Cam Newton's Saturday press conference was the biggest moment of the 2011 NFL Combine so far, likely to be eclipsed only by his Sunday workout. Here's a complete video of his beaming ascent to the podium, reading of "a special statement," and a question-and-answer session that went far longer than the "five minutes or so" the assembled media members were told they'd get with the Heisman Trophy winner:
Backpedaling from his "entertainer and icon" comments was a good idea, and he looked polished and confident while somehow refraining from referring to Cam Newton in the third person in every sentence. And he handled chunky softballs like "Do you think people mistake your confidence for cockiness?" with ease.
But later on during team interviews, things reportedly didn't go quite so well.
Newton reportedly got defensive when asked why he chose to run a quarterback sneak during the closing seconds of the BCS National Championship Game, instead of taking a knee as he'd been instructed.