Moss Confidently Waits for His Moment

In two games, Santana Moss, the Redskins' top wide receiver, has caught five passes for 41 yards. Only once, during a 79-catch 2008, did Moss go through a two-week stretch in which he caught fewer balls.

"That's something that the team got to deal with. I'm a player," Moss said Thursday. "I'm going to want more. But what can I do about it? All I can do is just keep doing my job. Maybe they'll see me one day. Y'all watch football. Y'all know what's going on. I don't have to sit here and tell you that I need something more. Teams are playing to me, so therefore, somebody else got to get open."

That, of course, hasn't happened with enough regularity yet. Second-year receiver Malcolm Kelly, who earned the starting spot opposite Moss during the preseason, has five catches for 47 yards, and Devin Thomas, also in his second year, doesn't have a catch yet. The bulk of quarterback Jason Campbell's throws have gone to tight end Chris Cooley (14 catches-151 yards) and slot receiver Antwaan Randle El (11 catches-137 yards).

"I can't control the things I can't control," Moss said. "The only thing I can control is be the guy I am, continue to practice hard, and when it all swings over, you'll see that circle on the field, they'll be showing the highlights, saying, 'Okay, here he goes, he got freed up and he made a play.'"

Last year, Moss's most explosive day came at Detroit, where the Redskins play this year. He caught nine passes for 140 yards - including a 50-yard touchdown - and also returned a punt for a touchdown.

"They might double the crap out of me, too," Moss said of the Lions. "I always expect the worst but hope for the best. All I can do is continue to be the player I am. I can't really worry about what's going on. I just feel like with me getting some of the looks I've been getting, somebody else is going to get a chance. If you play me like that the whole year, then hopefully that guy who's getting that chance has an outstanding year, you know what I mean? Just one of those years that's going to make you say, 'Man we got to do something different.'

"But I'm very confident just knowing the guy that I am, when I do get the opportunity, I'll show up. So I'm not tripping about it."

Still, Moss said he was hopeful that coverages would roll away from him if Kelly or Thomas established himself as a legitimate threat. He said it hasn't happened yet.

"I didn't expect the first two games to have guys pressing on me, safeties over the top," he said. "Even when you think the safety's blitzing on your side, the back side safety's coming over the top. I mean, it's weird. But I guess you can say they know something that hopefully that everybody else know."

Coach Jim Zorn made a concerted effort to target Moss in the Redskins' 9-7 victory over St. Louis last Sunday. But he said he can't just force the ball to his top wideout.

"I can just tell you we're trying," Zorn said. "Our effort is there. I think it would be a real problem if you'd see him coming to my office going, 'What's up man? What about me?' So I think he realizes that we're making efforts, and we're going to continue to do that."

Moss, for his part, is trying to be professional about the lack of production. His longest catch is for 21 yards. After two games last year, he had 12 catches for 201 yards, including a 67-yard touchdown.

"I'd be an expert if I had a solution for what we going through, or knew more," Moss said. "At the end of the day, I'm a player that's hungry as all outdoors, and trying to be all I can be for this team, whether I'm going to take a couple of guys out of the formation by them covering me, or whether I'm going to beat a couple of guys. However I'm going to have to do it, I'm going to do it."



(washingtonpost.com)