Randy Moss Deserves More Credit

The New England Patriots made history this season by going 16-0 through the regular season. The Pats did it with experience and discipline on defense and with one of the most explosive offenses NFL history. That record-breaking offense was led by Tom Brady and Randy Moss. Not just Tom Brady.

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Tom Brady has had one of the best seasons in the history of the game, but I am tired of watching television and hearing everyone heap praise on Brady and not give credit to the player who makes that offense one of the best ever. I’ll say this, the Patriots offense wouldn’t be able to function without Tom Brady, but without Randy Moss, that offense doesn’t break records and strike fear in all of their opponents.

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Since Tom Brady was the MVP, Moss should’ve been given the Offensive Player of the Year honors. Even though Brady is on offense, the award can be given to someone else. It happened when Barry Sanders won the offensive award and Brett Favre won MVP.Â

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Tom Brady’s season consisted of 50 touchdown passes, which broke Peyton Manning’s record and 8 interceptions. It would be an understatement to call those numbers sick, but when people mention Randy Moss’ NFL record 23 touchdowns they always have to throw in a disclaimer about the fact that Jerry Rice did it in 12 games. Yes, Rice did it in four less games, but no one else other than him has ever done it. That still puts Moss in rare company with arguably the greatest player in the game’s history.

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I’m pretty sure Moss’ achievements this season have been downplayed a bit because a significant amount of people don’t like him, thought that his skills had diminished, and that he was going to ruin the Pats’ “team first” attitude. He did the exact opposite. He exceeded expectations.  His impact on the team was not only displayed in his stats, but in others as well.

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Wes Welker has been labeled the best slot receiver in the NFL. Not too many people were saying that when he was playing with Chris Chambers in Miami. Welker is a very good player, but he is not the type of player that would get 100 receptions without the help of a player like Randy Moss. Welker caught a great deal of passes from the 5 to 15 yard range. On most of those receptions, Randy Moss was being used as a decoy. Moss would run a go route or a post and take 2-3 defenders with him freeing up space for Welker, Ben Watson and Dante Stallworth to get open in one-on-one match-ups. With the ability of those three guys and Brady’s accuracy, the opportunity to exploit the opposing defense is almost always there. Brady also had the luxury of dropping back getting five minutes to sit in the pocket because of a stellar o-line and throwing into double and triple coverage knowing that there are good odds that Moss comes up with the ball.

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I’m not saying that Tom Brady isn’t deserving of the praise that he is getting, but I just want people to show a little bit more love to Randy Moss, one of the best and unique talents that we will see in this game.

**THIS BLOG IS NOT INDICATIVE OF WHAT HONDO THINKS***