Walsh Wallops Moss

Tom Walsh: "Randy Moss is a player whose skills are diminishing, and he's in denial of those eroding skills. Randy was a great receiver, but he lacked the work ethic and the desire to cultivate any skills that would compensate for what he was losing physically later in his career. He told me last year, 'I'm too old to practice on Wednesday and Thursday, but I'm not too old to play on Sunday.' Did they start a senior league? When he's right, he still makes an impact. He looked like a world-beater in a preseason game against the Lions. I never thought he was difficult to coach, but we expected him to be a complete receiver and he wasn't. His whole game in Minnesota was outside the numbers. For him to run shallow crosses and in-routes was new for him. Initially, he showed all the interest but later on ... I don't know. Randy Moss has great football IQ. He's tremendously gifted. I think he can still play, but his legs will determine how much work he can handle. We used to take him out of Friday practices because the quarterbacks wanted the receivers running near game tempo and when Randy was on the field, the whole practice slowed down so much we started giving him the day off. Once he got discouraged, he just faded."

Randy Moss is thirty years old. During seven Minnesota seasons, he recorded 574 receptions, 9,142 yards, and 90 touchdowns. In two Oakland seasons, he tallied only 102 receptions, 1,558 yards, and 11 touchdowns. Obviously, Walsh is disgruntled. However, he is also correct. Moss’ skills have faded. His immaturity has exploded. Moss’ greatness is now desired, not expected.