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Browns to face 'new and improved' Randy Moss

Posted October 03, 2007 11:00 pm

Steve Doerschuk

Brooding, self-absorbed, poisonous, lazy, selfish, incomparable, unstoppable.

All of those adjectives have followed Randy Moss through a unique football life.

The Browns must deal with what looks like the best of the 30-year-old wide receiver Sunday.

Last October, as an aloof Raider, Moss caught one pass for 5 yards in a 24-21 Browns win. Now, as a Patriot, he has caught 31 passes for 505 yards and seven touchdowns in a 4-0 start.

Odious me-first super talent? That's not how New England Head Coach Bill Belichick characterized this week's biggest threat to the Browns' shaky defense.

"He's come in and worked very hard," Belichick said. "It's a different offense than what he played in at Minnesota and Oakland. He's really a smart guy. He understands football concepts and concepts in the pass game very well, probably as good as any player I've coached."

Cornerback Leigh Bodden covered Moss at Oakland last year. Those two will be in a matchup that could dictate the Browns' chances at the NFL's upset of the year.

One catch for 5 yards?

"Everybody says it's gonna be different," Bodden said. "He's new and improved. He's got a good quarterback now."

Last year it was young Andrew Walter, now a backup with a 55.8 career passer rating.

This fall, it's Tom Brady, who has won three Super Bowls and has a 2007 passer rating of 134.7, best in the league by a moon shot.

"He's running all the same routes," Bodden said. "He looks the same, big and fast. It's just that he has a quarterback who can get him the ball."

Moss was a two-time West Virginia high school basketball player of the year.

As a receiver, he had huge, flypaper hands, a strong 6-foot-4 frame and speed that wouldn't quit.

From Columbus to California, though, they wondered: Would his ego fit in the locker room?

Moss chose Notre Dame and but had his scholarship pulled. He enrolled at Florida State but never played there. He transferred to Marshall and became the subject of a scathing Sports Illustrated story focusing on his indifference toward the memory of players who perished in a famous plane crash.

He lasted until the 21st pick in the 1998 draft, then became the first NFL player to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in his first six seasons.

The Vikings were 15-1 when he was a rookie, then went south, going 28-36 the final four of his seven seasons.

He was traded to Oakland in exchange for a package that included a first-round draft pick. After Oakland went 6-26 in his two years, the Patriots got him on the cheap for a fourth-round pick.

Some observers look at the trade as another reason to hate Raiders owner Al Davis. In ridding the Raiders of locker room of baggage, he may have handed New England its fourth Super Bowl this decade.

Brady and Moss, both born in 1977, formed a fast on-field bond.

"Even though we haven't played together," Brady said Wednesday, "there are a lot of things that we have seen over the years.

"There are still corrections we are trying to make on a daily basis. At the same time, I think we've got off to a decent start."

The Patriots are the first NFL team since 1920 to win their first four games by 20 points or more. The top three teams in the league that year were the Akron Pros, Decatur Staleys and Buffalo All-Americans. The Canton Bulldogs came in at 7-4-2.

The league looks a bit different now. With Moss at wide receiver, the Patriots look better than even themselves in those recent Super Bowl years.

Reach Repository sports writer Steve Doerschuk at (330) 580-8347 or e-mail steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com

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