No wonder pro athletes regard some sportswriters as snakes.

Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn were on opposite teams Sunday in the Brown vs. White scrimmage in Cleveland Browns Stadium. Anderson's team,the team in Brown jerseys, won, 17-14. Anderson ran for one touchdown and put the Brown team in position to kick the game-winning field goal. On the negative side he threw an interception at the 4 after a long drive.

After the scrimmage Anderson made a crack about Quinn feeding the White defense the hand signals Anderson was using to communicate to the Brown receivers. The reporters who know Anderson laughed, but ESPN.com turned it into a story, and then Profootballtalk.com on Wednesday picked it up and made it out that Anderson accused Quinn of trying to sabotage him to get an advantage in his duel with Anderson to be the starter.

"What I meant is we were having a good time and everybody was doing everything they could to win," Anderson said. "Obviously we had some incentive to win. They scripted fun plays. We did things we normally wouldn't do. It was all in fun. Whoever took it and ran with it, obviously I have to be careful what I say."

"The defense already knows our hand signals," Quinn said.

Bottom line: There is no rift between Quinn and Anderson. Coach Eric Mangini says their competition is still even. The preseason starts Saturday in Green Bay, Wis. Mangini hasn't named his starter.