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Moss has some growing to do
Posted: Thursday November 18, 1999 01:00 PM
Click here to send your NFL questions to SI's Peter King. Rather than start off with one of my ideas this week, I'm going to give Arne from San Francisco the floor. Arne takes issue with my criticism of Randy Moss in the second entry of the "Things I Think I Think" from this week's Monday Morning Quarterback.
Is it really that important for Randy Moss to be a completely unselfish receiver? Is there such a thing? Cris Carter may have upbraided his young teammate, but Carter, despite his genius, has also had more than his share of flashes of arrogance and selfishness. And was anyone more selfish than Jerry Rice? I'd take Jerry and his collection of selfishly won Super Bowl rings any day. For a kid who's 19 and perhaps the most talented player at his position this early in decades, don't you think he's remarkably mature and team-oriented considering how arrogant receivers almost have to be? He had some big days this year in losing efforts, and was obviously very upset anyhow. Seems like the press is just perched over this guy, looking for the slightest character flaw to magnify, because it just doesn't seem fair that someone so talented and troubled in college should provide so little exciting news material as a pro. To suggest that I hope Randy Moss fails because of the problems he had in high school and college is absurd. Why would I have any interest in seeing one of the great rookies in NFL history fail? What Randy Moss did in 1998 was nearly unprecedented among all first-year players who've ever played. I was simply making the observation that what Moss did in the game at Chicago last Sunday was, to me, the height of selfishness. To recap: Moss was stretching for the end zone after catching a Jeff George pass but clearly did not make it; his knee was down at least two yards before the end zone. On the next play George threw a touchdown pass to Cris Carter. Moss's first move after that touchdown pass was straight to the official who ruled him down shy of the end zone, not to congratulate his teammate on an important touchdown in a close game. Immediately the official flagged Moss 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct. Everyone in the stadium knew what he was doing: he was complaining he didn't get the touchdown, not seeming to have a care in the world that his team got the touchdown, so what did it matter? My intention in pointing this out Monday was not to crucify Moss. It was simply to point out that he is a selfish player. I'm like every other person who watches the Minnesota Vikings play. The adrenaline starts flowing when a deep ball goes to Moss. He's a great young talent and the league is lucky to have him, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let him off scott-free when he does something selfish and lame-brained.
Why do you rank Buffalo at No. 2? Just because they beat Miami twice? Keep in mind that they also lost to Seattle, Oakland and Indianapolis, all of whom are now ranked below them. Granted, that was while Ruben Brown and Eric Moulds were both still gone, but I still think there's a valid case that Buffalo wouldn't have won those games. Further, the recent defeat of Miami was due more to the defense's domination of Miami's offense, which was never really that good with Damon Huard at quarterback. I think Buffalo just has Miami's number this year, maybe because of Jimmy Johnson's Flutie Flakes incident. At any rate, I won't argue for Oakland, but Seattle and Indianapolis, with better records, should definitely be above the Bills. Here's how I can rank the Bills No. 2: my top team last week, Miami, lost for the second time this season to Buffalo on Sunday and the game wasn't close; Buffalo dominated the Dolphins strategically and physically. Seattle, meanwhile, which had beaten Buffalo convincingly less than a month earlier in Seattle, struggled to beat a sub-.500 team at home. Now, Indianapolis is my pet team. I love the Colts. But here's how I do this poll, as I have explained several times: I ask myself if Team 1 would beat Team 2 if the game were played on a neutral field. Then I ask myself if Team 2 would beat Team 3 on a neutral field and so on. In my judgment this week, Jacksonville would beat Buffalo on a neutral field and Buffalo -- this week -- would beat anyone else. I might be wrong about Indianapolis, but I doubt I'm wrong about any other team right now. The Bills have been a playing great football since they've gone back to the grind-it-out running attack they'll have to use to be successful in January.
Hey Peter, where do you see the San Diego Chargers going from here? No first round pick (and Bobby Beathard will reach with the second pick), the Ryan Leaf situation, etc. Wow, this is the most frustrating year I've ever had as a fan. Look into your crystal ball and tell us what you see -- and IF there is a new, gifted GM out there should BB step down. That's the whole problem with dissecting what's going on with the Chargers right now. Give me some bright young general manager who knows the game better than Bobby Beathard who can come in and turn the team around more quickly than Beathard can. Now, I like Beathard but I'm not going to sit here and say he hasn't done a poor job the last few years. He has. But I think the important thing to ask yourself is if there's anyone out there who's better. Now, about which direction the Chargers take. I think San Diego is in one of those situations where the team has to take its lumps for a year or so instead of simply Scotch-taping a 6-10 season together to be respectable. That means that on next June 2, when the cap hit will be bad but not intolerable, they should either trade or dump Ryan Leaf because the kid is nothing but trouble. They should certainly sign defensive tackle Norman Hand, due for free agency but a crucial part of the league's best run defense. They should not trade another first-round draft choice, ever. And they should point to 2001 as the season that, after they bite a pretty big bullet, they'll start to get good again.
At what point does Bob Kraft get fed up enough with Pete Carroll to fire him? The Patriots had two weeks to plan for Bill Parcells and the Jets and they turned in a horrid performance. They have enough weapons but no one to lead them the way a head coach should. Kraft has got to be sick of it all. I know Patriots fans are. Adam, Pete Carroll has until January 2 to state his case about keeping this job into the future. I'm sure that Draft is fed up because this team is not nearly physically or mentally as tough as the Bill Parcells Patriots were. But understand a couple of things about the dynamics here. I don't care what anyone says about how the Patriots should be over Parcells. He will have a hold on that franchise -- at least some small hold -- until he retires from coaching. So any time a Parcells-coached team plays the Patriots, there's going to be some weird motivation in the air. You also have to add to that the fact that Parcells knows this team better than a lot of people inside the Patriots know it.
My question is: What's wrong with Green Bay? I think free agency has taken away the complementary players that made the stars shine -- the "grinders," so to speak -- particularly on the two lines. And some of the assumed stars have revealed themselves as not so great after all (see Gilbert Brown). It has also taken away Mike Holmgren. But it is really the fault of Ray Rhodes, or do you see a bigger problem? What is your assessment of the situation? I have noticed that you don't refer often to the Packers in your commentaries. Any particular reason, or just an innocent lapse? I didn't know that I was ignoring the Packers and I don't intend to because they are among the best teams in the league. As far as their problems go, I agree with you that the free agency has chipped away at the structure of the good teams in the NFL, and particularly this one. In fact, a few weeks ago I was on the phone with GM Ron Wolf and he said, "I understand what's happening in the league, but that doesn't mean I have to like it." The Packers were a team set up to win for a three-or four-year period and they are now on the other side of that period. Brett Favre not only can't do it all by himself, but he particularly can't do it all himself when he's so banged up. The offensive line is a shell of its former self. That to me is the biggest problem this team has. Favre is consistently beset by leaks in the line, so that even if his hand was feeling fine he'd have a problem getting enough time to accomplish anything good. Defensively, the Packers aren't getting after people the way they did when the late Fritz Shurmur ran things. Again, look at who isn't there anymore. No one has adequately replaced a great bookend pair of rushers, Reggie White and Sean Jones. All in all, the Packers need about five players -- two offensive lineman, a pass rusher, a linebacker who strikes fear in an offense and a great safety -- to scare teams once again.
Now that the Steelers have been shown to be pretenders, not contenders, where do they go from here to get back to where they once were? Local media are now questioning Bill Cowher's passion for coaching as much as Kordell Stewart's ability at quarterback. More important, Dan Rooney seemed very upset after last Sunday's loss. What are your thoughts, and have you heard any rumors as to what they might look to do? I have three thoughts on the Steelers:
Oh and by the way, I don't have any insights about what they might do. But the Steelers are not an organization that will do much that is revolutionary or flashy. For example, I don't expect them to whack Stewart. It's just not their style. I still think, though, that they have to in order for this team to win.
Send a question to Peter King, and check back Thursdays for his latest NFL Mailbag.
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