Tom Curran • E-mail

Randy Moss was a free agent for about 80 hours.

During that time, there wasn't a public peep from him, his agents, the Patriots, Tom Brady, high school basketball teammate Jason Williams, meter maids in Minnesota, Brett Favre or Terrell Owens.

There was a vortex of conversation, though. Reports of telephone calls between Moss and Daunte Culpepper and a possible package deal for the two (?!), Moss to Green Bay, Moss to Dallas, Moss, Moss, Moss.

Guess that's what happens when names like Drayton Florence and Justin Smiley are high on the free agent food chain.

But in the end, Moss goes back to the Patriots -- the team he said he wanted to stay with; the team that said it wanted him to stay.

The Patriots re-signed Moss for three seasons at $27 million. It may seem like a number that's out of whack when a guy who caught an NFL record 23 touchdown passes gets that and Bernard Berrian gets $42 million over six seasons, but there's not much fluff in the deals that Patriots VP of Player Personnel Scott Pioli brokers. Moss, if he continues to be the "'07 Randy" will probably see almost every penny of that.

The question is, will he? Now that he's gotten paid and returned to his rightful place as the best receiver in football with the records to prove it, will Moss continue to be the Good Patriot? Who will he be now?

Looking back at recent history might give an indication, because Moss' time in New England so far is almost a carbon copy of Corey Dillon's tenure.

If you remember, Dillon was persona non grata in Cincinnati by the end of 2003. The Bengals, like the Raiders with Moss after 2006, wanted Dillon gone.

The Patriots sent a second-rounder to the Bengals in 2004 to acquire Dillon and got both a terrific season from him (a franchise-record 1,635 yards) and a Super Bowl win. Cured. That's what Dillon purportedly was. A new man.

The truth was, Dillon was the same in New England as he was in Cincinnati: An intelligent, funny guy with a persecution complex who was always on guard for slights.

When he got hurt in 2005 and his performance dipped, his age was cited as a reason. Dillon spent the rest of the year joking -- with an edge -- about being over the hill.

In 2006, when the Patriots drafted running back Laurence Maroney in the first round, Dillon took the kid under his wing. But Dillon was far from the cuddly Corey of 2004. He was still a good teammate, it seemed, but his irritation with the situation he saw coming made him surly both in the locker room and behind closed doors. Injuries and the Patriots' failure to get back to the Super Bowl didn't help anyone's mood.

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The Patriots cut Dillon before the 2007 season, and he was out of football last year. In hindsight, that's a pretty quick turnaround from 1,635 yards and a Super Bowl win in 2004 to retired two seasons later.

When everything was rainbows and unicorns for Corey Dillon and the Patriots, it was bliss. When the going got tougher, the Patriots lost more games and Dillon's production was under scrutiny, he soured.

There's every reason to believe that the 2008 Patriots will have a tougher time than the 2007 team. 18-0 doesn't seem to happen a lot. When the tough times come, how will Randy Moss -- entrenched now as a Patriot, his image rehabilitated -- react? Will he be able to deal with the questions, the scrutiny, the pressure of following up a landmark season?

Or will he, like Dillon, revert?

It's the chance you take with great and mercurial talents, I suppose. And, as he was during the first 80 hours of this year's free-agent period, Moss will be closely watched.

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