Moss passes his screen test
Receiver relishes role in short game
FOXBOROUGH - When Randy Moss first arrived in New England last fall, he watched as Wes Welker caught a variety of screen passes and used his speed to turn them into big gains. Moss begged coach Bill Belichick to let him have a shot at a screen pass, but the coach refused.
Moss got a rare opportunity in the short-passing game last night and showed why he's so dangerous with the ball in his hands.
The six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver caught a slip screen from Matt Cassel and turned it into a 27-yard touchdown, his second of the night, to help the Patriots flatten the Broncos, 41-7, at Gillette Stadium.
Sometimes you don't need to throw the deep ball for Moss to hurt the opposition.
"It's funny because when I first got here last year, usually it was [Donté] Stallworth and Welker running it," said Moss. "I told Coach, 'Give me a shot, give me a shot.'
"But I was coming off the hamstring injury and they told me, 'No way, man. We don't want you running that.'
"It's something we've worked on for the last couple of weeks and it finally paid off. I told [Belichick] whenever I get that slip screen, I'm going to try to take one to the house. Luckily it happened."
Let that be the latest example of why the Patriots need Moss involved in their offense in any shape or form. Moss caught a pass on four drives last night, and all four ended with touchdowns. What's more, Moss has made at least one reception on 10 of the 13 touchdown drives the Patriots have produced this season. The only game Moss didn't figure into a touchdown was the Week 2 win over the Jets in which New England found the end zone just once.
Moss finished with five receptions for a team-high 69 yards last night and the two scores, which doubled his season total.
Moss caught just one pass before cornerback Champ Bailey departed with a groin injury (a 9-yard reception that helped set up Sammy Morris's 4-yard touchdown run in the second quarter). But with the Pro Bowl corner sidelined, Moss thrived.
For his first touchdown reception, Moss got behind the defense and, as his defender stumbled in front of him, Moss went up high to haul in a 13-yard toss from Cassel. The score extended the Patriots' lead to 20-0 with 44 seconds to play in the first half, a backbreaker for the reeling Broncos.
Moss struck again midway through the third quarter, but did a lot of the work on his own. Catching that bubble screen in the left flat, Moss got a downfield block from guard Logan Mankins to pave his way.
"That was a big play," said Mankins, who deferred all the credit to Moss. "We just got a look we wanted and everyone got a hat-on-hat. Randy's fast enough where no one is going to catch him."
Moss had a quiet game against the Chargers last week, hauling in three passes for 26 yards, and missed a few opportunities to save the Patriots from a 30-10 trampling.
Like the rest of the team, Moss took time to reflect this past week.
"The loss to San Diego, we looked at the film and really critiqued ourselves," said Moss. "We saw the mistakes we made and saw we were not that far away from putting things together. [Belichick] put a lot of emphasis on preparation.
"A lot of guys were real tired, coming off the West Coast - the East Coast-West Coast time change - but he really put it to us."
Moss now has 129 career touchdowns, eighth best all-time, and 128 receiving TDs, fourth best all-time, two behind former Minnesota teammate Cris Carter.
Moss's stellar night in the passing game helped complement the Patriots rushing attack, which piled up 257 yards.
"I think that's what you want to do every game," said running back Kevin Faulk. "You want to be able to the run the ball, the come back and throw the ball. But at the same time, you just want to win games. Whatever's working for you, that's what you want to do."
After last night, Belichick might have to get used to his wide receiver chirping in his ear for some more short passes.
Chris Forsberg can be reached at cforsberg@boston.com 