« Practice attendance | Main | 5 from camp »

Moss Q&A

FOXBOROUGH – Receiver Randy Moss was interviewed after today’s minicamp practice, with at least 50 cameras and reporters circling him on the fields behind Gillette Stadium.

“Start it off, who’s got the first one?” Moss said as he entered the crowded area.

Some of the Q&A:

Your thoughts being a New England Patriot?
“Knowing this is my first actual interview, it feels good. Long, long anticipation of getting here, getting to camp, getting around the guys, and just seeing how this organization runs. I’m liking everything I see, and hopefully, I can just fit in.”

What is the biggest difference here compared to Oakland and Minnesota?
“Football is football. When you’re winning everything is good, and when you’re losing everything is bad. The only thing I can say is that we have a great group of guys, along with coaches here, and I enjoy it. I love coming to work every single day, just being around these guys.”

So it’s like a new beginning?
“While I’ve had two of those [laughter]. I don’t really want to call it a new beginning. Like I said, it’s something you dream of, knowing the New England Patriots sit high on a lot of people’s charts. As a wide receiver, to come and play with a core of guys –- with Tom Brady, Kevin Faulk, the offensive line –- it’s a great group of guys we have here, on the field and off the field. So that’s something I can really enjoy.”

Have you connected with Tom Brady yet?
“We have a relationship. I’ve always been a big fan of his. Now that I’m here, playing alongside of him, I don’t want anything to change. I’m not going to try to get in his way, of anything he does, and hopefully, he doesn’t get in the way of anything I do. I’m basically talking about on the field, because one thing I came here for was to be with this group of guys, this organization as a whole, and just try to come out here and help, do what I can do to help win games.”

Did you feel butterflies?
“At first, I did. I can say, they have a long list of guys they have on their team. They have Pro Bowlers, future Hall of Famers. My biggest thing was coming in with a locker right besides Tom’s and to the right of me is Vinny Testaverde, so I think that’s where the butterflies came in, just getting into the locker room and meeting the guys. Once we get out on the field, that’s where you get your freedom.”

Everyone’s expectations are high. Are yours as high and do you expect to have one of the best years of your career here?
“My expectation is to go out and help this team succeed, and that’s about winning games. The expectations that you guys and everyone else puts on us is all on the outside. But I think the expectations that we have on this team is also set high. We look forward to good things and you know, once we get out to practice, Coach Belichick puts us through hard work. Even in the classroom. We can’t expect anything less. Our expectations are high, just from coming inside the locker room.”

What are people going to know about you, or find out about you, that’s different from the perceptions that maybe you’ve come to this team with?
“To be honest with you, I don’t plan on changing, I just want to go out here and play football. Really, anything that you’ve heard about me, good or bad, some is a lie, some is true. So hopefully the true stuff will come out, and hopefully the bad will stay bad back there. Like I said, I don’t plan on changing. I think the guys are getting to know me and understand that I love to win and carry myself as a professional athlete. So hopefully that will take it a long way.”

Do you think you get a bad rap at times?
“Yeah, I think I get a bad rap, just for the fact that I’m not that open. Hopefully you all don’t take it in a negative way; I don’t really like to do interviews because that’s not my job. My job is to catch touchdowns and help the team win. So I don’t really plan on being too much in front of this mike all year, so take it how you want to take it.”

Tell us about your temporary jersey number – 6.
“Sometimes you can be able to go back and get your number and sometimes you can’t. They really told me 6 was the available number that they have back in the equipment room, so I said ‘just give me a number and I’ll make it.’ I guess there is a little buzz around right now with me and number 6. I don’t really care about a number, all I care about is suiting up and going out here and winning on Sundays.”

Moss’s official jersey number has yet to be determined.

On draft day weekend you mentioned we were going to see the old Randy Moss. What does that mean and does that still hold true?
"I just think as far as me getting back to making plays and showing my versatility and that's what I meant about the old Randy Moss. Earlier in my career, I was showing a lot of that and late in my career it sort of got away. Now that I'm sort of enthused and energetic to be in a position that I'm in, I want to bring the old Randy Moss and that's going and getting it deep and making plays and one-handed catches, all of the above."

Why did it get away?
"I think the football side of not winning. Like Coach Herm Edwards said, ‘You play to win the game,’ with wins comes a lot of joy and with losses comes a lot of sorrow. Like I said, by me coming here and helping this organization in any way I can, hopefully it can result in some wins."

How badly do you want a ring?
"First of all, a ring is really long-term. First of all, we had to make it through camp and then make it through preseason and then get regular season and then hopefully make the playoffs. We have to start from the bottom and climb our way up to the top. At the same time, I'm a 10-year veteran, I’m not going to sit here and lie and say I don't want a ring. This organization has three and the players know how hard they have the work to get back to that point. All I'm here to do is just to work hard everyday and just come out and hopefully I can just give something."

What do you think about this offense? Are there things that you maybe haven't seen for a while?
"Really mostly all offenses are the same. I think that the way they call their plays and the terminology and things like that, that is what's different. I'm sort of catching on, still sort of like a rookie in a way of making mistakes and jumping offsides and things like that. I’m still getting the hang of how they run things out here on the field. Basically I'm saying in a certain sense I’m blessed to be an offense like this."

As far as Coach Belichick and [Tom] Brady, what is different about these guys? What makes these guys winners?
"Taking their job seriously. Coach Belichick is, as you know, he’s straight faced and doesn’t really joke around a lot. I think that when he comes out with his coaching style, you can see that he really means business and Brady is the same way. That's something that you can appreciate, knowing that you have a bunch of guys, and Coach Belichick has to lead all of us. That’s just something that's unique about him, that everybody is on the same page, even in minicamp and that's something that you can hang your hat on."

Coach Belichick told us that that you showed up in the offseason program even though you didn't have to. Why was that?
"I'm a 10-year veteran and I know how hard you have to workout to come into a season. Injuries do occur as the seasons goes on. I didn’t really tell him anything like that. He just asked me what I normally do in the offseason and I said work out. And he told me that most of the guys were up here working out, so that's why I came. I want to fit in. Nothing that I've done over my nine-year career has ever stopped me from fitting in with my teammates. I still love to play the game and hopefully the results of this season will hopefully be good."

What are your plans after mini-camp?
"I'll probably take a slight vacation and get back to training. I put a lot of emphasis in the offseason on getting my speed back and getting my body back 100 percent and trying to just come into camp and just impress the team."

What do you think of the receiving corps as a whole?
"We’re going to be OK. I've listened to a couple of things that were said about the receiving corps as a whole, but we're going to be all right. We have speed. We have quickness. We have strength. We have height. Basically we’re going to put whoever out on the field and see what works.