FOXBORO, Mass. — Wide receiver Randy Moss was his typical, jovial self Monday in the Patriots' locker room, laughing and joking around with quarterback Tom Brady, left tackle Matt Light and members of the equipment staff.
It sounds like he had a meeting with head coach Bill Belichick in response to his comments following Sunday's 38-24 victory against the Bengals, although Belichick wouldn’t disclose any details of that conversation.
Moss' teammates also dismissed the comments as nothing major.
"No, not for us," running back Sammy Morris said when asked if it would be a distraction. "I haven’t heard it, and I'm not really dying to go figure it out, either. [Contracts are] part of the game. We've got a pretty veteran team, and we understand it's part of it. At the same time, the goal is to win games."
Belichick said he hadn’t heard about Moss' comments until Monday, and he expressed that they didn’t change how he's felt about the big-play wide receiver.
While waiting for his turn at the podium, wide receiver Wes Welker watched the first few minutes of Moss' comments Sunday before leaving the room. He was asked later for a reaction.
"Randy’s a great teammate," Welker said. "Obviously, [he’s] been at the top of the game at his position, and there’s really nobody that can do what Randy does. It’s pretty much unheard of, so he’s a great player and a great teammate, and I’m glad he’s on our team."
Moss is still one of the most popular players on the team, and Monday's scene in the locker room gave no indication that anything had changed.
"Me personally, I appreciate him as a teammate," cornerback Darius Butler said. "He's one of my best teammates. That’s all I've got to say about that."