AP Sports SummaryBrief at 5:14 p.m. EST

Bills’ Hamlin breathing on his own, joins team via video

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s agent says the player is breathing on his own and able to talk after having his breathing tube removed. It comes four days after he went into cardiac arrest and was resuscitated on the field. Hamlin also joined the team’s morning meeting by videoconference and told them “love you guys.” The 24-year-old Hamlin was listed Thursday in critical condition in the intensive care unit of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

NFL owners approve playoff plan after Bills-Bengals canceled

NFL owners have approved a resolution that could lead to a neutral site for the AFC championship in response to the cancellation of Monday night’s Bills-Bengals game after Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field. NFL teams held a special meeting to consider the recommendation of Commissioner Roger Goodell and the league’s competition committee. Hamlin is breathing on his own and able to talk after having his breathing tube removed, his agent said. It’s the latest step in his remarkable recovery in the four days since going into cardiac arrest during the game at Cincinnati. Hamlin even joined the Bills’ team meeting via videoconference.

No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz out of Australian Open with leg injury

Top-ranked Carlos Alcaraz has pulled out of the Australian Open because of an injured right leg. The 19-year-old from Spain wrote on social media Friday that he got hurt “through a chance, unnatural movement in training.” Alcaraz won the U.S. Open last September and rose to the top of the ATP rankings. He is the youngest man to finish a season at No. 1 since the computerized men’s tennis rankings began a half-century ago. This is his second significant setback in recent months. Alcaraz cut short last season in November after tearing an abdominal muscle while competing at the Paris Masters.

Column: A round of applause, please, for playoff-crasher TCU

AP Sports Columnist Paul Newberry says TCU has given the College Football Playoff something it desperately needed: Variety.  The four-team playoff has been largely monopolized by a group of powerful programs during its first eight years of existence. Alabama has played in the title game six times. Clemson reached the finale four times. Ohio State and Georgia were two-time finalists before this season. Now along comes TCU. Newberry says the Horned Frogs have already made this playoff a winner even before Monday’s showdown with Georgia for the national championship.

Shiffrin focusing on the process as she nears Vonn’s record

It’s never been just about wins for Mikaela Shiffrin. Not when she didn’t win any of her five individual races at last year’s Beijing Olympics. And not during her current five-race winning streak. Even when her next victory will tie her with Lindsey Vonn for the women’s World Cup record at 82 wins apiece. U.S. ski team women’s head coach Paul Kristofic says Shiffrin is “a great process-oriented person” and that records are “not really the motivating factor every day when she goes to race.” Shiffrin has a chance to both match and surpass Vonn’s mark this weekend at two giant slaloms Saturday and Sunday in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia.

Sports betting markets forced to adjust to higher scoring

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The recent rise in NBA and NHL scoring has caused the betting markets to respond in kind. Sportsbooks are posting totals that would have been unimaginable not long ago. NBA teams were averaging 113.8 points a game through Thursday. That is the highest figure since the 1969-70 season when the average was 116.7. NHL teams were averaging 3.17 goals a game. That is the highest number since the 1993-94 season when the figure was 3.24. The College Football Playoff semifinals were two shootouts, following a more long-range trend.

Family ties have long run strong in the ranks of NFL coaches

Luke Steckel is finishing his 10th season working with the Tennessee Titans, the very same NFL team his father worked for once. That connection didn’t get Luke Steckel into the NFL. That credit goes to a college friend. The potential downside of football as a family business lurks in the issue of nepotism. Fathers hiring sons or recommending them to friends can unwittingly perpetuate the sport’s long struggle with consistently placing coaches of color in the top roles. The NFL’s annual diversity and inclusion report acknowledged the issue as recently as 2020. That cited internal league research that 63 NFL coaches were related either biologically or through marriage.

Sophia Smith named US Soccer Female Player of the Year

Forward Sophia Smith has been named the U.S. Soccer Female Player of the Year after leading the national team with 11 goals and starting in a team-high 17 matches. The 22-year-old Smith is the youngest player to win the award since Mia Hamm won it at age 22 in 1994. Smith is also the youngest player to lead the United States in scoring since Hamm had 10 goals in 1993.

Djokovic advances to face Medvedev in Adelaide semis

ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Novak Djokovic beat Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 6-4 at the Adelaide International to set up a semifinal with Daniil Medvedev. The combined ATP-WTA event is a warmup for this year’s Australian Open which the top-seeded Djokovic missed last year after being barred from the country because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19. Medvedev defeated fellow Russian Karen Khachanov 6-3, 6-3. The Russian was the runner-up last year to Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open. World No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka was the first woman through to the semifinals after beating Marketa Vondrousova 6-3, 7-5.

Browns done with Jadeveon Clowney after critical comments

BEREA, Ohio (AP) — Cleveland Browns defensive end Jadeveon Clowney was sent home Friday and will not practice after he made critical comments about the team. The Browns will play their season finale Sunday in Pittsburgh, and Clowney will not make the trip. Coach Kevin Stefanski said ‘nothing comes above the team.’ Clowney is in his second season with the Browns. He said in an interview Thursday with cleveland.com that he didn’t feel appreciated and was “95% sure” he wasn’t coming back for a third season. Clowney also said the Browns are giving Pro Bowl defensive end Myles Garrett preferential treatment and were focused only on getting him to the Hall of Fame.