X-FACTOR: JERRY PORTER

Bill Callahan says Jerry Porter could catch 80 balls a year in an offense that featured his talents. To which Porter, employing his best Chris Webber smile -- and wink -- replies, "Eighty? How about 120?"

High expectations, and far beyond anything even the eminently confident Porter could have imagined as early as last summer. Callahan had a talk with him then, halfway through training camp, and he told the third-year receiver he was going to get an opportunity to show what he could do. Porter responded politely and enthusiastically, but the interior dialogue was a little different: "I'd heard it before. It was the same talk I had with Jon Gruden before my second year. That turned out to be nothing, so I didn't expect much. Coach Callahan turned out to be a man of his word. He stuck with me. I appreciate him for that."

	If you underestimate Porter, chances are you'll lose the game.

At 6'2", 220 pounds, Porter is put together in the Terrell Owens mold, and has developed into the perfect complement to the smaller Tim Brown and Jerry Rice. Where Rice and Brown work the middle of the field and take on the short routes with metronomic precision, Porter is the deep threat who can get to the end zone from anywhere on the field. Consider his numbers: 51 receptions for 688 yards and a team-leading 9 TD catches. He might be the No.3 receiver, but he's No.3 with a bullet. Against the Jets in the divisional playoff, he caught six passes for 123 yards and the go-ahead touchdown. In the AFC title game against the Titans: four more catches for 52 yards and another touchdown.

No wonder Al Davis has told Porter, "You're ruining it for these old guys. Cut it out."

How good can Porter be? "I hope he can follow in the footsteps of the two other guys we've got here," says offensive tackle Lincoln Kennedy. "As far as talent goes, there's no doubt he could." Kennedy waits as this information sinks in, until someone asks him to describe the confidence it gives the Raiders to know there's another threat -- maybe even an equal threat -- to go along with Brown and Rice.

Kennedy smiles and says, "Aren't we lucky?"

***

X-FACTOR: OAKLAND'S D-BACKS

So here you are, lining up man-on-man against some of the fastest, most agile men in the NFL. And doing it with a still cranky right shoulder and a metal plate bolted into your cracked right fibula. Depending on how you package your nightmares -- showing up cold to take a college final, or walking through Nordstrom's minus your pants -- this might at least raise the hair on your neck.

But this is Charles Woodson's reality, and he's happy to have it. He's had his fill of watching teammates on the field without him. In his first non-Pro Bowl season -- he missed five games for the shoulder and three for the leg -- his availability for the postseason was never guaranteed. Now Super Bowl XXXVII is a lock.

Woodson has fellow corner Tory James to thank for his presence in the playoff lineup. James was the first member of the Cracked Right Fibula Study Group, and he returned sooner than expected after surgery to install a metal plate. Like any good consumer, Woodson figured he had to get himself one. Now he and James are both out there, aided by metal. "Wood is a perfect example of how we fight through," says cornerback Terrance Shaw. "Hurt or not, we don't want to be the one who lets someone down."

In the Raiders' bump-and-run man coverage, Woodson and James force receivers to the sidelines, relying on speed to close on passes short and long. They never worry about the middle of the field, because safeties Anthony Dorsett and Rod Woodson control the seams and cover underneath patterns with equal skill. The entire group takes great pride in not relying on zone schemes; Woodson's injury didn't change that. Broken leg or not, he's out there on his own, one of the game's best cover corners entrusted with stopping the opposition's best receiver. "All of us have been banged up during the season," Shaw says. "But we've got an attitude that we'll be there when it counts."

Nobody does Us vs. the World quite like the Raiders, and the defensive backs are fueled by the perceived slights of the media and opponents. "We've been weak since Wood got hurt," says Rod Woodson, mimicking a main story line of the Raiders' season. "But every week someone stepped up and played well. Clarence Love stepped in and played well. Terrance Shaw stepped in and played well. But what happened the next week? We were weak. And the week after that? Still weak. No matter what we did, every week we were weak." Woodson shrugs and raises his palms. Across the room, Charles Woodson nods in his teammate's direction. Underappreciated? Disrespected?

You get the feeling these guys like it this way.

This article appears in the February 3 issue of ESPN The Magazine.