Ignore Moss’ gibberish and just be glad he’s here
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
I really don’t have anything interesting to say about Randy Moss or the fact he feels “not wanted” because the New England Patriots haven’t offered him a contract extension.
At least he’s here. Logan Mankins feels unwanted, too, except his solution is to sit at home eating beef jerky and watching “Family Guy” reruns while his teammates bust their asses in preparation for the upcoming season.
Yesterday, Moss broke his silence and expressed his frustration over the fact the Patriots have yet to offer him a new contract despite all the time and effort he’s put into transforming himself into a smarter receiver as he reaches his mid-30s.
Since Moss generally speaks to the media once a decade, every breath he takes tends to get more press coverage than the O.J. trial. More often than not, he says something worthy of a hasty blog post, but his latest offerings really weren’t that big a deal despite what most writers and radio hosts will force us to believe over the next four days.
For once, we can’t accuse Moss of quitting on his team, even though he’s got a track record of taking his ball and going home when things don’t go his way. While playing for the Vikings, he walked off the field with two seconds remaining in a game against Washington because he didn’t think his team had a chance to win, and then he officially shot his way out of town a week later in the playoffs when he dropped his drawers on national television and showed all of Green Bay his bare-naked ass.
And in the irony of all ironies, Moss christened the inception of the Randy Moss Award – presented annually to college football’s top kick/punt returner – with a press conference in which he told the media his focus tends to wander when he’s in a “bad mood.”
The problem with trying to defend Moss’ reputation is Moss himself has admitted he doesn’t try as hard if a.) the game is out of reach or b.) his team sucks. Thankfully for Bill Belichick, the Patriots have won 39 games in the three years Moss has been here, which means they’ve gotten his best – or at least close to it – the majority of time, minus that despicable performance last year in Carolina when he hibernated for three and a half quarters following an early fumble.
The reality is it doesn’t matter what Moss says or how he feels, nor does it matter what you or anyone else thinks, because the Patriots have no choice but to put up with his premenstrual mood swings since they’re dangerously anemic at wide receiver. They’re certainly not going to strike fear in the hearts of opposing defenses with this running game, and they’re not going to win anything without Moss. Wes Welker’s a greasy son-of-a-gun in the slot, but he’s not a 6-foot-4 game-breaker who can run outside routes, so Tom Brady better chuck that pigskin deep and hope Moss feels like earning that contract extension with his hands instead of his mouth.
For the record, yes, I’ve seen Moss’ numbers in his previous two contract years. Save for the 13 touchdown passes he caught in ’04, they were abysmal – so abysmal you could accuse him of tanking and not catch much flak in return.
The difference between then and now is Moss was just 29 in 2006 when he moped his way to 42 catches with the Raiders – well within his prime. Now he’s 33, so another season like the one he had in ’06 might lead some to believe he’s done rather than just assume he’s dogging it to wriggle his way out of New England. The going rate for a 29-year-old malcontent is much higher than that of a 33-year-old with a similar attitude, so, no, I don’t think it’s in Moss’ best interest to shift gears into shutdown mode, and I think he’s smart enough to know this.
The cynic in me would love to feel “not wanted” for $6.4 million, which is Moss’ base salary for 2010, but the realist in me would also love to have a wide receiver who “quits” to the tune of 1,255 yards and 16 touchdowns a year, which are Moss’ single-season averages in his three years with the Patriots. Moss’ 47 touchdowns are also the most by any wide receiver since 2007.
You can call him a temperamental drama queen – and you’d be spot on – but he’s a temperamental drama queen who produces despite how jaded, disrespected or snubbed he might feel at any given moment. The Jets had to bite their collective tongues regarding Darrelle Revis’ holdout because he’s the best cornerback in the NFL, and they’d be screwed without him. Head coach Rex Ryan and team owner Woody Johnson actually flew to South Florida to negotiate with Revis face-to-face despite the fact they had a thousand other things to do in preparation for Sunday’s season opener.
The Patriots don’t have to sacrifice all of their dignity to appease Moss, but what happened with Revis – and what is likely going to happen here with Moss – goes to show that no matter how often teams talk the talk, few are willing to walk the walk when the player in question holds all the leverage.
While Revis took his dissatisfaction to the next level by spending most of his summer locked in a nasty holdout, Moss is here and ready to play despite his broken heart. My advice to Moss would be to shut up and catch the ball. To the Patriots, all I can say is be thankful he hasn’t quit – yet.
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