Sadly, Raiders' Moss theorizes on troublesReceiver ties his drops to low happiness level.By Jason Jones / The Sacramento Bee11/14/06 03:53:15
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OAKLAND — Randy Moss says he avoids local media in an attempt to steer clear of controversy. But the Oakland Raiders receiver encountered both Monday.
"One thing that I've done in the last year and half with the Raiders is stay out of the controversy, and I have other players on the team I will leave that up to," Moss said.
Second-year quarterback Andrew Walter took care of that part Sunday when he criticized the offensive scheme after a 17-13 loss to Denver.
But Moss said something to raise Raiders coach Art Shell's ire when asked why he is dropping more passes than usual.
"Maybe because I'm unhappy," Moss said. "All I can say is you put me in a good situation and make me happy man and you'll get good results."
Shell didn't like hearing that.
"That's a problem that he has," Shell said. "You're expected to play; you're paid to play."
Moss spoke at a news conference announcing the Randy Moss Return Man Award, to be given annually to the top collegiate returner. He was Division I-AA's top return man in 1996 when he was at Marshall.
Before the news conference, Moss was cordial. He also backed up his quarterback.
"One thing about Andrew is his upside … [in] how he can lead a team, his competitive nature," Moss said. "One thing I do see in him is how he wants to compete on the field, when we're doing good, when we're doing bad. And if our quarterback speaks out, then that's our quarterback."
The Raiders are last in the league in total offense (229.7 yards per game), passing (131.1 yards per game) and scoring (11.7 points per game).
"That's one thing that has bothered me, knowing that we have weapons to go out there and stretch the field, such as myself, but we're not getting it done," Moss said. "I don't know if you put that on the players' shoulders, if you put that on the offensive coordinator's shoulders, but we're 2-7."
Walter on Sunday blamed coordinator Tom Walsh's offense, saying there is not enough "depth" in the playbook.
Shell took exception with that, too, on Monday.
"There's freedom of speech," Shell said, "but make sure when you say things that you know what you're talking about and you're accountable also."
Walter was supposed to be in shotgun formation — which was added to the offense specifically for him after he expressed a preference for it — on the Raiders' last offensive play. He fumbled from under center, sealing the defeat.
"We've taken things out of the playbook because of individuals being able to handle certain things," Shell said. "There's a lot of depth in that playbook. This playbook is no different from any other playbook around this league."
Shell appears ready to make a switch back to Aaron Brooks at quarterback for Sunday's game at Kansas City, though the coach said Walter's comments wouldn't play into the decision.
Brooks began the season as the starter before straining a pectoral muscle in the second game. He said Monday he's ready to play as soon as the coaches give him the go-ahead.
"I'm going to take a hard look at it and see where we are with him," Shell said. "I think he's very close. We'll see how he goes."
On the officiating front, Shell was critical of a game-changing call that favored Denver.
Up 13-7 late in the third quarter, Oakland thought it had recovered a fumbled punt. Oakland's Chris Carr was flagged for running out of bounds on the coverage, nullifying the play.
"I saw it and I felt we got screwed," Shell said. "The rule states you must be allowed to come back in. They didn't let him come back in."
Referee Bill Leavy said field judge Rob Vernatchi ruled Carr was knocked out of bounds, faked coming back in, ran for about 5 yards, and then returned to the field.
"Make every effort to come back 'immediately' is the wording in the book," Leavy said. "And he didn't come back, in that field judge's opinion, immediately."
The Associated Presscontributed to this report.
MOSS REALLY NEEDS TO GO HES FULL OF SHIT ALREADY.TRADE HIM NOW OR DEACTIVATE HIM AND PUT IN PORTER.STOP BEING SO STUPID AL DAVIS AND ART SHELL.FIRE WALSH TOO.