Goodbye Randy Moss! We'll Miss You in New England

I'll never forget the news in the 2007 Football Off season. The New England Patriots traded for Wide Receiver Randy Moss, from the Oakland Raiders. The price? A fourth round draft pick. To say we would welcome him with open arms, would be an under statement. Would he be a problem in the locker room? Not in the Patriots locker room. Nobody seems to be a problem in there. Would Quarterback Tom Brady be happy to have him? Of course he would. Tom never had a "Super star" Wide Receiver to throw to.

What followed in 2007 was pure magic. Brady broke the record for the most touchdowns in a season, with 50 TD passes. 23 of those going to Randy Moss. In fact, as of this week, Randy had caught 50 TD passes in a total of 51 games played with New England. This was all done without one bit of trouble from Randy. He loved his teammates, was on time for practices, and never spoke out, until this past September.

The New England Patriots had finally made Tom Brady the highest paid Quarterback in football. With a new contract offered to Tom, Randy thought he should be given the same type of treatment. He was looking for a new contract for 3 or 4 years, but was not offered one before the season began. Randy spoke out, expressing his frustration with the situation, and it became big news in the media. Unfairly, Randy was portrayed as a disgruntled employee. In reality, Randy worked harder than anyone in pre season, and did not bring his attitude onto the field.

During a recent game with the hated New York Jets, Randy was called a "Slouch" by Corner back Darrelle Revis.Randy proceeded to make a spectacular one handed grab for a Touchdown, against the aforementioned Revis, who hurt his hamstring on the play. It was that Randy Moss I will always remember.

The hints of things to come were here though. When Coach Belichick was asked about the spectacular one handed grab, he replied that 'We've seen him do that a hundred times in practice, so it was no big deal to us." Really Bill? I thought it was a big deal.My Son put a snapshot of that catch as his profile pic on his Facebook page.

We also noticed that unlike past seasons, Brady and Moss were not sitting together on the bench when the defense was on the field. In 2007, they almost sat on each other's lap during that time. This past Monday, in a big road game for the Patriots, Randy was only targeted once in Miami, a pass he should have caught in the end zone. One pass to their best receiver? Something was wrong there.

As I heard the official news today, my first thought was this."What are the Pats going to do now that their big guy won't be there to draw double coverage?" My second thought was "Good for the Minnesota Vikings, they really need him." The Vikings are going to welcome home their long lost Son. I can guarantee that Randy will be ready to go on Monday night, against who? Oh yes, New York Jets Corner back Darrell Revis.

Thank you Randy for all that you have done for the Patriots. Good luck with Brett Favre and the Vikings. A lot of us fans will miss you! We'll see you on Halloween, in a different uniform.