Last night was the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement in Canton, Ohio. The 2018 class was loaded like a some Frisky Fries. The man who led the way on the famous Packer sweep, Jerry Kramer FINALLY got his due after retiring in 1968. Kramer was the only man on the NFL's 50th anniversary team not in the HOF.
For years being an offensive linemen, and being on the greatest dynasty of all time was held against him. I mean, how many hall of famers can one team have?
The other players inducted were T.O. (who didn't show up), Brian Urlacher, Brian Dawkins, Ray Lewis (who sweat through his jacket, while telling us we need prayer in school), and of course the one and only Randy Moss. The man who's name inspired a game for kids across the country trying to make acrobatic catches. YOU GOT MOSSED!
Not to keep picking on the (alleged) murderer, but his bust is up there with that Ronaldo one for worst I've ever seen. Looks NOTHING like him.
The speeches were all pretty good. Even though Ray Lewis is a legitimate crazy person who decided to preach for 45 minutes there were a few parts of his I liked. But I'm here to talk about Randy Moss.
Randy is the GOAT.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame isn't like baseball where you go in with a cap of the team you're most well known for. Although sometimes even the the hats don't match up. To me Nolan Ryan is an Angel or Astro, not a Ranger. Vlad is an Expo, not an Angel. Greg Maddux didn't even pick a team. In Canton you get the bust. I'm well aware if Randy Moss did have to go into the Hall with a team it'd be the Vikings, but his brief time in New England is something I'll never forget and always appreciate. All the touchdowns, the wins, and of course that famous 07 celebration we saw 23 times en route to a perfect regular season. You could argue that his time in New England is what solidified him as a Hall of Famer since his time in Oakland left a sour taste in Moss fans mouth's. Moss scored 3 touchdowns in 2006. He scored 4 against the Bills in Buffalo on a Monday Night Football blowout in the fall of 07. In a sick twist of fate Randy Moss was the focal point on arguably the two greatest teams to not win the Super Bowl; the 1998 15-1 Minnesota Vikings as a rookie, and the 2007 16-0 New England Patriots where he broke Jerry Rice's single season receiving touchdown record. Randy Moss caught 23 touchdowns in 2007. In 2003 (the Patriots 2nd Super Bowl winning season) Tom Brady threw 23 touchdowns all year. Randy was only in New England for a little over three seasons, but man did he make a lasting impact. His 2007 is still the gold standard of a season for a WR. 98 receptions, 1493 yards, 23 touchdowns. 
In 44 games as a Patriot Randy Moss had 50 touchdowns, 3904 yards and 259 receptions. In Foxboro Randy's "average" was 6 catches for about 90 yards and over a touchdown a game. Don't forget one of those seasons was with Matt Cassel.
Randy Moss is the most talented WR I've ever seen play, and after a 2006 where Tom Brady's top target was crazy eyes Reche Caldwell, it was time for an upgrade. That upgrade was Randy Moss from the Oakland Raiders for a measly 4th round pick. We all know how great that Patriots team was. 18-1. One stop away from the perfect season. The best offense I've ever seen. It's shame Brady really only had two full seasons with Moss. The epic, record breaking 07 campaign, then 09 after Brady was coming off his torn ACL, arguably the worst season of his career. I wish we could've seen what these guys could've done together had they had 5 or more years together. It's crazy to think about what they could've achieved together since in 2007 they both broke single season touchdown records. It's an absolute shame Brady missed all of 08, but even more so that the Patriots weren't able to win a Super Bowl with Randy Moss. top-10-ringless-patriots-of-the-belichick-era.html. Randy addressed that during his speech. He saved Belichick for last and at first I was worried he wasn't going to say anything about coach.
But when he apologized for Super Bowl 42 I nearly cried. It legit took me years to get over that game, and I'm really more so just at the point where I don't think about it, because if I start thinking about all the little things that went wrong to cause the greatest upset of my lifetime I'll drive myself fucking crazy. I'll never forget after that game watching it on our new HD tv that my dad had gotten just weeks before that I took down our Patriots flag after the game ended in disgust and my dad told me to put it back up. During that year my dad used to always joke that the Pats should trade Brady and Moss now to rebuild because their value would never be higher. It sucks because the Pats have been so successful and it's been such an incredible run, but not getting it done in 07 (and 11 too) against an inferior opponent both teams makes it really hard to deal with and in a way causes fans to not think about the 2007 Patriots because the wound still hurts. They are IMO the greatest team in NFL history, even though they didn't "finish the job". They fell victims to the luckiest play in NFL history. If there's one man who's fault it was no for the loss, its Randy Moss. People forget he scored what should've been the Super Bowl winning touchdown.
Randy was not expecting Mr. Kraft and Coach Belichick to show up, they surprised him which made for a great moment.
Low key best part of the whole night.
Oh and Bill wore his nicest flip flops to this special event. #footballguy
I'll end the post with this question that I'm still not sure I can answer. I'd leaning towards yes but I can't think of a 2nd ring I'd trade after 2003. Maybe 04 and just go 01, 07, 14, 16?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
November 2020
|
RSS Feed