Milestone in reach for Heyward-Bey

ALAMEDA -- There's no doubt Darrius Heyward-Bey has made a big jump in this, his third season in the NFL.But the much-maligned receiver has bigger goals. Much bigger goals."That's why I come to work every day, to try to reach my goal of being the best player in the league," Heyward-Bey said. "That's how high the standards are."With 51 catches for 775 yards and three touchdowns, Heyward-Bey has already set single-season highs for himself. Consider: as a rookie, he caught nine passes for 124 yards and one TD. Last season, he had 26 receptions for 366 yards and a TD.
Now, he is on pace for 58 catches for 885 yards and has an outside shot at becoming the first Raiders receiver since Randy Moss in 2005 to have a 1,000-yard receiving season. Moss finished that year with 1,005 receiving yards."I just look at it as doing what I had to do in the offseason," Heyward-Bey said of his statistical leap. "Didn't practice much during camp, but when I got a chance to get going, I had to focus."Heyward-Bey was slowed in training camp by an undisclosed injury and was carted off the field at Minnesota on Nov. 20 after taking a scary looking blow to the back of the head that popped his helmet off.But Sunday against Detroit, he had a career day with eight catches for 155 yards. Still, it was overshadowed by the Raiders' 28-27 loss and a Heyward-Bey fumble inside the Lions' 10-yard line in the third quarter."I don't care what critics say," he said. "All I care about is me and my teammates and my coaches. That's all I care about."His drops, though, have also decreased.According to STATS Inc., Heyward-Bey had nine drops in 105 targets his first two seasons combined. This season, he's had five drops in 91 targets."You know, he looks more confident in himself and in his hands," Kansas City cornerback Brandon Flowers said in a conference call with Bay Area reporters Wednesday morning. "Before, it was like he was trying to do too much, he was trying to concentrate too hard when he was catching the ball, instead of just relaxing and playing like he did in college, when he was making all types of plays."But I feel like the game slowed down for him. He gets very relaxed out there and he's growing into his own as an NFL receiver."When Al Davis used the No. 7 overall pick on him in the 2008 draft, Heyward-Bey was compared to Moss by the Raiders, a pure deep threat. But he has found his niche of late catching intermediate passes and breaking tackles."He's not just that guy that can run vertical," Flowers said. "A lot of teams are cautious because of his speed, they give him a lot of cushion for him to break those underneath routes and let him break tackles. He's a strong guy so he's definitely going to break tackles if you don't come with any type of force. He's becoming a well-polished receiver in this league."One that still has the occasional case of the yips."You have your up-and-down days as a human being in general," Heyward-Bey said. "For me, I've been keeping it steady for the most part. The only time I've ever not had confidence was my sophomore year in high school when I didn't make varsity. Other than that, I really don't care. I just go out there and play ball."