“Inside the NFL” is doing a good job in its transformation from HBO to Showtime, clearly looking to break stories and become an enterprising source at its new network. So far, with Armen Keteyian doing a nice job on the Tony Mandarich story and now with Cris Collinsworth talking with former Raiders executive Mike Lombardi — who was instrumental in making the Randy Moss trade happen — we have a good reason to watch the show.

Here’s an excerpt from the show, which will be aired tonight at 9 p.m. EST, of Collinsworth asking Lombardi about Al Davis’ claims in the Lane Kiffin press conference that the Patriots tampered with Moss:

Collinsworth: Did the tampering take place?

Lombardi: Absolutely not. After that press conference, Al Davis threw everyone under the bus — Bob Kraft, Bill Belichick and myself — saying that I told Bill Belichick that Randy Moss could still run. Well, we were trying to trade Randy Moss to the New England Patriots. I thought that was good information to give Bill Belichick. But now he’s (Davis) accused all of us of making those charges and now he is going to have to face them.

Collinsworth: Did you help Belichick to the determent of the Raiders?

Lombardi: Without a doubt, I did not. I was trying to do the best thing for the Raiders, always have. … In this situation Bill Belichick is not going to always rely on my opinion for information. He is going to look at what he sees on the tape.

Collinsworth: If they are frivolous claims, is there something the league can do to the Raiders?

Lombardi: The Raiders received a letter from the league office this week saying, look, do you have anything to claim about the tampering charges, because it’s been 18 months? Do you have something to say, because if you don’t you are in violation of the club integrity rule. … They want to balance the integrity of the game, but they don’t want other clubs throwing mud against each other. That’s the point here. The Raiders have 18 months to make this charge and all of a sudden after this press conference, Al Davis does make the charge. I think it has more to do with [Randy Moss’] 23 touchdowns than it does with actual tampering.