough. The defense is terrific, and Stroud to Nico Collins is a top-tier combination. I’m excited to see what’s next for Houston, which has holes to fill but isn’t that far away.

Not so honorable mentions

• With the Commanders’ win, every NFC team has made the conference championship since 2011 — except for the Cowboys, who haven’t made it since 1996. Tough look for “America’s Team” (lol).
• What a brutal postseason for the NFC North.
• A referee got knocked to the ground trying to break up a Ravens-Bills scuffle.
• The Commanders suffered a big loss in Samuel Cosmi (torn ACL).
• Kris Boyd addressed shoving his special teams coach.
• Brandon Miller (wrist) is out indefinitely.
• Danielle Collins isn’t making friends with the locals at the Australian Open.
• Xavier Lucas transferred from Wisconsin to Miami without entering the portal. Now we have potential legal battles and tampering allegations.
• Here’s why Novak Djokovic skipped a post-match interview.

College Football Playoff national championship preview, picks

Notre Dame was left for dead when it lost to Northern Illinois early. Ohio State looked lifeless in a rivalry loss to Michigan late.

Tonight, the Buckeyes and the Fighting Irish, against all odds and storylines following those games, play for a national championship.

Ohio State is an 8.5-point favorite, and for good reason. Ever since a players-only meeting after that loss to Michigan, the Buckeyes have been on a roll. They hammered Tennessee and Oregon before Jack Sawyer made one of the all-time great plays in program history to seal a semifinal win over Texas. Tonight, Ohio State has the edge in nearly every category.

But games aren’t played on paper. Dennis Dodd outlines the narrow path for a Fighting Irish win, and Chip Patterson has five keys for the underdogs, including …

• Patterson: “Points off turnovers — Notre Dame has been gaining edges all year thanks to the best points off turnovers performance in the country. … Notre Dame has created more opportunities than anyone else for those points with the most turnovers gained in the country and have done a good job of balancing that on offense to produce the country’s fifth-best turnover margin. When looking at the ways to close the gap with Ohio State, creating free possessions and then making the Buckeyes pay for their mistakes is a huge way to level the playing field.”

Here are Tom Fornelli’s keys for the Buckeyes, and here are his best bets. We also have picks from all of our experts.

Here’s more:

• Dennis’ full preview
• Marcus Freeman is the first Black or Asian head coach in the national championship game. He’s also a former Buckeye, and former teammates say he’s always been a composed leader.
• How about these defensive coordinators? Jim Knowles can add a cherry on top of a remarkable career, and Al Golden has infused his attitude into his unit.
• Don’t sleep on Carnell Tate.

Dodgers sign Roki Sasaki, Tanner Scott to continue massive offseason

The rich get richer, and the Dodgers‘ pockets are seemingly deeper than ever. Los Angeles won the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes Friday and supplemented that coup by signing Tanner Scott to a four-year, $72 million deal Sunday.

As an amateur international free agent, Sasaki only received a $6.5-million signing bonus despite being worth much more than that. The 23-year-old righty has a 2.35 career ERA in the Nippon Professional Baseball League (Japan) and burst on the scene with a 19-strikeout perfect game back in 2022.

Sasaki was the No. 7 free agent in R.J. Anderson’s rankings.

• Anderson: “He combines elite velocity with a devastating swing-and-miss splitter/forkball. Sasaki has dealt with his share of injuries, limiting him to 33 combined starts across the last two seasons. His earning potential is completely suppressed because of his amateur free agent classification. Nevertheless, a fully actualized Sasaki has a chance to be an immediate impact starter in the majors.”

The Dodgers beat out the Padres and Blue Jays, another notable whiff for Toronto. And no, there was no tampering, though Sasaki does have connections to Japan teammates Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who he’ll now join in the rotation. And what a rotation it is:

1. RHP Shohei Ohtani
2. LHP Blake Snell
3. RHP Tyler Glasnow
4. RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto
5. RHP Roki Sasaki
6. RHP Tony Gonsolin
7. RHP Dustin May

You’ll notice that list doesn’t include Clayton Kershaw, though bringing him back could be next.

Scott joins a loaded bullpen behind that rotation. Here’s R.J.’s scouting report on Scott, who posted a 1.75 ERA and made his first All-Star Game last season and was the No. 27 free agent in the class.

What we’re watching Monday

Mavericks at Hornets, noon on NBA TV
Timberwolves at Grizzlies, 2:30 p.m. on TNT/truTV
Baylor vs. No. 1 UCLA (W), 3 p.m. on Fox
Celtics at Warriors, 5 p.m. on TNT/truTV
No. 7 Texas vs. No. 8 Maryland (W), 5:30 p.m. on Fox
CFP championship: (8) Ohio State vs. (7) Notre Dame, 7:30 p.m. on ESPN
Unrivaled, 7:30 p.m. on TNT