Seeing as I wrote about it, it’s only fair to point out this article with several quotes from Moss and Belichick.
From Belichick:
There was never any incident or discipline problem with Randy, there never has been one with me in four years. It certainly wasn’t about contract and money, I think Randy showed and proved from the first year he was here what that was all about. He [re-did] his contract and made the whole [trade from Oakland] work. I think you can eliminate those two things.
And this from Moss:
I’ve been traded before. I was more hurt when I left [Minnesota the first time]. I think when I got traded from New England I feel it was more of an understanding. I’ve said time and time again. This is not football, man. It’s a job; it’s a business. When the fans of the game understand the business of the game I think it’ll be better for everyone.
And this from Tom Brady:
Randy really knows how I feel about him. I love him, as a guy, as a person, as a player. He did a lot of great things for this team. At the same time I think coach Belichick feels that’s what he thinks he needs to do for the team.
We as players, we deal with it and we move on. I think I’ve been around long enough to realize nothing really surprises me and the best thing that I can do is be the best quarterback that I can be for the team.
Doesn’t exactly sound like Moss was a pain in the buttocks, now does it? The only one who comes within a country-mile of painting a problematic picture is Wes Welker. Even then, it’s not exactly an indictment of Moss.
Seeing as my preference is to take players at their word (they are NOT lawyers with a scholars view of language and how to deploy it, so the ridiculous parsing that goes on by sports writers is completely silly), I think I’ve got to move the needle back a little here. Still, how to square this with the “stories” about Moss ignoring coaches, or yelling at them and the like? I guess unless a reporter is willing to publish the name of his source, I should just start assuming they made it up because they needed to file something by a deadline.
Anyway, it’s not like Moss particularly cares what I think or anything. But if I’m going to disparage him on one hand, I ought to be willing to retract it on the other if circumstances dictate. And I think they do.