Karen Guregian and Ian Rapoport report the trade took Laurence Maroney by surprise.
Reached by phone at the airport before his flight to Denver, Maroney described himself as disappointed - "because I didn’t see this coming," he said - with the trade.
"It is what it is," Maroney told the Herald. "It was just one of those situations. I had some great opportunities there. I felt like I had some good times running the ball, and some not so good times. I got hurt. I could never really get going.
"But I loved playing there. Now I have to move on to Denver."
Karen Guregian simplifies Randy Moss's remarks into this: He wants to continue playing for a coach and team he dearly loves and then retire as a Patriot.
"I really don’t know from Mr. Kraft’s perspective. Hopefully, he’s not too (ticked) with me," Moss said. "Bill just said, ‘Is everything OK?’ I said, ‘Yeah, coach. I’m not mad, I’m not bitter.’ And he understood in a certain sense where I was coming from. Not fully, don’t get me wrong. But the business side of it, he does understand. So, I told him, ‘Coach, you probably won’t hear from me again the rest of the year talkin’ about my contract. It’s just something I wanted to get out there and now that it’s in the air, and off my chest, you won’t hear no more about it from me after this.’ "
"Bill has his own mystique about him," Moss said. "He did seem like he was very supportive of me. He might not seem like he’s a very supportive guy to y’all. But I love playing for Bill. I love him as a man, I love him as a coach. He might not show his love inside, most of the time. When it’s all said and done, I love playing for the man."
TEAM TALK
- New England Patriots traded RB Laurence Maroney to the Denver Broncos.
- New England Patriots at the New York Jets: Broadcast info, series history, team connections and more.
- Wes Welker has been nominated for the GMC Never Say Never Moment of the Week. Fans To Vote For Winner On NFL.com.
- Tom Brady has been nominated for the NFL FedEx player of the Week. Brady completed 25 of 35 passes for 258 yards and three touchdowns in the Patriots' 38 – 24 win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
- Ask PFW: Reaction to first win.
- Patriots Today - Focusing on Faulk. (4.47 min. video)
- Patriots Today - Welker completes his comeback. (3.15 min. video)
LOCAL LINKS
- Mike Reiss analyzes the Laurence Maroney trade. Love the phrase, "a 2006 first-round draft choice who never fully emerged, is getting a fresh start with the Broncos".
- Shalise Manza Young recaps Laurence Maroney's career in New England and talks about the trade.
- Tom E. Curran says Maroney's big issue was a lack of a comfortable style. He was frantic with the ball in his hands.
- Christopher Price analyzes the Maroney trade that sent the player who sparked most debate on the Patriots to the Broncos
- Tom E. Curran talks about the Maroney trade and who will fill his roster spot.
- Albert Breer breaks down the Maroney trade.
- Ian Rapoport guesses as to why the Patriots may have traded Maroney, and looks to the future.
- Mike Reiss offers a final thought about Maroney, saying he was still a contributor to some very good teams.
- Jerry Thornton pens a semi-fond farewell to Laurence Maroney.
- Karen Guregian notes Randy Moss has no intention of getting stuck on Revis Island.
- Tony Massarotti says Moss will be fine and with solid play he can say whatever he wants.
- Christopher Price reports the Jets intend to shake off their poor season opener as they start their prep for the Patriots.
- Ian Rapoport reports that even without massive nose tackle Kris Jenkins, the Patriots will still face a serious test on Sunday against last year’s No. 1 defense.
- Mike Reiss looks at what the Patriots can learn from the Jets' Monday night loss to Baltimore.
- Christopher Price highlights the Tuesday Conference Calls with Belichick, Brown and Caserio.
- Mike Reiss offers the key details of Tom Brady's four-year contract extension from a source who has viewed the deal.
- Albert Breer takes a closer look at Brady's big deal.
- Ron Borges tries to make sense of Tom Brady's contract numbers.
- Mike Reiss reports on the recent practice of the Patriots paying some practice squad players a higher salary than the norm. That applies this year too.
- Mike Reiss cleans out his Patriots notebook on the players' day off.
- Mike Reiss answers his weekly reader mailbag.
- Shalise Manza Young Patriots Notebook: Corwin Brown discusses Pat Chung's eye-opening performance against the Bengals; Details are out on Tom Brady's record-breaking contract; Matt Light held his annual charity event yesterday, a shoot-out; Gostkowski called Sunday the worst game of his career.
- Comcast SportsNet Matt Light hosts his annual shootout, attended by fellow Patriots and celebrities to raise money for charity. (2.15 min. video.)
- Ian Rapoport talks about how Tom Brady provided a highlight at the Matt Light Celebrity Shoot-out.
- Mike Reiss notes the Patriots had second-year QB Keith Null in town for a tryout, Null has practice squad eligibility.
NATIONAL NEWS
- Tim Laydon (SI) Patriots' internal strength, Moss honesty prove to be a good match. Excellent read.
- Jim Corbett (USA Today) Patriots count their blessings with Tom Brady safe, signed.
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Tim Graham (ESPN) With Maroney gone, who'll Pats fans boo? That's cold, man.
- Tim Graham (ESPN) AFC East High energy player of the week: Patrick Chung.
- Dan Wetzel (Yahoo! Sports) Welker proves skeptics wrong again.
- Sporting News NFL team reports: What is Randy Moss worth?
- Howard Ulman, AP (Yahoo! Sports) Moss: No regrets about airing concerns on contract.
- Peter King (SI) MMQB Tuesday Edition: Sanchez's troubling performance; Chiefs' savvy drafting.
- NFL.com Week 1 Remix. (2.10 min. video)
- Tim Graham (ESPN) Rex Ryan mandates changes to Jets offense.
- Ann Killion (SI) Athletes behaving like boorish frat boys toward women is a tired act.
- Joe Posnanski (SI) The human element.
VIEW FROM NEW YORK
- Steve Serby (NY Post) Jets' Panic Room open for business.
- Manish Mehta (NY Daily News) Darrelle Revis will be responsible for containing Randy Moss when Jets host Patriots.
- Mark Cannizzaro (NY Post) Ryan admits concern about Sanchez, Jets offense.
- Steve Serby (NY Post) If the Jets are truly "Super," beating the Patriots on Sunday would be a good idea.
- Flip Bondy (NY Daily News) The Jets are always the most exciting team in football - until the game starts.
- Gary Myers (NY Daily News) Jets can't win by avoiding Mark Sanchez.