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The Randy Ripple: Randy moss' brilliance will trickle down to his new offensive teammates, which should lift the Raiders' production up, up, up

Sporting News, The, July 22, 2005 by Phil Barber

Welcome to Oakland, where the 2005 offseason has become the Summer of Love.

The Raiders love Randy Moss, and he loves the Raiders. Moss loves Oakland coach Norv Turner and his staff. Other players love their glorified new teammate. The Black Hole loves its season tickets again, and the league loves the royalties from all those freshly purchased, silver-and-black No. 18 jerseys.

Forget for a moment the squirt bottle and the panto-mooning, the dust-up with the traffic cop and the "I play when I want to play" statement. The Raiders are slobbering over the athletic talents of a guy who can run, leap and catch as well as anyone on the planet. And after Moss' first 15 or so practices with his new team this offseason, nothing had happened to sour the happy notes.

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"Randy is really a student of the game, and of players," Turner says. "When you get in those meetings and hear him talk about plays, about coverages, how to attack a defense, he has a feel for why things are being done. That helps him learn the system a lot faster."

As Moss devours Turner's playbook, defensive coaches--especially those in the AFC West--are plotting ways to neutralize one of the few NFL players who can single-handedly change the dynamics of a game.

"I know from experience with Randy, a lot of times what you see on film from an opponent over 16 games is a lot different from what you get on game day," says Raiders guard Brad Badger, who played with Moss in Minnesota in 2000 and '01. "He changes the coverages. Teams have to be careful of the deep middle. In the running game, not a lot of teams want to bring eight men into the box."

Titans general manager Floyd Reese says, "Even when he was injured last year, you'd still see coverages rolling toward him. It's suicide to line up and try to play him man-to-man--and even with zone coverage if you don't shade his way."

Moss will get his catches in Oakland. What really will define the Raiders' offensive output is how well their other players complement their new star and how well Turner and his staff take advantage of the imbalance that is certain to occur when defenses focus on Moss.

"Minnesota did that to some extent but not to the extreme they could have," Seahawks pro personnel director Will Lewis says. "I think things will open up for the tight end that wouldn't have been there otherwise.... The running backs could be used a little more in the passing game, and the running game in general could be a little better. There are a lot of ways for (Moss) to complement the other threats in that offense."

Indeed, most of the Raiders' offensive players will get tangible benefits from Moss' commanding presence. Some will take on extra burdens. But one thing is certain: Football will not be business as usual for them, thanks to the Randy Ripple.

QB KERRY COLLINS

Working as a guest host on the NFL Network a few weeks ago, the soon-to-be-retired Rich Gannon jokingly chided Turner, asking, "Why couldn't you have done that when I was your quarterback?"

Gannon, of course, was talking about trading for Moss, and there was no mistaking his point: A great receiver can make a quarterback look good. And Moss is as good as it gets. He has sprinter's speed and nonpareil leaping ability and at 6-4 is easy to find in traffic.

"Because he's so rangy, you'll have opportunities to throw the ball where the other guys just couldn't get it," Collins says. "You can put one over guys' heads. Over the course of a game, you can put the ball in a safe spot, and he'll go out and get it."

Even if the pass is contended, Moss can use his innate ball skills and surprising strength to still end up with the reception. That should be a huge boost for Collins, who during his 10-year NFL career has thrown more interceptions (154) than touchdowns (153) and has completed just 55.9 percent of his attempts.

"I think (Moss) and Kerry have a real good feel for each other," Turner says. "Not as good as they'll have when we break camp in August but pretty good."

RB LaMont Jordan

Much has been written, and rightly so, about the impact Jordan likely will have on a moribund ground attack. Jordan never started a game with the Jets, who often used him in short-yardage situations or when they were nursing a lead. That meant the 230-pound Jordan usually faced defenses geared to stop him. That won't often be the case in Oakland, where Moss will wear the jersey with the embedded bull's-eye.

"If your choices are giving LaMont 5 or 6 yards on this carry or giving Randy an 80-yard touchdown catch, you're going to let LaMont get his yards," Reese says. "It's kind of like last year when New England played Indy (in Week 1) and (Edgerrin) James had a lot of yards. The Patriots' plan was, if Edgerrin James is gaining those yards, it's gonna be a lot less painful than letting Peyton Manning do it. It could be the same thing (in Oakland). You might see a lot of 7- and 8-yard runs."

The Randy Ripple: Randy moss' brilliance will trickle down to his new offensive teammates, which should lift the Raiders' production up, up, up

Sporting News, The, July 22, 2005 by Phil Barber

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