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Posted: Friday November 18, 2005 11:59PM; Updated: Friday November 18, 2005 11:59PM
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By Bob Harris, Special to SI.com, FootballDiehards.com

2. Santana Moss, Washington Redskins

The Redskins got Moss from the Jets in a swap of wideouts, giving up Laveranues Coles. Moss is currently the league's second-leading wideout (935 yards on 53 catches with five touchdowns) behind Smith.

To their credit, the Redskins believed Moss' 18.6 average was exactly what the doctor ordered for an offense that struggled to complete long passes last season. Six of last year's 10 touchdown catches were longer than 25 yards and his yards-per-catch average ranked 14th in the league.

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In Washington, Moss has expanded on that big-play ability.

In fact, he turned in his best performance as a pro, matching a personal best with 10 catches for a career-high 173 yards and two touchdowns, in the team's Oct. 16 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

So far this season, he has averaged just over 44 yards per catch on his five touchdowns -- a number made even more amazing when you remember that one of those scores came from just four yards out.

His other four trips to the end zone have been 32, 39, 70 and 78 yards.

Even though his production has fallen off the last few weeks, Moss has been the biggest difference maker for Washington's offense -- even when the ball isn't in his hands. He is forcing defenses to respect the deep routes he runs as well as handle his speed and playmaking ability after the catch.

3. Joey Galloway, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

As the Associated Press noted Wednesday, the 34-year old Galloway remains one of the fastest players in the league at any position. And with 51 receptions for 862 yards and seven touchdowns heading into Sunday's game at Atlanta, he's also been one of the most productive this season.

And there's no doubt how he gets it done, either.

"I've told the story of 1995, when I was with the Eagles," Bucs head coach Jon Gruden said. "That was the first player I ever went to work out at Ohio [State] and he ran a 40-yard dash, honestly, under 4.2 [seconds]. I'd never seen or heard of that. I thought they were tricking me with that 40-yard field. ... I thought it was 36 yards."

Ten years later, Gruden is still amazed.

Galloway, in his second season with Tampa Bay, has scored 13 touchdowns in his last 14 games and is one of the main reasons the Bucs have already surpassed their victory total from 2004.

This season, Galloway has caught at least five passes in eight of Tampa Bay's nine games and scored on receptions of 50, 78 and 80 yards. The 11th-year pro had two catches over 30 yards and scored a 24-yard pass play in last week's 36-35 victory over Washington.

Galloway is third in the league in receiving yardage behind Smith and Moss, and is on pace to finish with career highs in receptions, yardage and TDs. He has three 100-yard games and two others with at least 96.

Other than speed and productivity, these three men all have other traits in common. Of most interest would be their size. None is six feet tall and all three tip the scales at less than 200 pounds.

So even though Smith (5-foot-9, 185), Moss (5-foot-10, 190) and Galloway (5-foot-11, 197) all easily fall under the catchall category of "diminutive speedster," their totals are anything but diminutive.


Bob Harris is co-founder of the FootballDiehards Web site and senior editor at FSP Inc., publisher of Fantasy Football Pro Forecast, DraftBook, CheatSheets and Football Diehards magazines. He is a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association.

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