The War Within Randy Moss - Keith Allison from Baltimore, USA Photo

SPORTS NOTES Part 2 - THE CONTINUED DECLINE OF RANDY MOSS

James Loving/National Radio Text Service

Like a snowball rolling down a hill and gaining size and momentum so did Moss's arrogant behavior and he continued to display negativity and infecting those that surrounded him

Sunday November 14, 2010

THE UNDESIRABLE

In our previous segment the disgruntled Randy Moss emerged from his personality and overrode his magnificent talent that he displayed from his rookie NFL season in 1998. Like a snowball rolling down a hill and gaining size and momentum so did Moss's arrogant behavior and he continued to display negativity and infecting those that surrounded him. His problems started in high school and continued through college.

Moss took part in a racially-charged fight at his high school that left one person hospitalized. The Vikings drafted Moss as the 21st overall pick in the 1998 NFL draft. He signed a 4 year, $4.5 million dollar contract that included an additional $4 million dollars in bonuses and incentives. As part of the deal, he also received a $2 million dollar signing bonus.

His low draft choice was largely due to the negative reputation for creating problems during his college career. In 1996 while at Marshall University he was serving his 30-day jail sentence in a work-release program from 1995, Moss tested positive for smoking marijuana, thus violating his probation. He served an additional 60 days in jail for the probation violation.

The Minnesota Vikings drafted Moss as the 21st overall pick in the 1998 NFL draft. He signed a 4 year, $4.5 million dollar contract that included an additional $4 million dollars in bonuses and incentives. As part of the deal, he also received a $2 million dollar signing bonus. His low draft choice was largely due to the negative reputation for creating problems during his college career.

After seven productive seasons with the Vikings, Moss failed to deliver with the Oakland Raiders. He caught only 11 touchdown passes during that time. His dismal performance was attributed to nagging injuries that limited his production, as well as what some saw as his unwillingness to play.

During his seven year stint with the Vikings he accumulated 90 touchdown passes averaging 12.857 per season. Those figures included then career highs of 17 TD receptions in his rookie season and repeated that feat in the 2003 season. It was a sign of how far the apple had fallen from the tree.

The Raiders were interested in trading Moss and did so on April 29, 2007 to the New England Patriots in exchange for a fourth-round selection in the 2007 NFL Draft.

On May 15, 2007, more than two weeks after the trade to New England, Moss was called out by his former Raiders coaches. His former offensive coordinator, Tom Walsh, who was fired from the Raiders after Oakland's 2-14 losing season, said of Moss, "Randy Moss is a player whose skills are diminishing, and he's in denial of those eroding skills. 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."

Walsh also reported that Moss told him, "'I'm too old to practice on Wednesday and Thursday, but I'm not too old to play on Sunday.'" However, Moss stated the losing seasons on the Oakland Raiders negatively affected his playing and discouraged him during the team's practice: "...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."

With the Patriots Moss was born again and experienced the high point of his career. On December 29, the Patriots defeated the New York Giants 38-35, finishing their season with a perfect 16-0 record. Moss caught two touchdown passes for a total of 23, breaking the single season record of 22 touchdown receptions previously set by Jerry Rice (in 12 games in the strike-shortened 1987 season). The team went on to the Super Bowl and lost to the New York Giants.

The following two seasons produced mixed results for Moss who had productive seasons with 11 (2008) and 13 (2009) TD receptions while registering reception yardage of 1008 (2008) and 1264 (2009). The problem was that during that time his behavior controversy continued.

In 2009, after a 20-10 win over the Carolina Panthers, Panthers cornerback Chris Gamble and safety Chris Harris accused Moss of giving up during the game. Gamble claimed Moss "gives up a lot" and that he "laid it down during the game", while Harris said "[Moss] kind of doesn't run the routes the way they're supposed to be run. If you get a jam on him, he'll ease up. ... If he can't get it going, he gets out of sync."

Moss caught 1 pass for 16 yards, fumbled the ball once, and dropped a pass, as well as had a ball thrown at him picked off during the game. In response, Bill Belichick stated, "My response would be that's a lot of conversation coming from a team that just lost another game." Tom Brady noted that Gamble had many plays made on him as well.

In the week leading up to the Patriots' 2010 season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, Moss, who was entering the final year of his contract told CBS Sports that he "did not feel wanted" in New England absent a contract extension offer. Moss would go on to catch 5 passes for 59 yards in Week 1. After the game, Moss told reporters that it would be his final season with the Patriots. The Boston Herald reported weeks later that Moss requested a trade following the game.

Moss had two receptions in Week 2 against the New York Jets, including a 34-yard touchdown. The following week against the Buffalo Bills, Moss had two more catches, both for touchdowns. His final game in New England came in Week 4 on Monday Night Football against the Miami Dolphins; he did not record a catch in the game for the first time in his Patriots career as a touchdown pass attempt off a fake spike bounced off his hands in the end zone.

Two days after the Patriots' game against Miami, Moss was traded to the Minnesota Vikings, in exchange for the Vikings' third-round selection in the 2011 NFL Draft. The Patriots also sent a 2012 seventh-round selection to the Vikings as part of the trade.

After the Vikings game with the Patriots this season Moss praised the New England team while making off handed remarks about Childress and the Vikings staff. It has been reported that he asked Vikings owner Zygi Wilf to fire Vikings coach Brad Childress. Moss mentioned that he wouldn't talk to the press for the remainder of the season. The league didn't fine Moss but the Vikings cut him loose. A couple days after he was put on waivers the Tennessee Titans picked him up making it his third team to play for this season.

After the dust cleared it has surfaced that he and Vikings coach Brad Childress didn't have a warm fuzzy feeling towards each other. It also surfaced that Childress didn't adhere to franchise protocol by informing Vikings owner Zygi Wilf of his intentions to release Moss and Wilf isn't happy about the move.

This week Moss will be center stage with the Titans in his first game with the club that shut him out earlier this season prior to the Patriots trading him the Miami Dolphins in Miami today. Moss has had only a weeks practice with the team and his having to cram his third play book and system into his brain this season.

How this scenario turns out remains to be seen. On the questionable list is will Childress be the coach for the remainder of the season.

The bottom line is what started out to be a portrayal of Moss being a disgruntled player has turned into the spotlight focusing on Childress and many of the team expressing their dislike for him. The jury remains out on that issue but it is clear that Moss has a history of being involved with controversy.

As Gloria Gaynor sang "I will survive." The question is in this case who does that lyric apply to Moss or Childress? Stay tuned...