Trash Talk: Does ANY QB Still Have the Touch or Timing for Randy Moss?

On the plane from Edinburgh to London the other day, I sat next to two guys who were heading to talk to some football team called Arsenal to teach them how to promote their brand worldwide like the NY Giants do.

So forgive me if the following post betrays how far out of “touch” I have been wrt American football in the last week.

Best as I understand it, here is the big news. Randy Moss got traded to Minnesota for next to nothing. Now, backstage, I noted that this might not make that big a difference to the success of the Pats. After all, I said, Tom Brady’s deep accuracy has been off since he blew his knee out. But the boys I mentioned this to suggested that the timing indicated something else might better explain why Brady lost his deep touch for Moss. Meanwhile Moss’ new QB has his own “touch” issues. And when asked about those touch issues, the Geezer responded he “had his hands full … trying to get some timing down with our guys.”

Poor Randy Moss. No one has touch or timing for him.

Ahem.

Good thing we have football to distract us from this Randy Moss soap opera.

All you need to know about the college kids is that the Spartans are going to have to try to stop Denard Robinson in the Big House. There is some game of interest in Florida, I’m sure. But I’m not entirely sure what that’s about. Go Wolvereenies!

As for Pro Ball (the Giants kind, not the Arsenal kind), the highlight of the week is definitely the touchy Geezer’s Monday Night Football return to New Jersey; let’s hope he finds his timing to beat the Jets.

Though I think a game with two QBs who still have touch will be more interesting: Aaron Rogers heads to Donovan McNabb’s new home. Rogers will out-touch McNabb in this one.

While we’re talking about the NFC North, the Rams-Detroit game will be quite interesting, as two teams beginning to turn around horrible programs. With Stafford still out, I think Rams will notch another win.

But the surprise game of the weekend pits the only undefeated team in the league–the leader of the AFC West–against the team tied for last place in the AFC South.  That’s right. KC in Indy can’t be assumed to be a blowout in Peyton’s favor. (Well, on second thought, given that it’s in Indy, I take that back.)

On that note, let me raise an issue I’ve been thinking about for some time. BillBel traded Moss for a 3rd round pick, presumably on the assumption that, with two picks in each of the first four rounds of next year’s draft, he can build the team of the future (right–as Tom Brady and his diminishing deep touch continues to age). The old BillBel might well have been able to do that. But I’ve always wondered how much BillBel’s past shrewd personnel decisions had to do with Scott Pioli, and how much had to do with BillBel. I dunno. At this point in the season, I’d take Scott Pioli with those two picks a round in next year’s draft over BillBel and Brady’s diminishing deep touch.

Let the trash begin.

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  1. beguiner says:

    Have you chosen a town in western MI for your move yet? I kinda like St. Josephs, which is directly across the lake from my digs in Evanston.

  2. nomolos says:

    Yep we traded Moss to MN, a cold and miserable place I understand, so that he may live out his declining years along with the ancient, tweeting, relic of a QB. Our beloved Pats, in the meantime, will carry on without missing a beat on their way to yet another division champeenship leaving Ryan’s pretenders to bitch and whine at each other while drooling over Latino reporters.

    Meanwhile the Red Sox owners, wanting to become scousers, are trying to buy Liverpool (not the whole town just the football team). Memo to the Red Sox. Football players do not spend their days standing around scratching their balls, they actually are active athletes unlike the prissy rounders players that wont even come out in the rain.

    But the biggest news of the week is that there is still some Scotch whisky left over from the EW invasion. Hoe did that happen?

  3. dhfsfc says:

    The Moss trade to Minnesota was good news for my oldest son, who does not have a favorite team, so much as a favorite player. He roots for whichever team has Randy Moss!

    This week, he simply pulled out his old Moss/Vikings jersey (which was HUGE on him 5 years ago), and put it on!

      • Petrocelli says:

        Lots of Vikings Fans in my family … and they’re sooo excited that Moss is back. They lost half their Offense when Sydney went down.

        • bmaz says:

          Yeah, the real problem is the Vikes offensive line; hard to throw deep when you are getting killed before those routes open up.

      • dhfsfc says:

        Actually, we live in New Jersey.

        I don’t know how my son happened to pick Randy Moss as THE ONE, but he was about 8 years old then. He’s 16 now.

        We have quite a collection of Moss jerseys though, from the Vikings, Raiders and Patriots! Just waiting to see if his number in Minnesota changes.

  4. radiofreewill says:

    I still think Shelby had the NRO watch our practices – they didn’t just have our playbook, they had the whole game plan…

    This week, we’ll get on-track to a re-match by chomping on LSU.

    Robinson is my current pick for the Heisman, and he’ll have to have another great game today for the Dazed and Blue to beat the Spartans.

    A friend of mine was a high school football referee three years ago, and his ‘district’ of refs actually had an alum working in the NFL. At a banquet, my friend asked the NFL ref if there were any players that were just head and shoulders above the rest – true unchallenged talent – and the ref said there is – it’s Randy Moss.

  5. scribe says:

    As to the Geezer, I have stuck in my memory the initial public discussion reported on Deadspin months ago:

    Jenn Sterger “Eeeew. I don’t roll that way.

    Interviewer: which way?

    Jenn: “Old and married.”

    FWIW, Deadspin had this story as early as February 2010 (from an internal date in the article above) and probably much longer. Read. Here’s the anthology version.

    You folks have to keep up on your internettin’ to avoid getting blindisded by bad news.

    And I can’t wait to see/hear the NFL announcing and analyzing crews finding some way to get around saying “touch passes” without having to suppress the snickers. Until then, I’ll leave you with this and this light reading.

    That, and the thought that Big Ben has reformed, has been spending his time productively working on the deep pass routes, and the Stillers are already 3-1.

    • bmaz says:

      Reformed, as in Big Ben is now gonna take the barflies he is mashing on to a hotel or home to assault them instead of trying to do it in the back bathroom of the bar?

      • scribe says:

        No. He was interviewed on ESPN yesterday or Thursday and he said “that was Big Ben. He’s gone. It’s just Ben now.”

        Apparently, he had a sitdown with his father after apologizing for Big Ben, and dad said he thought he’d lost his son to Big Ben. So, Big Ben is gone and now it’s just Ben.

        I thought I saw a faint, golden nimbus above his head during the interview. Although it was later explained away as a camera artifact, I don’t believe that.

    • john in sacramento says:

      I haven’t clicked on any of the links that are all over the tubes – which from what I gather, all link to one website – but, what I can’t understand is:

      1) Why she waited to say anything?
      2) Why is it such a pressing matter now, and not last week, or the week before, or six months ago? Or better yet when he was actually playing for the Jets?
      3) Why she had to go to an internet website to get the story out, instead of her employer? Wouldn’t they want an exclusive?
      4) Why anyone besides his wife and family should care? He’s just a football player

      • scribe says:

        Well, if you’d read the Deadspin in detail, you’d see a bunch of your questions answered:

        1, 2, 3, 4. why she waited so long? Because she let it out to Deadspin in a bull session between media types that went from one thing to the general topic of “athletes sending cock shots” to her experience with the Geezer. Deadspin was on the clock when she thought they were off the clock. Also, she only kept them to giggle at with her girlfriends. And, she was afraid of losing her job with the J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS is she raised a stink about it, and, finally, that it appears someone working for the J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS was an intermediary between her and the Geezer (the “hey, so and so’s interested in you” kind). And, of course, Deadspin working on her for a couple months until they could come back and say “we have enough confirmation to run with this. What do you want to say?”

        2. Why is it a big deal now? It was first published two months ago and, like the story indicates, Deadspin had the story by February 2010. I’ll take “King Roger the Funkiller needs a new anti-player crusade to help management in busting the union for $600, Alex”.

        Let’s be blunt about this: other than the technology involved there is nothing new about this kind of behavior. (FWIW, Deadspin ran a story like 2 years ago about Stillers’ placekicker Jeff Reed sending similar photos, and also another story of private photos of current JETS JETS JETS JETS WR Santonio Holmes). Sterger was and is a self-promoter who was making a career in media by, um, thrusting herself into the public eye. The whole FSU Cowgirl thing, then interviews with Playboy, Maxim photo shoots, you name it. Now she’s embarrassed? I doubt it. Sad (or not) to say, the fact is that a lot of women – not all, but a lot – who hang around teams in the media jobs (or just about any other jobs) are hanging around teams and putting up with puerile athlete-hittin-on-you crap because they know they can hit it big there, be it in publicity/notoriety, media exposure, or landing one. It’s no different from chicks chasing banksters. Some of those guys are seriously ugly, inside and out, not to mention having a lot of other bad habits of all sorts – and they still have no problem with women finding them. This has been going on at least since the days of Roman noblewomen paying visits to the gladiator cells under the Coliseum and will likely go on so long as there are people.

          • scribe says:

            That might be Ines Sainz you’re thinking about, the former Miss Spain now working for a Spanish-language all-sports TV network. She was the one the J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS players and coaches were kinda-sorta harassing-but-not-really-harassing and over whom the whole issue of lockerroom access for female reporters was resuscitated.

            Jenn Sterger is/has been trying to make her way into a media/reporter job. I think she has one now on Versus – sort of a daily sports/recap show, I think. At the time of the Geezer photos, though, she was working for the J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS somewhere in the media side of the house. So her fear of getting canned for complaining about the Geezer’s “advances” (if you can call them that) probably had some rational basis to it.

  6. randiego says:

    I just got done watching the second half of Texas Tech and Baylor. In successive weeks, the Raiders have been beaten by Iowa State and allowed Baylor to take them all the way to the whistle before finally stopping them. The bottom of the Big 12 barrel.

    I hope the TT regents and AD are happy. They took a fun, unpredictable, dangerous football team and turned them into utter crap.

    • randiego says:

      He usually does Padres and ESPN telecasts after the college baseball season ends, and was noticeably absent this year. I figured something like this would come out.

    • scribe says:

      Sucks. Why can’t some real shit get it instead? I can think of a dozen names off the top who I’d rather see get cancer ahead fo Tony Gwynn.

      • randiego says:

        He’s quoted as saying he’s done chewing tobacco since his college days which continued after he had some benign tumors removed last year. The cancer is in his salivary gland.

        I hope this ends up being a good thing, in that he kicks the cancer and starts taking care of himself. He’s been pushing 300 lbs for a few years now.

        • scribe says:

          Well quitting dip is, if anything, harder than quitting smoking tobacco. And I say that as someone who’s done both and quit both.

          I hope he gets his health straightened out.

  7. radiofreewill says:

    South Carolina dodging bullets to stay ahead of Alabama 28-21 with 11 min to go…

    Big Blue needs a miracle in the 4th with 10 min to go.

          • bmaz says:

            I don’t see how anybody in their right mind could put any Big 10.2 team in the BCS Championship game, much less the Sweater Vests. Not after the embarrassing showings in 2007 and 2008. They are not ready for prime time, but Boise State is!

            • scribe says:

              This Boise State thing appears to be developing into another of your odd obsessions, like the one with the Geezer, but still smaller and not so obvious. Something that will not come to pass, for any number of reasons, while you remain obsessed with it and believing it will.

              Have you ever considered seeking professional assistance?

                • scribe says:

                  Well, you were giving the impression that you somehow believed that Boise State deserved and would wind up back up in the BCS ratings near the top, where they could have an official shot at actually winning the BCS and not just being disgruntled by the SEC manipulating the rankings and seedings and bowl selection to ensure that the SEC would continue to win the BCS and line its pockets with the money. In other words, it seems you were believing that merit, rather than stacking the deck, would somehow win out.

                  Of course, such a delusion (i.e., one that believes the SEC might lose the BCS) is serious.

                  OTOH, if you are saying you hate the BCS system, then you are in need of an attitude adjustment because you gotta go to the bowl games with the system you have and not the system you want and denying that reality is a sign of serious trouble in your house.

                  • bmaz says:

                    Well, I actually think Boise State can play with anybody in the country, and they prove it by beating them every time they play one of them. At this point, it should not be held against them that supposed powerhouses like Alabama are so chickenshit that they refuse to schedule Boise and instead play giants such as University of Easter Louisiana at Monroe or whatever. They have tried for years to schedule with the big boys, but none will do it except for the Pac-10. So, yeah, having watched them for a few years now, I think they are indeed good enough to be in the big game. Do I think they will get there? Nope. The assholes that be the BCS would still schedule a one or two loss SEC team or some postseason cupcake from the worthless Big 10 first.

                    • scribe says:

                      So, when I said:

                      Of course, such a delusion (i.e., one that believes the SEC might lose the BCS) is serious.

                      OTOH, if you are saying you hate the BCS system, then you are in need of an attitude adjustment because you gotta go to the bowl games with the system you have and not the system you want and denying that reality is a sign of serious trouble in your house.

                      I hit on both.

                      You got problems, my friend. Almost as bad as that thing a couple years ago, when you thought the Arizona Cardinals had a shot.

                      Repeat after me: “you gotta go to the bowl games with the system you have and not the system you want”.

                    • bmaz says:

                      Well, you know, since we have licked all those problems with torture, rule of law, the economy, corrupt politicians, shitty media and what not, I have to have some cause to fight for…..

                    • Linnaeus says:

                      Comes from the Pac-10!! We been doing that forever. Learned it watching Rose Bowls since I was a kid. Big rivalry.

                      Oh, okay. That I can understand. Thought it might be a case of bandwagon hate.

    • bmaz says:

      by the way, which boys in blue? Kentucky? Oh, wait, you mean boys in Big Blue don’t you?

      I actually wasn’t even pitching trash there, I honestly was trying to figure out who you meant and was, like a dope, halfway throught the sentence when the answer dawned on me.

      • Linnaeus says:

        by the way, which boys in blue? Kentucky? Oh, wait, you mean boys in Big Blue don’t you?

        I actually wasn’t even pitching trash there, I honestly was trying to figure out who you meant and was, like a dope, halfway throught the sentence when the answer dawned on me.

        Yep, Big Blue. Born and raised U-M fan, and alum. Probably should have clarified my earlier “blue” reference.

  8. cinnamonape says:

    “I sat next to two guys who were heading to talk to some football team called Arsenal to teach them how to promote their brand worldwide like the NY Giants do.”

    Uhmmm! The NY Giants promote their brand internationally? I don’t see NYG shirts and caps in Europe or Asia…but I do see Arsenal jerseys, scarves and banners. You’ll see Gunner jerseys with the names of former players like Thierry Henry, Carlos Vierra, or Bergkamp or current stars like Van Persie, Fabregas, Vela everywhere. Most people outside the US wouldn’t know the NY Giants from the SF Giants.

    And how many international exhibitions do the Giants play?

    If Arsenal wants to learn how to promote their brand internationally all they have to do is speak with the MAN U CONSULTANTS.

  9. radiofreewill says:

    The Gators have every chance to come from behind and win this one! Touchdown Florida! 29-26!

    Kentucky’s clawed-back into their game with Auburn, 34-34.

  10. radiofreewill says:

    LSU lining-up for a 53-yard game-tying field goal…35 sec left…the snap…it’s a crazy blind-flip fake by the holder back to the kicker…first down…flag on the play…might have been a forward pass…

    …game hanging on the play review…it’s a first down…29 sec left…LSU at the FLA 31…29 yard pass completion…1st and goal from the 3…11 sec left…fade pass to the corner…LSU TD!…play under review, receiver may have been juggling the catch as he went down…LSU TD!

    LSU 33-29…last chance for kickoff return…6 sec…last play coming-up…incomplete…game over.

  11. rosalind says:

    in a night where neither team’s defense showed, stanford with the last touch. 37 – 35 over sc.

    w00t and h00t!

  12. pseudonymousinnc says:

    two guys who were heading to talk to some football team called Arsenal to teach them how to promote their brand worldwide

    Judging from the photos taken by friends in Africa, the Arse doesn’t have that much trouble with global brand promotion, while the NFL is busy sending over its “Indianapolis Colts Super Bowl XLIV Champions” t-shirts.

  13. bobschacht says:

    I’m a day late and a dollar short, but I couldn’t bear to visit yesterday, what with the Wolverweenies playing so pitifully. Well, Denard Robinson gets pulled down to earth. Hats off to the MState defense. Game might have been a little different if Michigan’s butter-fingered receivers had played their normal game, but Robinson overthrew several on what should have been touchdown passes, and the Big Blue defense needs a lot of work. Looked like Big Blue was beginning to believe its own press clippings. I think Robinson’s Heisman hopes just dropped like a lead balloon.

    Condolences to EW & Linnaeus…
    I hope that Big Blue can rebound and play better next week.

    Bob in AZ

    • Linnaeus says:

      I’m a day late and a dollar short, but I couldn’t bear to visit yesterday, what with the Wolverweenies playing so pitifully. Well, Denard Robinson gets pulled down to earth. Hats off to the MState defense. Game might have been a little different if Michigan’s butter-fingered receivers had played their normal game, but Robinson overthrew several on what should have been touchdown passes, and the Big Blue defense needs a lot of work. Looked like Big Blue was beginning to believe its own press clippings. I think Robinson’s Heisman hopes just dropped like a lead balloon.

      Condolences to EW & Linnaeus…
      I hope that Big Blue can rebound and play better next week.

      Thanks, Bob. Honest & realistic Big Blue fans knew that the defense was going to be a problem all year, especially when your LBs and DBs are either 1) walk-ons, 2) converted offensive players, or 3) freshmen. That said, the defense actually played well enough to keep U-M in the game.

      But MSU played a nearly flawless game, especially on offense, and U-M didn’t. Let’s not forget that Robinson is only a sophomore starting in only his sixth game. The naysayers are going to say that he got “exposed”, that he’s “only hype”, etc., etc. I say baloney. He had a bad game, but the mistakes he made are fixable. Just lead the receivers by a foot in two passes, and all of a sudden, the game looks very different. Robinson is the real deal, and he will learn from this. His passing is an order of magnitude better than it was last season; in an “off” game, he still passed 17/29 for 215 yards and a TD and ran for 86 and a TD. I can think of a lot of coaches who would love to have a QB who did that in spite of the 3 INTs.

      This U-M team still has a ways go, but I still feel good about their prospects this season. Other players need to step up, of course, but I think they will, especially on offense.

  14. Mary says:

    Argh. I’m leaving and not gonna hit the R button. Seriously foalies – here in the US, we call what you guys are doing today soccer.

    Luckily I’ll have WEG closers to watch from the dvr tonight.

    Foalies: THERE ARE NO HAT TRICKS IN FOOTBALL.

  15. bobschacht says:

    Hey! The Cardinals are actually playing decent against the Saints! Especially the Cards defense!

    Of course, they lucked out when NO just missed an easy field goal.

    Bob in AZ

  16. scribe says:

    I’m deeply immersed in a nice pitcher’s duel between Frisco and Hotlanta, hoping the Ex-Bondses pull it out. Someone’s going home tonight up 2-1 and someone else is going home one game from their season ending.

    Fucking tomahawk chop song. Hinske turns a grooved fastball and plunks the corner of the foul pole, turing a 1-0 Frisco lead into a 2-1 Hotlanta lead, bottom 8th.

    Is Dallas losing?

    How’s the Geezer doing?

  17. scribe says:

    Nice job by the Kitties running up the score on St. Loo.

    And the Oilers now lead the Owboys by 7 (thank you, Owboy with a penchant for grabbing facemasks) with 3:28 and 2 Owboy timeouts.

    And Chad Ochostinko and his band of Bungles lose again….

    Scribe smiles.

  18. scribe says:

    Yoko Ono, the next generation. From today’s Boston Globe:

    Moss spoke glowingly of Brady despite a report yesterday by CBS’s Charley Casserly that Brady and Moss had an altercation shortly before Moss was dealt.

    Casserly, the former general manager of the Redskins, told Greg Gumbel, “The week before Moss was traded, Tom Brady and Randy Moss went toe-to-toe and had to be separated. One of Brady’s problems with Moss was his behavior as a Patriot. One of the things overheard was Brady telling Moss, ‘You’ve got to cut your beard.’ And Moss counters, ‘You’ve got to get your hair cut. You look like a girl.’ ’’

    See? She’s got his manhood and he doesn’t. And all the No Fun League is laughing at him. He should grow one of those beards that’s in fashion now. If he can.