A few takes on Randy Moss and his stinker of a game yesterday, which followed a week in which he showed up late for a meeting:

1) Former teammate Tedy Bruschi: There is a difference between frustration and someone quitting on a team. I can speak only from the experience of being a teammate of Randy Moss -- he is the type of player I want to be my teammate, and I'm proud to say I was a teammate of Moss. He works hard, and he only wants to win. Yes, he got frustrated Sunday. You've seen frustration on every player's face before, but I think everyone looks a bit closer at Moss because of his history. As his teammate, I saw nothing but hard work and dedication from him.

2) Former teammate Cris Carter: "For me, as someone who teaches wide receivers how to be wide receivers and how to run routes and what type of effort and stuff it would take, it was pathetic, and I was shocked. Because I know it's in him, but I thought he had matured to the point where I wasn't going to see it anymore."

3) Every Vikings fan who paid attention between 1998-2004: Moss gets a bad rap sometimes, but he also earns some of his reputation. From "I play when I want to play" to 41-doughnut to that picture you see there of him walking off the field alone with 2 seconds left in a 21-18 game against Washington in 2004, the final regular-season game he would play in purple, Moss absolutely sulks and checks out sometimes when the going gets tough. When things are clicking (see 15-1 Vikings and 16-0 Patriots) there is no better receiver. In the face of adversity, though, Moss shows he can be too much of a front-runner. The Patriots, a rather ordinary team now, are starting to find that out.