FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) -Randy Moss told reporters on Wednesday that he gets a bad rap because he doesn’t like to give interviews. Then, when asked if the Patriots took a risk in trading for him, he refused to answer and ended the session.
“See?” he said, walking away. “They were all good questions until he slipped that one at the end. I’ll see y’all.”
So who says he won’t fit in with the strait-laced and closed-mouthed New England Patriots?
The controversial wide receiver spoke to the media after the second day of the team’s minicamp and said he just wants to fit in with the three-time Super Bowl champions. In an otherwise pleasant – though not especially informative – news conference, he raved about his new teammates and coaches and promised to do whatever it took to win.
But he also kissed off the media like a Patriots veteran.
“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,” he said. “I don’t really plan on being too much in front of this mike all year. Take it how you want to take it.”
Moss said he got butterflies when he saw that his locker was between Tom Brady’s and Vinny Testaverde’s, and that he was impressed with coach Bill Belichick’s preparation and leadership. The former Pro Bowl wideout said he didn’t feel he had to change people’s minds after troubles in Oakland forced the Raiders to trade him to the Patriots on draft weekend for a fourth-round choice.
“I just want to go out there and play football,” Moss said. “Really, anything that you’ve heard about me, good or bad, some are lies, some are true. Hopefully, the true stuff will come out and then hopefully the bad will stay back there. Like I said, I don’t plan on changing. I think that the guys are getting to know me and understand that I love to win and carry myself as a professional athlete.”
Moss made the Pro Bowl in five of his first six NFL seasons, all with Minnesota, but developed a reputation as a troublemaker who didn’t give full effort. He spent the last two seasons struggling to make an impact in Oakland. After acquiring him, Patriots owner Robert Kraft said that “if people don’t adjust to our standards, they won’t be here.”
Moss said he expected to fit in well with the Patriots, who won three Super Bowls in four years and reached the AFC title game last season.
“When you’re winning everything is good. When you’re losing everything is bad,” he said. “The only thing I can really say is we have a great group of guys, along with coaches, and I enjoy it. I love coming to work every single day and just being around these guys.”
Moss was criticized in Minnesota by quarterback Daunte Culpepper and others for leaving the field with 2 seconds left in a regular-season loss to Washington. He bumped a traffic control officer with his car in 2002, verbally abused corporate sponsors on a team bus in 2001, and squirted an official with a water bottle in 1999.
But he showed during this minicamp on Wednesday why the Patriots were willing to take a chance on him.
During one span of 16 plays, Moss caught all five passes thrown to him – some from Brady and some from backup Matt Cassell. He caught high passes and also reached low when running a route across the middle in front of safety Artrell Hawkins.
Wearing a white practice jersey with the No. 6, Moss lined up on the right side split wide, and in the slot. After one play when he was sitting out, Moss congratulated Wes Welker with a hand slap after he made an excellent catch.
The Patriots hope Moss will be the deep threat they lacked last year, when they traded Deion Branch during his contract holdout.
“As with every new player, Randy has to come in here and find a role for himself,” Brady said. “Obviously, he’s proven he’s capable of some great receiving.”
Brady said he was excited about working with Moss. And the feeling’s mutual.
“I’ve always been a big fan of his, and now that I’m here playing alongside him, I don’t want anything to change,” Moss said. “I’m not going to even try to get in his way in anything that he does, and hopefully it doesn’t get in the way of anything that I do.”
The Patriots hope he leaves behind his troubles with his two other teams.
“I don’t really want to call it a new beginning,” he said. “It’s something that you dream of, knowing that the New England Patriots sit high on a lot of people’s charts. … It’s a great group of guys that we have here on the field and off the field.”
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