Making excuses for Moss, or in some case even denying there was anything amiss on Sunday is as wrong as the ignorant, gleeful kneejerk piling on we've seen here and from some agenda driven hacks in the media. They polarize any rational discussion of what is in fact a legitimate concern in which the truth lies somewhere in the middle and is troubling enough in it's own right. What gauls me most about Randy's defenders though is their need to attempt to smear others who have never lacked effort and rarely if ever lacked focus in their attempt to rationalize his performance on Sunday and at points in his career including here.
Randy has been by all accounts by and large a good teamate and a great player in his tenure here. He has also struggled periodically, increasingly of late, maintaining consistent focus and intensity when faced with adversity. We saw it in the playoffs even against teams who could not implement the emerging blueprint. A personal situation emerged during the playoffs, and the media reaction to it seemed to knock him almost entirely off stride in crunch time. But in the aftermath of a heartwrenching SB loss, ultimately the lions share of the blame went to the OL or Brady or the defense. We saw it when Brady went down and Moss initially struggled to remain motivated to perform with a QB who hadn't played since HS (although the lions share of the blame was heaped on the QB).
We've seen it this season if we are actually paying attention and not too busy locating the usual suspects to blame. As a team captain, when the latest adversity beset his team he should have stepped forward and shown some determination to right the ship. Instead he curled up in a ball because his feelings were hurt because he put himself in position to be collaterally damaged.
He's not the anti christ. He's not trying to tear the team down or stage a palace coup. But he's also proving he is not a great leader or a great football player. Those guys are self motivated and step up when challenged and elevate themselves and often in the process everyone around them in the face of adversity. Rand is just an other worldly talent who wants to win and works hard doesn't understand that a lot more goes into winning than that - like overcoming adversity and battling through physical or mental limitations that are impacting their ability as well as an entire teams chances of achieving their mutual goal.
That attitude can change from team to team, or season to season or even week to week. There are lots of examples across the league even this season. Randy seemed to overcome disappointment last season when he was surrounded by a veteran cast who chose not to pack it in. This season facing adversity on a younger team with limited veteran presence, he has not yet. In fact he has trended down over the last couple of weeks. Brady and Belichick have continuously attempted to keep him engaged in the effort this season, often to their own detriment. They've ignored their critics in the process, which is what they always do in order to remain focused. Now they are faced with the added burden of re- engaging him after he could not ignore critics his own performance offered carte blanche to. He did what Brady was imploring him all game not to do, he let his frustration with his situation allow his performance to go from bad to worse.
He can still dig out of it and potentially turn his season, and possibly this teams, around. Show your critics they're wrong or prove once and for all they aren't. Show the guys who had faith in you and stuck their necks out to prove it by giving you a shot at redemption and more and continue to do so they weren't just suckers for another great talent with a painfully misunderstood sob story. But it's on him to prove it because on Sunday he again gave his critics ample evidence to disprove it, and to deny that or attempt to shift blame in an effort to defend him from criticism and personal accountability is just ludicrous.
