Randy Moss shares his biggest takeaway from playing for Bill Belichick
"I'm forever grateful to that organization."
Former Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss wasn’t anticipating much of an enlightenment heading into his 10th NFL season.
But Moss had never played for coach Bill Belichick — or with quarterback Tom Brady.
“[They were] able to just teach me a lot, going on 10 years [in the league], when I’m thinking I know it all, I’ve seen this many coverages, I know how to practice, [and] I know how to study,” Moss told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “It kind of refueled the fire for me. It felt good doing it.”
Moss — who played three seasons with the Patriots — said his main takeaway from playing in New England was the importance on pre-game preparations.
“What I mean by that is Bill used to take us climbing over walls, climbing under and over barbed wire fence through the week,” Moss said. “But then on Sunday, it would make our job a little easier because of how hard we worked during the week.”
Moss told Schefter there was a strong emphasis on film study, and Belichick would often quiz the players to “make sure [they] were on top of [their] game.”
“If he knew something, if he knew a cornerback had bad hands or was bad at tackling, he wanted to make sure we knew it, too,” Moss said. “It was just a lot of things he taught me about the ins and outs, the ABCs and 123s of professional football. You saw what type of magic we made up there, so I’m forever grateful to that organization, man, because of the success we were able to have.”
Belichick was equally complimentary of Moss, calling him a “great receiver, great player, [and] great person.”
“I learned a lot from him,” Belichick said at Gillette Stadium Monday night. “A great, great, great deep-ball receiver, very smart, has a really good understanding of the passing game and how to attack defenses from his point of view, which is, certainly, as a player, one that I’m not familiar with. [He’s] fast and can get over the top of the defenses and understand how teams look at an explosive weapon like him.”
“He made me a better coach,” Belichick continued. “He made us a much better team and he was a great person to have on the team. He was a lot of fun to be around, but he worked hard and was very committed to winning.”
Moss will be inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend. He is just the sixth wide receiver elected to HOF in his first year of eligibility. Moss led the NFL in touchdown catches five times, holds the NFL single-season record for receiving touchdowns (23), and is one of two players with 10 1,000-yard receiving seasons.
But when asked what he’s most proud of, Moss doesn’t pay attention to the stats.
“All those numbers and stuff sounded good, but that’s not what I played for,” Moss told Schefter. “I made enough money to take care of my family. That’s one thing that any man would love to have — just enough money to take and provide for his family.”
