Road-rage assault trial for Redskins' Haynesworth postponed

FAIRFAX, Va. -- A judge on Thursday postponed Albert Haynesworth's road-rage assault trial to give the Washington Redskins' defensive lineman an opportunity to settle the matter with the alleged victim.

A Fairfax County prosecutor said at Thursday's hearing that Haynesworth is pursuing an "accord and satisfaction" agreement with the alleged victim. In misdemeanor cases, a judge can dismiss assault charges when the victim acknowledges that he has received satisfaction for any injuries, usually in the form of a financial settlement.

The judge rescheduled the case for Tuesday, the second time it has been postponed.

Haynesworth's lawyer, Steven Merril, declined comment after the hearing, which lasted less than two minutes. But Merril indicated to the judge that he didn't believe a trial would be necessary.

The judge also maintains discretion to reject any accord and satisfaction agreement under Virginia law.

Haynesworth didn't appear in court Thursday.

Police say the alleged victim accused Haynesworth of punching him in January during a traffic altercation in Reston. The man told investigators that he made a gesture at the driver of a pickup truck he believed was following too closely. The two vehicles stopped, and the truck's driver, later identified as Haynesworth, got out of his pickup and allegedly punched the other driver.

Haynesworth's agent has said his client is innocent.

Haynesworth also is scheduled to go on trial in July for misdemeanor sexual abuse after he was accused of fondling a waitress at a hotel bar in Washington. He has pleaded not guilty.

Haynesworth is two years into a seven-year, $100 million contract with the Redskins, who signed him in 2009 to what was then an NFL record of $41 million in guaranteed money. But Haynesworth repeatedly has clashed with Mike Shanahan and frequently skipped workouts since the coach was hired after the '09 season. Shanahan suspended Haynesworth for the final four games of the 2010 season for conduct detrimental to the team.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

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Rodgers' Super Bowl: Disney ad, Aguilera's flub, pregame fight

It was the biggest victory in Aaron Rodgers' career, but when he was ready to celebrate with teammates after the Green Bay Packers toppled the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV, there was more work to do.

Can you say, "I'm going to Disneyland!"?

Rodgers could, but the postgame taping of the traditional Disney television advertisement after February's 31-25 victory in Arlington, Texas, wasn't so simple.

The Packers quarterback, who was the game's MVP after throwing for 304 yards and three touchdowns, told ESPN Radio in Milwaukee that he was ready for the task. It just didn't go as he expected it would.

"I swear I said those words probably 12 times, no joke. I mean, you exaggerate and say 20 times, but it felt like 20 times," Rodgers said. "It was probably 12 times where I said, 'I'm going to Disneyland!' Because they kept coming up to me and saying, 'Oh, we didn’t get good audio there.' 'Oh, we need more energy.' ...

"The whole time, I'm thinking to myself -- and Disney people are great -- but I'm thinking to myself, 'I want to celebrate with my teammates.' Every five minutes, you see a huge guy. There's three guys. One huge guy. One guy with a camera and one guy with a sign, like, here's your line ... like I don't know what the lines are? Come on now.

"Every time I saw the real tall guys, I'm like, 'Oh, crap, I gotta say it again.' Finally, seriously, after about the eighth or ninth time, I go, 'Are you telling me you haven't gotten a good line yet?' They go, 'No. No. There's audio interference and whatnot.' "

Rodgers hid from the cameras earlier, during pregame -- "I don't like having that camera right in front of my face," he said -- and got to witness from up close the most talked-about moment of the afternoon, Christina Aguilera's national-anthem flub.

"First of all, the chick from 'Glee' (Lea Michele) killed the first song ('America the Beautiful'). She should have sang the anthem, too ...," Rodgers said. "I don't know who I was standing next to, but (Aguilera) starts singing it, and in most of the stadiums they have the words up on the board, kind of up-and-above the singer, so she can tell that she screwed up.

"She screwed up, and I knew it, and something was off. I'm looking around, going, 'Does anyone else realize this?' I don't think they had, (and) I kind of tapped ... I think it was Diyral Briggs next to me, and said, 'Hey, did you hear that?’'He was like, 'What?' I’m like, 'She just totally screwed it up.' ... I feel kind of bad for her, but at the same time, come on now?"

And then it's time to focus on the game, right? Think again.

"I have one (story) better than that one," Rodgers said. "We walked out for the coin toss, and at the Super Bowl, there are these long TV timeouts, so we go out for the coin toss. I'm one of the captains. There's five of us. The Steelers' guys are standing over there, and we're standing looking at each other for a good three minutes.

"Well, over to the left, about 10 cameramen have been trying to get in place for the best shot, and two of them are fighting. They're yelling at each other in different languages, flipping each other off, and one guy is flipping him off, and the other guy below him is just taking all of these pictures of him. ... They're both screaming at other and taking pictures of each other for a good minute and a half, and I'm tapping A.J. (Hawk), like, look at that over there! Look at those guys! It was unbelievable."

Rodgers says he hasn't watched a replay of the game -- he saw a little of the Packers' championship DVD at his parents' house -- but he's looking forward to receiving his Super Bowl ring. Will he tuck it away to keep it safe?

"Nah, I'll wear it," he said. "Not often, but I will wear it."

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Falcons GM Dimitroff doesn't slam door on 'Hard Knocks'

Three other NFL teams aren't interested, but Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff said Friday that he hasn't ruled out letting his team be featured on HBO's "Hard Knocks," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

"I truly believe that an organization has to be in the right spot to jump into something like 'Hard Knocks,'" Dimitroff said on SiriusXM NFL Radio. "I think it sheds a lot of light on our league. This is a league of entertainment. There are some traditionalists that struggle with it, but they have to work against the grain a little bit and see that this is about entertainment. 'Hard Knocks' is a good show for the fan base."

The Falcons turned down an offer to be on the show, which gives viewers an all-access look at training camp, in 2009 because it seemed like it would be a distraction. This time around, Dimitroff believes the Falcons, who went 13-3 last season, would be more prepared to handle it, if asked.

"It's such an individual thing," he said. "'Hard Knocks' could be right for some of the teams that are fairly entrenched. It could be right for some team that wants to kick off some more brand recognition."

It wasn't right for the NFC South rival Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who earlier in the week declined an offer to be featured on the show. The Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions also have reportedly said they wouldn't do the show.

Critically acclaimed "Hard Knocks," which featured the boisterous New York Jets last year, won three Sports Emmys earlier this month, including its second consecutive in the "outstanding edited sports series/anthology" category. The three Emmys are the most for one season of "Hard Knocks."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Edwards floors foe twice en route to victory in boxing debut

Vikings defensive end Ray Edwards began his boxing career on the plus side, scoring a unanimous if uninspiring victory Friday night in a four-round heavyweight bout in Hinckley, Minn.

Edwards, who has said he'll leave the Vikings if he's an unrestricted free agent when the NFL's labor situation is solved and pursue boxing if he isn't, knocked down T.J. Gibson in the first and fourth rounds en route to the victory before a near-capacity crowd at Grand Casino.

Edwards won on the judges' cards 40-34, 39-35 and 40-34, as several of his Vikings teammates cheered him.

"I've got some things to work on," Edwards told the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "But, overall, I think I did well."

Trainer Jeff Warner called Edwards' jab "incredible" and said observers saw "about 70 percent of Ray Edwards. People don't understand a first pro fight, there are so many different emotions. We're done with it, now we move on."

Vikings linebacker Jasper Brinkley told the Pioneer Press that he was impressed by Edwards' work.

"It's kind of weird seeing a teammate up there," Brinkley said. "But I thought he did really well."

Edwards, who's 6-foot-5 and 258½ pounds, had 36½ pounds and seven inches on Gibson, who also was making his debut. Edwards was happy to win but admitted it was "a little rougher than I expected."

"Every time I tried to get underneath him, I got held down and couldn't do what I wanted to do," Gibson said. "He's going to be a great fighter if he keeps it up."

Edwards put Gibson down in the first round with a left-right combo that sent the smaller man into the ropes. After the second and third rounds brought a lot less action, Edwards almost knocked Gibson through the ropes in the fourth with a left hook.

No Vikings coaches or team officials attended the fight, which was fine by Edwards, who will box again June 24 in Hinckley against a to-be-determined opponent.

"It is what it is," he said. "It's a business, no hard feelings. I still speak to them when I can. Whenever the lockout's over, I'll still have a good relationship with them. They helped me start my career that I dreamed about since I was a little boy."

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Bill comes due: Maybin realizes it's time to shake 'bust' label

Aaron Maybin has started only one game in two NFL seasons, and he hasn't recorded a sack -- not exactly what the Buffalo Bills wanted from their 2009 first-round draft pick.

But Maybin knows what he must do to lose the "bust" tag: Put in the work, and win over coach Chan Gailey, who deactivated the linebacker for five games last season.

"Coach obviously feels he has not seen what it is that he needs to see out of me thus far in order to have the confidence to rely on me to be the dominant piece of the puzzle that this organization needs in order to help us move in the right direction," Maybin told NFL Blog Blitz on Friday. "I'm fighting to show him that that's exactly what it is that I have to bring to the table. It's a trust issue, and whenever you're dealing with a head coach, it's my responsibility to earn his trust, plain and simple.

Gailey recently told ESPN.com that Maybin, 23, needs to "understand about pass rush" and improve against the run and on special teams. So Maybin has his work cut out for him amid some harsh criticism.

"My whole career, my mindset has been the same: Work as hard as you can, harder than anyone else is willing to work, and let the rest take care of itself," Maybin said. "Control what I can control and put the rest in God's hands, that's all I know.

"I've been playing the game of football since I can remember and have faced criticism at every level. Whether it be my size, strength, experience, whatever; the one thing that never gets questioned is work ethic. And at the end of the day, that's always what pays off."

Draftee's loss could be Bills' gain Michael Jasper is 73 pounds lighter than he was last fall, and that's a good thing for the Bills, who have plans for the seventh-round pick. After all, 375 pounds is plenty big for an NFL defensive tackle. More...

For Maybin, that work ethic includes training five days per week while the lockout prevents him for talking to Bills coaches and staff. Maybin said he's trying to improve his core strength through powerlifting and cardio, and he's also mixing in yoga, boxing and pool exercises.

Because of that work and staff continuity, Maybin expects success in his third NFL campaign.

"This will be the first season that I can start with primarily the same core staff that I finished with the year before," Maybin said. "Being comfortable with a system is very important for an athlete at any level, but none bigger than the professional arena. And with a year under the scheme we have in place already, making the adjustments that this year's staff wants to make going into this year will be much easier to grasp and implement."

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Chargers LB English hopes second surgery fixes foot issues

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Jasper winning battle with scale while prepping for Bills career

Michael Jasper has been dropping weight the past few years, and when he embarks on a career as an NFL defensive tackle -- soon, he hopes -- he plans to be quite svelte.

Jasper, a seventh-round pick by the Buffalo Bills in last month's draft, is down to 375 pounds -- still big, even by NFL standards, but nowhere near the 448 pounds he carried not so long ago.

The 6-foot-4½ nose tackle has lost 73 pounds since leaving Middle Tennessee State after his sophomore year to transfer to Bethel, an NAIA school in McKenzie, Tenn., and he has focused on slimming down even more since his college career closed last fall.

"(Bills regional scout) Matt Hand made a deal with me initially, saying they wanted me under 400 pounds," Jasper told the Tennessean. "After the draft, I talked with coach (Chan) Gailey, and he said just to keep working hard and keep the weight off."

Jasper has become smarter about his diet while working out with his cousin, Artis Hicks, a nine-year NFL offensive tackle who played for the Washington Redskins last season.

"I've stopped eating so much and pretty much cut eating beef out," Jasper said. "I've minimized my bad carbohydrate intake, increased my vegetables and greens and water intake to kind of confuse my body so that it wouldn't hold onto so much water. It has started to flush some of the excess off.

"I feel brand new. I sleep better, I wake up feeling good, I enjoy being outside and feel like a kid again. I realize God has definitely blessed me."

Because of the NFL lockout, Jasper hasn't spoken with anyone from the Bills since the draft, and he's not sure if the team wants "me to get down to 360 pounds or anywhere near that," he said. "The way my body is, I'm not a regular 360-pound man. But I've done what the Bills asked me to do."

The average NFL nose tackle entering last season was 6-3 and 330 pounds, according to the Tennessean.

Jasper, 24, was listed at 394 pounds when he was drafted -- the heaviest player taken during the three-day process -- but Bills general manager Buddy Nix said that number was wrong.

"He's not as big as you've got him listed," Nix said after the draft. "He's down to 378 pounds, so he's drying up to nothing."

Bethel coach Dino Kaklis believes a slimmer Jasper will be a better Jasper. The lineman posted a 5.34-second 40-yard dash time, a 34-inch vertical leap and a 9-foot-5 broad jump in a workout for Bills scouts, and he wasn't as slim then as he is now.

"Everything the Bills and the other NFL guys saw of Michael playing during the year was when he was at 435 pounds, and they were impressed by what he did then," Kaklis told the Tennessean. "He's at 375 now and still as strong and solid as he was. I'd say he has the mobility of a 265-pound player."

Jasper weighed just 240 pounds when he started at Mount Juliet (Tenn.) High School, but he was 380 as a senior.

"When I got bumped up to varsity my freshman year, I started to put on the weight," Jasper said. "I started drinking creatine and protein and didn't know what I was doing. Then once I got to college, the food gets a whole lot better, and I started to get even bigger."

Jasper played two seasons as a nose tackle and offensive guard at Tennessee-Martin, then transferred to Middle Tennessee State but didn't play because of grades. He became a part-time student, and that's when he ballooned to his heaviest weight, before transferring to Bethel, where he played defensive tackle in 2009 and offensive guard in 2010.

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