Jamie George has said he considered ending his England career because of the shock and pain of losing the captaincy before the start of the Six Nations.

Hooker George, 34, succeeded Owen Farrell as England skipper before last year's championship, but was replaced by Saracens team-mate Maro Itoje in January.

"It was hard, it was difficult, it was frustrating and obviously then that makes you question if you can do it," he told BBC Sport's Rugby Union Weekly podcast.

"I won't lie and say it didn't go through my head [finishing his England career] because I didn't really know how logistically it would work and if it would be too awkward to be coming back in. I didn't want to tread on any toes."

George says he consulted his father, uncle and wife on his decision, and not all of them thought he should continue his international career.

"But ultimately it was 'what is your gut feel?" George added. "Initially I didn't know if I could go back, but I watched the Ireland game [this year's Six Nations opener which he missed through injury] and all I wanted to do was be back on that field because I missed it."

Under George, England finished third in the 2024 Six Nations, but then suffered a run of five successive defeats in matches against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa across the summer and autumn.

England won five of 12 Tests under his stewardship.

George, who has picked up three Six Nations titles and played in the 2019 World Cup final, said head coach Steve Borthwick broke the news to him over coffee in a "pretty to-the-point" conversation in St Albans.

"I think he was surprised by me questioning myself," added George. "I think it would hit anyone hard. It was a job that I loved, I was incredibly proud to be able to do it and I felt I was at the start of something. It was a surprise."

Real Madrid's Brahim Diaz scored a second-half winner as the hosts edged out neighbours Atletico Madrid 2-1 in a scrappy first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie on Tuesday after Julian Alvarez had cancelled out Rodrygo's opener.

It was a stuttering capital derby between bitter rivals who at times looked to be playing within themselves, seemingly conserving some energy for what is likely to be a compelling return leg at Atletico's Metropolitano Stadium next week.

Real started on fire when Rodrygo scored a fine opener four minutes after kick-off but Atletico slowly got into the game and Alvarez equalised with a stunning strike in the 32nd minute.

Real got the winner in the 55th through Diaz, who worked his magic to find a tiny pocket of space inside a crowded box and slotted a low, angled strike inside Jan Oblak's far post.

Arsenal rattled in three goals in a 13-minute spell in the first half and then ruthlessly added four more after the break as they made Champions League history with a 7-1 win at PSV Eindhoven in the first leg of their last-16 tie on Tuesday.

The win was the largest ever by a road team in a Champions League knockout game and Arsenal's biggest victory away from home in any Champions League match.

Jurrien Timber opened the scoring in the 18th minute, followed by a strike from teenager Ethan Nwaneri before Mikel Merino added the third in the 31st minute.

The Dutch champions pulled one back from a Noa Lang penalty for a 3-1 half-time deficit but two goals in the opening three minutes of the second half reinforced Arsenal's dominance, with captain Martin Ødegaard and Leandro Trossard adding their names to the scoresheet.

Ødegaard got his second goal in the 73rd minute before substitute Riccardo Calafiori netted five minutes from time to complete the rout as Arsenal  became the first team to score seven goals in an away Champions League knockout game.

They dominated from the start, although the hosts should have taken the lead in the 16th minute when a cross from Ivan Perisic was palmed away by goalkeeper David Rayainto the path of Ismael Saibari, who rattled the crossbar from close range.

Two minutes later, a clever turn and left-foot cross from Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice saw Timber tower above Lang at the back post to head home and begin the deluge.

The left side of the Gunners' attack also provided the second goal as Myles Lewis-Skelly played in a square pass that Nwaneri ran onto and slammed home from point-blank range.

Lewis-Skelly was then fortunate to avoid being sent off for a second yellow card after a clumsy challenge that provoked furious protests from the PSV players and bench.

Merino's contribution came after Timber's persistence as the Netherlands defender tried to weave his way into the PSV box.

The home side battled to stop him but when the ball spilt free, defender Ryan Flamingo did not clear properly and Merino snapped up the chance to place the ball in the far corner.

Arsenal gave away a penalty three minutes from half-time when Thomas Partey's outstretched arm caught PSV captain Luuk de Jong around the neck and Lang converted the spot kick.

But any hopes of a recovery were snuffed out after the break as PSV goalkeeper Walter Benítez gifted Ødegaard a goal when he pushed Nwaneri's cross straight at the Norwegian and within 60 seconds a clever dink from Trossard over Benitez made it 5-1.

Ødegaard fired home the sixth goal and then provided a perfect pass for Calafiori to net at the end of a storming run on a night where everything went right for the visitors.

Information from Reuters contributed to this report.

North Carolina and new coach Bill Belichick will not be the subject of HBO's "Hard Knocks: Offseason," a source confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.

Front Office Sports reported last week that North Carolina would be featured on this year's show, which would have given viewers an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how Belichick would manage his first offseason as a college head coach.

When asked about it on "The Pat McAfee Show," Tar Heels general manager Michael Lombardi said nothing had been signed with the university but that the program was receiving "a lot of offers from people all over to come in and look at our program."

But, as CBSSports.com first reported earlier Tuesday, a deal could not be reached.

UNC hired Belichick in December after he spent his entire career in the NFL, where he won six Super Bowls as coach of the New England Patriots. The Patriots never were selected to appear on "Hard Knocks."

EAGAN, Minn. -- Kevin O'Connell visits the Minnesota Vikings' quarterback meeting room often in his capacity as head coach, playcaller and a former NFL passer himself. When he entered late last season, five pretty credible faces stared back at him.

The group included three still-young top-10 picks in Sam Darnold (27), Daniel Jones (27) and J.J. McCarthy (21), as well as two veteran backups in Nick Mullens and Brett Rypien with 23 NFL starts between them.

"[They all had] the ability, in my opinion, to win games," O'Connell said. "All with the ability to play the position at a pretty darn high level, all at different times and points of their journey as quarterbacks in this league."

As counterintuitive as it might sound, one of the Vikings' biggest jobs this offseason is to cull that group. Someone has to go. The NFL has an annual shortage of quarterbacks with the attributes O'Connell described, but salary cap considerations and the reality of modern team building mean that one -- and likely more -- has to move on from Minnesota this spring.

That process started Tuesday when the Vikings chose not to use the franchise or transition tag on Darnold, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter, giving him an unimpeded path to the free agent market after a Pro Bowl season in which he threw for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns.

There are defensible reasons for skipping the tag, and for letting Darnold leave altogether, but it is nearly unprecedented in NFL history. The only other NFL quarterback to change teams the year after throwing at least 30 touchdown passes is Jameis Winston, whose departure from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020 was prompted largely by the 30 interceptions he threw in 2019.

The best use of the franchise tag by the Vikings would have been as leverage to trade Darnold and get more in return than a future compensatory pick for the value he built last season. That goal proved too narrow of a path to navigate. It would have required a team that Darnold wanted to play for deciding it was worth giving up a draft pick to avoid competing for him on the open market. Otherwise, Darnold could have in essence scuttled a trade by refusing to agree to a long-term contract with the interested team.

The Vikings have continued to talk to Darnold about a potential return in 2025, much as they did last season when they offered Kirk Cousins what amounted to a one-year contract to bridge them to McCarthy, the No. 10 pick of the 2024 draft. Cousins declined and accepted a market-level deal with the Atlanta Falcons, one that guaranteed him money for at least parts of three seasons.

A Darnold return to Minnesota, however, would require the presence of unusual circumstances. He would either need to accept a contract worth far less than he might receive on the open market, experience an unexpectedly soft level of interest from other teams or simply be the rare beneficiary of a team that isn't ready to commit to its young franchise quarterback. Even then, a second year with the Vikings would seem awkward.

It might sound smart to accumulate quarterback assets at all costs. But would the Vikings really push McCarthy's timetable back another season? And should Darnold, at 28 and coming off a Pro Bowl season, need to compete for his job?

ESPN's Adam Schefter, speaking Tuesday on "The Adam Schefter Podcast," said his guess is that Minnesota makes the "most sense" in matching Darnold with his likeliest landing spot. "It's not exactly what Sam Darnold would have hoped for or wanted," Schefter said, "but it's still a pretty favorable outcome in my mind."

Longtime NFL observers would note the Green Bay Packers' success in giving quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers and Jordan Love three seasons of development before becoming full-time starters. But in in both instances, they sat behind future Hall of Fame starters who were still playing at high levels (Brett Favre, Rodgers). Darnold had a career year in 2024 but does not merit that sort of team-building influence.

O'Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah have employed a carefully choreographed set of public comments, explaining their continued communication with Darnold but emphasizing that he had earned the right to get to free agency. Never have they explicitly said they wanted him back as their 2025 starter.

There is a decided risk in turning over the position to McCarthy, who is far less experienced than the other five members of his 2024 first-round quarterback draft class. His 713 career passing attempts at Michigan are less than half of what Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix averaged in college (1,560). And while the rest of them were getting valuable NFL playing time last season, McCarthy was the first quarterback selected in the first round to miss his entire rookie season because of injury in the modern draft era, dating back to 1967. He did not benefit from a single practice rep after tearing the meniscus in his right knee on Aug. 10.

Even so, most of the organization's actions over the past five months have indicated an interest in pursuing a transition to McCarthy. That's why the Vikings' true team-building need at the position is to sign a quarterback who could start if needed but would not be out of place as a backup if McCarthy wins the job in training camp. That profile most closely fits Jones, the No. 6 pick of the 2019 draft, who spent the final six weeks of the 2024 season on the Vikings' practice squad after being released by the New York Giants.

The real question is whether Jones will find interest from a team that offers him more of a clear path to play in 2025, or whether he might decide that a full season with the Vikings -- even if it is mostly or entirely as a backup -- could better benefit his long-term future. Darnold has demonstrated that taking a step back, as he did as a backup with the San Francisco 49ers in 2023, can pay off.

This conversation might have been different had Darnold not faltered in his final two starts last season, completing only 43.9% of his passes in a Week 18 loss to the Detroit Lions and then taking nine sacks in a playoff defeat to the Los Angeles Rams.

Even so, NFL teams almost never dismiss the kind of season Darnold produced in the way the Vikings are positioned to do. But they have too many quarterbacks, as wild as that sounds, and someone has to go.

Zach LaVine scored 42 points in 31 minutes a week ago in a Sacramento win. He shot 16 of 19 from the field and it was the second-most efficient 40-point game by a player in Kings history.

It was a really good game.

But what about this triple-double from Joel Embiid on Feb. 4? He scored 29 points, but had five turnovers, shot 12 of 23 from the field, 4 of 9 from the foul line, and the 76ers were outscored by 12 points in his 36 minutes.

Was that a good game?

I turned that question into a survey among my X followers, and 61% said Embiid's performance was a so-so game; 34% said it was a good game; 5% said it was a great game.

People can have their opinions, but this article isn't about opinions. It's about a new, all-encompassing NBA metric ESPN has created called Net Points, which uses play-by-play data to evaluate a player's performance. It quantifies every rebound, shot, turnover and free throw and assigns credit and blame to the players on the court. It divides credit and blame based on the difficulty of the players' contributions to the success or failure of the team.

So, it can capture the 12 shots Embiid made, the 11 shots he missed, his 11 rebounds, 10 assists, and five turnovers, as well as who scored against the Sixers with Embiid on the floor and how they scored.

According to Net Points, his triple-double was worth minus-0.8, very much in the "so-so" range (the poll was accurate). That means he cost the Sixers about 1 point relative to an average player.

Adding the Net Points for all of the Sixers in that game equates to a plus-2. They beat the Dallas Mavericks 118-116. That's what the Net Points metric does. The box score hides things. Net Points can reveal them. Embiid's basic numbers were good -- 29 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists -- but Net Points captures more than the box score, including transition opportunities, matchups and help defense, and creating better shots for teammates.

Here are the top individual games of the season so far:

• +19.9 total: +16.1 offense, +3.8 defense. Giannis Antetokounmpo went 21-of-34 with 59 points in OT win Nov. 13.

• +19.7: +11.5, +8.2: Karl-Anthony Towns on Dec. 19 had 32 points, 20 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 turnovers, and went 10-of-12 from the field.

• +17.9: +14.0, +3.9: Tyrese Haliburton on Feb. 26 posted 33 points in 33 minutes on 12-of-15 shooting with 11 assists and 1 turnover, while the Pacers outscored the Raptors by 24.

• +16.8: +14.9, +1.9: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Feb. 5 had 50 points on 18-of-29 from the field, with 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 turnover.

• +16.6: +15.5, +1.1: Jalen Brunson on Jan. 12 with 44 points in blowout of Milwaukee, on 16-of-26 from the field, with 6 assists and 1 turnover.

• +16.1: +12.4, +3.7: Nikola Jokic on Jan. 10 when he and Russell Westbrook each had a triple-double against Brooklyn.

Giannis' 59-point game leads the way and is particularly amazing because he added nearly 20 Net Points to the Bucks in a game they won by seven; that means his teammates cost the team 13.

Remember LaVine's ultra-efficient 42-point performance? That was worth plus-15.4 Net Points, good enough for the 13th-best game this season.

But individual performance is the tip of the metric iceberg with Net Points. Dig a little deeper and it can reveal stories the eye test can miss.

Here is a sampling of some of the things Net Points can show

Net Points can identify why a team is stumbling -- or who is to blame.

The Golden State Warriors' season is one of the best examples. The Warriors started this season 12-3. Their offense ranked sixth and their defense was fourth. They struggled after that point, falling to 25-26 at the trade deadline, and were battling for a play-in spot. Their offense ranked 25th and their defense ranked 20th after the hot start. Who among the players was to blame for the drop-off?

Stephen Curry, Buddy Hield, and Draymond Green were playing at All-Star levels with each having Net Points per 48 minutes over plus-3.0 to start the season. Then, Curry and Green fell to career-low levels. After a hot start, Andrew Wiggins dropped to about his average. Hield regressed to the point it wasn't worth playing him.

The acquisition of Dennis Schroder earlier in the season was also a disaster, which is why the Warriors traded him at the deadline.

Their most notable deadline move was, of course, acquiring Jimmy Butler. The Warriors have gone 8-2 in their past 10 games, with their offense and defense ranking third in the league.

And Butler is playing at his stellar playoff form, posting an All-NBA-like plus-5.1 Net Points per 48 minutes.

It can help evaluate trades like the blockbuster one between the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks ...

It's early and the sample size is small but so far ...

Lakers get:

G Luka Doncic, worth plus-17 Net Points through eight games
F Markieff Morris, worth minus-1 Net Point in three games
F Maxi Kleber, worth 0 and likely won't play the rest of the season

Mavericks get:

C Anthony Davis, worth plus-7 in one game
G Max Christie, worth minus-9 Net Points through 12 games

... and predict the future

In that Luka-to-the-Lakers deal, both teams are betting on the other guy's big star. They were betting on how much Doncic and Davis would be available and how well they'd play. Net Points can show the strength of those bets.

Through this year's trade deadline, here is how many minutes, Net Points, and Net Points per 48 minutes each was worth over the past four years.

In production per minute, Doncic was ahead of Davis every season. In overall production, he was ahead of Davis in every season before this one. And Doncic is six years younger.

Net Points quantifies a player's value, but it is not the only player metric on the internet. There are a lot of them, with names such as DARKO, EPM, LEBRON, and xRAPM -- and those are the ones you can kind of pronounce. These are practical metrics, but they are predictive because they indicate how good a player will be in their next game.

Net Points explains the past, such as those box scores or the four-minute stretch by LeBron James against the Kings on Oct. 26 (LeBron scored 16 points in four minutes, worth plus-8 Net Points). We want Net Points to get those things right. Then, we'll build a predictive version that will help you avoid overreacting to one game.

Up to this point in the season, we have a Net Points leaderboard. It shows some familiar names and a few that are more surprising.

Identify the most impactful players of the season

Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander are way ahead here and that is the common sentiment in the MVP race.

But Jokic has a big lead over Gilgeous-Alexander in Net Points and that is stunning. I believe metrics are good guides for voting on awards, but not the only factor. Metrics and human subjectivity are imperfect. Using that rationale, it's fine to vote Gilgeous-Alexander for MVP.

But that's not the only rationale. SGA led the Thunder to a better record than Jokic. Jokic has taken the Nuggets from average to good. SGA has taken Oklahoma City from good to great. It's difficult to decide which is the greater accomplishment.

Alperen Sengun and Jarrett Allen are the surprises on this list. Allen has been a good player for years, according to this metric. His ability to finish at the rim and defend were obvious pluses in Net Points when Cleveland acquired him four years ago. Fellow Cavs Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell are in the top 10 in Net Points some days. Darius Garland is top 10 on offense, though his defense hurts him.

Sengun was not in this tier last season or the season before. His defensive numbers were very good to start this season, but have come down. He has been a top-30 player since mid-December.

How -- and why -- teams win (OKC Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers edition

Net Points primarily quantifies players' performances, which directly affect team success. And, because it incorporates a lot of play-by-play, it can also explain why teams are successful.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are the league's best team in forcing turnovers and not committing them. They're outscoring opponents by plus-12.6 points per game. What Net Points tells us is how much of that plus-12.6 scoring margin is associated with their turnover advantage. It looks at all the Net Points created from every turnover event and adds them to get plus-5.9 Net Points per game. Essentially, half of their average scoring margin comes from half-court turnovers.

That is not normal.

What is more normal is how the Cleveland Cavaliers are winning so many games -- by shooting well and stopping opponents from doing the same. The Cavs' offense gets a league-leading plus-6.4 Net Points per game from shooting 3s, and a league-leading plus-5.7 Net Points per game from shooting 2s. On defense, the Cavs give up minus-3.5 Net Points per game on 3s (bottom 10), but allow the league's second-best mark at minus-0.5 Net Points per game on 2s. So, they're getting plus-8.2 Net Points by shooting better than their opponents from the field.

That is more like championship-level production. That doesn't mean Cleveland is more likely to win a title than Oklahoma City. We have the Basketball Power Index to address that better.

What this breakdown illustrates is that winning the 3-point battle -- having more Net Points on offense than allowed on defense -- is very strong in predicting who will win the game. Across the NBA, if a team "wins" the 3-point battle, it wins the game 72% of the time. That is higher than the 65% for winning the 2-point battle.

It is much higher than the 53% for winning the rebounding battle. Oklahoma City and Cleveland share that characteristic: OKC is the 27th-best rebounding team in the league by Net Points and Cleveland is 17th, going against the old saying that rebounding wins games.