I believe Moss under-utilized strategically last year, particularly in the latter half of the season. We all remember the 55 Yard TD against the Jets in week 1, but if you re-watch the first 5-6 weeks of the seaon, you'll notice the variety of the routes he ran and the presence he had in the short passing game, this was particularly obvious in Week 4 against the Bengals. But even in the other first half games a commion theme with Moss was passes of 15-20 Yards eventually leading to the big blow.
Where this all changed imo was after the Miami game with the 2 ridiculous bombs from Brady. Post-Miami, McDahniels became fascinated with the obviously unique ability of Moss to make 50 Yard deep balls with coverage legitimate plays to call. This, along with the emergence of Welker due to Moss stretching the field, basically resulted in Moss strictly as a go-route guy. There were some games toward the end of the season where literally the only balls thrown Moss is way would be on bombs with 3 guys draped over him, this was during the whole "Brady is forcing it to Moss" period. Then when the insane doubling/tripling of Moss was making those bombs less successful, he remained a go-route guy, but served a different purpose. He became a go-route guy who would be the decoy and let the other WRs beat them, which basically became his role for the majority of the playoffs. Initially this worked because teams like Jacksonville were still scared, played ultra conservative by only covering Moss andthey let Brady have a cup of tea while picking them apart with short passed. IMO, McDaniels, and by extension BB, got comfortable with Moss relatively being a luxury item, a break in case of emergency. That emergency happened in the 4th quarter of the SB, where FINALLY Moss was used on shorter routes and slants, and surprise, surprise, he got about 40 Yards and what was supposed to be the winning TD. Obviously that was a tad late, which leads us to how he will be used next year. It is important to do 3 things:
a)limit the number of plays he's in, which were a ridiculously high number last year
b)Use obviously the deep threat first, but when Welker site down he should be the first down guy. He has great hands and because of how far the DBs play off him, he's basically a guaranteed first down.
c)Find a deep threat who is actually a threat, whether its Chad Jackson or someone else. You need to have that person on the other side of the field to keep the defense honest. Or else you'll see secondaries flocking to Randys direction which was routine in the 2nd half of last year.
Now I know there are rumors that he doesnt like going over the middle because of getting hit. But a)I've never heard those rumors having any substance to them, b)no WRs like getting hit, and c)if Moss is the team player he was last year, he would be willing to accept the role change.
Where this all changed imo was after the Miami game with the 2 ridiculous bombs from Brady. Post-Miami, McDahniels became fascinated with the obviously unique ability of Moss to make 50 Yard deep balls with coverage legitimate plays to call. This, along with the emergence of Welker due to Moss stretching the field, basically resulted in Moss strictly as a go-route guy. There were some games toward the end of the season where literally the only balls thrown Moss is way would be on bombs with 3 guys draped over him, this was during the whole "Brady is forcing it to Moss" period. Then when the insane doubling/tripling of Moss was making those bombs less successful, he remained a go-route guy, but served a different purpose. He became a go-route guy who would be the decoy and let the other WRs beat them, which basically became his role for the majority of the playoffs. Initially this worked because teams like Jacksonville were still scared, played ultra conservative by only covering Moss andthey let Brady have a cup of tea while picking them apart with short passed. IMO, McDaniels, and by extension BB, got comfortable with Moss relatively being a luxury item, a break in case of emergency. That emergency happened in the 4th quarter of the SB, where FINALLY Moss was used on shorter routes and slants, and surprise, surprise, he got about 40 Yards and what was supposed to be the winning TD. Obviously that was a tad late, which leads us to how he will be used next year. It is important to do 3 things:
a)limit the number of plays he's in, which were a ridiculously high number last year
b)Use obviously the deep threat first, but when Welker site down he should be the first down guy. He has great hands and because of how far the DBs play off him, he's basically a guaranteed first down.
c)Find a deep threat who is actually a threat, whether its Chad Jackson or someone else. You need to have that person on the other side of the field to keep the defense honest. Or else you'll see secondaries flocking to Randys direction which was routine in the 2nd half of last year.
Now I know there are rumors that he doesnt like going over the middle because of getting hit. But a)I've never heard those rumors having any substance to them, b)no WRs like getting hit, and c)if Moss is the team player he was last year, he would be willing to accept the role change.
Last edited:
