The "experts" will tell you when Moss is unhappy with his shot at the ball, he will show it.  He will dog it or simply not reach for the ball.  In out 38-13 loss against Miami, there was at least one instance of Randy letting a ball go that he may have had a chance at.  I find this relatively funny in a "you're an idiot" sort of way.  It is, in essence, taking a dragster and putting it on an autocross track.  Randy is a vertical guy.  Give him the ball down a seam and he makes DBs look slow...and that's before he kicks on the afterburners.  Turn him inside, and he's a big target for linebackers and safeties who want to layeth the smacketh down on this 6-4 lanky guy.  I'd let the ball go, too.

His new role, whether he likes it or not, is to step in for wonderboy, Tom Brady.  I don't mean as QB, but as a leader.  Now, more than ever, this team needs someone to rally them in the locker room and on the sidelines.  They need someone to rise up and lead by example.  Given his past, this may be a work in progress, but he's surrounded by guys who know how to be leaders.  Guys like Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi and Matt Light have been inspirations in New England and have the hardware to backup their play on the field.  But, this is about Randy.

If he's dogging it, it's hard to see.  Stats don't lie.  They can be made to lie, but presented in their purest form, they don't lie and these prove Randy to be well on his way to being one of the greatest receivers of this game:

Yes, I did write off Harrison's 2007 whilst doing the TD/year calculation and only divided by 11 seasons instead of 12.  So, if Randy's dogging it, I'd hate to see what he'll do on full burn.  Sorry T.O.  You're totals are good and all, but your averages don't show you to be in a league with Randy.  He's only 7 TDs behind you and you have 2 years on him.  And you'll only be getting slower as you age.  Marvin?  I think it's a foot race, but Randy seems to have the edge.  Two damn good receivers, neck and neck.  It'll be fun to see how this plays out.

Dogging it...I crack myself up.

weblogs.cltv.com

 I typically don't cruise betting sites.  In fact, I work hard to avoid them.  If I get another stupid popup to some salacious site in the Ukraine, I'm going to throw my computer against the wall, so I don't need to tempt fate by visiting "popup heaven".  Yes, I stay away, but this particular site, capperspicks.com is not bad.  Let me offer this disclaimer: I am, in no way, affiliated with this site nor am I suggesting you should run off and type in your credit card number on this site and launch your internet betting hobby.  No Sir.  I DO suggest that you use all the information you can find about your team and others to stay informed.  Especially when they say the New England Patriots are the best team out there:

BetUS NFL Futures Odds

To Win AFC East

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS -1000
Buffalo Bills +800
New York Jets +1000
Miami Dolphins +1200

To win the AFC Championship

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS +175
San Diego Chargers +450
Indianapolis Colts +500
Jacksonville Jaguars +900
Pittsburgh Steelers +1200
Cleveland Browns +1600
Tennessee Titans +2000
Denver Broncos +2000
Cincinnati Bengals +2200
Baltimore Ravens +2500

The smaller the number, the better.  As you can see, the AFC East will be a stomping (-1000) with the AFC Championship being a bit closer.

The odds for AFC Teams to win the Superbowl are interesting, to say the least:

BetUS NFL Futures Odds - To Win Super Bowl XLIII

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS +1400
New England Patriots +325
New York Jets +10000
Buffalo Bills +8000
Miami Dolphins +10000
Baltimore Ravens +6000
Cincinnati Bengals +4500
Pittsburgh Steelers +1750
Cleveland Browns +3000
Indianapolis Colts +700
Tennessee Titans +3500
Houston Texans +6500
San Diego Chargers +700
Denver Broncos +4000
Kansas City Chiefs +10000

Over at the NFC, Dallas is favored to win the Championship - I'm not too surprised with that pick (it's hard for a Superbowl champ to repeat).  So based on this site, Brady will be squaring off against Romo; that'd be a good game.  Oh, it almost slipped my mind: T.O. and Moss.  Can you say, "Media Circus?"  I knew you could.

What does this tell us?  Absolutely nothing.  I do, however, place more credence on betting sites than I do "what if's" from ESPN and sportsonline.com (make sure you read the good with the bad, too).  Why?  These guys are putting real dollars and cents on the line; some writer in a cubicle is just pulling crap off of Google, chatting it up with his buddies at the local watering hole, and writing an article.  Ok, that was a little harsh (and it sounds an awful lot like me!).  Some might actually be TALKING to players, coaches and league officials.  These numbers will certainly change as the season moves on.  My point is, gather information from everywhere you can, but try to cultivate as many reasonable sources as you can - both friendly and not-so-friendly viewpoints.  Happy reading.