This from people who actually bother to study film...

[The Indomitable DrugS]

He plays the game - I watch. I may have a loserish obsession with Randy Moss ... but our relationship doesn't go beyond that simple fact.

FOXBORO - At least one football expert who watched the coaches tape of the Patriots [team stats] game against Carolina has a different take on the effort of Randy Moss.

ESPN analyst Merril Hoge, as well as Greg Cosell, the executive producer of the cable channel’s “NFL Matchup,” an X’s and O’s show that puts a premium on studying game film and reporting on trends, believe Moss has been unfairly portrayed by the Panthers as a quitter, and other pundits and fans as a disinterested loafer.

“He never took one single play off during that game,” Hoge, a former NFL running back, said yesterday. “In fact, it was probably one of his best games without the ball in his hands that I’ve seen him play over his career.”


Both Hoge and Cosell lauded Moss for blocking and running routes that freed up Wes Welker, who had 10 catches in the game.

“I saw a dozen big-time blocks by Randy. They ran the ball more in that game than they’ve run it all year,” Hoge said. “That guy had more blocks in the running game, and even for Wes Welker and those screens, than I’ve seen all year . . . so I’m watching this game, and I’m seeing a guy freeing up other guys, making blocks.

“I didn’t see a play that he quit. I didn’t see a play that he stood around. I didn’t see a play that he was walking. And I’ve heard words like, ‘He quit,’ or ‘He dogged it.’ The word that probably bothered me the most was, somebody wrote he was ‘useless.’ To me, those are really strong words if you have no visual evidence whatsoever and you’ve based them on some language that came out of a losing locker room. That’s unfair to him. I wish these people could see what I’m seeing (on the game tape) and realize how wrong they are. It’s just unwarranted. It’s a travesty. If I thought for a second he quit on any play, I’d acknowledge that.”

What about Moss seeming to pull up on the ball that was intercepted?

“When you see the highlights, it does look like he doesn’t come out of his break very well, which he doesn’t,” Hoge said. “But as I went to the coaching tape, two things that popped out that were far more concerning. The way the corner was playing that route, you could argue (Tom Brady [stats]) shouldn’t have even made that throw. The corner played outside technique, sitting where the ball was going. Also, Julius Peppers got some quick pressure inside. Brady made a quick throw. When you pull your left leg out, the ball is going to sail on you because you can’t drive with it.

“So he wheeled out the throw, and it sailed on him. So the decision was worse than the route.”

The drop on the slant?

“The ball was tipped by Julius Peppers and it changed trajectory,” Cosell said. “When that happens on a short throw, it’s not really a drop. I went back and watched it 15 times. You see the ball start to wobble.”

And the fumble after the catch?

“Normally when Moss catches a ball in the middle of the field facing the quarterback, he goes down,” Cosell said. “This one, he actually puts his shoulder into (the defender). That’s what caused the fumble. You could argue he’s giving more effort, as opposed to less effort.”

They won. There is no story.