Wide receiver Tyrell Williams won’t ever be compared to Randy Moss in terms of their on-field production, but for now the current and former Raiders wide receivers have one glaring thing in common. Moss and Williams sparkled in the first four games of their Raiders careers and spent the rest of the time trying to
Raiders, Jon Gruden hopeful that WR Tyrell Williams rebounds from lingering foot injury
To me, Williams’ ineffectiveness due to injury is a far cry from Moss’ ineffectiveness due to lack of motivation. I wouldn’t have even considered comparing the two, even based on a similar production outcome if that’s how it turns out. Moss’ actions were simply unforgivable for a professional athlete, and I’d be more inclined to compare his situation to the Antonio Brown disaster than I would to Williams.
Actually, the analogy works quite well if you recall what happened to Moss after those four games. He suffered two injuries at the end of a pass play that limited his effectiveness upon his return. The second year is when he shut it down.
Yeah, Moss got hit in the Chargers game and gave up afterwards. I lost respect for him from my seat in the coliseum, and got even angrier with him when he resurrected himself in New England. Williams at least seemingly tried to come back. He has a clean slate from a fan perspective, at least to start.
I still struggle with the analogy. The Moss stigma doesn’t exist because he got injured and couldn’t play well after four games. It’s because he quite on the team. Comparing Williams to Moss is throwing him into the same “I quit” bucket that Moss is known for, and then suggesting Williams must climb out in order to avoid the Moss stigma. I think it’s a stretch to compare the two. Williams hasn’t quit on the team.
I mentioned Moss quitting in the article and never lumped Williams into that category. I only compared Williams’ first season to Moss’ first season, which was injury-related. No need to struggle with the analogy when it is clarified in the article.
Fair enough. I understand the intent and am fine with it. Using Moss as the comparison is odd because Raider fans equate his name with quitter, unprofessional, and not a team player…rather than a bust due to injury. While you didn’t lump Williams into that quitter category explicitly, the association is implicit (albeit unintentional) because that’s what Moss is known for here. I think comparing Williams to any other player who didn’t live up to expectations due to injury would have been suitable and gotten little reaction.
I must say, I appreciate your position and willingness to dialogue on it. Rarely get that anywhere.
Ditto; bad analogy.
Just catch the ball.
Ditto on Moss what a selfish sad example of a player
From what I understand, plantar fasciitis is really painful and takes a LONG time to heal. I’m okay with the team giving Williams another year to see what he can do when healthy.
Not a great comparison.
Moss was an attitude problem. That’s not the case with Williams. Williams had a nasty foot injury.
Williams is coming back. Gruden all but said this in his last press conference.
Williams was an ok signing. I heard, serval times this past season on broadcasts, that even the chargers wanted him back in the fold but could not afford the price. I also heard about his upside, which always makes me nervous when its not one of our drafted players in his rookie season. He did not prove to be a big time upgrade at WR, which is what we needed. All the talk from Gruden and Mayock about him being a #1 is just that, talk. If the same situation continues, injury or not, he will not be here after this season. And we all know Gruden is not afraid to cut WRs during the season that he has spent money or draft capital on.
As for Moss, never wanted him. I know what he did in MN and what he did not do. One thing was consistent, he played when he wanted to. The team did not matter to him. Same went for his teammates.