1. You were guaranteed at least 10 “holy crap, I can’t believe my own eyeballs, didn’t realize that was humanly possible, did he just do that?" plays per season.
2. Made for some of the most breathtaking and suspenseful moments ever when Brady would drop back and throw the sixty yard bomb to Moss…
3. Drew so much attention from defenses (especially when he was playing up to his full potential, see: 2007), that an undrafted cast off had three straight 100 reception seasons.
4. Had some of the most unintentionally hilarious post game conferences of all time.
5. Gave football fans the most exciting 16 games of offense ever seen on the grid-iron.
6. Had one of the most inexplicable career paths in football history: drafted by the Vikings in 1998 and went on to catch 90 touchdown passes in 109 games. After realizing how much of a headache the guy was, and despite his transcendent talent, Moss was traded to the Oakland Raiders in 2005. In one of the clearest examples of a player not trying ever seen by man, Randy caught 11 touchdowns and accumulated 1, 558 receiving yards in two seasons with the Raiders… he eclipsed both those totals in 2003. Then, before the 2007 season the Patriots grabbed him up for a fourth round draft pick and promptly rampaged through the league in the greatest 16 game performance in any sport ever. The rest, as they say, is history…
7. Wore some of the strangest outfits... I have ever seen…
8. For every ludicrous catch this guy made, he would flub a few others…
9. One of the greatest football afros of all time…
10. Was one of the five most exciting players I have ever seen play football…the Patriots will be a little more boring without him…
Losing a player of this caliber hurts…next to Brady he was the most important player on the team, the guy that made the vaunted Patriots spread offense tick. It’s certainly a matter of opinion if this trade was worth it…but at first glance, a 3rd round draft pick does not seem to compensate for the loss of a sure-fire hall of famer.
But it certainly was a trade of inevitability…it was either watch a sulky Moss half a$$ the rest of the season, or roll the dice with the electric Brandon Tate (A funny side note: rumor has it that Belicheck and Moss had an extremely tense relationship weeks leading up to the trade, and even had “words” after the Monday night game. Can you imagine a heated argument between the always stoic Bill Belicheck and loud, obnoxious Randy Moss? Could there be two more opposite people in the world?). With the loss of Randy, it seems the Pat’s spread offense has died with it. Who knows, maybe Tate will fill the deep threat void, but he can’t replicate the coverage that Moss would draw, which would in turn open up other wide receivers.
We have seen the offense shifting over the last several games from the spread (4-5 wide receivers, 0-1 HB’s) to double tight end sets with a HB and two WR’s lined up along the outside. They’ve shown a greater commitment as a whole to establishing the run, and Brady has been working intermediary routes with greater frequency rather than the deep post routes to Moss the league has become accustomed to. As a life- long Pats fan, it hearkens back to the pre-07’ days of Brady throwing to work man like receivers (and in 2006-homeless people) backed up by a strong running game. But of course those teams had strong defenses (as I curl myself into a ball, and repeat that losing Moss won’t kill the strength of the team…it will be okay…please let it be okay…please…).
An additional interpretation of the trade is that the Patriots wanted to get more of their young wide receivers on the field, which they simply could not do with Randy Moss on the roster and the increased usage of double tight end sets. I’m talking players such as Julian Edelman (who has barely seen the field), Taylor Price (who has been inactive threw the first four games), and of course Brandon Tate, who has been used more as a kick return threat but will now have a greatly increased responsibility. All in all, this Pats organization has set themselves up to build a fantastic young core around Tom Brady, and guys like Randy Moss just don’t fit into the equation. With this trade, New England has almost complete control over next year’s draft as they own 2 picks in each of the first four rounds.
One thing that is certain is this team will take their lumps…but with bright young players to build around, and a heap of draft picks, the future and present look bright…
Ok, that felt good…I’ve now successfully talked myself into the trade of one of the five best players in Patriot’s history!
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