With Moss Gone, is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full?
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Pro: Anytime a guy screams at his de facto offensive coordinator at halftime of a game, it’s not good. Coaches are to be respected. Once that relationship is violated, it can be hard to get that horse back into the barn. In essence, Moss shot his way out of town from claiming that the Patriots “don’t pay” to his “all about the business” press conference after the season-opener and now this. That disruption in the locker room is now gone.
Con: Sometimes the great athletes are the ones who want the ball in their hands all the time and let you know that’s the case. This may or may not be true with Moss but, in a contract year, he clearly wanted more touches than he’s received thus far. He may not have handled the situation well but maybe we could say the same about Bill Belichick and Bill O’Brien. It’s a moot point now, the man’s a Viking.
Pro: Having a weapon like Moss can sometimes be a bad thing. Why, you ask? Because there’s always that temptation to hit the big play down field on every snap, even when he’s well-covered. Tom Brady seemed to fall into that trap quite a bit by forcing passes into coverage. Secondly, Brady and company also may have felt a pressure to target Moss more than usual over the years to keep the temperamental receiver happy. We won’t have to worry about that anymore.
Con: Even on the many occasions that Brady did force passes into double-coverage, Moss would often reward him with spectacular catches. His vertical speed and height were tremendous assets to the offense that will surely be missed.
Pro: When you have a future hall of famer like Moss to throw to, it’s tempting to look his way more than you would other receivers on the field. This may be something that Tom Brady was also guilty of at times. However, what has made Brady a future hall of famer himself was his long-standing philosophy of his favorite receiver being the open receiver. With Moss gone, Brady will surely look Wes Welker’s way a lot. But he may also make his reads and progressions more thoroughly to find that open receiver he so-loved throwing to before Moss arrived.
Con: Let’s not sugar coat this folks, when Moss was here he required extra attention from defensive coordinators on a weekly basis. Just this past week I was sitting in the stands of Sun Life Stadium in Miami for the Pats Monday night win and it was clear that the Dolphins gave their corners safety help over the top on virtually every snap. Now that he’s gone, teams may elect to bring that safety up into the box more often to help in run support. Unless Brandon Tate or another receiver can keep them honest with their speed and ability to get open and make plays down field, this could hurt the Patriots offense.
Pro: Randy Moss is a 33-year old speedster and there’s really no way to tell when age might start to truly slow him down and erode his skills. Furthermore, he could have left the team as an unrestricted free agent after the season for which the Patriots would have received some type of lower compensatory pick. Now they add an additional third round pick giving them two picks in each of the first four rounds of the 2011 NFL draft.
Con: On paper, there’s no debate about the fact that the Patriots took an immediate hit with this move. Moss hasn’t lost his ability to perform at a high level in this league yet and he may just be the guy Minnesota needs to jumpstart Brett Favre and the Vikings.
When you consider the fact that the Patriots surrendered a 4th round pick for Moss in 2007, it’s hard to argue that he wasn’t worth the price. These past few weeks not withstanding, Moss has been pretty much a model citizen and teammate here in New England and his production – spectacular! In his 3+ seasons as a Patriot, he never missed a game playing in all 50. He caught 259 passes for 3904 yards and a whopping 50 touchdowns!
While many Patriots fans aren’t happy with the way things ended between Moss and the team, his whole body of work was spectacular while here and should outweigh the way things ended between him and the franchise. And if I were at Gillette Stadium on Halloween when he returns to town in a Vikings uniform, I would cheer him as thanks for all of the hard work he put in.
Related Articles
- Ignore Moss’ gibberish and just be glad he’s here
- Pats Win / Moss Vents / Mankins Irate
- So long, sucker! Moss dealt to Vikings
Follow us on Pinterest Google + Facebook Twitter See It Read It