Moss ready for more crazy antics

"There's no telling what you're going to see," Moss said Monday in his first interview of training camp. "I love what I do. I love having fun. When it comes to big games, you never know what you're going to see out of me. As long as we win, I'm just having fun. If the antics come, then I'm here to apologize first before they even happen. I'm going to have fun, man, believe that."

Moss, traded from the Minnesota Vikings in early March, still considers himself the NFL's top receiver. He's anxious to return to top form after a frustrating season a year ago, when he was limited by a hamstring injury and didn't reach 1,000 yards receiving for the first time in his seven seasons.

He finished with 49 catches for 767 yards and 13 touchdowns.

After initially saying he preferred to stay in the background with his new team, Moss now realizes his visibility makes it impossible to avoid being a leadership figure for a franchise that lost many of its key locker-room personalities over the last two years.

"I think just my name and what I've done makes me one of the leaders of this team," he said. "You know, I really didn't want that. I just want to go out here and play football and let my skills and my play lead. If I need to go out there and lead from a verbal standpoint, then I will do that."

Without Rich Gannon, Jerry Rice and Tim Brown, Moss is the biggest name in this offense. And, aside from San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, he's the biggest name in the Bay Area pro sports scene.

Moss is a perfectionist and a worker, and expects the same from those around him.

He dropped a short pass on a 3-yard route Saturday and immediately got down behind the huddle for 10 push-ups. On Sunday, a ball flew over his head in the back of the end zone and Moss loudly cursed at himself.

"With what I do, with what I've been able to do in double and triple coverage throughout the whole game, I do consider myself the best receiver in the league," he said. "I've said it before, I want to continue to be the best until I leave this game."

He is a dream player for owner Al Davis, who loves his quarterbacks to throw the deep ball. It was Oakland's proficient passing attack directed by Gannon that led the Raiders to the Super Bowl after the 2002 season, a game they lost 48-21 to Tampa Bay.

Oakland has gone 9-23 since, the worst two-year record since Davis arrived in 1963 to coach and eventually own the Raiders.

Moss is the man Davis figures can change that trend in a hurry.

"What's happenin', what's happenin'?" Moss said, sliding his ever-present headphones down around his neck for a change to answer questions for about 20 minutes.

Moss is still struggling to digest the Raiders' giant playbook, which he said is much more daunting than what he had with the Vikings.

"The playbook in Minnesota was more like one-plus-one," he said. "And here, this playbook here is like Algebra II. So, it's very complicated."

Moss' animated behavior has been well documented - and he said Monday he hopes some things can be left in the past.

He was fined $10,000 for pretending to pull down his pants and moon the Green Bay crowd during Minnesota's playoff win last season and also drew criticism for leaving the field with 2 seconds left in a regular-season loss against Washington.

Other transgressions include bumping a traffic control officer with his car in 2002, verbally abusing corporate sponsors on a team bus in 2001 and squirting an official with a water bottle in 1999, in addition to his infamous "I play when I want to play" comments.

"Will I pay the fines? If we're winning, I'll pay the fines," he said. "I think I've got enough money, I can spit out a little change."

Meanwhile Monday, four-time Pro Bowl cornerback Charles Woodson returned to practice after sitting out a day and a half with a strained groin.