Moss and Brady rested in the Patriots first preseason game on Thursday night, August 7th, while the Pats fell 16-15 to the Ravens. The 2nd preseason game is August 17th, 8:00 pm ET at Tampa Bay. Then, the Patriots' regular season starts on September 7th with a home game vs. the Kansas City Chiefs.
Thanks for visiting Mosszone.com as we enter our 12th season of Randy Moss coverage!
Also, Moss is back in the news for something he claims he didn't do. Like the old skool Moss/JWill commericial said, "beats all you ever saw, been in trouble with the law since the day they were born"!!!
With Moss' 2 tds in the game, he finished with 23 receiving tds on the year and eclipsed Jerry Rice for the single season record! Congrats to Randy, and we will have more on this amazing game and season later as Moss continues to push his legend to new heights.
The Pats won the game 49-28 to improve to 7-0. They will play a home game vs. the Redskins next week, and then Week 9 will be perhaps the most hyped regular season game ever when Moss and the Pats play the Colts on the fast track turf of the RCA Dome!
Moss has been dominant so far with 34 receptions for 551 yards and 7 touchdowns. Owens currently has 21 catches for 387 yards and 3 tds.
These guys played college football in the same Division I-AA Conference (Southern), and they are now establshing themselves as NFL Greats. Owens has played 2 more seasons than Moss, but Moss only trails him by less than 1000 yards in career receiving yardage and by only 9 receiving touchdowns. When they retire, Moss will probably be #1 or #2 in all career receiving records (along with Jerry Rice) and Owens will probably be #3. So, enjoy watching history Sunday as the two face off in one of the best matchups in recent years.
With the 38-7 win, the Patriots improved to 3-0. It just keeps getting better every week! Be sure to watch the Patriots take on the Bengals on Monday night!
After a couple of seasons in Oakland in which injuries and the ineptitude of the quarterbacks, offensive linemen, and coaches made it impossible for him to succeed, Moss is now among other quality players once again. With the exception of Jeff George in 1999 and Randall Cunningham/Brad Johnson in 1998, Moss has never had a quarterback that brought anything to the table other than relying on Moss to make him look like Pro Bowler. Now he actually has a Pro Bowler and fellow winner in Tom Brady so the possibilities are endless.
Thanks to everyone who has continued to visit this site over the years. August 24th will mark Moss Zone's 10th Anniversary! I have been really busy recently, but I have tons of content to put on this site. I will find a weekend to do so before the 2007 season starts. Sleep easy Moss fans, dancing days are here again!
Happy Halloween. xoxo Dawn and Boomer"
He had his turn when he played. Of course, I know he's an analyst and it's his job to stir up controversy, but for him to take a shot at me and say that I don't have a passion for the game, I love the game. If I don't have that much passion, you tell his [butt] to come out here and put on some pads on and go at me.Long replied, "If Randy wants to know what I was about in my 13 years as a Raider, and I'm a proud Raider, all he has to do is walk upstairs to the coach's office because I had the privilege of playing with and for Art Shell."
For Howie Long to say something like that is kind of bad because he knows, as a former NFL player, what it takes to get up for a game every Sunday. You got to practice week in and week out. Back in them days, he was probably popping pills and tablets and all that to get them up and going.
But nowadays with the drug testing policies and the performance-enhancing policy, then it's hard for a player to just go out there with just himself and go out there week in and week out.
At first glance, it might look like Moss answered a false accusation with another false accusation, but let us delve deeper into the subject of Howie Long and steroids.
Howie Long played defensive line for the Raiders from 1981 to 1993. When, he joined the league, he was tutored by Lyle Alzado, the larger-than-life, veteran defensive lineman who played for the Raiders from 1982-1985. Alzado had been a force in the NFL since 1971 and took Long under his wing, winning the Comeback Player of the Year award in 1982.
After Alzado retired following the 1985 season, tragedy struck in the form of brain cancer and Alzado passed away at the age of 43. However, before he died, he wanted to tell everyone not to make the same fatal mistake that he made...excessive steroid use.
So, in 1991, Alazado told his story to Sports Illustrated who ran a heart-breaking cover story featuring a dying Alzado's plea to athletes to stop abusing steroids. Alzado said, "I started taking anabolic steroids in 1969 and never stopped. It was addicting, mentally addicting. Now I'm sick, and I'm scared. Ninety percent of the athletes I know are on the stuff. We're not born to be 300 lbs or jump 30 ft. But all the time I was taking steroids, I knew they were making me play better. I became very violent on the field and off it. I did things only crazy people do. Once a guy sideswiped my car and I beat the hell out of him. Now look at me. My hair's gone, I wobble when I walk and have to hold on to someone for support, and I have trouble remembering things. My last wish? That no one else ever dies this way."
I remember reading this story back in 1991, and it really shook me. It was one of the strongest statements that SI has ever made. Looking back on the Alzado tradgedy today, one wonders if fellow Raiders defensive lineman Long was one of the 10% of athletes that Alzado knew that didn't use steroids or one of the 90% that did. I suppose we will never know for sure, just as we will probably never know for sure if the recent baseball home run hitters used steroids but draw your own conclusions. For some reason, I don't believe that Art Shell will talk about it.
On another note, I think it is worthwhile to point out that Howie Long is not in any way representative of Raiders alumni in his jealous views of Randy Moss. John Madden, who unlike Long led the Raiders to a huge amount of success and a Super Bowl XI victory, was quoted in the Minneapolis Star Tribute as saying that he doesn't like to play favorites but that Randy Moss is his "favorite player". Considering that John Madden has seen more NFL Football than just about anyone, that is very high praise. Also, Madden frequently supports Moss with his comments during games and, unlike Long, recognizes a living legend when he sees one.
Rest in peace, Lyle Alzado. 1949-1992.
Moss also has 9 career touchdowns in the NFL Playoffs as well as 2 regular season touchdown passes (1999, 2002). Before coming to the NFL, Moss had a record-breaking career at Marshall where he scored 55 touchdowns in 2 years.
At 29 years old, Moss will probably surpass every NFL receiver in terms of career touchdowns except for maybe Jerry Rice and Marvin Harrison. Considering that Moss has had to deal with a multitude of mediocre to poor quarterbacks and has never had a quarterback anywhere near a Joe Montana, Steve Young, or Peyton Manning. In other news, what a coincidence it is that Culpepper's Vikings were the most disappointing of the 32 NFL teams last season (at least until Brad Johnson took over) and Culpepper's Dolphins are the most disappointing team in the NFL this season. If Culpepper is traded again before the 2007 season, I fully expect a large number of publications and analysts to predict that his new team will win the Super Bowl, just as they predicted that the 2005 Vikings and/or 2006 Dolphins would win the Super Bowl.
Congratulations to Jason Williams, starting point guard of the 2006 NBA Champion Miami Heat! As most of you know, J-Dubb played high school basketball and football at Dupont (WV) with Randy Moss. Like Randy, people have tried to cut him down throughout his entire career, but he has kept getting better each year and this year reached the pinnacle of basketball. He was a highly important contributer in the regular season and the NBA Finals, and he was absolutely huge in the East Finals vs. a tough Pistons team and MVP candidate Chauncey Billups.
Congrats to J-Dubb for proving all the haters wrong once and for all, and good luck to him next year. The Mosszone salutes you for an awesome career in which you have continually done it your way.