On Wednesday, November 3, the Tennessee Titans were awarded the services of future Hall of Fame wide-receiver Randy Moss, who was placed on the waiver wire by the Minnesota Vikings 24 hours before. When people read this on the ticker most of them believed it was a typo—Randy Moss in Nashville? (Although admittedly, it’s pretty random that he also owns a Nascar team…)
Moss played two games with the Minnesota Vikings and did little in his second tenure there. Anomosity grew between him and the team after refusing to speak to media and was then fined $25,000. He seem unaffected by this number as he spoke to media telling them that he would be asking the questions to himself so that is how their interviews of him would be conducted. This seemed to be the final straw in his short term stint with the Vikings as earlier in the week he was insulting to a catered meal delivered to the team. He was quoted as saying “’What the (expletive) is this? I wouldn’t feed this (expletive, expletive) to my (expletive) dog!” Following the release of Moss, Brett Favre said he thought the food was pretty good and was dumbfounded at the reaction of Moss.
This move is welcomed by the fans of the Titans, who haven’t acquired a free agent with the résumé that Moss has. Moss is second in career touchdowns, sixth in yards and 10th in career receptions. Their fans, who are used to seeing the Titans pinch money and grow through the draft, believe that the Titans are actually listening to them. Moss upgrades a young and dynamic offence that ranks first in points-per-game and is tied for fifth in receiving touchdowns, and whose quarterback Vince Young leads the NFL in QB rating at 103.1. Kenny Britt, who opened the league’s eyes just two weeks ago with three touchdowns and 225 yards against the Eagles, has an injured hamstring which could possibly sideline him for six to eight weeks.
At 5-3, the Titans are sniffing a playoff spot; they are half a game behind the wild card and Indianapolis for the AFC South lead. Randy Moss seems to respond well to authority, as we just saw his salute to Bill Belicheck at the end of his press conference before the Vikings released him. But after all it was with Belicheck in New England that Moss set the single season record with 23 receiving touchdowns.
However, Jeff Fisher seems to be the kind of guy Moss needs, a no-nonsense guy who controls his locker room and who continually has success in the face of adversity, as with Adam “Pacman” Jones. The Titans are gambling, but it’s worth a shot. There are no top-quality cornerbacks in the AFC South with five division games after their bye week; the Titan faithfuls are loving the potential their offence has with the addition of Moss.
