Randy Moss to Retire

[rattsass]

Thank you Randy Moss!!!!!!!!!

 

Today is a sad day for me but I thank you Randy Moss for what you have done in your career.

 

I remember scouting you at Marshall in 1996 and 1997 and saying to myself I have got to have this guy on my team.

 

I have to give a big thank you to DeMoines who had picks 1 and 2 in 1998 and for him taking Robert Edwards and Ryan Leaf.

 

I also have to give a big thank you to Tennessee who had the 3 pick and traded that pick to me for pick 7, Gary Brown and Troy Brown.

 

I also have to give a big thank you to Randy Moss who helped me win 7 CFL Championships in his 13 years with Charleston.

 

I remember sitting him week 1 in 1998 and he scored 2 TD's vs TB and I said to myself "I will never sit you again" and for the better part of 13 years he played for my team game after game.

 

So if this is really the end I just want to say thank you Randy and your jersey will hanging in the rafters.

 

 

Thank you Randy Moss!!!!!!!!

 

I shed a tear when I read this. Fried my keyboard. I had to go to Wally World to get a new one just to thank you Henry Muto for that touching tribute. Oh, and you owe me $25 for the keyboard. TIA

[WaterMan]

If you don't think he belongs in the HOF, then you must have missed alot of football the past 13 seasons.

 

http://www.silive.com/sports/index.ssf/201...he_hall_of.html

[Chavez]

I don't think there's any doubt that Moss is a HoFer.

 

But he's got that Mickey Mantle curse - "imagine how good he would have been if he'd TRIED"

[fingfootball]

If you don't think he belongs in the HOF, then you must have missed alot of football the past 13 seasons.

 

http://www.silive.com/sports/index.ssf/201...he_hall_of.html

 

I dont think anyone is saying that he doesnt belong in the HOF. Just saying he's a narcissistic whiney biatch.

[alexgaddis]

I remember scouting you at Marshall in 1996 and 1997 and saying to myself I have got to have this guy on my team.

Classic Muto

[CaptainHook]

I think this pretty well nails it:

 

Randy Moss's retirement is surprising only because it took NFL teams this long to tire of his act.

 

Moss is a 34-year-old receiver whose best days are now behind him. He's a toxic malcontent who can drive coaches and teammates batty. For years, Moss was able to find suitors because his electric talent was impossible to ignore.

 

Today, he's just another unrealistic veteran with an oversized ego and an inability to understand why nobody wants to fall in love with him.

 

The reason Moss doesn't like the options available to him after 13 NFL seasons -- which was the explanation his agent, Joel Segal, gave for Moss leaving the game -- is that the demand for his services wasn't that great from the start. There were far too many big-name receivers on the free-agent market and the trading block for Moss to be a hot item.

 

The ones who signed quickly (such as the New York Jets' Santonio Holmes and the Seattle Seahawks' Sidney Rice) were younger than Moss. The older veterans who found homes more recently (such as the Jets' Plaxico Burress and the New England Patriots' Chad Ochocinco) seem far more willing to follow the company lines laid out for them by their new teams.

 

In fact, Burress' signing with the Jets proves how far Moss has fallen. New York was more willing to commit a one-year, $3 million deal to a player who's never made the Pro Bowl and spent the past two seasons in prison. What the Jets seemed to be saying was it didn't matter that Burress might be rusty and out of shape. More important to them was the reality that he had been a winner at some point in his career.

 

That description is one that should never be applied to Moss. For all of his impressive career numbers -- 954 receptions, 14,858 yards and 153 touchdowns -- he was a player who always competed on his own terms. At his best, he was the most dangerous receiver in the league, as he was during his first seven seasons with the Minnesota Vikings and his 2007 campaign with New England (when he set a league record with 23 touchdown receptions).

 

At his worst, he was the kind of diva who could demoralize teammates and coaches with his laziness and disinterest in doing his job.

 

Moss' 2010 season was emblematic of how big a jerk he could become. The Patriots traded him just four games into the regular season. The Vikings then dumped him after he spent four games with them. Then Moss wound up in a situation that once seemed unfathomable.

 

[+] EnlargeTom Brady and Randy Moss

Mark J. Rebilas/US PresswireWhen the shine of a 2007 Super Bowl run wore off, Tom Brady ended up at odds with Randy Moss.

 

After the Tennessee Titans claimed him off waivers, they didn't even make an attempt at utilizing his talents. The only noise Moss made in Nashville -- where he caught just six passes in eight games -- came during the brief, testy media conference he held upon his arrival.

 

The message everybody was sending Moss last fall was that times had changed. He needed to become the kind of player who was more concerned about helping a team win than landing a fat contract. He needed to become the kind of player who was willing to block tirelessly and run routes hard when the ball wasn't thrown his way. The NFL can be a forgiving place for talents who still have something to offer. It eventually became all too clear that Moss found such compromises to be beneath him.

 

The irony here is that Moss always has been this way. It's just that his numbers and his highlights always helped obscure that fact. When fellow Patriots were raving about how great a teammate Moss was upon his arrival there in 2007, you just knew they might eat those words someday. Anybody who had seen Moss underachieve with the Oakland Raiders the previous two seasons had to know he might eventually return to his old, familiar habits.

 

As it turned out, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was one of the first to notice his decline last summer. A league source said Brady was so concerned about Moss' lagging work ethic that he discussed it with Patriots head coach Bill Belichick in training camp. When Belichick decided that Moss would be fine, Brady became even more agitated after Moss dogged it on a couple routes during an early-season win over Miami.

 

According to the source, Brady told Belichick during that contest that the team could keep Moss but the receiver wasn't going to be seeing any passes again. Moss was working in Minnesota within days of that conversation.

 

What that anecdote also reveals is how his blatant disrespect for the game can wear on people's nerves. Moss has quit on teammates and he's given up on plays in the middle of games. He's actually quit so often in his career that it's fair to wonder how that habit will impact his Hall of Fame chances.

 

For those who trumpet him as a first-ballot lock, just consider the way other elite receivers have been treated by the voting process. Michael Irvin wasn't a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, and he had three Super Bowl rings. Cris Carter and Tim Brown have caught more passes than Moss and they can't get anybody to give them a yellow jacket and a trip to Canton.

 

All Moss has going for him are the kind of numbers that make him seem like more than what he was. Once you get beyond that, you see a picture that is far more disturbing. That would be a player who could've been far greater than he ever was. That also would be a star who too often let moodiness and petulance undermine his dazzling ability.

 

But the most damning thing that can be said about Moss is something that will become more apparent as this season goes on, assuming he stays retired:

 

Now that he's decided to leave the game, it's doubtful anybody will actually miss him.

 

from espn.com

[Goopster24]

Once an athlete admits he doesn't try 100%, fans will never support him 100%. Other actions didn't help but I agree with my man Brent. Just love Randy, wish he woulda acted better at times though. Should have gone down as best EVER.

[WaterMan]

He ruined his jaded article about Moss with this:

 

Anybody who had seen Moss underachieve with the Oakland Raiders the previous two seasons had to know he might eventually return to his old, familiar habits.

 

Aaron Brooks and Kerry Collins were awesome for any WR who played under them in Oakland.

 

Today, he's just another unrealistic veteran with an oversized ego and an inability to understand why nobody wants to fall in love with him.

 

Or you could say he's a rich man who set records at his work place and retired.

[WaterMan]

This is how you write a non biased article:

 

MANKATO, Minn. (AP)—Randy Moss(notes) dominated when he wanted to dominate.

 

He scored when he wanted to score, cooperated when he wanted to cooperate and acted out when he wanted to act out.

 

Moss spent 13 seasons doing things on his own terms, which is why perhaps the loudest career the NFL has ever seen—both in terms of the roars he induced on the field and the aggravation he caused off it—ended so quietly on Monday.

 

No farewell speech from maybe the most physically gifted receiver to don a helmet. No tearful goodbye from a record-setting performer who changed the way defense is played in the NFL. Just a one-sentence statement from his agent saying one of the most colorful careers in league history was over.

 

“Randy has weighed his options and considered the offers and has decided to retire,” Joel Segal said on Monday.

 

It was vintage Moss, a revolutionary talent who was never very much interested in doing things the conventional way.

 

Fans were awed by his once-in-a-generation blend of size, speed and intelligence. Teammates were charmed by the charisma he showed behind closed doors and coaches were often infuriated by his boorish antics and lack of respect for authority.

 

“I don’t know if anybody can totally pin down who Randy Moss is,” said Tim DiPiero, one of Moss’ first agents said last year.

 

If this indeed is the end for Moss, he leaves the game with some of the gaudiest statistics posted by a receiver. His 153 touchdowns are tied with Terrell Owens(notes) for second on the career list, and he’s also fifth in yards (14,858) and tied with Hines Ward(notes) for eighth in receptions (954).

 

“In a lot of ways, he was the Michael Jordan of offenses in our league,” Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said. “He was a special player for a long, long time.”

 

Those numbers, and his status as perhaps the best deep threat in NFL history, will make him a strong candidate for the Hall of Fame. But voters will also be weighing those achievements and his six Pro Bowl seasons against a history of mailing in performances and a reputation as a coach killer.

 

As Moss himself famously said: “I play when I want to play.”

 

And when he wanted to, there was no one better. And when he didn’t, there was no one more destructive.

 

Trouble off the field in high school prevented Moss from attending Notre Dame or Florida State, so he landed at Marshall and scored 54 touchdowns in two electrifying seasons with the Thundering Herd.

 

The character questions hurt Moss in the 1998 draft. He fell to the Vikings at pick No. 21 and he spent the next seven years making every GM in the league who passed on him regret it. He scored 17 touchdowns to help the Vikings reach the NFC title game, a season so overpowering that the rival Packers used their first three picks in the following April’s draft on cornerbacks to try to slow him down.

 

Didn’t do much good. Moss scored at least 10 touchdowns in all but one season in his first tour with the Vikings.

 

“The things I’ve seen him do, I don’t think I’ll ever see another player do the things he did,” Vikings tight end Jim Kleinsasser(notes) said. “Great career. Tough to see him not playing because I think he had a lot left out there that he could have done for somebody.”

 

He also got into several controversies along the way, bumping a traffic cop in downtown Minneapolis, squirting a referee with a water bottle during a game and leaving the field early in a game against Washington, just to name a few.

 

Sensing a change of scenery was needed, the Vikings traded Moss to Oakland in 2005, where he spent two quiet seasons before his career was revived in New England. He re-emerged as a force with the Patriots, hauling in a single-season record 23 TD passes from Tom Brady(notes) to help the Patriots reach the Super Bowl.

 

Vikings fans were euphoric at the news of his return last season, but things soured in a hurry. He caught 13 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns in four games back in purple, clashed with coach Brad Childress in the locker room and brought embarrassment to the organization when he berated a caterer at team headquarters.

 

He hugged former Patriots teammates after a Vikings loss, and then bizarrely stepped to a podium to fawn over the Patriots, criticize the Vikings for ignoring his strategic advice, and announce his plan to interview himself the rest of the season instead of letting reporters do it.

 

An enraged Childress unilaterally decided to cut Moss shortly after, a decision that helped seal his fate with Vikings ownership.

 

Moss finished the season with eight games in Tennessee, but only caught six passes. Segal said earlier this summer that the receiver was training hard and determined to prove to the doubters that he could still dominate the game like he had in the past.

 

The Jets were believed to have some interest in Moss, but Segal declined to elaborate on the options that were available.

 

“Randy has been a great player for a long time,” said Bob Pruett, Moss’ college coach at Marshall. “He’s choosing this on his own terms and I think that’s good. If that’s what he wants to do, that’s what he should do.”

 

While many grapple with what Moss’ legacy will be, there is no denying the impact he had on the game. The Cover 2 defense has become a fashionable scheme over the past 10 years, and it was designed in large part to prevent Moss from burning opposing defensive backs for long TDs.

 

“He’s a guy who changed defenses,” Vikings cornerback Antoine Winfield(notes) said. “You had to put two defenders on him to take him out of the game so it opened up the rest of the offense. Great guy, great teammate, I have a lot of respect for him, he’s brought a lot to this game and I wish him well.”

 

Whether the 34-year-old Moss is truly done is anyone’s guess. That, of course, appears to be completely up to him.

 

“He’s one of the best receivers of all time to play this game,” Vikings receiver Percy Harvin(notes) said. “I’m sure he hung it up with no regrets, so I wish the best for him. He had a great career and did a lot of great things.”

 

AP Sports Writer John Raby in Charleston, W. Va., contributed to this report.

[I Like Soup]

I think the perception of Moss being a head case is a bit overblown. He never alienated his teammates like T.O. did. Besides maybe taking some plays off, what sort of problems did he start? I've always heard he was a hard worker and a great teammate

 

In my opinion, TO is much more of a doucchhee than Moss.

[The Wolf]

Randy Moss will be in uniform Week 1. And when my league holds its auction on the 13th, I will toss a buck on him and see what happens. IMO, he has more football left in him.

[Double Agent]

I remember scouting you at Marshall in 1996 and 1997 and saying to myself I have got to have this guy on my team.

 

I want to have your baby. No homo.

[BillyBalata]

The Eagles made a contract offer to Randy Moss after the receiver filed his official retirement papers with the league, according to the Boston Herald.

The Eagles just won't stop. Moss' filing of his retirement papers isn't significant as he can unretire any time he wants. If he is truly intrigued by the Eagles' offer, there's a good chance it will still happen. And based on the way veterans are flocking to Philly to play with Mike Vick, we would no longer be surprised.

[WaterMan]

I dont think anyone is saying that he doesnt belong in the HOF. Just saying he's a narcissistic whiney biatch.

 

What does that have to do with the HOF?

[Goopster24]

What does that have to do with the HOF?

 

Ask Irvin.

[WaterMan]

Ask Irvin.

 

If that less talented coke head can get in, Moss is a lock.

[Ditkaless Wonders]

I always thought Moss was an unhappy guy. Doing things his way, to prove that he could get away with doing things his way, never seemed to make him happy. He had a need to prove he would not buckle under to what others told him to do. He wanted to defy that. The thing is others were not trying to boss him around or to subjugate him, they were not telling him to do things, they were advising him to do things in his best interest. Randy never got that, IMO.

[Duchess Jack]

What does that have to do with the HOF?

because its not about a magical number. You need to be voted in. When votes matter than character matters.