RANDY MOSS MESS
saved what I was going to say about Randy Moss‘ post-game rant for today, which turned out to be a good move because we’ve learned a lot between the end of Moss’ tirade and now.
I said yesterday that it’s time for Leslie Frazier to assume the head coaching duties, not because Brad Childress cut Randy Moss but because he’s lost the respect of his players and he probably lost that before Moss re-arrived on the scene.
What we’ve learned about Moss’ off-the-field behavior since his press conference warranted cutting the receiver. In the wake of a situation such as this, you need to take the unsourced quotes with a grain of salt because they are often designed to spin a story from people with an agenda. You just don’t know.
But in this case, we have a named source that tells us of Moss’ locker room behavior. The Pioneer Press‘ Charley Walters quotes caterer Gus Tinucci, who related a browbeating he received from Moss:
“We had the whole buffet set up, and we had a nice spread — chicken, ribs, round of beef with a carving station, the whole deal. (Moss) he comes in, and I’m helping one of the guys and didn’t look up, and all of a sudden I heard, ‘What the (expletive) is this? I wouldn’t feed this (expletive expletive) to my (expletive) dog!’ And he’s screaming it at the top of his lungs.”
Just as a head coach must have the respect of his players in order to be effective, an athlete needs the respect of his fellow players for his team to be successful.
It’s awfully hard to respect man who abuses those who cannot speak back, who cannot defend themselves. Moss’ tantrum is indicative of a man who has yet to grow up.
Tinucci relates Brett Favre‘s reaction to Moss’ tantrum, which demonstrates that his quarterback lost respect for him:
“If (Brett) Favre would have had a ball, he would have beaned him right in the head. Favre looked at him like, ‘Are you kidding me?'”
I’ve heaped praise on Moss the Athlete because he’s the best receiver of his generation. Unfortunately, he also appears to be a horrid human being. So good riddance to Randy Moss and lotsa luck to whoever picks him up.
But that doesn’t excuse Childress for not having a plan to deal with Moss.
If you’re going to trade for him, one would assume you’re aware of his history, both on an off the field. One would have assumed that Childress knew Moss has the potential to make a scene. You need only look back to the Patriots’ first game and Moss’ post-victory press conference to see that. It’s not like that behavior was in the distant past.
One need look no further than Moss the Raider to see that he will give up on his team on the field.
The one consistent thing with Moss is winning. He’s pretty much fine if his team is winning and he’s a part of it.
My problem with Childress with regard to Moss specifically and his coaching in general is that he apparently had no real plans to use Moss except to take advantage of the Moss Cushion.
There was no creativity involved whatsoever in trying to get the ball in Moss’ hands. Brett Favre acknowledged this fact in his post-game news conference when he said there may be ways they can scheme to get Randy open.
I think Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk is pretty much overrated but he did say something on Paul Allen‘s show [MP3] that I agree with completely: “The problem with Brad Childress is not that he’s not a great coach, the problem with Brad Childress is he thinks he’s a great coach.”