FILE – Pittsburgh Pirates’ Ed Ott slides across home late out of reach of Orioles catcher Rick Dempsey to score the winning run in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the World Series at Baltimore, Oct. 11, 1979. Ott, a former major league catcher and coach who helped the Pirates win the 1979 World Series, died Sunday, March 3, 2024. (AP Photo, File)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ed Ott, a former major league catcher and coach who helped the Pittsburgh Pirates win the 1979 World Series, has died. He was 72. The Pirates say Ott died Sunday in the central Pennsylvania town of Danville. No further details were provided by the team. Ott was selected by Pittsburgh in the 23rd round of the 1970 amateur draft out of high school. He batted .259 with 33 homers and 195 RBIs in 567 major league games. Ott and Steve Nicosia were the main catchers when the Pirates won it all in 1979.

Edmonton Oilers celebrate a goal against the Pittsburg Penguins during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, on Sunday March 3, 2024. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Zach Hyman scored two goals and Leon Draisaitl had three assists as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-1. Ryan McLeod and Connor McDavid each had a goal and an assist, and Corey Perry and Cody Ceci also scored for the Oilers, who have won four in a row and are 31-8-1 in their last 40 games. Calvin Pickard stopped 22 shots. Evgeni Malkin scored for the Penguins in their third straight loss. Alex Nedeljkovic finished with 31 saves.

Pittsburgh Penguins players celebrate Erik Karlsson’s overtime goal as Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko, left, skates off the ice during an NHL hockey game Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Erik Karlsson scored the winning goal at 1:42 of overtime to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to their third consecutive victory, 4-3 over the Vancouver Canucks. Rickard Rakell, with two goals, and Lars Eller added the others for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry made 32 saves between regulation and overtime. J.T. Miller, with a goal and an assist, Nils Hoglander and Brock Boeser scored for Vancouver with Tyler Myers grabbing an assist. Thatcher Demko stopped 36 shots. Sidney Crosby had two assists for the Penguins.

Daniel Suarez (99), left, edges out Kyle Busch (8), center, and Ryan Blaney (12) at the finish line to win during the NASCAR auto race at Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — Daniel Suarez edged Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch in a three-wide finish to win a crashed-filled NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Busch, who won the Trucks race on Saturday, moved to the middle between Blaney, the 2023 Cup Series champion, and Suarez to set the stage for the dramatic finish. Suarez earned his second career Cup Series win in his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet. Blaney was second, only three one-thousands of a second behind. Busch was third. A massive pileup of at least 16 cars on the race’s second lap set the pace for a procession of wrecks.

Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby (87) celebrates his goal with Bryan Rust after scoring during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Pittsburgh, Sunday, Feb. 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Drew O’Connor and Rickard Rakell scored less than two minutes apart in the third period to break open a tie game and the Pittsburgh Penguins held off the Philadelphia Flyers 7-6. Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists for Pittsburgh. The Penguins captain has 129 points (55 goals, 74 assists) in 87 regular season games against the Flyers. That’s the most by any opponent against Philadelphia. Travis Sanheim and Tyson Foerster had two goals each for the Flyers.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) holds up the Lamar Hunt Trophy next to Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) after the AFC Championship NFL football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024, in Baltimore. The Chiefs won 17-10. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs are heading to Las Vegas with a chance for a rare repeat while facing the San Francisco 49ers in a Super Bowl rematch from four years ago. The Chiefs beat Lamar Jackson and the No. 1-seeded Baltimore Ravens 17-10 in the AFC championship game Sunday to advance to the Super Bowl for the fourth time in five years. Brock Purdy later rallied the No. 1-seeded 49ers to a 34-31 victory over Detroit in the NFC title game. The Chiefs will try to become the first back-to-back champions since New England during the 2003-04 seasons. The 49ers seek a record-tying sixth Super Bowl title in their eighth appearance.

FILE – Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Brian Johnson speaks with members of the media at the NFL football team’s training facility in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. The Eagles have fired offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024.(AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

CLEVELAND (AP) — A person familiar with the team’s plans tells The Associated Press that the Cleveland Browns are interviewing former Philadelphia offensive coordinator Brian Johnson, who was fired by Eagles coach Nick Sirianni on Tuesday. He’s meeting with the Browns on Thursday to be their coordinator, said the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because the team is not making moves public until coach Kevin Stefanski fills out his staff. Stefanski fired offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt last week. Johnson was ousted by Sirianni after Philadelphia lost to Tampa Bay in the wild-card round. Johnson coached Philadelphia’s quarterbacks in 2021 before being promoted to coordinator when Shane Steichen left to coach in Indianapolis.

FILE – Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, center, and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, right, embrace after an NFL football game, Sept. 28, 2020, in Baltimore. Past NFL MVPs Jackson and Mahomes will face each other in the AFC championship game in Baltimore on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Gail Burton, File

Recent evidence shows that the NFL conference title game participants most often employ first-rounders at the sport’s most important position. That trend is reflected in Sunday’s matchups: Patrick Mahomes’ Chiefs versus Lamar Jackson’s Ravens in the AFC, and Jared Goff’s Lions versus Brock Purdy’s 49ers in the NFC. Three outta four ain’t bad. The only newcomer to this round among the quartet is Jackson, who becomes the 30th quarterback to start a conference title game in the last 15 seasons. Twenty of those 30 QBs were first-round picks. But the ways this quartet of QBs arrived at their current clubs demonstrate that going through a season so bad that a team is in position to take a franchise QB with one of the top few picks isn’t always the path to success.