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Sports Arena
Moss Grows Fat on a Rolling Stone
But that’s not how it used to be.
The national sports media may have a monomaniac focus on Brett Favre — Will he start? Will he win? Will he live to text again? — but most New Englanders are preoccupied with another future Hall of Famer. On Halloween afternoon, former New England Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss will make his return to Foxboro wearing a Minnesota Vikings uniform.
It won’t be a costume. Earlier this month, the Patriots traded Moss back to the team that drafted him. The details were hazy. There were rumors Moss had a locker room spat with Tom Brady. The wideout was supposedly advised to trim his beard as Moss mocked the quarterback’s Justin Bieber-like hairdo. Both men subsequently denied these reports.
Asked what Brady really did think of the trade, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick didn’t mince words. “Tom is a player,” he said icily. “He doesn’t make personnel decisions.” All we know for certain is that during a Monday night football game against Miami, Moss failed to record a catch for the first time in his Patriots career. Two days later, he was gone.
Fans were initially irate and the move was indeed a head-scratcher. Who trades away one of their best players? Even when Moss doesn’t put up big numbers himself, he opens things up for other players. Opposing defenses have to pay attention to him for fear of giving up the big play. Other wide receivers have thrived as a Moss drew double and triple coverage.
Then again, maybe the change isn’t so hard to understand. The New England Patriots’ dynasty has faded since the 16-0 2007 regular season, when Moss first started playing in Foxboro. Sports analysts weren’t sure how the team was going to fare this season. In the opening game of the season, many favored the Cincinnati Bengals — with newly acquired Terrell Owens complementing Chad Ochocinco — over New England at home.
Instead New England shellacked the Bengals, at one point opening up a 31-3 lead before easing up on the accelerator in the second half. It was a great victory against a team projected to be a playoff contender, the kind that makes a statement. One sports website ran this headline: “Patriots to NFL: we’re still here.”
The fans were jubilant. So were the young team members, as the Patriots are now heavy with first- and second-year players. Yet when Moss took the podium for his postgame press conference, he didn’t want to talk about the team effort. “I really don’t think that — me, personally — that I’m appreciated.”
Hey, the guy produced three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. All he wants is a little pat on the back, right? “Sometimes you want your boss to tell you you’re doing a good job,” Moss said. “That’s every man or woman who works for somebody. … And that’s just the way with football.” Owner Robert Kraft should have immediately given him a hug.
Ah, but it wasn’t all about handshakes and hugs. “This is the last year of my contract,” Moss said. “Nothing has been discussed. There’s not been anything said. Not a letter. Nothing.” As Rod Tidwell, the fictional football player in Jerry MacGuire, put it, “Show me the money!” And that’s just the way with football.
Moss has left a team that is now 5-1 to go with a team that is 2-5. The Vikings’ season is on life support. Their 41-year-old quarterback is practically on crutches. Perhaps Moss will be part of a miraculous turnaround. He certainly has the talent, and even at this late date you can never count Iron Man Favre out. Maybe this reversal of fortunes will begin in New England on Sunday. But arguing that this move was about a quest for a ring rather than the Almighty Dollar is a Vince Wilfork-sized insult to the fans’ intelligence.
Here are the cold, hard facts: Moss is 33 and in the last year of his contract. This may be his last opportunity to cash in on a huge contract before he retires. He did not believe that the Patriots — whom he described in the offseason as “cheap” — would offer him one to his liking. Now he could see that the team’s evolving offense, one with many targets for Brady to spread the ball around to, was not going to let him put up the kind of numbers that would make some other team want to offer him megabucks.
So, to paraphrase George Thorogood, he didn’t get the rent and out the door he went. The Patriots were certainly better off with the threat of Moss augmenting all the other offensive talent on the roster, especially with the need to protect a young defense with large leads early in the season. But there were going to be more press conferences like the one after the Bengals game, more quotes like the one after the win in Miami. (Asked why he didn’t get more receptions in that game, Moss shot back, “It’s called a playbook.”)
Moss is one of the greatest wide receivers ever to play the game. He was also on his best behavior nearly his entire tenure as a Patriot, never complaining as his stats decreased during the season where he had Matt Cassel rather than Tom Brady trying to throw him the deep ball. He’s definitely earned the money.
But sometimes fans would like to feel like they are rooting for a team, a group of individual players united by a common cause, not just laundry with the right logo on it. Just as Moss was getting ready to come to town, prodigal son Deion Branch — the onetime New England Super Bowl MVP who spent some time as a wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks — was telling reporters he’d like to retire as a Patriot.
That’s not the same as catching 23 touchdown passes in one season. But it’s certainly nice to hear.
About the Author
W. James Antle, III, author of the new book Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?, is editor of the Daily Caller News Foundation and a senior editor of The American Spectator. You can follow him on Twitter @jimantle.
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Ryan| 10.29.10 @ 8:19AM
As much as I dislike Belichick - he's an odd mixture of a good leader with poor personal character - the man knows how to properly run a football team. The Patriots aren't built on high-end players - remember Brady is a 6th round pick - and they have a tendancy to dump players who don't get along.
Doctor Right| 10.29.10 @ 9:14AM
I despise the New England Patriots, and Tom Brady, in particular.
It's not a denial of their talent. Clearly, they're a well-run organization and well-staffed with great players. 3 Super-Bowl rings is not an accident. And, despite my dislike for Brady as a person (dumping his beautiful, pregnant girlfriend for a super-model was a low-class act), I'm not blind to his ability. He's probably the best QB in the NFL over the last 10 years, and that includes Peyton Manning.
And yet...and yet...There's this image of Brady that I cannot shake...
It's of Brady, frantically pointing at Ray Lewis and simultaneously signaling to the Ref and screaming "Foul! Foul!" (like an annoying little teacher's pet) that Lewis had dared to try and tackle him! In a football game!!
Never mind that Lewis had barely touched Brady's leg as he rolled on the ground..."I'm TOM BRADY, and you DON'T tackle me!!! That's a penalty!!!"
Irrational? Slightly. But that was a baby-ish reaction, not the kind you'd expect from a Pro-Bowl QB, and it gave the Patriots a much-needed 1st-down that enabled them to score and win the game.
Brady, for all his competitiveness, would NEVER have survived in the old NFL of the 60's, 70's or 80's. Those were guys who played the game like men.
That famous picture of Giant's QB Y.A. Tittle kneeling on the turf, broken and battered...Or Johny U., playing with broken ribs and a punctured lung...Or Earl Campbell, bashing and battering his way through an entire defensive line...
The league has made it harder and harder to actually tackle a QB; they're a protected species.
Brady may have the records and the rings, but when it comes to heart, he doesn't deserve to be mentioned with these other guys.
Steve A| 10.29.10 @ 12:39PM
D Right, Brady is an extreme overachiever who has taken limited talent & maximized it. Ok, he likes supermodels. I am sure if you had a gaggle of supermodels tossing you their room keys on a road trip you would take a pass as a 20 something NLF QB. I am positive you know all of the details of Brady's personal life to justify your condemnation.
You are probably a Steelers fan & have a fat head poster of Big Ben on your wall in the den.
Doctor Right| 10.29.10 @ 3:18PM
I'm not a Steelers fan, I can assure you. I might even dislike the Steelers and Roethlispervert even more than I dislike the Patriots. But at least Hines Ward doesn't cry like a little girl when he gets tackled.
And no, I've never been blessed with having super-models hanging on my every word, but what of it? Wrong is wrong, and any guy who ditches his pregnant girlfriend for another chick is NOT a man, he's a punk...And Brady is a punk. I don't need to know all of the details of is life to recognize wrong when I see it.
Dr. No | 10.29.10 @ 4:02PM
Brady broke it off when was about 1 month pregnant! Sounds like maybe a little desperation on the part of his former girlfriend to try and keep a relationship that couldn't have been going well. Regardless, Brady has been a good father.
Paul D| 10.29.10 @ 4:11PM
Wow, do we need any further proof that New England is a Liberal Region than this comment board? I see few New Englanders coming to the defense of the Patriots. I guess most of the readers really are conservative.
Bruce | 10.29.10 @ 6:34PM
Doc - after reading this thread in particular, and other comments of yours in other threads - I knew there was something I liked about you.
You are exactly right - the best definition of Brady is that he's nothing but a punk. He got the rings and the press (and doubtless the supermodels) when he had the best offensive line in the NFL covering his butt. Now he doesn't, and the Pats record shows it. Bellichek has been over-rated as a "genius" for some time now, and since the well publicized cheating scandal that too is being questioned. I know Bellichek personally. I could tell you stories about him you wouldn't believe.
gearjammer| 10.29.10 @ 9:37AM
C'mon will ya ? Brady has played hurt and has been clobbered and got up and faced the battle over and over again. He delivers the football when the game is on the line, when the pressure is on. Today's NFL is just as tough on the field as yesterday's NFL. Off the field, these modern guys seem to have the fragile persona and emotional turbulence of the most eccentric divas in history-not that I'd tell too many of them such a comment to their face. Moss did his job here-he was also the victim of an undercurrent of racism that still ripples in Boston-Bill Russell has pointed to this. Yes, Boston-home of the Kennedy's and center of liberalism. Manny Ramirez endured it as well. Kinda subtle but it is there.
Doctor Right| 10.29.10 @ 9:55AM
"Today's NFL is just as tough on the field as yesterday's NFL. "
Ummmm...No.
That's just crazy-talk.
mike daniels| 10.29.10 @ 9:48AM
Any article that can quote George Thorogood is a great article!!
albert constantine jr.| 11.1.10 @ 6:18PM
B-B-B-Bad to the Bone.
Nunya| 10.29.10 @ 10:47AM
I hate the Patriots. It started with that BS call when Brady fumbled the ball, Oakland recovered, and they called it an incomplete pass--sending New England to their first Super Bowl. It was one of the worst calls in football history, and it was obvious the refs were on the payroll or there was some other back-room deal to get NE to the big game.
As to Brady, there's no denying the man has talent, but he's a diva, Belichick is a cheat, and Kraft is dishonest. Randy Moss is possibly one of the best wide receivers ever, and if one wants to win one doesn't trade their best players because they don't get along with a diva quarterback. It's not good for the team.
Troy| 10.29.10 @ 8:30PM
C'mon, it was the playoff after 9/11; remember how the feelings were. Do you really think the refs were going to let a team with a name like The Patriots lose to the raiders?
Steve | 10.29.10 @ 11:51AM
Give me a break . Oakland game?Cheating? I don't know where you get your knowedge of pro sports is but maybe it needs updating. They did NOT trade Moss because of Brady. Where in the wide ,wide world of sports did you get that idea? Any knowledge of the Patriots will show they get rid of older guys while they have a value.
The old guys were tough, no doubt, But c'mon. The average linebacker then might be a D-back now. And the average O-lineman would get crushed by these kids.
Opinions are like we all know what. But please. try and stay close to facts.
Ryan| 10.29.10 @ 12:30PM
Actually, New England has a history of dumping both malcontents and veterans at their high value (which commonly coincide). Deion Branch was one as well, Seymour and Moss were others.
gearjammer| 10.29.10 @ 1:25PM
I saw Bronco Nagurski rated 19th or so best of all time on NFL network. Some interesting clips of him as football player and wrestler. Nobody ever born who was gonna crush that dude. We produced tough white guys then at a more prolific rate-those places the steel towns etc are now gone. The offspring of those old time hard guys dwell in suburbia-soccer mom took charge and the men got all religious on golf or running or nature-the sons ? Video gamers or running around after a melon sized round ball or a walking around after a lime sized ball. When black men ever start going into soccer and golf the NFL will have a labor shortage. Good sports book is Gifford's remembrance of the big 1958 championship game. The GQ cover boy of his era Giff came up the hard way-father was a hardworking guy in oil fields -Giff worked hard too-it was why he was a football player. Also, the bios of guys like Charlie Connerly, Marchetti, Robustelli, Donavan, Brown, Big Daddy-many were soldiers and Marines in WW2. All these guys would play today-they had the height and frames to lay on 20-40 pounds of body armor that modern training helps the modern player develop.
Doctor Right| 10.29.10 @ 3:26PM
Damn straight! They WERE tougher back then, both mentally and physically.
Sure, today's players are bigger, and they're ripped...But mentally, most of them are little boys compared to the guys who started the league.
Read Artie Donovan's great book "FATSO" for a look at the golden-age of professional football. Not only is it funny, but it describes in detail how tough (and crazy) these s.o.b.'s were. Weeb Ewbank made Donovan play an entire quarter with a broken leg, and I have to watch Tom "The Lady" Brady scream and cry about some guy grabbing his leg???
PUH-LEASE!!!!
Ed| 10.29.10 @ 4:17PM
Marion Motley
GEARJAMMER| 10.30.10 @ 9:18PM
PLAYED BOTH WAYS
Steve A| 10.29.10 @ 12:45PM
Those who despise the Pats should read "The Patriot Way," to gain some perspective on the Moss situation. It will tell you all you need to know. The Moss decision was purely business. If you even hint that you are not a team player in that system you are cut out like a cancer.
Derek Leaberry| 10.29.10 @ 12:54PM
Wes Welker is finding it hard to find room without Randy Moss. Moss' speed allowed Welker to not only get open easier but deeper. Right now, Welker may become the first NFL wide receiver with a significant amount of catches to conclude a season with an average of less than ten yards per reception.
gearjammer| 10.29.10 @ 1:36PM
The short pass is the Pat's running game half the time. If FT Fred Taylor can make a LT bit off a come back this will change. By the way, notice our 5 foot, 7 and 3/4 inches tall 190 pound rubbing back ? Keep in mind the Pats are 5-1, look at least good for a wildcard-and this is a REBUILDING year! Got a ton on draft picks for 2011 and Brady has a fresh 5 year deal. The Pats will win one more Super Bowl in that time span. In 2011, our best DB and 2nd defensive lineman will come back 100 per cent from injuries as well-Boden and Ty Warren. Sorry Pats haters but we'll be around and on top-deal with it.
Doctor Right| 10.29.10 @ 3:20PM
Bingo!
I always thought Welker was over-rated and benefited from Moss, too!
Derek Leaberry| 10.29.10 @ 5:19PM
Welker is a great and brave player but football is a team game. Moss and Welker complemented each other greatly. However, Welker is a diminished player until New England can stretch the field with a speedy, dangerous receiver.
By the way, Welker is an outstanding downfield blocker. Just recently, Welker's block/clip opened up a Woodhead touchdown run.
SF_Exile| 10.29.10 @ 1:08PM
Much was made on Boston sports radio of the supposed spat between Moss and Brady that purportedly caused the trade to go through. While some version of the story was probably true, I doubt that it was at the root of the decision. And we will never know. While I love the Pats and root for them, sometimes the cone of silence that surrounds Foxboro makes me nuts.
I think Moss being traded at that point (particularly coming on the heels of the big Miami win) had more to do with him going public about the state of his contract talks as well as being a growing distraction in the locker room. It's a well established fact that when Moss doesn't get the ball as often as he thinks he should, he gets pissy. He didn't like taking a back seat to Welker or Hernandez in the playbook, or being used in the decoy position so as to draw attention and defenders away.
Secondly, I think that the Miami game also helped to remind the coaching staff of just what made the team good and was the winning strategy for three Super Bowls. Ultimately, Moss wasn't part of that and he needed to go. Best to go when there was some value on the market for him. His age and contract demands were the factor here.
And as for Brady having dumped "his beautiful, pregnant girlfriend", Ms. Moynihan played the oldest card in the deck called 'trap baby'. Being almost 6 years older than Brady with her biological clock just tick-tick-ticking away, she was faced with the now or never decision. Was I shocked and disappointed? Certainly. But I think their relationship had effectively ended by the time the announcement hit the airwaves. It's too bad; I truly believe a child needs both Mom and Dad in an intact state for best results. And trust me; I'm no Gisele coatholder. I find that pairing just a little icky, thank you very much.
gearjammer| 10.29.10 @ 1:41PM
Alot of the Boston Sports media is comprised of men who would like to have Brady's baby. There is a latent homosexual going on about this guy and many of his male "fans". I on the other hand an a hetero male married to a real hottie who would like to have his baby.
S.L. Toddard| 10.29.10 @ 1:55PM
JIM ANTLE FOR PRESIDENT
Margie| 10.29.10 @ 3:56PM
...that's one vote..
Mark| 10.29.10 @ 3:43PM
Moss is talented but forever petulant. As one who dislikes the Vikings, I'm glad that they got him to go along with Favre, whose self indulgence is finally becoming available for all to see. Both Moss and Favre were amazingly talented and entertaining, but each in his own way places self recognitioin ahead to the team. They deserve each other.
Roy| 10.29.10 @ 10:26PM
I'm hoping Favre will retire soon, so we can think of him as the guy who helped turn the Packers around instead of the ridiculous way things ended up.
jWarrior| 10.29.10 @ 10:39PM
Brady is in the same mold as Montana and Elway -- never gets rattled, always sure he's gonna win.
Competitiveness helps, but almost any NFL QB could do pretty well if he had an offensive line that let him count to six or seven before he got sacked.
Agree with the baby-trap meme. Brady could have said the kid wasn't his, but he didn't.
Still can't figure out why Giselle is esteemed such a beauty.
usmcmgb| 10.30.10 @ 9:25AM
"Still can't figure out why Giselle is esteemed such a beauty".
Not that always agree with the powers that be but while Giselle may be a little past her prime (VERY little!) she wasn't the world's highest paid supermodel for a number of years because she was "average" looking. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I've said it before and I'll say it again...it doesn't suck to be Tom Brady.
kenedy| 10.30.10 @ 2:44AM
As much as I hate new England patriots I have to admit I love Tom brandy the Guy is very talented. Even though he has been rumours about his homosexual scandal he has what it takes, every patriots can count on him whenever the game is on the line to revive.
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usmcmgb| 10.30.10 @ 9:01AM
Belichick has a philosophy that has proven correct time after time...better to give up a player a year early rather than a year late. Moss is just the latest. This way you maximize the value you get for him in either draft picks, players or both. He also has a particular economic value that each player is assigned (no, I don't have any inside knowledge, just a lot of years observing his personnel moves). And the Patriots won't pay one dime more than that value. As fans, we sometimes forget (or just choose to ignore) that while to us it's a game, to people like Kraft, Belichick and every other successful owner and head coach, it is first and foremost a business. Any owner or head coach who doesn't keep that in the forefront is doomed to failure (i.e. Daniel Snyder in Washington, Al Davis in Oakland, Jerry Jones in Dallas, et al who treat their teams like their personal toys vs. the business that it is). As a native New Englander, I've been a Patriot fan since the Jim Plunkett days. I've seen ups and downs with this franchise and it only became successful when they got ownership (Kraft) and a head coach (Belichick) who began to run it like the business that it is. Like successful gamblers, they think with their heads and not their hearts.
SF_Exile| 10.30.10 @ 1:31PM
Now if only the 49ers could somehow tap into a similar situation. They will never replace my affection for the Pats but, to paraphrase, " if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with."
And to that end, Go Giants!
Ralph Donabed| 10.31.10 @ 9:51PM
I respect the political views expressed on this site but some of these anti-Patriot and anti-Brady comments are petulant so say the least. Especially yours Dr. Right. Belichick is the most highly respected coach, Kraft is the most highly respected owner and Brady one of the most talented quarterbacks in the NFL. The team is run like a business where no one (even Brady) is "the franchise". Winning three Super Bowls makes them the team of the decade. (They could have easily won four after an undefeated season but for the fluke "helmet catch" that cost them their fourth Bowl win when Plaxico Burress, who is currently serving two years for a weapons charge, scored the winning TD to give the Giants a 17-14 win.) I agree that in some ways today's players aren't as tough as Butkus, Huff or even Night Train Lane but that's because they're coddled from high school on even if they came up the hard way. As for the Pats as a team, they recruit based on two things: athleticism and character. You'll never see end zone shenanigans or hear about brawls in strip joints with these players. I know you've only expressed your opinions in putting my team down but I think they'll make you eat your words yet again this year.