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So after the Patriots vs. Panthers game this past weekend, everyone who has ever watched sports has put an opinion into this Moss ‘quitting’ situation. Well I was of course watching the game, and said myself multiple times: “Ok, this guy is finally quitting on the Patriots.” And that interception that Gamble had was because of a weakly run route (and a lofted pass).

“We knew he was going to shut it down,” Panthers cornerback Chris Gamble said after the game. “That’s what we wanted to do him. That’s what we did. … He’d just give up a lot … Slow down, he’s not going deep, not trying to run a route. You can tell, his body language.” Gamble continued … “I know everyone who plays against him, they can sense that. Once you get into him in the beginning of the game, he shuts it down a little bit.”

All of this is true, if Moss isn’t involved early, he’ll shut it down a little bit (see Terrell Owens or NBA defense). But some of the best analysis of Moss in this game was given by Merrill Hoge and Steve Young (ESPN’s best football minds, in my opinion). Hoge says he watched the tape and it was Moss’ hardest fought game hes ever seen, including route running. And those two had the Gamble interception spot on.

First of all, Peppers came flying at Brady, so he threw the ball early and off of his back foot so the ball floated up for the defender. Gamble was playing an outside route defense, which is dangerous for the QB on the out route. Moss saw this, and knew Brady wouldn’t throw the pass into that kind of coverage to Moss, so maybe he didn’t run the route as hard as he could/should and it resulted in a pick. But receivers often know when and when they are not getting the ball on certain plays/coverages, and take a couple plays off. Sprinting 20 yards full out every minute for 180 minutes is not an easy task, so that is justified.

End of story, as much as I dislike the Patriots and hope for all the turmoil in the world to come upon them, Moss deserves a break this time. From what I’ve seen hes been a great player since leaving the horrid situation in Oakland and playing HOF football. But just for fun, can we go ahead and speculate that Moss DID QUIT, and its because he is jealous of Wes Welker being the most influential and game changing WR’s in the league? Rumor, begun.