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Saturday, January 6
No Moss, no Moss, say Saints
By Wayne Drehs
ESPN.com
MINNEAPOLIS -- Watching pregame warm-ups Saturday afternoon, you had the feeling that Randy Moss was feeling good.
While his teammates lined up in their perfect rows, doing their required jumping jacks and stretching exercises, Moss stood on the goal line, dancing in circles around his Vikings helmet.
|  | | Randy Moss, right, celebrates his second TD catch with teammate Cris Carter. |
The prancing dance in which Moss shifted his hips and waved to the fans was eerily similar to the umbrella-toting celebration dance of Saints owner Tom Benson.
But for Benson, there was no dancing after the game on Saturday and that was largely due to Moss. The 6-foot-4 receiver touched the ball just twice against the Saints, both times taking it "to the house," as he likes to call it.
After the game, Moss stood on a chair in front of his locker, eyeing the lone Minnesota writer who had the gall to pick against the hometown team. High profile and flashy on the field, he is the same off it.
"Where is he? Where is that Dan guy?" Moss called out as he looked across a sea of reporters with a wide grin stretched across his face. "I want to see where he's at now. If anybody knows Dan, tell him Randy's looking for him. We're all looking for him."
For most of the day, it was the Saints who were lost in their search for Moss. Twice they watched his purple No. 84 jersey streak into the end zone where Moss joined Cris Carter for a John Travolta tribute dance.
"He's an exciting player, but that was difficult to watch," Saints defensive lineman La'Roi Glover said. "If you don't get guys to tackle him, he can do that."
Moss' two-catch, two-touchdown, 121-yard receiving performance set two team records, including most 100-yard receiving games in the postseason by a Viking (three). Moss also tied James Lofton for scoring in five straight playoff games. John Stallworth has the record with eight consecutive games with a touchdown.
Both touchdowns came in the most humiliating of ways for the Saints, as Moss caught the ball within 10 yards from the line of scrimmage, then fired up the afterburners and scooted into the end zone some 50 yards downfield, untouched.
His first score went for 53 yards, the second for 68. Minnesota fans went crazy in the Metrodome, but for Moss, it was rather ho-hum.
"All my long touchdowns aren't that big of a deal to me," Moss said after giving up his search for the Minnesota writer. "When I get out here, that's what I'm paid to do -- to help my team win by scoring touchdowns. And that's what I did today.
"They don't have me pulling the lead block for Robert (Smith) because that's not my job. My job is to score touchdowns."
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You can't teach
that. You don't see that. I've never seen anybody run like that. That's a gift of God.
Nobody does that in this league. ” |
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— Robert Griffith, Vikings safety |
Moss' first score -- one in which he beat Saints cornerback Fred Thomas off the line, then cut back to avoid free safety Darren Perry -- was impressive, but nothing compared to his second touchdown.
That score came on a third-and-1 screen pass. Moss caught the ball even with the line of scrimmage, facing Saints cornerback Kevin Mathis. Moss juked his way past Mathis, then safety Sammy Knight before dashing down the sidelines untouched yet again.
On a play designed to pick up short yardage, Moss turned it into 68. Though he shrugged off the play after the game, his teammates didn't.
"That was tight," Vikings safety Robert Griffith said. "You can't teach that. You don't see that. I've never seen anybody run like that. That's a gift of God. Nobody does that in this league."
Both touchdowns were instrumental in energizing the raucous Metrodome crowd and setting the tone for both halves. With the Vikings coming off a three-game losing streak, Moss said he made a point to send an early message.
"It never hurts you," he said. "I think (the Saints) are all in the back of their head thinking 'Uh oh' because you don't want to get me started. That's the worst thing you can do in a football game -- get No. 84 started."
The Saints did. And regretted it.
Wayne Drehs is a staff writer for ESPN.com.
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