Strict regimen helps Santana Moss get better with age

In any given week, Santana Moss will leave the football stadium on Sunday and begin prepping for a week of non-stop bodywork.

He'll see his masseuse twice and will make two visits to a chiropractor. He'll spend nights resting in a hyperbaric chamber in his home, receiving oxygen treatments, and he flies in a personal trainer from Atlanta each week - "a specialist when it comes to muscles," Moss said.

"When you was younger, you didn't have to have massages, you didn't have to see chiropractors," said Moss, 31. "Now you just throw that in your regimen, and say, 'Well, this is what keeps me going.' So you pay a little more just to play."

It's paid off. Moss enters today's season finale against the New York Giants with 84 catches, one shy of a career-high for a season. Last week at Jacksonville, he topped the 1,000-yard mark for the fourth time in his 10-year career.

"I had a lot of respect before I came here for Santana," said quarterback Rex Grossman, "but now getting the chance to play with him, he's an amazing player, the way he can separate from defenders. He's got great hands. He runs great routes. He's everything I thought he was and more."

No one questions Moss's ability or his role in the Redskins' offense. But his future isn't as clear. After six seasons in Washington, Moss is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. While he's been given no assurances, Moss said he hopes to return to the Redskins.

"I don't feel like leaving is going to help me win games somewhere else. I feel that when somewhere that you are comfortable with, that you feel like you can play, and your family can live and, you know, you can raise your family and live comfortably, and play a great game, and play at a high level," Moss said, "you know, why leave?"

The Redskins have found a way to make Moss as effective as ever. Offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan knew long before he arrived in Washington that Moss was a superb receiver. But after reviewing film of Moss' previous seasons, Shanahan also thought he could take better advantage of Moss' skills.

Moss, who at 5-foot-9 is short and quick, made his name as a college receiver at the University of Miami lining up in the slot. But since entering the NFL in 2001, he's lined up almost exclusively on the outside. This season, Shanahan moved Moss back to the slot and gave him a variety of inside passing routes.

"When you got guys who are not the tall, lanky guys, their legs are always under them, so they can cut a little better than most people," Shanahan said. "They can get to the top of the routes, stick out both feet, go both directions. You give guys like that a two-way go. It's tough to cover them. When you got a guy who's got that quickness, that talent, has the hands he does, has got football awareness - he's not scared. He can be a special player in there."

What isn't clear is how long Moss' body will last. He hopes to sign a free agent contract and plans on playing somewhere in 2011. He doesn't know where he'll end up, though, or how long he'll be there.

"I never put a number on anything. I just go," he said. "It'll come a day. Until that day comes, you'll see me out here running routes, doing what I do."

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(hamptonroads.com)