Where to begin after another big weekend in soccer? Arsenal humbled Spurs in the North London Derby, Real Madrid kept the pressure on Atletico Madrid in La Liga, Inter Milan took another big step towards the Series title in Italy, and Bayern Munich got a little bit of breathing room (thanks to Robert Lewandowski) over their rivals in the Bundesliga. There were also talking points galore around Chelsea, Man United, Cristiano Ronaldo's future (Juventus or somewhere else?) and PSG's slimming hopes of defending their Ligue 1 title.

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It's Monday, and Gab Marcotti reacts to the biggest moments in the world of football from the past week.

Jump to: Arteta's 'triple win' | Real's late, late win | Greenwood, Shaw impress | Ronaldo to leave Juve? | Tuchel's work at Chelsea | Inter inching to Serie A title | Lewandowski leads Bayern | Man City rotate, keep winning | Atletico held 0-0 | PSG's title grip slips | Bellingham stars for Dortmund | Napoli beat Milan | Leipzig draw

Three wins in one for Mikel Arteta: great Arsenal performance, great result, Aubameyang

At this stage of the Premier League season, with 9 or 10 games remaining, performance has to matter more than results for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta. They're 10th in the table, 10 points outside the top four. Even a spot in the Europa League for finishing fifth is five points away, and, what's more, there are four clubs they'd need to leapfrog. So the aim has to be to grow, get to know your players better, define the chemistry you want and chase the one trophy you can still win: the Europa League itself.

That said, Arteta got both a result and a performance in the North London Derby against Tottenham. Call it a "Double Win," which becomes a "Triple Win" when you consider the benching of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for a "disciplinary matter," later widely reported to be showing up late to a team meeting on matchday. That matters too.

- Olley: Arteta's Arsenal back up strong talk vs. Spurs
- Arsenal ratings: Tierney, Lacazette come up big
- Mourinho blasts players for 'hiding' during derby defeat

It's not so much the substance of what Arteta did, either. It's a nice idea to think that all players are treated equally and if you break team rules, you pay the price but, in practice, no manager -- heck, no boss or leader of people -- consistently acts that way. Stars are treated differently and (often) rightly so, because doing things like this to make a point can end up hurting the entire team. If you do decide to crack down -- and evidently, Arteta thought the time was ripe -- you have to make sure it doesn't blow up in your face, which is what could have happened if Arsenal had not won, or if Aubameyang had come on and scored and maybe had a go at his manager.

Disciplining Aubameyang -- he's not just Arsenal's highest-paid player and last season's top goal scorer, but also a captain -- was a huge call in the moment, and the way it panned out only strengthens Arteta. This matters because viewed from the outside, you wondered if Arteta was a bit of a "soft touch" not just in terms of some of his players, but some of the club's odd transfers as well. This was a statement.

In terms of performance, Arsenal again shuffled the deck and got top-drawer performances from Kieran Tierney and Emile Smith-Rowe in particular. They dominated Tottenham who, improbable as it sounds, managed just one shot for the first 70 minutes of the game -- and that shot happened to be Erik Lamela's "rabona" goal. That's partly down to Tottenham's deficiencies, and partly down to the way Arsenal kept winning back possession and controlled the middle of the park.

Losing Heung-Min Son to injury in the first half was a blow to Jose Mourinho, but as he himself conceded, it can't alone justify a stinker of a first half. Indeed, Spurs only came alive at the end once they were down to 10 men (after two quick yellow cards for Lamela) and chasing the game. Too little, too late.

Postmatch, Mourinho pointed out the big decision that went against his team, when Davinson Sanchez's leg collided with Alexandre Lacazette's after the Frenchman whiffed on his shot and referee Michael Oliver awarded a penalty, which Lacazette himself converted. It's not hard to see why Mourinho was annoyed: there's a case to be made that Sanchez was going to block the shot and only made contact because Lacazette missed the ball entirely.

Two points to be made here. One is that it's entirely irrelevant whether Lacazette had a chance to get his shot off or not: it's not as if a forward can't be fouled after he takes a shot.

The other is that the video assistant referee, Paul Tierney, did not intervene, presumably because it wasn't a clear and obvious error. There's no question that there was contact and if the referee, Oliver, felt he saw it clearly, then it becomes a judgement call and not an error. What we don't know is exactly what Oliver saw or what he told Tierney -- chalk it up as another example where releasing the conversations between VAR and referee would add transparency to the game.

Certainly, if Tierney had asked him to take another look and then Oliver stuck by his decision, few would have had a problem with it. I know I wouldn't. It's the classic call that can go either way and is down to a referee's interpretation, but is easier to accept when you're sure he has all the facts and all the angles.

Ramos and Hazard are back, but Real Madrid leave it late (again)

Against relegation-threatened Elche, you got the distinct impression that Zinedine Zidane expected little more than a training match. He played a back three to get Sergio Ramos (returning after a two-month absence) in a back three and allowed him a run-out without overly exerting himself, he gave Toni Kroos and Luka Modric a rest, and we even got to see Eden Hazard for the last 15 minutes (he'd been out since January, though it appears he's headed to the doctor again after a setback on Monday).

- Benzema the star as Real Madrid win again
- Zidane can't explain Hazard's latest injury setback

The result was somewhat predictable. Real Madrid created little, failed to capitalise and went a goal down at the hour-mark before Zidane brought on the cavalry in the form of Modric and Kroos. And just as predictably, Karim Benzema bailed them out, scoring the equaliser and then the injury-time winner. (By the way, Benzema passed the legendary Alfredo Di Stefano to become the third leading goalscorer in the club's history with 269. Only Raul, with 324, and Cristiano Ronaldo, with 450, are ahead of him.)

The dramatic 2-1 win leaves Real Madrid six points behind Atletico but, more importantly, it leaves them where we left them: a team that is hugely dependent on a clutch of players (Thibaut Courtois, Casemiro, Benzema, Modric and Kroos) and that struggles to score. Will Sergio Ramos and Hazard change that? Real Madrid's season rather depends on an affirmative answer.

Greenwood offers glimpse of what's to come for Man United

If your glass is permanently half-empty, then beyond the result, there's little to cheer in Manchester United's 1-0 win over West Ham. It was a dull game, Marcus Rashford missed a sitter, West Ham had a late chance and the only score came courtesy of a gifted own goal. Yeah, Man United stay second, but only through inertia.

- Dawson: Man United kick off huge week with win
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- Solskjaer: Pogba could return for Europa League tie vs. Milan

Or you could look at it as United playing without Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Edinson Cavani, and beating a side that are fifth in the table and had won three of four games prior to Sunday, with their only defeat coming against Manchester City.

The fact is, United's season is what it is. Judge it by playing style and results, and there's moderate progress overall -- evolution, not revolution, as my colleague Mark Ogden calls it.

Judge it by the growth of individual players, and there's a bit more to cheer. Luke Shaw and Mason Greenwood are two examples of this. Shaw is a reclamation process after years of injuries and issues with previous managers (one in particular). Greenwood, lest we forget, doesn't turn 20 until October and has already made 90 appearances for the club. (And, no, his supposed lack of goals isn't much of an issue to me given he's played out wide for much of the year and scored 17 last season.)

These are marginal gains, but it's important, I think, not to lose sight of them. At some point, the next step as I see it is to give Greenwood a run up front, maybe in a front two.

Ronaldo's perfect hat trick answers critics, but speculation over his future won't go away

Cristiano Ronaldo notched a perfect hat trick (left foot, right foot, header) as Juventus romped past Cagliari 3-1 Sunday, a perfect riposte to the criticism he received against Porto. Yes, he had one of his worst games in recent memory and Juventus went out of the Champions League, but then his team were abjectly bad for the entire first leg and the first half of the second leg; when that happens, it's not all down to one guy.

- Ogden: Assessing Ronaldo's options including Man United return
- Pele salutes Ronaldo for passing official goal record
- Ronaldo's perfect hat trick fuels big Juve win

Talk of whether Juventus would be better off without him (and his $60m-plus annual salary) may well have rankled him, and when he collided with Cagliari keeper Alessio Cragno going for the ball, you wondered for a minute if he'd lost control. It was the sort of challenge that could easily have been a red card and was exceedingly dangerous. Ronaldo was likely spared a sending off (he received a caution instead) because he appeared to pull out at the last second, blunting the force of the blow, immediately apologising. Cragno himself seemed fine after. But, in fact, he put on a master class taking his Serie A total to 23 goals, well on track to pass last year's total of 31.

After the game, Juve sporting director Fabio Paratici reiterated that the club had no plans to shift him, but those remarks won't stop speculation. Part of the issue here is folks conflating the exit against Porto with the season he's having and Juve's broader situation. He's having a tremendous season (regardless of age), and Juve's financial situation is poor, exacerbated by the pandemic. Other than the fact that they'll earn a little less from the Champions League because of the exit, the latter two factors have zero to do with his performance against Porto, which was a one-off.

That doesn't mean it isn't legitimate to ask the question: Would Juventus be better off letting him go in the summer, making some money back and investing the enormous savings on younger players? Especially if they're not going to extend his contract, which expires in 2022, which means they'll lose him for free anyway.

My sense is that first and foremost it's Cristiano's decision, and every indication is that he has no plans to move on. He's playing his best football under Andrea Pirlo, and free agency in 2022 isn't necessarily a bad thing (on the contrary). From Juve's perspective, it makes little sense to usher him out the door. His wages mean the market for him is hugely limited (aside, perhaps from Manchester United in a sort of Edinson Cavani-upgrade role) and not only is he producing on the pitch, he's also an ideal role model for the youngsters they're assembling.

It's best to wait and revisit this in 12 months' time.

The Tuchel era at Chelsea after 10 games: less in attack, a lot more in defense

One of the remarkable things about Thomas Tuchel's stint at Chelsea is that only one opposing player (Southampton's Takumi Minamino, for those who like their trivia) has scored against them. The only other goal they've conceded was this own goal by Antonio Rudiger. Tuchel was credited for settling down Paris Saint-Germain's defence when he arrived, but the fewest goals they conceded with him at the helm was 0.58 in the half-season before he was sacked in December. And that was at PSG, whose resources dwarf the opposition domestically -- certainly more so than Chelsea. Prior to that, his teams had never conceded less than a goal a game on average.

- Ogden: Hope for Pulisic amid worst spell at Chelsea

It's true that some of it may be down to scheduling: Chelsea haven't played Manchester City in that run, but they have played Liverpool, Manchester United, Tottenham and Everton, all of whom are in the top eight. And he's done it while alternating wingbacks (we even got to see Christian Pulisic there on Saturday) and central midfielders, while restoring guys like Antonio Rudiger and Marcos Alonso, who played little under his predecessor, Frank Lampard.

The flip side is that Chelsea are scoring less -- 1.1 goals per game, compared to 1.73 with Lampard -- and, for what it's worth, the xG numbers also reflect this, both in attack and defence: the former are down a little, the latter are down a lot.

Is this a reason to worry? Not right now. Settling a defence is easier than sorting out an attack. In Chelsea's case, they have so many weapons that he'd be foolish not to give everyone a shot, though when you do that, you lose chemistry. Kai Havertz was up this weekend against Leeds, he could have scored (but didn't) and, obviously, when he plays it's entirely different than when Timo Werner or Olivier Giroud or Tammy Abraham lead the line.

It feels as if his goal is twofold: get Chelsea into the top four and figure out what sort of team you want out there next season. The stingy defence and low-scoring attack we're seeing is a byproduct of this. A temporary one, Chelsea hope.

Martinez comes up big for Inter, but you know Conte isn't relaxing yet

Inter's 2-1 win over Torino on Sunday, coupled with Milan's defeat at Napoli, means their lead at the top of Serie A stretches to nine points with 11 games to go. Yet it's still too early to crown them champions, if only for the fact that you can be sure manager Antonio Conte isn't ready to do it.

Knowing Conte a little, I can assure you he looks at this weekend's game and realises that, despite a bright start, Inter were heading towards a 1-1 draw before Lautaro Martinez's magisterial header. If you're a manager -- especially if you're Conte -- you know you can't rely on moments of individual brilliance to win games. If they happen, they're a bonus and ones you'll happily take, but it's not your game plan. And if anything, you can bet he's using that Torino game as a wake-up call.

Lewandowski could have scored five as Bayern power past Werder Bremen

They don't keep accurate historical statistics on the number of times you hit the woodwork (at least as far as I know). Heck, they don't even count as shots on target for the stat-heads. But anybody who has played, at any level, knows full well how close he came to scoring five goals for Bayern against Werder Bremen as he scored once and hit the woodwork an incredible four times in a 3-1 win.

The shot that did go on in marked his 268th goal, putting him into second place in the all-time Bundesliga scoring table, level with the legendary Klaus Fischer. Of course, it's taken him just 345 league games to reach that mark, whereas Fischer did it in 535.

Gerd Muller still has a 97-goal lead in first place, and with Lewandowski turning 33 in the summer, the all-time record is probably out of reach. What's entirely in reach, though, is the single-season mark set by (who else?) Muller in 1971-72. Lewandowski needs eight goals to equal it and there are nine games left; but for the woodwork, he would have been a heck of a lot closer after this weekend.

Overall, there were plenty of encouraging signs for Bayern in their victory. Lucas Hernandez slotted nicely into the back line, Jerome Boateng looked solid and Thomas Muller served up two assists, reminding us just why he's so critical to this team.

Man City are now in "load management" territory as Aguero ponders next steps

Manchester City's 3-0 win at Fulham wasn't one of their sterling, dominant performances, but then, it didn't need to be. They've won every single game they've played in the past three months, bar one. We've entered "load management" territory, where Pep Guardiola can rotate and experiment and pace his squad in their pursuit of the Quadruple (Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Champions League), which is still very much alive.

That's why, against an in-form Fulham, Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez and Kevin De Bruyne were left on the bench, while Raheem Sterling was left at home. Guardiola no doubt has a best XI in his head, but he's trying to make it a best XV or even a best XX from which he can pick 11 guys based on fitness, fatigue levels and the level of opposition. It's a luxury, but it's one City have earned this season.

- Olley: Aguero scores first goal in 14 months, but will City keep him?

City's third goal was a penalty scored by Sergio Aguero, who hadn't scored a Premier League goal in nearly 14 months. He has obviously had his injuries, but equally, with his contract expiring in the summer (and no indication that he'll get a new one), you wonder how that has impacted on his playing time. Aguero turns 33 in June; if clubs believe he's fit, he should have no shortage of offers. It's worth remembering after all that in the first six months of last season, he scored 21 goals in 23 appearances for City in all competitions. That wasn't that long ago.

Atletico Madrid frustrated by "old-school" Getafe

It's easy to lampoon Getafe as some kind of off-brand "Diego Simeone 1.0" anti-football experiment on steroids. Easy, but not entirely inaccurate. Atletico Madrid needed a win against the side that everybody loves to hate and hates to play against. They could have outworked them and ground out a result, but they chose to try and outplay them.

It worked -- to a point. Luis Suarez hit the woodwork, Atletico created more chances (as usually happens against teams coached by Javier Bordalas), although mostly after Allan Nyom was sent off and David Soria did his Jan Oblak impression in the Getafe goal, making at least two huge saves.

On paper, this is a match Atletico should have won, but Getafe don't play on paper, and for a side like Atletico, this was always going to be an awkward matchup. The 0-0 draw shrinks Atletico's lead by two points over Real Madrid as we wait for Barcelona to play on Monday night. Hey, if it was going to be easy, it wouldn't be Atletico.

PSG's night to forget can't become a habit with big games on the horizon

Because top-of-the-table Lille were held to a scoreless draw by Monaco this weekend, the fact that PSG were horrendous in their home defeat to Nantes means the damage to their Ligue 1 title defense is somewhat limited.

- PSG add security after players' homes burgled - Sources: Di Maria, Marquinhos' homes robbed mid-game

Mauricio Pochettino's side are three points back now rather than two, and the fact that Lyon also drew means they're still second. But that's where the good news ends. Two major blunders -- one a shocking blind back-pass by Kylian Mbappe (yes, you read that right) -- condemned them to a 2-1 defeat against Nantes, a side that had won just one game in the previous four months. (Ironically, they're managed by former PSG boss, Antoine Kombouare).

This is where the margin for error in Ligue 1 becomes wafer-thin given that their next two games are head-to-heads: away against Lyon and home to Lille. It's 180 minutes to turn the season around and restore normal service to the French title race.

Bellingham shines again as Dortmund remain in hunt for top-four finish

Don't let the fact that, against Hertha Berlin, Borussia Dortmund's goals consisted of a second half mega-blunder from the keeper (on a shot from a different zip code) and a garbage-time strike by 16-year-old sensation, Youssoufa Moukoko. Dortmund dominated this game and could have been up by several goals earlier.

The guy who made it all click? Jude Bellingham, who is just 17 years of age and who put on a similar master class against Sevilla in the Champions League a few days earlier. It's not often that we see players this young make the grade at a top club, and when it happens, it's usually up front or out wide though rarely in the middle of the park, where personality and tactical nous matter as much as skill and athleticism.

Loss in Naples leaves Milan's title hopes hanging by a thread

"Next man up" is a nice slogan, but it can only work so many times. A Milan side exhausted by a late return from the Europa League, missing three of their starting back four (and the fourth, Theo Hernandez, just coming back from injury), as well as their best midfielder (Ismael Bennacer) and some guy named Zlatan up front was always going to struggle against a gifted team like Napoli.

When you're running on fumes and low on chemistry, you tend to concede more, offsetting the fact that Milan tried to play open football and be positive. Napoli badly needed the points to keep their top-four hopes alive and made their superior individual quality count, winning 1-0.

Is the "scudetto" race over? Not just yet, but it obviously got a whole heck of a lot harder for Milan. If they knock out Manchester United on Thursday, they'd be right to prioritise the Europa League, albeit with caution because if Napoli win their game in hand, Milan's lead over fourth place goes down to just three points. That's how tight Serie A's top four race is this year.

RB Leipzig slip four points back of Bundesliga leaders Bayern

In some ways, the best news of the weekend for Bayern Munich came on Sunday, with Leipzig's 1-1 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt. The gap between first and second is now four points, which means that Bayern can even afford to lose the head-to-head on April 3 with Julian Nagelsmann's men and stay in front.

It wasn't a bad performance. Emil Forsberg got the goal and they created plenty of chances against an opponent who, lest we forget, are fourth in the table. Maybe the difference between them and Bayern is that, when Bayern play well, they rarely drop points.

Victoria 7 for 219 (Harris 113*) v Queensland

Marcus Harris made his second Sheffield Shield century of the season on another day severely impacted by rain against Queensland in Brisbane.

Harris, who returned to the Australia Test side against India in Brisbane, brought up his hundred during a brief resumption in play on the second afternoon after before the weather closed in again to curtail the action leaving just 76 overs bowled in the game.

Harris' innings took him past 600 runs for the season as he continued to hold the visitors together alongside some useful lower-order support from James Pattinson and Will Sutherland. Having resumed on 19, he scored 94 of the 138 runs Victoria added.

Victoria started the day on 4 for 81 and crossed their hundred before Seb Gotch offered Joe Burns his third catch of the innings at first slip.

However, from 5 for 108 the total was double during the remainder of the play available. Pattinson helped Harris add 47 for the sixth wicket before he tickled down the leg side against left-arm spinner Matt Kuhnemann.

Sutherland then provided strong support in a seventh-wicket partnership worth 57 which included Harris bringing up his century with a push down the ground immediately after a rain break.

As of stumps on the second day, Harris was the fourth-highest run-scorer of the season behind Cameron Green (817), Travis Head (801) and Moises Henriques (633).

Mark Steketee's first wicket of the innings provided the breakthrough when Sutherland sliced a catch to Usman Khawaja in the gully but there was only time for four more overs.

Although overs can be made up over the remaining two days (as they were due to be today) the forecast for Wednesday in Brisbane remains poor with a 90% chance of rain and further showers on the final day so it is difficult to see how the match will have a positive result without some significant discussions between the captains.

Victoria, currently fourth in the table, are the side most in need of a victory in order to keep their hopes alive of a place in the final next month, with Queensland currently in a tight race with New South Wales at the top.

Quarterback Jameis Winston now has an opportunity to become Drew Brees' successor with the New Orleans Saints.

Just one day after Brees announced his retirement, Winston and the Saints reached agreement on a one-year deal worth up to $12 million, a league source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

The former No. 1 overall NFL draft pick and Heisman Trophy winner spent his first five seasons as a starter with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, before signing a one-year deal in New Orleans last summer to try to revive his career as the Saints' backup.

Although Winston played sparingly, the Saints were impressed enough to bring him back to compete with Taysom Hill for the starting job this year.

"Who Dat! #NOLA #DreamForever," Winston tweeted Monday evening.

Who Dat! ⚜️⚜️⚜️ #NOLA #DreamForever

— Jameis Winston (@Jaboowins) March 16, 2021

Sources told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler that the Chicago Bears were serious suitors for Winston in Monday's free-agency process, before he picked the Saints.

The Saints will have to carve out a bit more salary-cap space before the start of the new league year on Wednesday. They began the offseason nearly $100 million over the cap but had whittled that figure to around $10 million by the start of this week.

Winston, who turned 27 in January, went 28-42 as a starter with Tampa, completing 61.3% of his passes with 19,737 yards, 121 touchdowns and 88 interceptions. He displayed some dynamic highs and lows during that tenure -- especially in 2019. That year, he led the league with 5,109 passing yards but also became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw at least 30 touchdown passes and 30 interceptions in the same season.

Turnovers have been Winston's biggest hurdle, with a league-high total of 111 from 2015 to 2019.

When the Buccaneers elected to move on to Tom Brady, Winston decided to try to revive his career in New Orleans. He signed a one-year deal worth just $1.1 million plus incentives because he said he wanted to get a "Harvard education in quarterback school" under coach Sean Payton and Brees.

Winston didn't get much on-field experience in New Orleans behind Brees and Hill. But Winston did make his best play of the season when he completed a 56-yard touchdown pass on a trick play in the Saints' playoff loss to his former team. Winston was 7-of-11 for 75 yards in the regular season with no touchdowns or turnovers.

Payton made it clear after the season that the Saints wanted to re-sign Winston and let him compete with Hill for the starting job following Brees' retirement. Payton said Winston was "fantastic as a leader."

Winston was suspended for the first three games of the 2018 season after an eight-month NFL investigation concluded that he engaged in detrimental conduct in March 2016 by touching a female Uber driver "in an inappropriate and sexual manner without her consent." A settlement was reached in a separate lawsuit.

Multiple referees have been sent home from the NCAA men's basketball tournament's controlled environment in Indianapolis due to a positive COVID-19 test and contact tracing, the NCAA said in a statement Monday night.

Per the NCAA, one official tested positive on Monday and had interacted with five other officials. All six were sent home. Four of the refs have been replaced from a pool of reserves; two won't be replaced.

Stadium reported that referees Ted Valentine, John Higgins and Roger Ayers were among those sent home.

"The NCAA has replaced several officials for March Madness because of a positive COVID-19 test," the NCAA said in a statement. "One official tested positive March 15, and five other officials the person interacted with the day before were identified as exposure risks due to prolonged close contact. Based on tournament protocols and contract tracing with local public health authorities, these officials may not participate in the tournament. The infected official must be placed in isolation, and the other officials must be placed in quarantine."

The NCAA brought 60 referees to Indy in total.

While all signs point to the tournament proceeding without hiccups, a team has until Tuesday to notify the NCAA if it cannot meet its protocols for the Indianapolis bubble. It's unclear which players will be available for Kansas, which withdrew from the Big 12 tournament, and Virginia, which withdrew from the ACC tournament, because of COVID-19 issues.

If any team is forced to withdraw by Tuesday, one of the NCAA's four replacement teams -- Louisville, Colorado State, Saint Louis and Mississippi -- will be used as a substitute. After Tuesday, teams that have to withdraw will not be replaced and their opponents will advance.

The New England Patriots are giving former Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Nelson Agholor a two-year, $26 million deal, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

He became the second major offensive addition by the Patriots on Monday. Tight end Jonnu Smith agreed to a four-year, $50 million contract, including $31.25 million guaranteed, agent Drew Rosenhaus told Schefter.

The Patriots also have spent big on the defensive side, adding pass-rusher Matthew Judon on a four-year, $56 million deal, including $32 million guaranteed, sources told Schefter.

Agholor, signed by the Raiders to a one-year, $1,047,500 million prove-it deal last March after essentially being run out of Philadelphia because of the former first-round pick's proclivity for drops, reinvented himself last season in Las Vegas.

He was the most efficient wideout on the Raiders' roster, scoring a touchdown in eight of the Raiders' 16 games. The eight touchdown catches tied his career high, and they included six of at least 20 yards -- which ranked second in the league.

Agholor, the 20th overall pick of the 2015 draft, finished last season with a career-high 896 yards on 48 catches for a career-best 18.7 yards-per-catch average, which ranked second among NFL players with at least 25 receptions.

Raiders quarterback Derek Carr had a 100.5 passer rating when targeting Agholor, who also had 15 catches of at least 20 yards, which ranked 19th in the NFL.

Agholor, who turns 28 on May 24, was signed more for depth but ended up filling a need at the position when deep-threat Tyrell Williams was lost for the season in training camp with a shoulder injury and speedsters Henry Ruggs III and Bryan Edwards hit the rookie wall. His biggest game came in a losing effort to the Miami Dolphins in Week 16, when he had a career-high 155 yards receiving, including a career-long 85-yard TD. Zebra Technologies Next Gen Stats had Agholor going 117.8 yards of total distance on that score, the most yards traveled on an offensive scoring play through that point of the season.

In six seasons, he has 272 catches for 3,411 yards and 26 touchdowns.

The Patriots also agreed to a 3-year, $22.5 million deal with wide receiver Kendrick Bourne, a source told Schefter. Bourne, 25, had 667 yards and two touchdowns with the San Francisco 49ers last season.

ESPN's Paul Gutierrez contributed to this report.

The Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers continue to get the band back together.

The latest to rejoin: Rob Gronkowski.

The star tight end and the Bucs have agreed to a 1-year deal worth $10 million, his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Monday.

https://t.co/GMzEde379q pic.twitter.com/Sg3RWYplQm

— Rob Gronkowski (@RobGronkowski) March 15, 2021

Gronkowski was one of several high-profile Bucs players -- defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh, wide receiver Antonio Brown, kicker Ryan Succop and running back Leonard Fournette were among the others -- whom the team had hoped to bring back following last month's Super Bowl win.

Earlier Monday, the Bucs and star pass-rusher Shaquil Barrett agreed to a four-year deal worth up to $72 million, Rosenhaus told Schefter.

The Buccaneers traded a fourth-round draft pick to the New England Patriots last offseason for Gronkowski's rights and a seventh-round pick. Gronkowski, who had retired from the NFL in 2019, started off the season slowly, shaking off some rust after being away from football for a year and finding a role in Bruce Arians' offense, which wasn't known for being tight end friendly.

While offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and quarterback Tom Brady worked to carve out a role for Gronkowski, he embraced his role as a blocker and as a leader and finished the regular season with 45 receptions for 623 yards and 7 touchdowns.

He peaked at the right time, though, finishing with two touchdowns in the Buccaneers' 31-9 victory in Super Bowl LV as he and Brady broke Joe Montana's and Jerry Rice's postseason record for most touchdowns by a QB-receiving duo.

Gronkowski, 31, spent the first nine seasons of his NFL career with the Patriots, winning three Super Bowls with the team. He was a five-time Pro Bowl selection and four-time first-team All-Pro.

He has 566 receptions for 8,484 yards and 86 touchdowns in 131 regular-season games in his career.

ESPN's Jenna Laine contributed to this report.

Veteran quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has reached agreement with the Washington Football Team on a one-year deal worth $10 million that could grow to $12 million with incentives, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Monday.

Fitzpatrick is expected to head to camp as the starter, the source said, with competition from Taylor Heinicke and Kyle Allen.

Washington knew it would struggle to add a long-term solution at quarterback this offseason, but it also realizes it can contend for another NFC East title. Fitzpatrick provides the team with someone who can play at a solid level for a less-expensive contract, allowing WFT to build the rest of its roster on offense.

Washington needs to add more help at wide receiver -- one of its primary goals this offseason -- and particularly wanted to add more speed at the position.

Fitzpatrick would be the organization's 32nd starting quarterback since it won the Super Bowl after the 1991 season. Washington started three quarterbacks last season: Allen, Dwayne Haskins and Alex Smith. It released Haskins before the end of the season and earlier this month let go of Smith.

Fitzpatrick, 38, is entering his 17th NFL season. He is the only quarterback in NFL history to start and throw touchdowns with eight different teams. Now, he'll have a chance to do it for a ninth.

Fitzpatrick is the ultimate journeyman, and he relishes the role -- particularly over the past two seasons when he was the bridge starter for the Miami Dolphins. Though he is year to year at this point in his career, Fitzpatrick told ESPN in February that it was a "really easy" decision to return to play in 2021.

He played a huge role in guiding the Dolphins from a rebuilding team to one of the NFL's best stories in 2020, as Miami made a five-win jump to a 10-6 record. In 2019, Fitzpatrick beat out Josh Rosen in an open competition to become the Dolphins' starter for a 5-11 season when many considered the team to be tanking early on. In 2020, Fitzpatrick again began the season as the starter as the self-proclaimed "placeholder" and mentor for rookie Tua Tagovailoa.

Fitzpatrick started seven games in 2020, completing 68.5% of his passes and throwing for 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He also had a 76.9 QBR and was the unquestioned leader of the Dolphins.

In true Fitzpatrick style, his last Dolphins moment was coming off the bench and leading the team to a comeback victory over the Las Vegas Raiders. He tested positive for COVID-19 just a few days later, making him ineligible for the season-ending loss to the Buffalo Bills.

Fitzpatrick is ranked 10th among active quarterbacks with 34,977 passing yards and has thrown for 223 touchdowns with 169 interceptions in his career.

Information from ESPN's John Keim and Cameron Wolfe was used this report.

Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum is set to return from a left foot fracture on Tuesday against the New Orleans Pelicans.

McCollum, who has missed two months with the injury, was not on the team's injury report for Tuesday's game.

McCollum had gotten off to a blistering start to the season before injuring his foot in a win over the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 16. In 13 games, McCollum averaged 26.7 points and 5 assists.

The Blazers are still waiting to get Jusuf Nurkic back as the center continues to recover from a right wrist fracture that has also sidelined him for two months.

Portland has remained competitive in the Western Conference despite missing two starters -- thanks in large part to the play of Damian Lillard. Entering Monday's game, the Blazers held the No. 6 seed with a 22-16 record.

One night after saying he was very concerned about the LA Clippers' inconsistent play, Kawhi Leonard made sure his team did not lose back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Leonard logged 40 minutes on the second night of a back-to-back and had 22 points, 8 rebounds,7 assists and 4 steals to lift the Clippers to an inspired 109-99 win over the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center on Monday.

Leonard scored nine points, grabbed three rebounds and had two steals in the final 9:15, including scoring on a putback while being fouled to convert a three-point play that pushed the Clippers' lead to seven with 2:08 remaining.

"Kawhi was great tonight with huge rebounds down the stretch and just bringing us home," said Clippers coach Ty Lue, whose team was without injured starters Patrick Beverley (knee) and Serge Ibaka (back).

"He wasn't gonna let us lose this game tonight."

After the Clippers were routed 135-115 on Sunday night in New Orleans, Leonard said his team's inconsistency was "very concerning." The Clippers (26-15) had lost five of their previous seven games entering Dallas.

"Just, physically tired but mentally I wanted to win the game," Leonard said of how he felt down the stretch. "My heart was into the game. That is what you got to push through. You are going to have these moments down the road where you feel like your juice is gone but you just got to keep fighting. And my teammates did a great job of competing as well."

Lue was furious following the loss to the Pelicans and called out the team's defensive efforts. The coach also made a lineup change, inserting Marcus Morris Sr. into the starting five and bringing Nic Batum off the bench.

Lue said he had been contemplating the move for a while and wanted to jumpstart Morris, who scored seven of his 14 points in the first quarter. Batum, whom Lue praised for his play all season long, buried four 3-pointers to finish with 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

Lue said Morris will remain his starting power forward moving forward.

"I don't think it's a struggle," Morris said of the team's recent up-and-down play. "Everything that's happened has been that we're beating ourselves. These teams that are beating us aren't better than us, I can tell you that straightforward.

"We're beating ourselves, we're going to continue to get better... we got to play our style of basketball. And some games, we gonna lose. Some games, you know teams go through tough patches, man, that's what makes championship teams. Nobody's worried about that."

The Clippers improved to 7-0 in the second game of a back-to-back this season and are the only team without a loss in that second game this season.

Leonard, who has tried to be lead the Clippers this season more vocally and through action, has played in four back-to-backs this season after having not played in a back-to-back since April 2017.

"Kawhi just showing his leadership of just wanting to play back-to-backs, he's healthy," Lue said. "That's big for us. ... Back-to-backs test your manhood, test who you are and test your character. And I thought tonight we responded very well."

While Leonard liked what he saw from his team in Dallas, the All-Star said the team has to maintain a consistent mentality and effort every game like championship teams do.

"He didn't have to say anything," said center Ivica Zubac, who had 15 points and 11 rebounds in starting for Ibaka. "We all know we gotta do much better, that we can do so much better. That level of play is not acceptable. The way that we've been playing for the last 10 games. When your star player, who brings it every night says that, you gotta start from yourself. You gotta bring it to. If your star player brings it every night, then you can't be the one who is not bringing it."

New York Knicks forward Julius Randle had to be held back by his teammates from confronting Scott Foster after the veteran referee called a travel on him in the final seconds of New York's 117-112 road loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night.

"It was a conversation, but I think it's just best that I just don't comment on the situation," Randle said afterward. "There was a lot of frustration behind it, and -- I mean from both sides -- so I'll just let it be in the past and move on to the next game.

"It was just frustrating. Obviously, we fought so hard to come back and try to win the game. So I was just frustrated. And that was pretty much it. But we have another opportunity to go at it tomorrow. So just focus on that."

Randle had a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds when he rose up to take a 3-pointer with five seconds to go. But Nets star Kyrie Irving managed to hit the ball on the way up, causing Randle to juggle it and fail to get the shot off.

"We had a play designed, obviously, and I thought Ky was going to come up and foul right away, so I tried to go a little bit quicker," Randle said. "But the play happened -- whatever happened is what it is, and it's in the past."

As a result, when he tried to dribble the ball on the way down to the ground, he was called for a travel by Foster with 3.2 seconds to go.

After James Harden received the inbounds pass and knocked down a couple of free throws to seal the win for Brooklyn, which has now won 13 of its past 14 games, Randle was still furious with Foster. He had to be held back by rookie Obi Toppin, among others, when he tried to go over to Foster after the game.

Randle, who finished with 33 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals in 41 minutes, was eventually coaxed off the floor, in part by Knicks executive William Wesley, though he knocked over a chair on his way out of the lower bowl as he marched back to the visiting locker room.

"I was either gonna foul early, but I saw him lining up for a jump shot," said Irving, who led all scorers with 34 points. "I felt I could get a good hand on it. Scott called travel. I thought Julius made a good play afterwards putting it down. I was gonna foul him after that just to get him to the free throw line.

"That's how it looked. That's how it went."

Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau, on the other hand, wasn't as magnanimous.

"I thought it was a tough call," Thibodeau said. "I thought we had a lot of tough calls down the stretch."

Foster explained why the travel call was made after the game.

"The defender was deemed to touch the ball but not cause it to be dislodged or loose," he told the pool reporter. "Upon that, when the player alights, he cannot purposely drop the ball or dribble the ball or be first to touch after he dropped the ball."

The furor surrounding the call against Randle overshadowed a wild comeback by the Knicks, who trailed 115-108 with 28.6 seconds remaining only to force two jump balls by tying up Harden and Joe Harris on back-to-back possessions.

Ultimately, though, Irving's play ensured that Brooklyn was victorious in the Battle of the Boroughs.

"I think as players we feel it naturally," Irving, who was a Nets fan growing up in Northern New Jersey, said of the rivalry between the Knicks and Nets.

"But obviously, being from here, it's a little bit of a different sentiment, because I got to go home and actually be around Knicks and Nets fans. It's my family. So, it's basketball, it's competition. It's a world sport. So, it's just nothing but respect. But obviously, you want to come out here and just have fun going against the New York Knicks. They've been playing well this season. It's a well-coached team, and just appreciate the opportunity."