The Randy Moss redemption tour continues to generate positive reviews from teammates and coaches in San Francisco, who have seen so far only the good and none of the bad that Moss has displayed during his 13 prior NFL seasons.
Linebacker Patrick Willis has become the latest player to gush about Moss, saying via Cam Inman of the Contra Costa Times that Moss has to date been “unbelievable.”
“It’s an honor to have a guy like that on our team,” Willis said. “For people to say the things they said about him, that’s in the past. All we know is what we’ve seen here, and that’s all that counts to us.”
But it’s not an issue of people calling Randy names or subjecting him to unfair criticism. Moss has, at times, flat-out quit on his team. When things are going well, it’s not a problem. But once the losses mount and the passes are sailing over his head or not coming his way at all, Moss will disappear before his teammates’ eyes, fading into the background at best, creating problems in the locker room at worst.
The 49ers’ goal may be to nudge Moss toward behaving well by talking so much about his good behavior and acting as if tales of his bad behavior are exaggerated or embellished. Coach Jim Harbaugh, for example, has said Moss is “like a coach,” and that his attendance and attention at offseason sessions has been “impeccable.”
If the 2012 49ers come out of the gates like the 1998 Vikings or the 2007 Patriots, the Niners may never see the other side of Randy Moss. If, come November, they’re 4-5 and three games behind the Seahawks and Moss is getting targeted two or three times a game, Patrick Willis could once again be thinking that Moss is “unbelievable,” but for entirely different reasons.
Either way, here’s hoping that the food served to the team is at all times deemed fit for Randy’s dog.