Post by TheShadow on Dec 17, 2009 18:03:30 GMT -5
www.sfgate.com/
by Gwen Knapp
The fuss over whether Randy Moss "shut it down" during the Patriots' game Sunday won't surprise a single Raiders fan. Moss quit on Oakland early in 2006, and barely disguised the fact when he deigned to make public comments. He knew the team, with its ridiculously antiquated offense, wouldn't go anywhere that year, and he barely bothered leaning into the huddle to hear the plays called.
The Patriots got the best out of him after the trade in 2007, because they were the most stable organization in the NFL, if not pro sports in general. Now that fissures have appeared in the Hoodie Mystique, Moss' regression seems fairly predictable. He is a magnifying glass for a team's flaws.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick has lacked either a certain discipline lately or has been penalized because he no longer has enough talent around him to make self-indulgence look like part of a master plan. Case in point: dumping Richard Seymour on the Raiders, possibly as payback for Seymour's past contract holdouts.
Given the fact that Seymour's deal was due to expire after this season, and the Patriots might not have been able to get anything in return for him next year, the deal made some sense - but it smacked of foolishness and pettiness, too. All things considered, the Patriots' defense, more vulnerable than it has been most of this decade, would be better with Seymour on the line.
Belichick took a lot of flak for his 4th-and-2 call against the Colts, but got cover from people arguing the statistical probability of making that play. His defenders overlooked the fact that the Patriots had unwisely used their timeouts, which cast the call in a different light - as desperate and part of a pattern of sloppiness.
Then the coach threw four players out of practice last week for tardiness apparently caused by inclement weather. In December, a coach has to come up with a smarter punishment than that, one that doesn't hurt the whole team. Moss was one of the booted players, one more reason that his minimal motivation Sunday was predictable. The Raiders can take some solace: They brought out the worst in him, but it doesn't really take much provocation.
by Gwen Knapp
The fuss over whether Randy Moss "shut it down" during the Patriots' game Sunday won't surprise a single Raiders fan. Moss quit on Oakland early in 2006, and barely disguised the fact when he deigned to make public comments. He knew the team, with its ridiculously antiquated offense, wouldn't go anywhere that year, and he barely bothered leaning into the huddle to hear the plays called.
The Patriots got the best out of him after the trade in 2007, because they were the most stable organization in the NFL, if not pro sports in general. Now that fissures have appeared in the Hoodie Mystique, Moss' regression seems fairly predictable. He is a magnifying glass for a team's flaws.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick has lacked either a certain discipline lately or has been penalized because he no longer has enough talent around him to make self-indulgence look like part of a master plan. Case in point: dumping Richard Seymour on the Raiders, possibly as payback for Seymour's past contract holdouts.
Given the fact that Seymour's deal was due to expire after this season, and the Patriots might not have been able to get anything in return for him next year, the deal made some sense - but it smacked of foolishness and pettiness, too. All things considered, the Patriots' defense, more vulnerable than it has been most of this decade, would be better with Seymour on the line.
Belichick took a lot of flak for his 4th-and-2 call against the Colts, but got cover from people arguing the statistical probability of making that play. His defenders overlooked the fact that the Patriots had unwisely used their timeouts, which cast the call in a different light - as desperate and part of a pattern of sloppiness.
Then the coach threw four players out of practice last week for tardiness apparently caused by inclement weather. In December, a coach has to come up with a smarter punishment than that, one that doesn't hurt the whole team. Moss was one of the booted players, one more reason that his minimal motivation Sunday was predictable. The Raiders can take some solace: They brought out the worst in him, but it doesn't really take much provocation.