Vikings once bitten, twice shy; waive Moss after one month.

For Randy Moss, New England and Lady Luck are on completely opposite sides of the world.

It’s been one heck of a roller coaster of a year for both the Minnesota Vikings and their once superstar player Randy Moss. From the latest instalment of Farves World that is seemingly every offseason as of late, to the plummet to earth that has been the team in the first month of the season has had many fans of the purple people eaters wondering what happened to their team. On the flipside, Randy Moss seem to awaken from this cocoon of “shut up and play” that he had been in for the last few years in New England by sounding off at anyone involved with the team regarding his displeasure with his contract, much to the chagrin of Patriot fans (including our own JimmyD). So it was sort of divine matchmaking that Moss would end up back with the Vikings a month ago, traded along with a seventh round pick in return for a third rounder of the Vikings. At the time, fans outside of Minnesota felt that the Patriots got a decent return (they traded a 4th round pick to the Raiders to get Moss years before.).

After today, they must be in stitches.

A few hours ago, the Vikings announced that they had waived Moss, a player that a month ago everyone felt would ignite this dormant team out of its slump that it had seem to find itself in. With fans across the country running the gambit from shock to wondering if the management for Minnesota should get the “NFL’s Biggest Dumbasses” award for this year, all of us are probably wondering just what the heck would prompt them to give up so quickly on one of their more famous assets so easily?

Some would argue that he gets the blame for Favre’s injury, dogging it the play before Favre was clocked by Myron Pryor on the chin and taken out of the game. While a point could be made for that argument, blaming that someone was injured when they’re twenty yards down-field is a bit of a stretch; heck for all we know Favre could have blown out his ankle and it wouldn’t have made a lick of difference. That being said, calling Moss out on loafing, at least for their last game against the Patriots is needed regardless of whether their star quarterback was injured.

Others would say that it was his calling out of Brad Childress after the New England game. In what would be for your average player a bizarre press conference, he first takes issue with his coaches play calling, states that he’ll only answer questions from himself, and fawns over the opposition, a team that only last month he wanted to leave in the worst way. While I can understand that the guy misses team-mates that he had played for over three years and some very successful times, sounding like a teenager heartbroken after finding out that their crush is doing just fine without them is a bit demeaning. Doing all of this when his current team loses to his old squad in New England? Ya that salt in the wound stings nicely. That being said, Childress isn’t exactly the type of coach that you’d think would ax someone if they got jobbed by one of their stars, so him cutting Moss for that reason alone probably doesn’t cut it.

No I’m thinking the reason why he was cut is because Moss, in a nutshell, has reverted to being Moss. At least the stereotypical version that he authored back during his first tour of duty in Minnesota. And even with a few years in New England where this persona seem to disappear, it seems that it has returned regardless of his team. And even with the talent that he can still bring, Viking management must be seeing flashbacks to the Moss that dazzled…and aggravated…Viking faithful in the early 00′s. And with the team falling apart at the seams, they might have figured there’s already enough bad press on the way. Favre is injured and on the way out, the team is limping towards the end of the year, and Childress will probably be joining Wade Phillips in looking for a new job. The last thing the Vikings need is Moss ramping up the drama level when the team he’s on falls apart, while the one he left is heading full speed towards another play-off appearance.

So with this latest act in the centre stage currently playing out for the Vikings and Randy Moss looking for his third employer in three months, where does he go from here? Well if the results of searching Randy Moss on the Internet are any indication, almost every team other then the Vikings would run over their own mother to have Moss don their teams colours, and I’m sure that some general managers are thinking the same thing, even with the mental baggage and large contract that will come with the guy. He’s proven that he can check that luggage away as he did in New England for a few years, and some teams would find it quite a coup to land him on their roster; like half the NFC North for example. Either way, I wouldn’t expect him to get the Barry Bonds treatment. After all, if Terrell Owens can find gainful employment in the NFL after that “impressive” season he pulled in with Buffalo, Moss should have multiple suitors already calling.

Whether his new team, or the Vikings and Patriots will have the last laugh remains to be seen.

Popularity: 4%

Related posts: