Randy Moss

New England Patriots

2007 season

Moss on the sidelines speaking with Tom Brady

There were rumors leading up to the 2007 NFL Draft that the Raiders were eager to part ways with Randy Moss through a trade. First-year Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin went so far as to contact their division rival Denver Broncos to "gauge interest",^[54] but the Patriots and Green Bay Packers were the two teams most interested in acquiring Moss. Packers QB Brett Favre, who once said, "There is no one in this league who puts fear in people more than Randy Moss,"^[55] tried to persuade team management to trade for him, but a deal that both sides could agree to did not get done.^[56]

During the first day of the NFL Draft, the Patriots and Raiders discussed the trade several times before reaching an agreement. Bill Belichick spoke with Moss for the first time about the possibility of joining the Patriots at 2:30 Sunday morning.^[57] Moss then boarded a plane and arrived in Boston later that morning on April 29 and was required to pass a team administered physical. Once he was cleared by Patriots officials, the teams completed a trade that sent Randy Moss to New England for a fourth-round selection in the 2007 NFL Draft. The Patriots had acquired the draft pick the previous day from the San Francisco 49ers, and the Raiders selected John Bowie.^[54]

One of the conditions of the trade was that Randy Moss would have to restructure his contract for salary cap reasons.^[54] Just hours before the Moss trade was completed, New England quarterback Tom Brady converted $5.28 million of his 2007 base salary into a signing bonus that was spread out over the remaining portion of his contract so that it could free up cap room.^{[citation needed]} This enabled the Patriots to absorb Moss' incoming contract under the salary cap.^[58]^[59] Moss had two years remaining on his current deal and was scheduled to earn $9.75 million in 2007 and $11.25 million in 2008. Once the Patriots had Moss on their roster, he quickly agreed to a new one-year contract to replace his old one. The new deal gave him a $500,000 signing bonus, a base salary of $2.5 million, and the ability to earn an additional $1.75 million in incentives.^[58]

"I’m still in awe that I’m a part of this organization,"^[59] Moss said, clearly thrilled to join a team that could contend for the Super Bowl and to work with Coach Belichick. "I think that he's the kind of coach that can motivate me. He has a proven track record."^[59]

In the first week of training camp, during an 11-on-11 passing drill, Moss suffered a hamstring injury to his left leg.^[57] As a precaution, the injury prevented Moss from participating in any preseason games and he missed much of the rest of camp.

His first action in a Patriots uniform came against the New York Jets in Week 1. He quickly quieted critics who claimed that his skills had deteriorated by hauling in 9 receptions for 181 yards, including a 51-yard touchdown pass in which he ran past 3 Jets defenders.

On November 4, 2007, James Black, NFL Editor for Yahoo! Sports wrote, "Every week, in addition to out-leaping at least one defender for a touchdown, [Moss] keeps making incredible one-handed grabs that make you mutter, 'How the heck did he come up with that?'"^[60] Two weeks later, he added a career-high 4 touchdown receptions in a single game against Buffalo.

On December 29, the Patriots defeated the New York Giants 38–35, finishing their regular season with a perfect 16–0 record. Moss caught two touchdown passes for a total of 23, breaking the single season record of 22 touchdown receptions previously set by Jerry Rice (in 12 games in the strike-shortened 1987 season). On the same play, Tom Brady broke Peyton Manning's single season record set in 2004 with his 50th touchdown pass.^[61] Moss recorded 98 catches for 1,493 yards in 2007, the highest yardage total in Patriots franchise history and the third-highest total number of catches, after teammate Wes Welker's 112 catches that same season and Troy Brown's 101 in 2001. He also earned his sixth Pro Bowl selection. His 2007 season featured touchdowns in 13 of 16 games (including 8 multi-touchdown games), nine 100-yard games, and six touchdown receptions of 40 or more yards.

Despite his record-breaking 2007 season, Moss was relatively quiet in the playoffs, going 2 consecutive games without a touchdown for the first time all season. However, in Super Bowl XLII, he scored the go-ahead touchdown with 2:42 left in the fourth quarter on a 6-yard pass from Tom Brady. However, this was still not enough to enable the heavily favored Patriots to eclipse the only undefeated season with a Super Bowl win, held by the 1972 Miami Dolphins. Eli Manning drove the Giants down the field connecting with Plaxico Burress, for what proved to be the game winner and huge upset over Moss and the Patriots.

2008 season

On February 28, 2008, Moss became a free agent after the Patriots decided not to place the franchise tag on Moss. Although the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, and Green Bay Packers were rumored to have interest in Moss,^[62] he decided to return to the Patriots, signing a three-year, $27 million deal on March 3, 2008.^[63] The contract included a $12 million signing bonus, and a total of $14.1 million guaranteed.^[64]

The first game of the 2008 season saw Brady suffer a torn ACL in his left knee while attempting a pass to Randy Moss.^[65] The play occurred in the first half against the Kansas City Chiefs when safety Bernard Pollard dove at Brady's leg while in his throwing motion. Moss described what he saw on the play by saying "any time you see something like that, that looks foul, it looks dirty, it opens your eyes. So, me personally, it looked dirty."^[66] Matt Cassel replaced Brady for the rest of the season.

In 2008, Moss hauled in 69 catches for 1,008 yards and 11 touchdowns despite losing quarterback Tom Brady in the first game of the season.

2009 season

Moss in 2009

In the season opener of 2009, Moss caught a career-high 12 passes for 141 yards in a comeback 25–24 victory over the Bills. In Week 5 against the Denver Broncos, Moss was placed deep in coverage on a Broncos Hail Mary attempt to end the first half, and intercepted Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton. In a snowy Week 6 game against the winless Tennessee Titans, Moss caught three touchdown passes from Tom Brady, two of them in the 2nd quarter as Brady set a record for most touchdown passes in a single quarter with five. This was Moss's 34th multi-touchdown game, and his 8th game with 3 or more touchdowns.

During the Patriots bye week, Belichick stated that Moss "is the smartest receiver he's ever been around."^[67] He compared Moss' ability to see the field and anticipate plays to that of Tom Brady, and to Lawrence Taylor who Belichick coached with the New York Giants. He said Moss not only knows what he's doing on a play, but what everybody else on the field is doing as well. "That's what makes them special. They just have a sixth, seventh sense", Belichick said.^[68] This sentiment was repeated when Moss was inducted into the Hall of Fame, as Belichick went further to say he learnt from Moss.^[69]

In Week 9 against the Miami Dolphins Moss added 6 catches for 147 yards and 1 touchdown. The touchdown reception was the 140th of his career, which moved him into a tie for 2nd place with Terrell Owens.

The following week, in a prime time Sunday night matchup against the Indianapolis Colts, Moss had 179 yards and two touchdowns, including a 63-yard touchdown in the 2nd quarter that moved him ahead of Terrell Owens for sole possession of 2nd place in career touchdown receptions. In the same game, he became just the 11th player in NFL history with 900+ receptions and the 7th player to reach 14,000+ career receiving yards.

He finished the season with 83 receptions for 1,264 yards and 13 touchdowns. New England would lose the AFC Wild Card playoff to the Baltimore Ravens 33–14.

2010 season

In the week leading up to the Patriots' 2010 season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, Moss, who was entering the final year of his contract told CBS Sports that he "did not feel wanted" in New England absent a contract extension offer.^[70] Moss would go on to catch 5 passes for 59 yards in Week 1. After the game, Moss told reporters that it would be his final season with the Patriots.^[71] The Boston Herald reported weeks later that Moss requested a trade following the game.^[72]

Moss had two receptions in Week 2 against the New York Jets, including a 34-yard touchdown that he caught one-handed after beating All-Pro cornerback Darrelle Revis. The following week against the Buffalo Bills, Moss had two more catches, both for touchdowns. His final game in New England came in Week 4 on Monday Night Football against the Miami Dolphins; he did not record a catch in the game for the first time in his Patriots career as a touchdown pass attempt off a fake spike bounced off his hands in the end zone.