Newton's father gives rare interview, discusses NCAA probe

An NCAA investigation into his father's alleged improper conduct hung over Cam Newton during the NFL draft process, but it didn't stop the Carolina Panthers from taking the quarterback No. 1 overall.

And, Cecil Newton said, it won't define him either. In fact, he's confident the NCAA's probe won't turn up anything past last year's ruling that he asked Mississippi State for a six-figure payment for his son's services in 2009.

"We really just want it to calm down, let the smoke settle, let the dust settle," Newton told The Charlotte Observer on Thursday. "The truth is out there. They have it in their files."

Asked if he requested money from Auburn, the school his son eventually attended, Newton said: "According to what the NCAA findings are, that's what we're going with."

Newton gave the rare interview in Bradenton, Fla., where he watched Cam work out in preparation for his first NFL season. Cam was cleared by the NCAA, which ruled he didn't know about his father's actions, and kept playing, leading Auburn to the BCS national championship last season.

Now the Newtons are waiting for the lingering NFL lockout to end so Cam can sign a contract that should be lucrative but not worth as much as past No. 1 deals. That's because the next collective bargaining agreement is expected to include a rookie wage scale that will prevent deals like the $50 million guaranteed that top pick Sam Bradford received from the St. Louis Rams last year.

"I just want Cam to get out here, get on board with his team, do the right things on and off the field, and the rest will take care of itself," Cecil Newton said. "He's played for so long for free that anything we make, man, is a blessing."

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White's Katrina tweet gives Saints bulletin-board fodder

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- Roddy White regrets sending a tweet referring to Hurricane Katrina. The Atlanta Falcons star isn't backing down from anything else he posted on the popular website.

In a game that really didn't need any additional hype, White managed to stir things up with some incendiary comments he wrote on Twitter leading up to Monday night's crucial contest between the NFC-leading Falcons and the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.

White's teammates claim it's nothing out of the ordinary, just some good-natured trash talk from perhaps their most outspoken player.

"There's nothing wrong with promoting the fight, just like boxers do," Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez said Thursday. "A lot of fans like that stuff. It's just like boxing. We're promoting the fight. Roddy is promoting the fight, getting it hyped. He's our hype man. He's our Don King."

The Saints don't see it that way, especially when White brought up the devastating hurricane that slammed into the Big Easy five years ago.

Defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove said White crossed the line when he started taking shots "at not just us, but our fans, our city. We're not going to talk about you Roddy, but inside, these guys are definitely upset."

"Thanks, Roddy, for the motivation," Hargrove added.

White initially went on Twitter this week to complain about comments made by former quarterback-turned-TV analyst Trent Dilfer, who said New Orleans was capable of winning twice in Atlanta, including the playoffs, to earn a return to the Super Bowl.

"No chance in hell the Aints come into the dome and win once trent dilfer," White wrote.

Naturally, that stirred the ire of the Saints and their supporters. Defensive end Will Smith tweeted back, questioning how White "has the audacity to call us AINT'S." Some replies, apparently from Saints fans, were downright crude.

White kept up the war of words Wednesday.

"The grace of god gave them tht championship so tht city wouldn fall apart now and now they think they hot (obscenity)," he wrote.

In hindsight, White said, that post was probably over the line.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I really didn't say anything about the hurricane, but they took it that way. I wasn't trying to say anything mean about the city. I was just talking about the sports team. I am a football player. This is a sports topic. But everybody took it like, 'He hopes the city of New Orleans dies or something.' Come on, are you serious, man? It's not that serious."

Falcons coach Mike Smith said he spoke to White about his social networking but declined to reveal any details. White insisted that his coach didn't scold him for the posts.

"He was like, 'Roddy, just go out there and be yourself. Don't change anything that you do. You're a competitor,'" the player said.

White is the NFL's leading receiver with 106 catches for 1,284 yards and the catalyst for a star-studded Atlanta offense that also includes Gonzalez, quarterback Matt Ryan and running back Michael Turner.

The Falcons (12-2) already have clinched a playoff spot, but they can wrap up the NFC South title and home-field advantage throughout the conference playoffs with a win over the Saints (10-4). New Orleans is one win away from clinching its playoff spot and still alive in the division race.

"I'm an ultra-competitive guy," White said. "Sometimes I express my feelings too much. But it's not like that's going to make me play any harder."

Still, there's little doubt that his Twitter posts have stirred up hard feelings in the Saints' locker room. Running back Reggie Bush even re-tweeted Smith's response to White.

"He took the words right out of my mouth," Bush said of his teammate.

He believes the New Orleans secondary will be especially eager to get some shots on White.

"Of course. And he knows that," Bush said. "Everyone else in the building knows that. And everyone watching TV on Monday night knows that. You open your mouth, you're going to have to answer to somebody."

White doesn't sound too concerned.

"I'm going to be a target every time we play those guys," he said. "Nothing is going to change. I'm just going out there and play my game, be physical and try to win my side of the ball."

White initially protested on Twitter that he was only complaining about Dilfer's comments, but some of the angry responses he received just stirred him up even more.

"The first time we played them their coach gone say after we won the game thts a good win for yall like the saints are the colts," he wrote. That was followed by, "The saints win one championship and want to go crazy well yall ... aint winning this year we gone make sure tht doesn't happen."

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Smith believes these are more than just stream-of-conciousness ramblings coming from White. The Saints player figures it's all designed to fire up the home crowd at the Georgia Dome, giving the Falcons a little extra boost in a venue where they're 6-0 this season.

"He's just trying to speak to the fans, trying to rile those guys up," Smith said. "We kind of think it's a little funny and a little over the top sometimes. He's searching for a little attention. But, I mean, if he needs to do that to get the Atlanta fans interested in a game, then more power to him."

White said he's through tweeting for the week, though he vowed to return as soon as the game is over.

"No more twittering because of the people in New Orleans," he said. "I don't want them overreacting."

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

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Scobee's 59-yard FG stuns Colts, gives Jags much-needed win

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Josh Scobee watched the kick clear the crossbar, then ripped off his helmet and started running the other way.

He cut left, then right, dodging teammates all over the field.

They finally caught up with him near the sideline, setting off a raucous celebration the Jacksonville Jaguars desperately needed after consecutive lopsided losses.

Jaguars quarteback David Garrard went from being a fantasy pariah the past two weeks to a big-time contributor on Sunday. Check out Week 4's top fantasy players. More ...

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Scobee's 59-yard field goal on the final play gave the Jaguars a 31-28 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday and may have provided the spark players and coaches talked about needing all week. He certainly supplied some comic relief with his victory chase.

"I don't know what I was thinking," Scobee said. "I think I blacked out for about 10 seconds. It was incredible."

It was the eighth-longest field goal in NFL history and the longest in franchise history. It may have been the biggest, too.

The Jaguars (2-2) rebounded from back-to-back, 25-point losses -- the worst consecutive setbacks in team history -- and handed the six-time defending AFC South champion Colts (2-2) their second division loss.

"Being that it was against the Colts, that's huge for us," Scobee said.

Peyton Manning was solid at usual, throwing for 352 yards and two touchdowns, but his receivers let the team down in this one.

Tight end Brody Eldridge dropped a pass near the goal line in the third quarter. Anthony Smith made a shoelace grab on the ball and returned it near midfield. David Garrard found Marcedes Lewis over the middle for a 15-yard TD pass a few plays later, putting Jacksonville ahead 21-14.

Reggie Wayne, who finished with a career-high 15 receptions for 196 yards, fumbled inside the 10-yard line on the ensuing drive.

"You don't like for them to happen," Manning said. "You like to have everything go just right, but when they do happen, when there's time on the clock. you have to be able to overcome them and win in spite of them. We just didn't do it."

Despite the turnovers, Manning tied the game with 48 seconds remaining. He hooked up with Dallas Clark on a fourth-and-10 play, then found Wayne streaking down the sideline for 42 yards. A few inches from the goal line, Manning hit Austin Collie for a 1-yard pass, and the extra point tied it up.

Jacksonville appeared content to run out the clock and go to overtime, but when the Colts called timeout, the Jaguars took some shots through the air.

"If they wanted to try to milk the clock in that situation, we certainly weren't going to allow it because we had enough timeouts to make them punt it to us," Colts coach Jim Caldwell said. "That was the idea."

Asked whether he would handle it differently, Caldwell said, "No sir. Same thing."

Garrard, booed last week and benched the week before, found Tiquan Underwood for 22 yards that put Jacksonville in range for a long field goal.

Underwood was even more clutch on the next play. Under heavy pressure, Garrard floated a ball to the far sideline. Kelvin Hayden broke on it and had nothing but green grass in front of him, but Underwood swatted it away at the last second.

Del Rio then sent Scobee on for the long one.

Scobee drilled it after a timeout to ice him. He has three game-winning kicks against the Colts. He had a 51-yarder with 4 seconds left in 2008 and a 53-yarder with 38 ticks remaining in 2004.

"I've never been that excited after a kick in my life," Scobee said. "That's the third time I've hit one over 50 to beat the Colts and each one gets more and more fun."

Garrard completed 17 of 22 passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for a 25-yard score on an option play in the first quarter, scoring not too far from where there had been a "Trade for Tebow" sign.

The Jaguars clearly revamped their offensive attack following losses to San Diego and Philadelphia. Garrard threw five interceptions and was sacked nine times in those games.

In hopes of preventing more costly errors, Garrard used a lot of two- and three-step drops against Indianapolis -- getting the ball out quickly and not even trying to throw deep. Jacksonville also lined up offensive tackle Jordan Black as a tight end, using him to help on defensive ends Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis.

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Garrard rarely got touched and didn't get sacked for the first time this season.

It helped that Maurice Jones-Drew kept the Colts off balance with 105 yards and a touchdown on the ground. He also had a TD reception, but deferred all the credit to Scobee.

"I don't even know why I'm talking," Jones-Drew said. "I didn't do anything compared to that."

Notes: Manning and C Jeff Saturday started their 158th game together, breaking the previous NFL record held by Buffalo's Jim Kelly and Kent Hull. ... Manning and Wayne now have the second-most yardage between a quarterback and receiver in league history. Manning and Marvin Harrison hold the record of 12,766. ... Colts SS Melvin Bullitt left the game with a shoulder injury. ... Collie, who entered the game leading the NFL in receptions and yards, had just one catch. ... Clark dropped two passes. ... Jaguars improved to 5-14 against Manning.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

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White's heads-up strip gives Ryan, Falcons second chance to beat Niners

ATLANTA -- Roddy White's best play came on defense, and it allowed the Atlanta Falcons to come up with another close-call victory.

When 49ers cornerback Nate Clements intercepted Matt Ryan late in the fourth quarter and ran 39 yards down the left sideline, White had one goal in mind: Knock the ball out.

"Any time that you see defensive players carrying the ball," Atlanta's star receiver said, "they aren't used to it, so you've got a chance."

Falcons WR Roddy White's biggest play could have been his strip fumble of the 49ers' Nate Clements, but he also put up enough numbers offensively to be among the weekly leaders.

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White's forced fumble kept the winning drive alive, and Matt Bryant kicked a 43-yarder with 2 seconds remaining to lift the fortunate Falcons to a 16-14 victory over the winless 49ers on Sunday.

"It wasn't the prettiest kick," said Bryant, who won last week's overtime game at New Orleans with a 46-yard field goal. "But the only thing that matters is we get that 'W' when the ball went through the uprights."

The Falcons (3-1) have won three straight.

San Francisco (0-4) blew a 14-0 first-quarter lead due in part to a pair of interceptions by Alex Smith.

"Those were critical errors," Smith said.

White caught seven passes for 104 yards -- including four for 60 yards on the winning drive -- but his biggest play was chasing Clements down and knocking the ball loose as he tackled him from behind at the Atlanta 7.

Falcons guard Harvey Dahl recovered the ball to preserve the 12-play winning drive. Clements picked off a pass over the middle that was intended for tight end Tony Gonzalez.

San Francisco went up 7-0 in the first quarter on Vernon Davis' 11-yard touchdown catch. The 10-play drive was aided by cornerback Dunta Robinson's 34-yard pass interference penalty against tight end Delanie Walker.

Four plays later, Falcons punter Michael Koenen was lined up to receive a snap in the end zone. A blown blocking assignment allowed Dominique Zeigler to run past long snapper Joe Zelenka and dive forward for the blocked punt.

Taylor Mays, seeing the ball arching down in his direction, turned toward the back of the end zone and kept both feet inbounds as he caught the loose ball for an unconventional touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

"I saw him block it, picked it up and tried to keep my feet in bounds," Mays said. "It was a trip, but I would have given it all up for a win."

Falcons running back Michael Turner ran 16 times for 50 yards, and Jason Snelling finished with 31 yards on seven carries.

Ryan, who completed 26 of 43 passes for 273 yards, connected with Gonzalez to convert Atlanta's final third down on a 5-yard pass to the San Francisco 26.

Late in the second quarter, Gonzalez caught a 9-yard pass to become the first NFL tight end with 12,000 yards receiving. Gonzalez, who spent his first 12 seasons in Kansas City before the Falcons traded for him last year, earlier this season became the first NFL tight with 1,000 career catches.

He seemed more proud of White and Dahl for extending the winning drive.

"We knew we just needed a field goal, so we had to get it 20 yards past the 30-yard line," Gonzalez said. "It's definitely all confidence when you are in the huddle at that point."

The 49ers failed to hold the one-point lead despite running 13 plays and using nearly seven minutes of the fourth quarter, but the drive ended with Smith getting sacked on William Moore's unblocked safety blitz.

"On that last drive, I thought we did a good job," Smith said. "We were moving the ball, but then we stalled. It was frustrating not to be able to get points."

Though the game ended with another loss, the Niners' early drive gave hope that coach Mike Singletary made the right choice in firing Jimmy Raye as offensive coordinator earlier this week and replacing him with Mike Johnson.

"As much as it hurts right now, I'm excited," Singletary said. "There were positives that came from this."

Frank Gore finished with 137 total yards, 77 rushing on 21 carries and 60 yards receiving on seven catches. Smith completed 21 of 32 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown.

Atlanta was 2 for 11 on third down plays before Ryan threw from his end zone to connect with Brian Finneran for a 17-yard gain down the left side.

White made four tough catches on the drive. His 19-yard reception against safety Dashon Goldson came in tight coverage on the left side before Ryan's second interception.

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After he helped the Falcons regain possession, White ran a sideline route on the right side and beat cornerback Tarell Brown for a 20-yard gain.

"It was an incredible catch," Ryan said. "The ball had pace on it. It was high, and he went up and just made a played when we needed to. That's the kind of thing we've come to expect from Roddy."

Early in the second quarter, Harry Douglas caught Ryan's 8-yard pass in the right flats and dove for the front pylon to cut the lead to 14-7.

Douglas' 34-yard catch late in the second quarter helped set up a 37-yard field goal by Bryant that made it 14-10 at halftime. Bryant cut the 49ers lead to 14-13 with a 31-yard field goal at the 5:53 mark of the third quarter.

"We made lots of mistakes and we've got lots of things that we've got to correct," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "But we're 3-1 through the first quarter of the season."

Notes: 49ers S Michael Lewis didn't make the trip. He missed practice Friday because of personal reasons and reportedly has demanded a trade. Mays started in his place. ... Falcons WR Michael Jenkins (shoulder) and OLB Sean Weatherspoon (ankle) did not dress. ... X-rays of Walker's sprained ankle were negative. He didn't return after leaving in the second quarter.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

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