By Gethin Coolbaugh, Associated Press

Danny Shelton didn't need very long to start toeing the New England Patriots' company line.

Less than a week after New England acquired Shelton in a trade with the Cleveland Browns, the defensive lineman is spreading singing coach Bill Belichick's praises and taking notice of the team's culture of success.

"Part of the formula to winning is doing your job, and I see that everywhere at the facility with everyone just staying focused and having that same goal leading towards success, and that's what I want to be a part of," Shelton said on a conference call Monday.

By Gethin Coolbaugh, Associated Press

The New England Patriots bolstered their pass rush and backfield depth with the free agent signing of defensive end Adrian Clayborn and running back Jeremy Hill on Saturday.

The Patriots also announced the signing of veteran offensive tackle Matt Tobin.

Clayborn, 29, played the past three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons and is coming off a career-high 9 1/2-sack season in 2017. The seven-year veteran has 30 sacks over 81 games with Atlanta and Tampa Bay.

By Gethin Coolbaugh, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) -- Matt Farrell once dreamed of playing basketball for the Eagles.

The 6-foot-1 guard had committed to Boston College as a senior point guard at Point Pleasant Beach High in New Jersey, but his plans changed when the school fired Steve Donahue as its basketball coach in 2014. Farrell instead wound up at Notre Dame. 

On Saturday, he gave the Eagles a taste of what they've been missing, scoring 26 of his career-high 37 points in the opening half and making a school-record 10 3-pointers with seven assists to help Notre Dame beat Boston College 84-67.

By Gethin Coolbaugh, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) -- Asia Durr and her teammates were left with a bad taste after No. 4 Louisville's loss at No. 1 Connecticut earlier this week. They were ready to turn the page Thursday night against Boston College.

Durr scored 16 points to lead the Cardinals to an 87-52 victory against the Eagles for their sixth win in seven games.

"We try to take it one game at a time," Durr said. "It was a great game, but we've got to start getting off on faster starts. We can't get off on slow starts."

By Gethin Coolbaugh, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) -- Terry Rozier's second act as an NBA starter was just as impressive as his first.

Rozier had a career-high 31 points and seven rebounds in his second career start, Jayson Tatum added a career-high 27 points and the short-handed Boston Celtics beat the Atlanta Hawks 119-110 on Friday night.

Rozier started in place of the injured Kyrie Irving. The third-year guard became the second player in league history with a triple-double in his first start, totaling 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in Wednesday's blowout of the Knicks.

By Gethin Coolbaugh, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) -- Terry Rozier put together a pretty nice impression of Kyrie Irving on Wednesday night.

With Irving sidelined by a quad injury, Rozier logged his first career triple-double in his first NBA start to help the Boston Celtics to a 103-73 victory over the New York Knicks.

Rozier collected 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to become just the second player in NBA history with a triple-double in his first start, joining Tony Wroten for Philadelphia on Nov. 13, 2013, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

By Gethin Coolbaugh, The Sports Xchange

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- It's been a familiar script for these New England Patriots the last few years. 

First come the early-season struggles, then comes the midseason surge, and finally, being crowned with the No. 1 seed in the AFC. 

Lather, rinse, repeat.

By Gethin Coolbaugh, The Sports Xchange

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- It felt like more of a formality than an uncertainty that the New England Patriots would stake their claim as the AFC's best team with an easy victory on Sunday. 

That is exactly what took place. 

Dion Lewis totaled 133 yards and scored two touchdowns, Tom Brady tossed a pair of touchdown passes and the Patriots locked up the AFC's No. 1 seed with a 26-6 victory against the New York Jets in arctic conditions at Gillette Stadium.

By Gethin Coolbaugh, Associated Press

BOSTON (AP) -- Tuukka Rask's wire-to-wire dominance helped to ensure that Charlie McAvoy's 20th birthday had a happy ending.

Rask was nearly impenetrable for over 65 minutes before McAvoy scored the decisive goal in the shootout for Boston as the Bruins beat the Hets 2-1 on Thursday night.

"A cherry on top of a great effort by our team," McAvoy said after he improved to 2-for-2 lifetime in shootouts.