by Dan Snapp
dan@patriotsdaily.com

Move over, Charlie Brown. America’s got a new lovable loser: Your Indianapolis Colts.

Has there ever been a team so feted after two straight losses? Has ever a team been so unabashedly built up as the one you simply HAVE to root for?

The Colts broke down late against the dastardly Patriots a week ago, but chin up, America! There’s good news yet, because the Colts, while losing, “provided the blueprint” for how to win against the Pats. Imagine that.

Indy lost this Sunday as well, to the “energetic” San Diego Chargers (while providing yet another blueprint, hooray!). Don’t lose faith, though. See, they only lost because they were missing Marvin Harrison and Dallas Clark (how come the networks never mentioned that?).

And there was, like, weather (FOOTBALL was MEANT to be played INDOORS!!).

And the refs had it in for them (apparently no appreciation for Ben Utecht’s one-man homage to the ‘75 Cowboys offensive line shift).

So OK, their kicker missed two field goals. And well, yeah, I guess you could probably also mention the six interceptions the franchise quarterback threw.

But still, they’re a team you can be proud of. Heck, Mark Schlereth told us Tony Dungy’s admittance of a tactical error cemented his position as one of the league’s elite, the tactical error itself only slightly diminishing the distinction.

Mark made another huge point about the special teams being so tired and all. I think that was especially apparent on Darren Sproles’ touchdown on the game’s opening kickoff. Hey, when they come out of the tunnel for pre-game, they sprint, dammit!

And just wait ’til you catch Dr. Z’s story on Manning:

“And even with strange numbers on the uniforms of Manning’s receivers, the Colts drove when they had to, scored, put points on the board, brought it back to 23-21 and took it down to the shadow of the Chargers’ goal, where a missed 29-yard field goal did them in. It was an amazing example of battlefield command, of somehow mustering a shattered army. But that’s what Peyton is so good at, fighting the odds.”

Forget the Colts’ D, the recovered fumble in the end zone, or the two picks and two fumbles by Philip Rivers. And certainly forget that last second pick when Peyton was trying to make something happen; in my book, he had a mere five interceptions. No, Z’s right: Manning’s the man alright.

Seriously, though, exactly how bad a game must Peyton Manning have before we’re permitted to call it as such?

The media’s gone off its rocker for this team. There’s always been the Manning love, and the kissing up to “one of the league’s good guys”, Dungy, but it’s been ratcheted way up this season.

The “Good vs. Evil” stories prior to the Pats game, the Silver Lining stories after the loss, and now the continual excuse-making - it all points to one thing: The media chose their champion in advance, and they’re sticking to their story. Although if the Colts screw up another one, the Steelers are waiting in the wings as the new People’s Champion.

There’s merit to the injury excuse, but whose fault is that? Football’s a game of attrition, where you have to prepare for losing starters to injury (like, say, the ‘03 Pats did).

The Colts throw Craphonso against the wall to see what sticks, and we should feel sympathy? They made their choice long ago when they decided to pay for two No. 1 receivers. This one’s on Bill Polian.

America’s Darlings will likely pull out of their tailspin this weekend against the Chiefs, and get healthier for the stretch run (hopefully, Dwight Freeney’s injury is minor). Good vs. Evil II is likely still good to go.

Hope they’ve got their excuses ready.

by Dan Snapp
dan@patriotsdaily.com

Running up the score is not without its shortcomings.

For me, it’s the ongoing battle I’ve waged with DirecTV. For a Patriots fan living outside of New England, you have to plan for how you’re going to watch your team. The NFL Ticket is a godsend in that regard, making the world all the more miniscule.  

This year, though, two problems emerged:

1. The Pats are great; and
2. The Pats are too great.

Number one meant networks televising the games they normally wouldn’t (Pats/Phins in the Midwest? Really?). Number two meant them cutting away from the game after the Pats had it well in hand. The by-product then is a handful of games half-recorded on CBS and half-recorded (minus a few minutes always) on the NFL Ticket.

User error plays a role as well, such as forgetting to anticipate the game going over its TV grid allotment. This happened again Sunday. As the Patriots were in the early stages of their masterful fourth-quarter comeback, DirecTV was telling me I was watching “60 Minutes.”

And so I was. How prescient of them to notice.

Has it always been this way? Maybe I’ve been oblivious to it. Maybe when the Patriots were hanging 52 on the Redskins, DirecTV was  telling me, “This one’s over. How about taking the kids to the park?” or “What more can they do? The lawn still needs mowing.”

Or maybe that was my wife, and me equally oblivious.

But DirecTV had it right. Sixty minutes. There’s your response to anyone who complains about running up the score: 60 minutes.

The Patriots prepare for every conceivable scenario under the sun. This is why the term “situational football” is a buzzword only in New England.  It’s why Patriots fans aren’t surprised (unlike the flabbergasted announcers) when the team takes an intentional safety, direct snaps to Kevin Faulk, or fakes a field goal.

It’s why Tom Brady is still out on the field until midway through the fourth quarter of a blowout.

Sixty minutes. The Patriots needed nearly every one. Think that extra work against Washington, against Miami, and against Dallas didn’t help? Is it so inconceivable that those instances of “situational football” against real opposition played a part in prepping the team for that crucial quarter against Indy?

The last 10 minutes of the game, you could tell Indy was shot. The Pats front seven was pushing the pocket on every play. In that same span, the Colts only got to Tom Brady once, just after he released the ball to Moss on a slant. After being the team left chasing and panting back in January, the Pats on Sunday were ready for a full game.

If you get the opportunity, treat yourself by watching the last two defensive series again. There were heroes aplenty: Richard Seymour, whom the Colts started doubling after he wrapped up Joseph Addai the first few plays; Junior Seau, who shadowed Addai and also applied great middle pressure on Manning’s first fumble; Jarvis Green, who kept blowing through both Rien Diem and Jeff Saturday; and Rosevelt Colvin, who destroyed left tackle Charlie Johnson on every play, and later collected the Manning muff to effectively end it.

Welk, Don’t Run

Back in the 2001 season, we saw the product of Charlie Weis’s fertile mind with the Patriots using toss sweeps and wide receiver screens as bread-and-butter plays. Weis explained that they viewed the WR screens as extensions of the running game.

“If we get five or six yards,” Weis said then, “We’ll take it.”

The Patriots acquisition of Wes Welker came as no surprise to any who saw him torch New England the last couple of seasons. But for all who immediately threw out the Brandon Stokley or Wayne Chrebet comparisons (and why is it that a white slot receiver is deemed comparable only to another white slot receiver?), a better match would be Patriots Troy Brown and Deion Branch.

Welker has shone on those screen plays, either as the recipient himself or as blocker for Donte’ Stallworth, but he’s also become the designated safety valve when the running game breaks down. He proved it yet again on the final third down catch Sunday to clinch the game.

It’s his quickness that begs the comparison to Branch. In successive years, the Patriots used second-round picks on the player who posted the best time in the shuttle run at the Indianapolis Combine - Deion Branch in 2002 ( 3.76 seconds) and Bethel Johnson (3.72 seconds) in 2003. While the careers of the two took divergent paths, it still sheds light on how the Patriots value receivers.

Welker, too, flourished in the quickness drills. But his straight-line speed brought down his stock. Five-foot-nine receivers who run the 40 in 4.6 seconds go undrafted, as Welker did in 2004.

So Welker was a Patriots-type receiver way back in 2004. They just didn’t know it yet.

by Dan Snapp
dan@patriotsdaily.com

So what’s the big deal? Brady sat out the entire second half.

Oh, right. Not that Brady.

“Runningupthescore-gate” is my favorite gate yet. It’s got all the classics: irrational speculation, righteous indignation, even body language interpreters. I can’t wait to see how the Patriots are going to top it.

At the heart of it is a desire to have some measure of control over the Pats. Nobody can do it on the field, so they wag the disapproving finger instead.

“For shame that you defeated us by more than what we determine is the proper amount.”

Everyone cites these unwritten rules the Patriots are supposedly breaking. It’s an unwritten rule that you let up with a big lead in the fourth quarter. It’s an unwritten rule that you must sit the starting QB. It’s an unwritten rule that you don’t attempt a drop-kick, or execute a fake field goal, or have your third string quarterback throw a last-second touchdown pass.

What we need is an actual written, Unwritten Rulebook. As it stands, nobody knows what the true rules are; just whatever sounds convenient after the fact, after the alleged offense.

So where are the lines drawn? How much of a lead do you need to have, and at what point into the second half, before you take out the starters? And by “starters”, who are we talking about? Is it just the quarterback, or all the skill players? What of the line? What of the defense?

Ironically, only pass plays count as “running it up” in the Unwritten Rulebook. Tom Brady handing off to Heath Evans for a 10-yard-run with 13:34 to go in the fourth is perfectly acceptable, says the UR, but throwing 35 yards to Randy Moss a minute later is strictly verboten. Apparently, running the ball up the gut on fourth down is OK, too, so long as it’s not the quarterback.

Hopefully, the Unwritten Rulebook will give some suggestions on what to do instead. Up 38-0 into the fourth, should the winning team kneel the remainder of their offensive plays? Apparently they’re not supposed to try anymore, so why continue the charade? After receiving punts, maybe they should just punt it back. I suspect that would be even more of a slap in the face than, you know, actually trying.

Hate to say it, but the winning team just can’t win.

Teams in the past had unique ways of handling blowouts. My father tells the story of Giants squads so dominating, they switched up sides at halftime, with the offensive players playing defense and vice versa. Yet when Bill Belichick puts linebackers at tight end,  receivers at cornerback, or defensive starters on special teams, he’s criticized for either putting his players at risk of injury, or “making a mockery of the game.” The unwrittens must have been re-written somewhere between eras.

Risk of injury is the one legitimate argument against what the Patriots are doing. With the game sealed away, why risk injuring Brady? It’s a good question. And really, Brady is what this whole thing is about. If Matt Cassel started the fourth quarter, nobody would care what plays they ran, or who else was in there running them with him.

There are three plausible reasons for the Patriots’ sudden aggressiveness: 1. Prepping for the Colts; 2. Looking out for legacy; or 3. Actually running up the score to stick it to the league. It could be a combination of all three.

They may very well be running it up on purpose. In week one, they broke a rule (an actual written rule) and were punished heavily. The subsequent overkill - by the league, the players, and the media - gave the Patriots their “us against them” talking point for the season.

They’re very protective of their legacy, so once the legitimacy of their three titles was questioned, the die was cast. A common refrain was “They only won each by three points.” If that’s the factor that caused the doubt, they were going to make certain there would be no room for doubt this time around. If an opponent’s dignity was a residual casualty, so be it.

Maybe this team wants to be remembered as the best ever. To do that, they have to go undefeated (to match the ‘72 Dolphins’ feat) and they have to dominate games. Anything less and history drops them a notch.

Which brings us to the Colts, the real reason for the runup. No offense to the rest of the league (well actually, plenty of offense), but the Colts are the only team the Pats have played all season. Ignore the disparate uniform colors and patterns. Those weren’t the Jets or Bills, Bengals or Cowboys. They were Colts.

Not in person, of course. But plenty in spirit.

The Patriots have lost three straight to the Colts, giving up 40, 27 and 38 points, respectively. They used to be the team that shut down such big, high-scoring offenses, but no more. The Colts passed them by, so they had work to do. Everything they did in the offseason, and every game along the way has been with an eye toward this meeting, and their eventual playoff matchup.

This game is worth two to the winner. The Pats knew they’d probably have to win every game up to it just to keep pace, and they’d have to learn to score points in bunches. The team never looked past an opponent, of course, but each game also served as a testing ground. The defense tinkered with unique lineups, like the one lineman formation they tried against Dallas and the offense tested all scenarios, all formations, and all weapons in their arsenal.

Win or lose, the philosophy will stay the same: keep winning, because the Colts will surely keep winning, and keep dominating, because the Colts will surely keep dominating. The records, the honors, the marks - they’re all nice if they come, but there’s only one real goal, and only one team in the way.

In the meantime, the league will keep begging for mercy, and the Pats will keep putting teams out of their misery.

It’s kinder that way.

by Dan Snapp
dan@patriotsdaily.com

I know what you’re thinking: “How good could Peyton Manning be if he had Tom Brady’s weapons?”

It’s gotten that ridiculous.

Suddenly the Patriots offense is the Colts of 2004, the Rams of 2001, the Vikings of 1998. They’re perched to set new standards of achievement, both individually and team-wise. Along the way, let’s hope they keep in mind what else those teams had in common.

The Patriots and the Colts need each other. With the rest of the league unwilling to offer up some real competition, the two squads are all there is to keep the season from devolving into some bad joke.

The Jets were supposed to be the AFC East challenger to the throne, but they punted that title away long ago (and they can’t even do that right, if Ben Graham’s 20-yard shank Sunday is any indication). The Cowboys were played up, complete with “The Next Favre” billing for quarterback Tony Romo, but the Pats dispatched that empty threat in short order. The Chargers relinquished their “elite” status when they fired Marty Schottenheimer.

So that leaves just the Patriots and the Colts. Like the Red Sox and the Yankees perennially, like the Celtics and 76ers of the early ’80s, they’ll feed off each other, always aware of the other’s spot in the standings, and always having the prospects of future meetings haunting some passage in the back of their minds.

It’s a matchup we should root for.

We should want both to be undefeated going into their November 4th matchup, and for both to win out after the meeting, in anticipation of their eventual playoffs tilt. With home-field advantage in the balance, every game would have meaning.

Of course, that would mean one achieves the coveted 16-0 record. All the more motivation for the other to try to knock them off in the playoffs. Imagine the thrill of denying a team that just completed a perfect season their shot at the title?

Sports memories linger longest and age best when marked by some adversity overcome, some threat averted. With the passing of years, the details of the blowout get lost, but the tiniest minutia of the last-second win gets stored away forever.

Quick, which of the Pats’ Super Bowls do you remember best? Likely the first, with the surprise of the early lead, the powerhouse Rams clawing back, and then that sublime final drive. The next one was memorable in its own right, what with the surprising resiliency of the Panthers right to the end.  

Yet somehow, it’s toughest recalling the details of the most recent title, the win over Philly in 2005. There was the 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, and the Eagles taking their own sweet time driving with time running out, but none of the vivid-like-it-was-yesterday snapshots the first two titles offered.
 
How about this one: do you remember better the finer details of the Red Sox’ 2004 championship series win over the Yankees, or their subsequent sweep of the Cardinals in the World Series? Pretty easy call there.

For the truly memorable events, you have to confront the monsters: The “Greatest Show on Turf” Rams; Derek Jeter’s Yankees;  Magic Johnson’s Lakers. The bigger and badder, the better.

Fortunately, the Colts are as big and bad as you can get. They have the most accurate quarterback in the game, killer receivers, a dangerous tight end, a shifty back and a line that seemingly can guarantee seven yards every time they run that damn stretch play. Their defense is quick to the ball, and apparently no longer a running game patsy.

Most importantly, they’re not the old Colts, the ones you could count on to run up the score in the regular season and then choke it away in the playoffs. They finally got smart, starting to take what defenses were giving them at the expense of their personal stats. In essence, they became the Patriots and won a title.

So now the tables have turned, with the Pats offense making a Manningish run on the record books. They’re even looking Colt-like on defense of late, with the three-score victories allowing for a little lax play.

That’ll be the best result of facing Peyton Manning in two weeks. The Pats need it to sharpen their senses again, to be reminded just how good they need to be to get past these guys.

The Colts being great is a good thing. Beating their asses just wouldn’t be as much fun, otherwise.

by Dan Snapp
dan@patriotsdaily.com

“It’s just not right,” my brother said. “Other guys that have left, I was happy for them when they found success. But I just can’t bring myself to root for Randy. It doesn’t seem fair he can quit his way onto a winning team.”

It’s not an uncommon sentiment among Viking fans like my brother. In their minds, Randy Moss quit on the Vikings, he quit on the Raiders, yet now he’s being rewarded. Like my brother said, it doesn’t seem fair.

So how come he’s won us over?  

I knew I’d love the player. Art Shell’s objections aside, everyone recognized Moss was still a game-breaking talent. And he had every incentive to work hard and keep his nose clean: a chance to revive his career, a chance at winning a ring, and a chance at a stats bonanza catching passes from the league’s top quarterback, and all just in time for his last big payday.

For one year, we believed, Moss’s selfish agenda aligned perfectly with the Patriots’ team agenda.

The Pats got him on the cheapo one-year loan, and when the time came to collect his payoff – hopefully long after the Pats won their fourth title – he’d be somebody else’s property, somebody else’s bloated contract,  and somebody else’s problem when things would eventually get ugly. That was the plan, anyway.

Back in May, the Patriots Daily Roundtable predicted Moss would be one and done. We bought into the old Moss stereotypes: quitting on the team, the concern only with stats and money, and the character issues. At the time, I labeled him a “Class-A jerk.” 

But from the start, Moss showed he really wanted to be part of this team. He called himself “The second-best receiver out of Marshall” in deference to Troy Brown. He participated in the offseason workouts, though not contractually bound to do so. Though barely knowing the man, he accompanied the team for Marquise Hill’s funeral.

In the few interviews to which he agreed, he was cautious, yet open.

“You know me,” he said early on, “I’m the same as I always was,” a confirmation for many that Old Randy was right around the corner.

Say, whatever happened to Old Randy, anyway?

Somewhere along the way, Moss became the consummate Patriot: smart, hard-working, involved, loving football, and most importantly, focused on winning. He’s been content when the ball was coming his way in bushels, and content when it wasn’t - one of the supposed keys to keeping Randy happy.

Even Terrell Owens’ blatant baiting couldn’t coax Moss out of his happy place:

“I don’t really get into that. I just wanted to come out there and do what I could to help my team win this game. I didn’t really want to really feed off what he was saying or the hype of a game between two 81s. I have a job to do, that’s to go out there and try to catch touchdowns, and get first downs, and that’s what I tried to do today.”

In hindsight, it’s little wonder Randy Moss and Bill Belichick connected.

They’re both prodigious talents, sharing a deep understanding of and love of the game, and they both profess to wanting to win above all else. Neither suffers fools lightly, and so share a healthy mistrust of the media. The media returns the mistrust in kind, always suspecting ulterior motives over the plain truth of what they say.

They’re kindred spirits.

When Moss broke his months-long media silence, it wasn’t to fire back at Owens. It was to lavish praise upon his quarterback and coach, and to marvel at the Patriots’ method of doing business.

“I enjoy it. I come to work every day, I love seeing the guys, love the camaraderie in the locker room and going out there to practice every day. We have fun. But at the same time, you all have heard about the humble pie. Coach Belichick has a tight grasp on us; he doesn’t let us get too ahead of ourselves. At the same time, he lets us enjoy what we’re doing.”

Sounds like a happy man. One who might be sticking around a while.

Legend has it Old Randy rears up when his team starts losing. But come on, when’s that likely to happen?

by Dan Snapp
dan@patriotsdaily.com

We’re eight years along, and folks still don’t have the first clue about Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.

Monday, Browns guard Eric Steinbach called Pats linebacker Mike Vrabel “classless” for hitting QB Derek Anderson at the knee on a spike play in the final seconds:   

“It was a classless act, and you can quote me on that. The play was already dead. It was long after that. You can say it was only one guy, but that reflects on the team. Everyone’s trying to emulate the New England Patriots, and everyone looks up to them in the NFL like they’re the team that does everything right.”

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. And if you’re a Patriots fan, you’ve heard it and know what’s likely coming next. Somebody says “Classless” and “Patriots” together in the same sentence, and it’s only a matter of time before LaDainian Tomlinson is in front of a camera.

So when was it again that Belichick decreed the Patriots to be the league’s moral compass? That they were all squeaky-clean Boy Scouts who loved their mamas, ate their vegetables, said their prayers and asleep by nine?

Sure, the players contend there’s a “Patriot Way”, but every team has their version of that. No doubt Bob Kraft and his PR department eats this stuff up, too (”Today, we’re all Patriots!”), but you’ll never hear such language coming from Belichick.

Listen to his press conferences. He repeats such tedious truisms (”There’s plenty of room for improvement”, “I’m just concentrating on the next opponent”, “It is what it is”), they become football mantras, soon after repeated by the players. The themes remain constant: respect for the opponent; humility; and always the plan to work harder.

Bill Belichick is a Horatio Alger story for the 21st century: achieving success through hard work, discipline and determination, and then cultivating those same principles in his team. He coached his players to place accountability, sacrifice and team above all other virtues, and then thrived because of it.

Yet somehow his national perception is the opposite: cheater, ogre, bully, lout, and famously, “arrogant, megalomaniacal, duplicitous pond scum.” You name it, he’s been called it. Obviously, “Spygate” added fuel to the fire, but the perception was there long before that.

The media rewards those who help them do their jobs, and punishes those who don’t. Belichick is being punished. Long after the league tried to shut the door on the issue, folks like Peter King, Gregg Easterbrook and Mike Florio keep trying to wedge it open. King wrote Monday:

I think what makes me not want to forget the Patriots’ Spygate story are conversations like the one I had with a club official the other day, a man I respect a lot. “From what I hear, it’s best for everyone in the league if this story just goes away,” he said.

Maybe. Or maybe it’s best for the 130 million Americans who watch some part of the Super Bowl every year to hear an explanation from Bill Belichick or the league about what was found — and whether there was something in the tapes that was a tangible benefit to a team winning any of three Super Bowls by three points apiece. I still think we’re owed an explanation that’s never been offered.

So typical. The club official gives King the wink-wink tidbit (”best for everyone in the league”, and really, what else could that mean?) and King blows it off, instead escalating the Pats’ speculation to start questioning the Super Bowls. Oh, and here’s a good rule of thumb: whenever a writer says he’s speaking for the fans, he’s not speaking for the fans.

Moments after Steinbach’s dust-up with Vrabel Sunday, Belichick made his way across the field to greet his former defensive coordinator, Browns coach Romeo Crennel. Unlike Belichick’s relationship with Jets coach Eric Mangini, he and Crennel remain close, so you can imagine how CBS treated the moment.

Exactly. They didn’t show it.

If Belichick hugs a guy in the forest but the network doesn’t tape it, does it make a sound?

Instead, we were treated to Tom Brady rushing down the sidelines, looking pissed about his afternoon. Most likely, he was caught on the MossCam, always on the lookout for Randy yelling at a quarterback, squirting a ref, or rushing to the locker room before the game was over. Since it was Brady rushing to the locker room, well, nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

We’ll see how the same network treats the Patriots/Jets rematch in December. I’m sure they won’t show that handshake.
   
This is why the prospect of going undefeated is so compelling. Nobody expects or demands it, but it would be the ultimate defiant gesture to every self-entitled media member looking to extract their pound of flesh, to every delusional playoff opponent questioning the nature of their losses, and to the tough-guy commish, who would rather play Gary Cooper than squelch the whole affair when he had the chance.

The beauty of it is you can be certain nobody’s talking about it in Foxboro. Adalius Thomas will print up the “16-0 is a four-letter word” tee shirts, and Belichick will say, “Does anybody have any questions about Washington?”

So the media will go on billing Belichick as the evil ogre, opponents will go on telling what the Patriots are supposed to represent, and the team will block out both and just concentrate on the task at hand.

It is what it is.

by Dan Snapp
dan@patriotsdaily.com

Randy Moss for a fourth-round pick. Nearly five months later, and the sound of it still begs disbelief.

Randy Freaking Moss for a fourth-round pick!

What were the Raiders thinking? Certainly they had to get rid of him, as the team was unhappy, he was unhappy, and his production didn’t merit  the burgeoning numbers on the remainder of his contract. But trading the most electrifying player of his era to the powerhouse Patriots for a measly fourth-round pick?

Heck, if they traded him to the Packers instead, Colts GM Bill Polian probably would have anted up a second-rounder himself to seal the deal.

Within weeks of the acquisition, former Raiders coach Art Shell and his erstwhile bed&breakfast owner-turned-offensive coordinator Tom Walsh were telling any who’d listen that Moss couldn’t run anymore. The once and future proprietor of the Seven-Step Drop Inn also told Ron Borges, “Randy Moss is a player whose skills are diminishing, and he’s in denial of those eroding skills.”

Eroding skills? Sounds like the words of a man who’s out of football.

Moss, of course, has turned Patriots football on its head, completely changing the team’s offensive dynamic. Before, the talk was about Tom Brady’s even distribution to multiple receivers. Today, Moss and Wes Welker each get about 27 percent of the looks. It’s not the “Randy Ratio” but it signals a significant change in New England. With 22 receptions, 403 yards, 5 touchdowns and three straight 100-yard games, he’s off to the best start of any receiver in Patriots history.

A great year for Brady used to be 28 TDs, 14  INTs, and a 63% completion rate. With 10 TDs, 1 pick, and a 79% completion clip through three games, he’s set to destroy his previous highs.

The big hypothetical – “What would happen if Brady had Peyton Manning’s weapons” – is being played out before our eyes. We knew Brady was great in a Joe Montana “All he does is win” vein, but never in a Dan Marino statistical one. What if he’s both? Moss is helping to show Brady at his true potential.
   
“It wasn’t the Moss of old,” Phil Simms told us during the opener against the Jets.

Moss had just broken open on a crossing pattern, then took in Brady’s pass for an 18-yard gain, leaving Simms’ partner Jim Nantz lunging for superlatives. “The Moss of old,” Simms argued, “Would have grabbed that and you would have been, ‘Annnnd that’s a touchdown.’”

Simms was right. Moss lacks that overdrive he possessed as a young player. It was obvious on that play, on the 33-yarder later down the right sideline, and even on his 51-yard score.

Even without the top-end speed, he’s still the best receiver on the field. He’s got it all: size, speed, hands, moves, smarts, leaping ability and still enough speed to get the job done as a deep threat. He’s caught 22 of the 24 balls targeted for him. And as Moss has showed each week on some of his more spectacular catches: even when he’s not open, he’s open.

His football IQ is what attracted Belichick, who noted Moss understands double coverage as well as any player in the league. “He attacks all three levels of the field — short, intermediate, deep,” Belichick said. “Any time a player puts multiple pressure points on a defense, it’s hard, it’s stress.”

So how would Bill Belichick defend Moss?

He had two recent opportunities – vs. the Vikings in 2002 and against the Raiders in 2005 – and enjoyed little success. The Patriots pressed Moss at the line, and double-covered him often, but Moss still had 13 catches for 222 yards and a TD over the two games.

The Pats easily won both, and maybe that’s the point. Maybe like Belichick’s “If Thurman Thomas runs for 100, we’ll win the game” pronouncement in Super Bowl XXV, the plan is to let Randy get his, but we’ll stop everything else.

But then that’s also the key behind Belichick bringing him to New England, where stopping everything else was already a chore.