Neofight
Footballguy
I agree with a lot of what you are saying, David, but why aren't you factoring in the reality that his play has dropped off significantly this year (whether due to diminishing skill or him being temperamental)? Surely this was a consideration for Belichick and puts things in a different perspective; one that many here aren't acknowledging.I think this whole angle of him being self-absorbed is getting blown out of proportion. Sure, he shot his mouth off about his contract. Lots of players do that.What I'm saying is that tons of people in and around the Pats have been asked about how Moss was and what led up to this. His teammates were stunned to learn he was traded and they all felt he was a good presence in the locker room, a good teammate, he went out and put forth effort on the field, etc.Really? After a nice win to start things off, he holds a press conference to state his personal objectives (getting paid). You think Bill doesn't have a problem with that and whatever else we don't see/hear? He's not a prima donna or cancer but "it sounds like he was getting pouty and irritating". Um, HELLO???Oh sure, we can argue the size of the tumor, fine, but if you're saying there wasn't one, I think you're off your rocker. Why then, all of a sudden, is he gone? Teams don't just get up and trade a top player, especially mid-season, unless there are serious issues. And when has he not been a prima donna? His whole career he's been one, save for the times we didn't have to hear about it, thankfully. You know, when he was getting everything he wanted, and more.The main argument that the offense will suffer stems from Moss taking the top off the defense by drawing double coverage and opening up the middle of the field and underneath routes for the other receivers. That would happen whether Moss had 9 catches or 29 catches at this point.So the big debate will be whether getting more players involved in the offense, trying to return to the hitting the open man philosophy, migrating back to a dink and dunk offense, and some additional reliance on the ground game and a ball control style of play will hurt or help NE. Not having Moss should translate to fewer points scored, so I am reluctant to say that not having Moss helps the offense. But if the offense can sustain more drives and take time more off the clock, that could help keep the defense off the field and could also result in fewer points allowed with fewer plays for the opponents.If Moss loved Brady and the Patriots so much, he'd still be there. Randy is about Randy.The point is that folks are indicating NE lost a TON by giving up Randy Moss, and that may be true.Moss would tell you that playing for the Raiders isn't exactly the same as playing for the Patriots. And that catching passes from Andrew Walter isn't exactly the same as catching passes from Tom Brady.
But the other side of that is that so far this year, he's caught 9 balls for 139 yards in 3 games, and he was obviously not happy where he was. So how much is THAT Randy Moss worth to the team? It was starting to look a lot like the Oakland Randy Moss to me, and maybe it did to NE as well.
Honestly, that's really the only explanation for why a title contender would give up a player as good as Moss for a 3rd round pick when they don't have an obvious replacement for him on the team.
But I'm not really buying that Moss was a prima donna and a cancer in the clubhouse and they had to move him. It sounds like he was starting to get puty and irritating so they moved him before he got to a point where they couldn't coexist.
He wasn't pimping for a reality show, holding up goofy signs or signing balls in games with a sharpie, he wasn't crying to people how much he got the ball, he wasn'thaving nightly press conferences like Manny did to bad mouth the team (again with the exception of the CIN game).
I'm not saying he was perfect, but in today's day and age he was not as bad as many other players. He wanted an extension and wasn't going to get it from the Pats. I'm not saying he handled it well, but from what I have heard the Pats wanted to cut him off at the pass if he was going to get worse as the season progressed and they opted to get a pick for him rather then get nothing for him in a few months.
I heard a lengthly interview with Bert Breer (just left the Globe to go to the NFL Network) who said he was not that unbearable yet and far more players wanted Moss around than the handful that were glad that he was gone. He also echoed that this potentially was the tip of the iceberg and rather than potentially have Moss go into a downward spiral, they traded him to get piece of mind, get something for him while they still could, and move on sooner rather than later.
The Pats do weird things. They ran Seymour out of town, and at the time they did it he wasn't doing anything to mandate that he had to go. The Boston area and media are notorious for villifying players once they leave and laying all the dirty laundry on extra thick.
Moss did three things in 6 months that were openly unacceptible: complain about his contract in the off season at a golf event, complain about his contract after the CIN game, and wear headphones at a Kraft sponsored charity event. Lots of guys complain about contracts.
I agree that if they really wanted him they would have kept him, so the question becomes why did they not want him? Maybe put another way, most people would have had no problem if they kept him. Clearly it sounds like there is more to the story than meets the eye and we may never know. Many people think this was a personality conflict between BB and Moss and that there really wasn't much beyond that.
Remember that the history for Moss and NE and his contract has always been an issue. He took a huge pay cut in moving from OAK to NE. After his monster 2007 season, they negotiated past the midnight hour into free agency and he almost signed with PHI for more money than NE. A number of other (seemingly inferior) WR around the league signed big deal over the past few seasons and Moss wanted to be paid like them. It appears that the Pats never even made an attempt to talk to him about an extension this time around. It sounds like Moss' perception was that as soon as they took care of Brady they would take care of him. But they never even talked to him after they signed Brady.
I'm not condoning what Moss did after that, but that's why he was disgruntled. I would say that if that makes him a spoiled brat and totally self-centered than half the guys in the league would fall in that category.
All the stuff that has come out since has been basically wild speculation and reporters trying to blow things out of proportion. First it was that BB and Moss had a huge fight the day after the MIA game when they never even say each other. Then apparently there was an altercation at halftime or another one on the flight home, yet no one has confirmed that any of that happened. Now there are partial stories of things that "could" have happened at practice from 3 years ago. Like I said, there are a lot of people stirring the pot after the fact.
If Moss had went down with a torn ACL, people would be saying the Pats couldn't survive with out him and the season was over. But trade him away and he becomes the biggest loser to ever don a Pats uniform.
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Is Millen the phantom GM like that guy in the natural?
I would be shocked if this went down. The NE front office doesn't usually make deals like this.
No of course not, those numbers alone don't, but reality, facts and Switz's demonstrable lack of credibility/sanity with anything related to NE in general or Tom Brady in particular certainly do.
No of course not, those numbers alone don't, but reality, facts and Switz's demonstrable lack of credibility/sanity with anything related to NE in general or Tom Brady in particular certainly do.
