Moss growing on Raiders, and vice versa, at minicamp
Randy Moss made one thing clear following his first few workouts with the Oakland Raiders: He’s going to be the same distanced superstar he was in seven tumultuous seasons in Minnesota.
“Some people call it shy. Some people call it incognito. I call it being me,” Moss said Saturday between minicamp practices at Alameda, Calif. “The biggest thing is, I’m coming here to work.”
The extent of Moss’ adjustment period with his new team has been mixing up names of several teammates and familiarizing himself with new offensive terminology in Norv Turner’s system.
On the field, he sure appears smooth and collected.
“The thing that jumped out at me first was how effortless he does things,” quarterback Kerry Collins said. “He’s very fluid. He’s a big, tall, rangy guy. I knew that, but until you see him in person you don’t get an appreciation for it.”
While cornerback Charles Woodson is the official franchise man – for now, at least – Moss is undeniably the important new face of this team.
He knows it, too.
Moss has forgotten a few teammates’ names, saying it was “embarrassing,” but nobody has called him by the wrong name.
“No. I think I’m in the spotlight,” he said, his hair in tight, criss-crossed cornrows. “But if they did, I wouldn’t worry about it.”
Oakland is coming off a 5-11 season, getting just one more victory in Turner’s first year than the Raiders managed the previous season under fired coach Bill Callahan. The team is 9-23 over the past two seasons for the worst two-year record since Al Davis arrived in 1963 to coach and eventually own the Raiders.
Moss is just the kind of player for Davis’ preferred vertical passing game. It was their proficient passing attack led by league MVP Rich Gannon that advanced the Raiders to the Super Bowl after the 2002 season, won 48-21 by Tampa Bay.
When asked if anything has surprised him so far wearing the Silver and Black, Moss tested the media ever so slightly.
“The only thing I can really say is the food, that’s about it,” he said. “Nah, it was really a joke. I’m messing with you. Nah, nothing really surprised me here.”
Brown catches break in minicamp
The Philadelphia Eagles are moving on without receivers Terrell Owens and Freddie Mitchell.
With Owens holding out of Philadelphia’s mandatory minicamp and Mitchell on his way out of town, rookie wide receiver Reggie Brown is getting a chance to show off his skills.
“I’ve been waiting my whole life to be in this position and I’m going to take advantage,” Brown said. “Football is what I was raised on. It’s good to come to a city that loves football.”
Brown, selected in the second round during last week’s NFL draft with the 35th overall pick, is getting a crash course in the Eagles’ version of the West Coast offense this weekend. He’s spending more time learning the playbook than working on new moves.
Brown had 144 catches for 2,008 yards and 12 touchdowns in four years at Georgia.
Sack leader may have to bag it
NFL sack leader Dwight Freeney recently had shoulder surgery and might not be ready to practice when Indianapolis opens training camp in late July, said coach Tony Dungy.
Dungy revealed the surgery on the two-time Pro Bowl defensive end during the second day of the Colts’ rookie minicamp at Indianapolis.
Freeney led the NFL last season with a franchise-record 16 sacks, his third straight season with double-digit sacks after the Colts drafted him 11th overall in 2002.