Week 1 Bust

Raiders rookie Darrius Heyward-Bey doesn't get all the fuss over his total lack of stats after one NFL start. Sure, he dropped the first two throws his way and caught nothing Monday night against the Chargers. Yes, his coach said afterward he looked like a "real nervous uptight young man, a lot of big eyes." As far as Heyward-Bey is concerned, he wasn't nervous one bit, and he didn't play half bad. "Did some good things, did some bad things," Heyward-Bey said. "Pretty good grade but could be better. For the first game, it was solid." Heyward-Bey is the "X" receiver, so he's got the "backside of things." His elite speed is supposed to pull a safety over in double coverage to make the field easier to see for quarterback JaMarcus Russell. Just by being out there, Heyward-Bey said, it makes a difference for others. That's what he said people outside the building aren't seeing. "I'm just sitting back doing my job," Heyward-Bey said. "That's my job in this offense. That's what I do." Teams don't pay $23.5 million in guaranteed money for a decoy. The Raiders need him to be a scoring threat who runs precise routes and catches every ball within reach. In short, do what fourth-round rookie Louis Murphy did in his first NFL start. He is just trying to avoid the fact that he did not produce because he is not under all this pressure. Honestly he already has the edge over Crabtree because he is not playing. As of week one both of them look overrated.