Continued......


7) Things got ugly before and after the trade from Minnesota, with Vikings players and management saying unflattering things about why Moss needed to go.

Was Moss the scapegoat? Was he treated right?

'No. I don't think they kept it professional, where they were leaning and why they said they traded me. I thought we could do something special in Minnesota. All we needed to do was get a couple of defensive players. Now they have that but their offense sucks. You see when I left, the organization went down. Obviously I was not the reason the organization was what it was.'

8) The 2005 season was difficult for Moss, who had to deal with several nicks that kept him from playing at full healthy. So we peppered him with questions about his current physical condition.

Moss told us, "I'm pretty much back to 100%. Last year was so frustrating because I think, with my injury, I could've probably taken a couple of weeks off but I personally had some high hopes for the Raider team to try to have a push for the playoffs to prove the critics wrong. So if people were wondering why I kept playing nicked up, that's the reason why. I wanted to help my team do whatever they can to make a playoff push.

"I fought through it. I've rehabbed this off-season, trying to get that part of my body, my groin area, a little bit stronger. So I'd say I'm back to almost 100%. I'm ready to go."

9) We also asked about the perception that Moss plays only when he wants to, a perception fueled by the receiver saying as much a few years ago.

"The reason why I said it was, you have all your critics telling you how to play the position I've played my entire life. You cannot compare me with a Mr. Jerry Rice, running the short and intermediate routs. That's not what they ask me to do. I run the deep patterns. I catch touchdowns down the sideline. I need to be fresh and ready to go for the 4th quarter. If critics don't understand that, well, they just don't understand.'

It was an earnest and passionate 25 minutes with Moss. It was obvious that there is still a lot of bitterness towards the Viking organization and he is still frustrated by the trade. But the receiver sounded very happy to be spending time with his family in the off-season. Moss is also very excited about his new business venture, opening up an Inta Juice franchise in his home state of West Virginia (www.intajuice.com). And most especially, he sounded excited about getting back to his old form in 2006.

Adam Schein hosts the Afternoon Blitz on Sirius NFL Radio with Solomon Wilcots and Jerry Rice from 3-7 Eastern Time. Email him at adamschein@foxsports.com.