When my beloved New England Patriots were rumored to be looking at acquiring wide receiver Randy Moss from Oakland I openly wondered why. Why would head coach Bill Belichick put that human distraction in his locker room? Why do you want a guy who doesn’t hustle? Who doesn’t give his most on every play?Then they pulled the trigger and made the deal for Moss.
And I just hoped beyond hope that guys like Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison, Tom Brady and Richard Seymour had the hold on the locker room that they appear to have. I just wondered why the Pats who were so close to going to another Super Bowl last season would jeopardize the team chemistry with a known bad egg?
Then Moss arrived.
And since day one he has been an upstanding citizen. Studying, learning the play book, asking questions, taking part in mini camp, working out in the weight room, working one-on-one with Brady in extra sessions, making meetings and training sessions even though the Patriots front office gave him permission to work out elsewhere.
Then in mini camp and now in training camp he has done nothing to distract and everything to fit in. He has even said all the right things. He has taken a big five-gallon pail of the Belichick Kool-aid home and he drinks from it all day long, every day.
Is this the same Randy Moss that tried to run down a meter maid? Is this the same Moss that pantomimed mooning the Lambeau Field crowd? Is this the same Moss who grew disgruntled in both Minnesota and Oakland? Is this the same Moss who openly admitted he doesn’t go all out on every play?
No this apparently the new and improved Randy Moss. This guy smells a ring, he has seen the three Lombardi Trophies, he wants to hold one, one of his own. He knows his time limit on his career is running out, he knows he has Hall of Fame credentials that can only be increased with a Super Bowl Title. He knows the goal of the franchise is to win a Super Bowl and anything less is seen as a failure.
Randy Moss has bought into the Patriots. He has joined a list of players with reputations of dissent who have. Like Harrison, Corey Dillon and Bryan Cox have done before him. Now he wants what they got. A Super Bowl ring.
