FOXBORO, Mass. — Statistically speaking, Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss was just another guy during Sunday’s 28-18 loss to the Patriots.
But at the postgame podium, Moss was in peak condition, and he touched on a number of different things during a five-minute statement, including an upcoming media silence, his love for his former Patriots teammates and a poor decision by Minnesota head coach Brad Childress.
Moss didn’t take any questions. Here is his statement in its entirety.
“Well I am going to go ahead and start this thing off,” Moss said. “I am going to go ahead and say this — I said this a couple of weeks ago — but I got fined $25,000 for not talking to you all. Me, personally, I really don’t care, but at the same time, I do answer questions throughout the week, and for the league to fine me $25,000, I am not going to answer any more questions for the rest of this year. If it is going to be an interview, I am going to conduct it. So, I will answer my own questions and ask myself the questions and give you the answers. So from here on out, I am not answering any more questions the rest of this season. Enough said about that. Now we will get to the game.
“Let me hold it down. I really haven’t had a chance to talk to the guys, so this is no disrespect to the Minnesota Vikings and their organization. The captains, [Vince] Wilfork, [Tom Brady], [Jerod] Mayo, Kevin Faulk, I miss those guys. I miss the team. It was hard for me to come here and play. It has been an up-and-down, rollercoaster emotionally all week. Then to be able to come in here and see those guys and running plays that I know what they’re doing. The success they had on the field, the running game, so I kind of know what type of feeling they have in their locker room, and I just want to be able to tell the guys that I miss the hell out of them, every last helmet in that locker room.
“Deion Branch came up to me after the game, and I have never really had the chance to meet Deion Branch, but it was definitely a pleasure to meet him. Coach [Bill] Belichick gave me an opportunity to be a part of something special, and that is something I really take to heart. I actually salute Coach Belichick and his team for the success that they have had before me, during me and after me. So I am actually stuck for words, just because there are a lot of memories here. To the New England Patriots fans, that ovation at the end of the game, that really felt heart-warming. I think I actually shed a tear for that. Like I said, it has been an emotional roller-coaster this whole week.
“I tried to prepare, tried to talk to the coaches and players about how this game was going to be played, a couple tendencies here and a couple tendencies there. But the bad part about it, you have six days to prepare for a team and on the seventh day, that’s Sunday, meaning today, I guess they come over to me and say, ‘Dang, Moss, you were right about a couple plays and a couple schemes that they were going to run.’ It hurts as a player that you put a lot of hard work in all week, and toward the end of the week, Sunday, when you get on the field, that is when they acknowledge the hard work you have put in all week. So that is a disappointment.
“You know, I can’t really say enough about this team and this organization. I met with Mrs. Kraft before the game, because I didn’t really have a chance to talk to her before I left, and I just thank Mrs. Kraft for the opportunity to let me be a part of something special. The New England Patriots have always been a special organization, and I have always watched from afar. When I got drafted by Minnesota, and I think I said this a couple of weeks ago, I felt obligated to try and bring a Super Bowl to Minnesota, and this season is still not over. Do I know what next season and the future is going to bring? No I do not, but all I can say is that it is a lot of work that we leave on the field each day. There is a lot of film study that we leave in that room each day. I know how hard these guys work here in New England, and the only thing that I really tried to do was take what the best coach in football history has brought upon me, or the knowledge that he has given me about the game of football. And I try to just sprinkle it off to the guys the best way I know how.
“So I am going to go ahead and end this interview. I have my family to see. I am definitely down that we lost this game, because I didn’t really expect us to lose this game knowing that we had a few things that we had to clean up. But like I said, they played a good game. I wish we could have had that three [points] at the end of the half. Maybe it could have been different. Maybe not. I don’t know how many more times I am going to be up here in New England, but I am going to leave the New England Patriots and Coach Belichick here with a salute. I love you guys. I miss you. I’m out.”
