If criticism can be a motivator, the Ravens better be braced for New England's Randy Moss on Monday night.
In a telephone press conference on Wednesday, Monday Nigh Football analyst Ron Jaworksi ripped Moss for taking off plays during New England's 31-28 close call with Philadelphia Sunday night.
From the transcript of the press conference, Jaworski said, "When I went through the tape, it was the first time that I was personally disappointed in a Randy Moss performance. I did not see the same energy on every single play that I had seen so far this season. When he was the No. 1 go-to guy on a route, he gave great effort and hustle. There were some plays on the back side, when he wasn't the primary receiver, I did not see the great effort. Knowing how the Patriots handle things internally, I'm sure there have been some discussions on Randy, 'Every snap, we need 100 percent out of you.' I thought a few times Tom (Brady) tried to get him involved in the game and tried to force some balls in to him."
Jaws went on to say that he expected that when the Patriots went through their tape review of the Eagles game that Moss would be asked what he might have been thinking on some particular plays. Jaworski also said that with effort being the difference between Moss and Dallas wide receiver Terrell Owens, at the moment he would take Owens over Moss as a teammate.
Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe reports in his blog that New England quarterback Tom Brady came to Moss' defense. Among the things Brady had to say were: "I have never, ever felt he has taken plays off. Are you kidding me? There is nothing there about Randy's game that I'm not 100 percent positive on.
"Randy is an extremely mentally tough person and people have criticized him since the day he got here. People have pre-judged him and stereotyped him. He's been nothing but a positive influence on this team, on this locker room, and his performance speaks for itself. He's probably the most feared offensive player in the game, so what somebody says outside of this locker room means nothing."
The Ravens have played against Moss before in a Monday night game. It was the Ravens' second-ever MNF game, a 19-3 Baltimore win on Jan. 7, 2002. Moss was involved in a trick play on Minnesota's only scoring drive but not as the guy making the catch. Moss threw the ball, a 29-yarder to Chris Carter, that helped set up a field goal.
Photo credit: Winslow Townson/AP
