Monday, October 11, 2010

Redskins' Santana Moss Bounces Back With a Vengeance - NFL FanHouse

When Washington had last played Green Bay on Oct. 14, 2007, Santana Moss had one of the worst years of his career. After sitting out the previous week with a strained groin, Moss dropped a long pass, deflected a lump into an interception, strained a hamstring and preoccupied a blow which was returned for the winning Packers touchdown. Oh, and the old Pro Bowl receiver didn't get a pass.

"I look like I let my team down," Moss said then. "I would have never thinking I would see this day, the way I practice, the way I prepare. But it happens. It lets you love you're human. You can either run out from it or have it head-on and go at it the following sentence and try to get better." Moss caught passes in 44 of the next 45 games (only being blanked in 2008 at Philadelphia) before he was closed out again last week by the Eagles, who focused on him but again lost to the Redskins. "If you can be productive that day and not get the ball . and we win, then that's good," Moss said in planning for Sunday's game with the Packers. But like any great athlete, Moss is a prideful competitor. No team is loss to exclude him consume two consecutive games nor is he release to be held in check two consecutive weeks. And with clock working out in the low half and Washington trailing 10-0, having managed four first downs and all of 57 yards, Moss had had enough. He got behind cornerback Pat Lee and hauled in a 52-yard bomb from Donovan McNabb. Five plays later, Graham Gano's 26-yard field goal began the counter that produced a 16-13 overtime victory. Moss avenged his awful day in Green Bay in 2007 and his quiet day in Philadelphia in a major way, catching 7 passes for a game-high 118 yards. "I'm glad I had a full day and helped us win, but it wasn't nothing about trying to get up for those games," Moss said. Moss, who has been Washington's top threat for six days now, leads the Redskins with 29 catches for 408 yards. "We definitely have a good chemistry going," said McNabb, who's playing his first harden with Moss. "I don't think Santana gets as much credit as he's due," said center Casey Rabach. "He had that one Pro Bowl season, but he means so much more to this team. He's the go-to guy. He's the big-play guy. A lot of people say maybe he should be the No. 2 guy on another team, but the guy just catches ball after ball and have tremendous plays for us. The guy works hard. He puts in his time. He cares about winning football."

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