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I, like many fans around New England, spent yesterday fuming all day over the news that Randy Moss was traded to the Minnesota Vikings. However, some of our favorite Patriots whom now have jobs in the media, have come out in support of the move.
Yesterday on Sportscenter, former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi had some strong words about Moss.
"I think it was time for Randy to go", said the man who anchored a Patriots defense that won three championships in four years. "What I'm hearing now is in that locker room there are some players [and coaches] frustrated with Randy. If they didn't get this third round pick for Randy Moss I think it's come to a point where they just had to cut ties with him totally".
One would think Bruschi would know if something were going on in that locker room. Sure enough, ESPNBoston's Mike Reiss reported a heated exchange between Moss and offensive play caller, Bill O'Brien during halftime of Monday night's win over the Dolphins. A game in which Moss was held to 0 catches for the first time in his Patriot career.
Given this information, Moss being traded for only a third rounder makes more sense.
 Former Patriot Tedy Bruschi supports the trade, and said so on ESPN. (PHOTO:Icon/SMI) |
"Conceptually, I think they're gonna get back to the way they were playing football in their championship years", said Bruschi. "Offensively, they've never been defined when they were winning championships...I think they're gonna turn into a better team now and this is gonna bring them together".
Bruschi isn't alone in his support of the trade. Another Patriots hero from the Super Bowl days, Troy Brown, also sees positive things ahead for the Patriots. Brown spoke on the Dale and Holley show on WEEI, and said that the Pats will get back to the type of offense that featured himself, Givens and Branch. An offense which also happened to win three super bowls.
"[Tom Brady] needs to get back to being the quarterback that delivers the balls to the guys that are open" said Brown. "I think alot of times as a quarterback you can get spoiled by having guys like Randy on your team because you feel like they can bail you out of any situation and you just throw the ball up to him or throw it into a bad situation which is not good for the football team overall...At the end of the day the way you're gonna win is by getting the ball to open people and moving the ball down the field in a methodical way and running the ball when you have to run it and that to me is the sign of a successful team."
Brown didn't seem to think Moss was happy playing in that kind of system. He cited last Monday's game as an example. "You could see it on Randy's face on the sidelines that he wasn't happy with the way things went for him during the game. Obviously, the team had an outstanding game but for him, he wasn't happy about the outcome and him being targeted one time in the game. [Other than the fake spike], there were no designed plays to get him the football."
While both Bruschi and Brown think this trade could bring only good to the New England Patriots, both were still very complementary of Moss as a teammate.
"Personally, I was Randy Moss's teammate for 2 years and he was nothing but the best teammate inside the locker room." said Bruschi before pointing out all of the veteran players in that locker room that could've kept him from being a distraction.
Troy Brown revealed a picture of Randy Moss similar to the one we saw of him leading a locker room cheer after the team's week 1 win over the Bengals. "The year I played there with Randy, I tell you what, everything you saw in the media about the guy...there was none of that stuff. He was actually a great teammate. He was good for the locker room because he was funny, he was loud, he was a great person to be around."
Despite missing Randy's skills, both former Patriots think the team will be just fine from now on...I hope they're right.
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