"All I hope is, we get this offense back to where it was when I got here," he told the Boston Herald. "I don't care who's the offensive coordinator, who's calling the plays. I think that a lot of us had a lot of excitement in '07, and I don't think a lot of things have changed. … I don't see why we can't get back to that same potent offense we had two or three years ago."
A number of circumstances have obviously gotten in the way of the Patriots coming close to the offensive output they had in 2007. Tom Brady went down just minutes into the 2008 season, and when he returned in 2009, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels was gone and nobody had been named as his replacement. Bill O'Brien and Bill Belichick shared some play-calling duties — at least we think — and Belichick announced this winter that he won't have anyone on staff in 2010 with a coordinator title.
Moss, however, wasn't slowed last year, as he caught 83 passes for 1,264 yards and tied for the NFL lead in touchdown receptions with 13. He did so while playing through a separated shoulder, an injury he reportedly suffered in Week 5 at Denver. Moss said his playing through the injury wasn't anything extraordinary.
"I think the whole league played through injuries," he told the Herald. "When it comes to being a professional, we're not supposed to cry. We're not supposed to moan, we're not supposed to feel sorry for ourselves. I never cry about my injuries. It's up to the team and medics if I'm going to take a practice off or a game off. Realistically, I think I needed a couple weeks off, but I knew what position we were in and how we were fighting to stay in the playoff hunt. So I stayed in the game, and tried to I play through a lot."
