FanNation - The Republic of Sport

As I sit eying the distant, sad visage of Randy Moss, 2007 record setter and come back player of the year, I wonder...where had the smiling, jovial, i daresay bouncy teammate from 2007 go. Many may describe his 2007 season the greatest football comeback of all time. Of course, last year's version of the patriots was a little bit different than this year. Somebody named Tom Brady had his knee break down early this year, and Moss's comeback crumbled with it. The pundits were split upon news of the monster Moss trade during the '07 draft. Either Belichick was the only man in the league stubborn enough to set Moss straight, or the only one stubborn enough to take the risk. Well it worked out. Moss broke Jerry Rice's single-season touchdown record and forged a great relationship with Tom Brady, who reportedly lobbied hard to bring him to the land of clam chowder. Snap back to this year where Moss, Belichick, and the Pats are without Tom Brady. "But, its not all that bad right? We still have the best coach in the league! We still have Moss!" But this Moss isn't the smiling-sit-next-to-my-quarterback-on-the-sidelines-and-fill-his-inbox-with-text-messages teammate he was last year. This Moss sits by himself, apart from his teammates, sporting a face so frowny a kid staring at a new pack of socks on Christmas morning could take notes. Matt Cassel, Brady's back-up and New England's new starting QB is in an unenviable position. He's inexperienced, untrusted, and playing on a team that every team in the league pastes a huge bullseye on. Moss is just doing his part by remaining distant and cold. As of writing this, New England is down 27-3 with 12 minutes to go in a Sunday night game against bitter rival San Diego. Moss pouts. New England can not repeat what they did last year. No team will for a long time. Moss is probably not going to break his own record again in his career. If New England has any chance at keeping this season from imploding in on itself, Randy has to do his best to open up to Cassel in the way he did with Brady. He should be sitting on the sidelines, talking routes, telling jokes, giving the kid a pat on the back. Something, anything, that says "throw it to me, i'm pretty decent at this." But instead, he lays out the unwelcome mat in a way no one else can. At least he's not heading to the locker room early. Yet.