NEW ORLEANS – Reginald "A.J." Oakley captured it best with his assessment of Ray Lewis.

"I accept him for who he was, a good athlete," said Oakley, one of two men Lewis testified against 13 years ago following a double murder in Atlanta after Super Bowl XXXIV in which he was also initially charged with murder.

Reginald Oakley during trial in 2000. (AP)After Oakley's remark, there is silence. A long, halting pause in which the listener thinks a "but" or "and" or some bridge to the next comment will come.

[Related: When and where to watch the big game]

Finally, after seven or eight seconds, Oakley is asked what kind of man Lewis is.

"He's human like everybody else," said Oakley, who was acquitted on murder charges (along with Joseph Sweeting) in the January 2000 deaths of Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar. "When everything was going crazy at that time, I don't think it was a big deal for him to do whatever it took to protect himself. He had his career he was worried about. … I was the new guy in the group, so I

NEW ORLEANS – Randy Moss said he hates his role with the San Francisco 49ers.

Moss said he's a better wide receiver than Jerry Rice.

Moss said he doesn't care to apologize for anything he has done in the past, not even to himself.

It all made perfect sense after listening to everything Moss said Tuesday at the annual Super Bowl media day. It was all logical, respectful and even measured, including the part about being better than Rice or any other receiver.

Randy Moss gave some of the buzziest quotes of Tuesday's media day. (AP) As easy as it would be to dismiss Moss as the same angry young man he was a decade or so ago, he sounds like anything but that. At 35, he has become the antithesis of that common perception. While Moss isn't (and probably never will be) open, he was engaging, humorous, and, most of all, filled with perspective that most people wouldn't expect. 

[Related: 49ers QB Alex Smith maintains composure amid demotion]

What the NFL heard from Moss on Tuesday – which was important because Moss rarely talks – is a

MOBILE, Ala. – Like colleague Jeff Lurie in Philadelphia, Dallas owner Jerry Jones went the route of hiring a college coach to run his beloved Cowboys.

A couple of times, actually.

It led to his greatest success, but only after his greatest failure.

Chip Kelly replaces Andy Reid as the Eagles' coach. (AP)"We won one game," Jones said, raising his right index finger to emphasize the point about his first year as owner of the Cowboys in 1989, when he hired longtime friend Jimmy Johnson out of the University of Miami. "One. Only one. That was hard. But I remember after that season getting a call from [late Oakland Raiders owner] Al Davis. He said: 'Don’t take your marbles and go home. You’re on the right track.

"The most important thing Al said was: 'You didn’t lose the team. They played hard for you all the way to the end. That says something about what you’re doing.’ "

Lurie and the Eagles made the boldest hire of the offseason when they lured dynamic coach Chip Kelly from Oregon. Like Johnson in the 1980s when he built

MOBILE, Ala. – Amid 45 minutes of contrite, turn-the-page talk, coach Sean Payton said all the right things to soothe the savage feelings that New Orleans Saints fans have for the NFL right now.

In other words, Payton did NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a serious solid in his return news conference on Wednesday at the Senior Bowl. As Goodell and the rest of the NFL set to descend upon New Orleans in force in the next few days, more than a few people have wondered if some ex-lax might get cooked into Goodell's bread pudding.

If not worse.

Instead, Payton, when asked how New Orleans should receive the commissioner, paved the way for a more peaceable week for Goodell and other league folk.

"I think it should be the same way our city has hosted the previous nine Super Bowls," said Payton, who was reinstated by the NFL on Tuesday after serving a season-long suspension for his role in the team's bounty scandal.

[More: Coaches say Gregg Williams could have difficulty

MOBILE, Ala. – Coach Sean Payton's return to the New Orleans Saints was all the buzz Tuesday among the hundreds of coaches and front-office people at the Senior Bowl.

Gregg Williams spent three seasons with the Saints before being suspended for the 2012 campaign. (AP) When it came to Gregg Williams, however, the buzz was killed in a matter of seconds. As talented and accomplished as Williams has been in his career prior to the bounty scandal that severely impacted New Orleans' season, there is a huge question around the NFL about how exactly he can get back in the league.

If at all.

The primary issues for Williams, suspended indefinitely by the league for his role in the bounty program, are trust and his ability to work within a staff. The trust issue relates to both how players will deal with him and how he will follow orders from a head coach.

"Fabulous coach, energetic, inventive, aggressive … but after all the stuff that happened, are your players going to worry about what they do or say in front of him?" one head coach said. "Heck, the way you hear it from the

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh gathered his team together at halftime and gave them a bit of focused analysis and direct instruction about how they were going to beat the best organization of this era.

"We didn't come here to be conservative,” Harbaugh said, referring to an offense that had produced only seven points and a paltry 130 yards of total offense. "We're going to attack.”

In a transitive way, that pointed the responsibility of getting to Super Bowl XLVII directly at Joe Flacco. The quarterback delivered by going 15-of-24 for 159 yards and three touchdowns after intermission as Baltimore beat the New England Patriots, 28-13, in the AFC championship game.

Joe Flacco reacts after throwing a 5-yard TD pass to Dennis Pitta in the second half. (AP) The numbers only speak to the surface of what Flacco accomplished Sunday night and, in a grander sense, throughout the playoffs. Flacco completed a playoff run to the Super Bowl, pitting the Ravens against the Jim Harbaugh-led San Francisco 49ers on Feb. 3, that features wins over Andrew

The NFL plans to expand the league's Rooney Rule in the aftermath of zero minority hires among the 14 head coach and general manager positions so far this offseason.

NFL executive vice president of Human Resources Robert Gulliver said in a statement issued by the league Friday: "While there has been full compliance with the interview requirements of the Rooney Rule and we wish the new head coaches and general managers much success, the hiring results this year have been unexpected and reflect a disappointing lack of diversity."

Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton has gotten passed over. (Getty Images)According to several sources, the league is hoping to add team president, assistant head coach and both offensive and defensive coordinator to the list of positions that will require a minority candidate be interviewed. In addition, the league is hoping to restart its annual coaching and management symposium program to help train assistant coaches and staff members (both black and white) on the duties that go with head coach and general manager

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – References to the "S-word" really don't irritate the Patriots, because Spygate or not, New England keeps winning.

As the Patriots attempt to make the Super Bowl for the sixth time in 12 seasons, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo became the latest player to discredit the Patriots with tweets last Sunday that touched on Spygate. Although Ayanbadejo subsequently apologized, he's unlikely the last critic to make such a dig.

Led by Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, the Patriots have been to the playoffs in 10 of the past 12 seasons. (USA TODAY Sports)"For me, honestly, no, it doesn't matter," New England quarterback Tom Brady said. "By this time, we've heard it all."

And they keep beating people in the process.

This year marks the sixth season since the scandal broke following the 2007 season opener, putting the incident in the midpoint of New England's long run of high-end play. Since the start of the '07 season, New England has gone 76-20 in the regular season. In the six seasons before the scandal, the Patriots are 70-26.

Critics will point to the lack of