AP fileMoss thinks he’s in a great situation with Belichick and players who are satisfied only with a championship.
“I think that he’s the kind of coach that can motivate me,” Moss said. “He has a proven track record.”
But what about Moss’ track record?
With Minnesota, he was criticized 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.
“I know there are some things that I’ve done in the past,” Moss said, “but I think that’s all behind me.”
Belichick spoke with Moss briefly after the first day of the draft and at greater length Sunday when he was in Foxborough for his physical.
“I’ve talked to a lot of people that were close to him, both teammates and coaches,” Belichick said. “They have a lot of respect for him. I have a lot of respect for him.”
Denver coach Mike Shanahan thinks Moss helps make New England the favorite to win the Super Bowl.
“If you put him in the right environment,” Shanahan said, “I think he could go back to being one of the top receivers in the NFL.”
Oakland coach Lane Kiffin wanted to trade Moss before next weekend’s mandatory minicamp, which the Raiders were unsure he’d attend.
“We’re building a place and building a team with people who really want to be here,” Kiffin said. “There were a lot of signs that maybe that’s not where Randy wanted to be.”
Moss knows his behavior will be under “a microscope, and my microscope is very big,” he said.
But he has a chance “to really get on that Super Bowl stage and really show the world who I am and what I’m able to do,” he said. “I just told (Belichick) that I’m going to keep my fingers crossed and try not to do anything stupid”
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