I turned on the TV to see if any sports were on for Easter and to my surprise FOX was replaying Super Bowl XLII.
Wasn't that New England's (almost) undefeated season? Sure was. When I turned on the TV, it was right as the New York Giants had scored with under a minute left in the game. I didn't remember the Patriots having any time left. They had to go the length of the field to get into field goal range to tie, but they had Tom Brady and Randy Moss, two of the greatest players at their positions in the history of the game.
Even though I was watching, I had the laptop on the table and had one eye on research. What caught my attention was there were about 30 seconds to go in Super Bowl XLII:
3rd and 20.
Brady rolled out of the pocket and got a clean look downfield. Zero pressure on the throw. Brady proceeded to throw a perfect 50 yard spiral right to Randy Moss' hands as the Patriots were down 17-14.
But Moss' feet never left the ground. The defensive backs never jumped, because Moss never jumped. At the last split second, one of the two defenders knocked the ball away. But on the replay, you could see the defender was watching Moss, and was trying to find the ball. The defender was beaten and threw his hands up in desperation.
If Moss had simply jumped he would have towered over both of the Giants' players.
But he didn't.
I googled Why Didn't Randy Moss Jump and no searches matched my query. But you know what does come up?
How did Randy Moss never win a Super Bowl?
Randy Moss was one of the greatest to never win a Super Bowl.
I looked up Moss' stats on Wikipedia (I know, don't do that) and I had forgotten how good he was on paper. Not only was Moss on that dominant 16-0 Patriots team, but he was on that offensive juggernaut, the 1998 Minnesota Vikings, that went 15-1.
I had also forgotten that he had played with 5 different teams over his career and had a record of 124-99-1 by the time he hung up his spikes. He holds numerous NFL Records and was a 6-time NFL Pro Bowler.
Was Moss a Hall of Fame Talent? Absolutely. Not arguing that for one second.
But do I think of him as a winner despite him playing for 5 different teams? Eh, playing word association, I think of him as a Viking Great.
Do I think of Randy Moss as better than Lynn Swann despite superior numbers? Nope.
How did Moss not cash in playing for the Patriots?
Re-read that title.
Added April 15, 2020
I have been critical of ESPN for hiding most of their Draft Coverage behind a pay wall. Then today, I came across an article: 2020 NFL Mock Draft with All Trades.
That article was the biggest piece of fiction I have ever read. That's why it was free. Bill Barnwell's article was so preposterously bad, that I had to make a note of it somewhere to bash on him after the draft.
Don't get me wrong, there will be trades in the first round, I'll say about 5, BUT NONE OF BARNWELL'S.