FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Randy Moss said Wednesday that allegations he committed battery against a woman are false and that she made the claim to get money from him.
"I want to make something clear," the Patriots wide receiver said while surrounded by reporters and cameras at his locker. "In my whole entire life of living 30 years, I've never put my hand on one woman, physically or in an angry manner."
Florida radio station WDBO reported that a woman filed for an order of protection against Moss, alleging he committed battery against her. The report said a temporary injunction was issued, barring Moss from coming within 500 feet of the woman and from using or possessing firearms.
Click here to watch video of Moss discussing allegations.
Moss gave no details of the alleged incident, saying he was restricted by the legal case.
He said the woman was a friend of 11 years and that she asked for "six figures" for what Moss said was an accident in which she was hurt.
"They're false allegations, something I've been battling for like the last couple of days of threats going public if I didn't pay X amount of dollars," Moss said. "So before people rush quick to judgment I think you need to find out the facts about, really, what's going on.
"This young lady by no means is hurt. I didn't hurt her."
New England plays the San Diego Chargers in the AFC championship game in Foxborough on Sunday.
Moss, who set an NFL record with 23 touchdown catches this season, said he spoke with coach Bill Belichick about the matter. Moss spoke to about 30 reporters in the locker room after Belichick's regular news conference at which the coach wasn't asked about it.
Moss has avoided off-field problems this season and has been hailed by other Patriots players as an excellent teammate and leader. In his previous nine seasons — seven with Minnesota and two with Oakland — he was involved several incidents.
With Minnesota, he was criticized by quarterback Daunte Culpepper and others for leaving the field with 2 seconds left in a regular-season loss to Washington. He bumped a traffic control officer with his car in 2002, verbally abused corporate sponsors on a team bus in 2001 and squirted an official with a water bottle in 1999.
He strongly denied the latest allegations, breaking his usual midweek silence.
"It's very unfair to athletes if a person makes a false claim. You know, there's nothing that we can do," Moss said. "The only thing that we can do is either pay up or sit back and listen to what's being said or what's being written.
"For someone to make a false claim about me, I'm kind of furious," he said. "It kind of hurts me deep inside for someone to do something like that because, you know, I've always said time and time again, I'm going to stand up for what's right. If I'm right, I'm right. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong."
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