Blackjacks
Footballguy
If these kind of comments can't pump Moss up nothing will.
Looking for the positive since I'm a Moss owner
Brett Favre was so angry that the Green Bay Packers didn't trade for Randy Moss that he called out the organization. Well, not everybody shares his high opinion of the wide receiver.
"Randy Moss is a player whose skills are diminishing, and he's in denial of those eroding skills," former Raiders offensive coordinator Tom Walsh told the Boston Globe for Sunday's edition. "Randy was a great receiver, but he lacked the work ethic and the desire to cultivate any skills that would compensate for what he was losing physically later in his career.
"He told me last year, 'I'm too old to practice on Wednesday and Thursday, but I'm not too old to play on Sunday.' Did they start a senior league?"
Walsh was fired, along with head coach Art Shell, after Oakland's 2-14 season. Moss was shopped by the new Raiders regime and finally landed in New England.
Walsh doesn't know if Moss can be the consistent threat that the Patriots hope they're pairing with quarterback Tom Brady.
"When he's right, he still makes an impact," Walsh told the Globe. "He looked like a world-beater in a preseason game against the Lions. I never thought he was difficult to coach, but we expected him to be a complete receiver and he wasn't. His whole game in Minnesota was outside the numbers. For him to run shallow crosses and in-routes was new for him. Initially, he showed all the interest but later on ... I don't know."
The Patriots are banking on Moss adapting to the one-for-all work ethic that has helped the Patriots win three of the last six Super Bowls. Walsh isn't so sure.
"Randy Moss has great football IQ," Walsh told the paper. "He's tremendously gifted. I think he can still play, but his legs will determine how much work he can handle. We used to take him out of Friday practices because the quarterbacks wanted the receivers running near game tempo and when Randy was on the field, the whole practice slowed down so much we started giving him the day off. Once he got discouraged, he just faded."
Moss himself blames the losing he experienced in Oakland.
"I think what I have done in the past as far as losing and sometimes getting out of control, I think it's just my competitive nature of wanting to win and helping my team get into a position to win," he said in a conference call after the trade to New England. "Like I said, losing sometimes can get contagious, but as a player I can't let that settle in, and I think that's one of the things that bothered me [in Oakland]. I didn't want it to set in and it didn't set in. It was just really nerve-racking that it was hard for me to win."
ESPN Conversation
102 comments on "Walsh: Moss' skills were 'diminishing' on Raiders"
Bruins_Skins4life (5/15/2007 at 6:01 PM)
Moss is one of those guys, like it or not, that need to be surrounded by great talent and people. He cannot and should NEVER be given any leadership role, he's just one heck of a role player. He will perform with the Pats because of their success and their talent. After Chris Carter retired, Moss went downhill.
hulamaster (5/15/2007 at 6:06 PM)
Im not even a Pats fan but id bet on Moss doing everything he possibly can to get along with his new coaches and teammates. His wish to have a great qb throwing him the ball and playing for a championship caliber team was granted so now all he has to do is shuttup and play his hardest, which shouldnt be too much of a hardship for him. This will be a true test of his character because he has never had it this good and a lot of great players never do. The only one who can blow this one is randy.
Looking for the positive since I'm a Moss owner
Brett Favre was so angry that the Green Bay Packers didn't trade for Randy Moss that he called out the organization. Well, not everybody shares his high opinion of the wide receiver.
"Randy Moss is a player whose skills are diminishing, and he's in denial of those eroding skills," former Raiders offensive coordinator Tom Walsh told the Boston Globe for Sunday's edition. "Randy was a great receiver, but he lacked the work ethic and the desire to cultivate any skills that would compensate for what he was losing physically later in his career.
"He told me last year, 'I'm too old to practice on Wednesday and Thursday, but I'm not too old to play on Sunday.' Did they start a senior league?"
Walsh was fired, along with head coach Art Shell, after Oakland's 2-14 season. Moss was shopped by the new Raiders regime and finally landed in New England.
Walsh doesn't know if Moss can be the consistent threat that the Patriots hope they're pairing with quarterback Tom Brady.
"When he's right, he still makes an impact," Walsh told the Globe. "He looked like a world-beater in a preseason game against the Lions. I never thought he was difficult to coach, but we expected him to be a complete receiver and he wasn't. His whole game in Minnesota was outside the numbers. For him to run shallow crosses and in-routes was new for him. Initially, he showed all the interest but later on ... I don't know."
The Patriots are banking on Moss adapting to the one-for-all work ethic that has helped the Patriots win three of the last six Super Bowls. Walsh isn't so sure.
"Randy Moss has great football IQ," Walsh told the paper. "He's tremendously gifted. I think he can still play, but his legs will determine how much work he can handle. We used to take him out of Friday practices because the quarterbacks wanted the receivers running near game tempo and when Randy was on the field, the whole practice slowed down so much we started giving him the day off. Once he got discouraged, he just faded."
Moss himself blames the losing he experienced in Oakland.
"I think what I have done in the past as far as losing and sometimes getting out of control, I think it's just my competitive nature of wanting to win and helping my team get into a position to win," he said in a conference call after the trade to New England. "Like I said, losing sometimes can get contagious, but as a player I can't let that settle in, and I think that's one of the things that bothered me [in Oakland]. I didn't want it to set in and it didn't set in. It was just really nerve-racking that it was hard for me to win."
ESPN Conversation
102 comments on "Walsh: Moss' skills were 'diminishing' on Raiders"
Bruins_Skins4life (5/15/2007 at 6:01 PM)
Moss is one of those guys, like it or not, that need to be surrounded by great talent and people. He cannot and should NEVER be given any leadership role, he's just one heck of a role player. He will perform with the Pats because of their success and their talent. After Chris Carter retired, Moss went downhill.
hulamaster (5/15/2007 at 6:06 PM)
Im not even a Pats fan but id bet on Moss doing everything he possibly can to get along with his new coaches and teammates. His wish to have a great qb throwing him the ball and playing for a championship caliber team was granted so now all he has to do is shuttup and play his hardest, which shouldnt be too much of a hardship for him. This will be a true test of his character because he has never had it this good and a lot of great players never do. The only one who can blow this one is randy.
