I love Moss. The guy is a gamebreaker. He is the best deep ball threat in the game and has amazing hands. I think the problem with Moss this year is that we aren't using him enough in the short - intermediate passing game.
When Moss came here, he had a reputation for only running one route - the fly route - and was a little timid when going over the middle. However, in his first season here, McDaniels and BB had him short and intermediate routes over the middle. This season, it seems like we exclusively run Welker underneath (except for a few plays) and exclusively just send Moss deep. You think back to 2007, yes the Pats did go long to Moss a lot which was set up by the dinking and dunking, but he was also used over the middle in the red zone and throughout drives. The one handed catch over the middle vs Indy, the catches in the back of the end zone vs Dallas and Cincy, etc. We also used him on more jump balls in the end zone. Even in 2008 with Cassel where the deep ball was somewhat limited at first, we used Randy on some screen plays. For example the screen vs Arizona in the snow which he took to the house. Moss' two greatest assets are his speed and his hands. I don't get why we don't just try to get him the ball on a "Welker" route and let him go to work with the ball in his hands. Throw him a screen pass and get decent blocking, the man is gone. He can still fly and has great vision. Everytime we seem to be connecting with Moss it is on a deep ball.
Randy might not like going over the middle, but he's a professional and he would do it. As Phil Simms says, we are one of the best screen teams in the NFL. Why not throw some to Moss, who probably has the best potential out of anyway to break it for a TD? We really miss McDaniels. He had his finger on the pulse of this offense.
As for the question, Brady is undoubtedly back IMO unless something drastic happens. I think Moss will be back if he is looking for a ring and not a final big fat contract. I think he will want to stay here with Brady and Belichick b.c he respects their desire to win and wants to be a part of it. As long as he keeps working hard and producing, I don't see any reason why BB wouldn't want to retain him, especially if we get a guy like Green, Jones, Floyd, or Baldwin. Having Moss as a mentor/tutor take a guy with the type of talent those prospects have would be fantastic. Moss, Green, Welker, Tate is my dream WR corps for 2011. I'd also like to see Patrick Peterson in our secondary.
