What were some of the most memorable moments from the Hall of Fame receiver’s career with the Minnesota Vikings?
No one was more surprised to be selected by the Minnesota Vikings in the 1998 NFL Draft than Randy Moss. Coming off a 1997 season at Marshall University that resulted in him being a Heisman Trophy finalist, Moss was expected to be among the first few players taken in the draft.
The receiver did experience some off-the-field problems during his college days and that apparently was enough to prevent a number of teams in the league from drafting him.
So when the Vikings saw that Moss was still available when it came time for them to make the 21st overall pick in the 1998 draft, the team didn’t even hesitate to make the selection.
With Minnesota, the receiver went on to develop into one of the most (if not the most) exciting players the franchise has ever seen. Moss’ production on the field was a big part in the Vikings playing in two NFC Championships during his first three seasons with the team.
On Saturday, the former Minnesota receiver will be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Despite only half of his NFL career taking place in the Twin Cities, Moss provided Vikings fans with plenty to remember during his time with the team.
So which eight moments of the receiver’s career in Minnesota stood out above the rest?
8. Rookie debut against the Buccaneers
After a lot of hype surrounded Moss during his very first training camp and preseason with the Vikings, the time finally came for the receiver to make his NFL regular season debut in 1998.
Moss’ first matchup was against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers inside Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Little did the Bucs know what the Vikings rookie receiver was about to do to their defense.
After Minnesota’s first two offensive drives, Moss had just one catch for 11 yards. Tampa Bay probably thought shutting him down was going to be a piece of cake.
Then the Vikings’ offense took the field for their third drive and it ended with Moss celebrating in the end zone after a 48-yard bomb from quarterback Brad Johnson. After the receiver’s score, the Metrodome exploded with deafening cheers.
Moss wasn’t done either. On Minnesota’s very next offensive drive, the rookie receiver snagged a 31-yard pass from Johnson in the end zone to score his second touchdown of the afternoon.
The Vikings ended up defeating the Bucs 31-7 and Moss finished with four catches for 95 yards and two scores. Not too bad for a rookie debut.
7. Return to Minnesota in 2010
There might not have been a stranger season for the Vikings than the one they experienced in 2010. The year was filled with a number of odd events, including the brief return of Randy Moss.
After expressing that he felt, “unwanted,” by the New England Patriots earlier in the season, the team decided to ship the receiver back to Minnesota just four weeks into the year. In exchange for Moss, the Vikings sent a 2011 third-round draft pick to the Patriots.
At first, the majority of Minnesota’s fans were pumped to see the talented receiver back on their team’s sidelines. Moss was coming off a productive 2009 season and he was going to have the opportunity to catch passes from legendary quarterback Brett Favre.
However, as was the case for most of 2010, things did not exactly go according to plan with Vikings and the receiver. Moss’ second stint in Minnesota only lasted four games before head coach Brad Childress thought of the not-so-brilliant idea to waive the receiver without consulting the team’s ownership.
In Moss’ four appearances with the Vikings in 2010, he caught 13 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns (including Favre’s 500th).
Childress was fired a few weeks later and the Vikings were left wondering what could have been if the veteran receiver had stuck around for the remainder of the season.
6. Playoff game vs. Saints in 2000
Two catches, that’s all Randy Moss needed to make an impact for the Vikings in their playoff matchup against the New Orleans Saints in the 2000 season.
On the third play of the game, Moss took a little 20-yard floater from Minnesota quarterback Daunte Culpepper and turned it into a 53-yard touchdown. That ended up being the receiver’s only catch of the first half.
Moss only had one reception in the second half too and it also resulted in six more points on the scoreboard for the the Vikings. This time the Minnesota receiver took a screen pass from Culpepper and ran it 68 yards to the end zone with about half of the Saints’ defense chasing behind him.
Moss finished the day with two catches for 121 yards and two touchdowns. Fellow Vikings receiver Cris Carter caught eight passes against New Orleans and still had less receiving yards than Moss.
Moss’ ridiculous speed was on full display during Minnesota’s playoff win over the Saints that season.
5. Lateral to Moe Williams
After winning their first five games of the 2003 season, the Vikings and Randy Moss took on the 5-1 Denver Broncos in a tough Week 7 matchup.
With the game tied at seven apiece, Minnesota’s offense got the ball with under two minutes remaining in the second quarter. The hope for the Vikings was that they could at least get a field goal before the end of the half.
After a Minnesota quarterback Daunte Culpepper was sacked, the Vikings faced a 3rd and 24 from their own 41-yard line with just 12 seconds remaining. Out of field goal range, Culpepper knew his best chance to put points on the board was to just heave the ball down the field.
The Minnesota quarterback did just that and to no one’s surprise, Moss came up with the catch. But what he did next made the jaws drop of everyone watching at home and inside the Metrodome.
Realizing that he was about to be tackled to the ground by a bunch of Broncos defenders, the Vikings receiver flipped the ball over his shoulder to teammate Moe Williams. 15 yards later, Williams was in the end zone celebrating a Minnesota touchdown.
The Vikings ended up with a win over Denver that afternoon, but no one really remembers anything from that game other than the Moss lateral.
4. The 2003 season
Randy Moss’ lateral to Moe Williams was just one of the many highlights of what turned out to arguably be the receiver’s most productive season during his career with the Vikings.
In 2003, Moss finished with 111 catches for 1,632 yards and 17 touchdowns. Both of his reception and yardage totals ended up being career-highs for the receiver and his touchdown total was the second-most he had ever put up in a single season.
Due to his impressive numbers, Moss was voted to the Pro Bowl and selected as a First-Team All-Pro in 2003.
His best performance of the season came in Week 4 when Minnesota took on the San Francisco 49ers. Moss turned the 49ers’ defense into his latest victim as he finished the game with seven catches for 125 yards and three touchdowns.
After the Vikings win over San Francisco that day, Minnesota quarterback Gus Frerotte called Moss, “one of a kind.” That he was indeed, Gus, that he was.
3. Debut on Monday Night Football
Back in 1998, watching every NFL game was not as easy as it is today. The most anyone saw of a player outside of their local area was normally just from highlights.
So when the Vikings were set to play the Green Bay Packers in Week 5 on Monday Night Football, NFL fans got their first full dose of Randy Moss.
Through four games, Moss had already caught four touchdowns and people were curious to see how the receiver would perform on the big stage of Monday Night Football. Well, it didn’t take very long for everyone to realize that Moss was meant to play under the bright lights.
In the second quarter with the game tied at 10, Minnesota quarterback Randall Cunningham tossed a pass down the field in the direction of Moss. The receiver snatched the ball out of the air over two Packers defenders and headed to the end zone to score a 52-yard touchdown.
Moss’ impressive night was not over.
Late in the game with the Vikings up 30-10, Cunningham chucked another pass to the rookie receiver that ended up resulting in a 44-yard touchdown. Moss finished the matchup with five catches for 190 yards and two touchdowns.
That night at Lambeau Field, not only did Green Bay realize the incredible talent that Moss was, so did the rest of the NFL.
2. Shooting the moon in Green Bay
The 2004 season was an odd one for Randy Moss. He was hampered for most of the year by a lingering hamstring injury that ended up causing him to sit out a few games for the first time in his career.
Despite finishing the season with 13 touchdowns, 2004 was easily Moss’ least productive year in Minnesota.
The receiver ended the season with just 49 catches for 767 yards. He was also held without a reception in two games, something that had never happened to Moss before 2004.
Not many remember the receiver’s poor play that season though. Mostly because of what he did during the Vikings’ playoff matchup later that year against the Green Bay Packers.
After barely squeaking into the postseason with an 8-8 record, Minnesota was not expected to go into Lambeau Field and defeat the Packers. But Moss and the Vikings had other plans.
Following a Green Bay touchdown in the fourth quarter that cut their lead to seven, Minnesota turned to the one guy they knew who could make a play, Randy Moss.
With under 11 minutes remaining in the game, Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper threw a pass towards the end zone with the hope that Moss would come up with the catch. Of course, the receiver did haul in the pass and it resulted in another Minnesota touchdown.
After the catch, Moss decided to head towards the goal post and pretend to moon the Packers fans in the stadium.
His celebration got both positive and negative reactions. Casual football fans thought it was hilarious while the snooty old-timers thought he was disrespecting the sport.
But at the end of the day, all that mattered was that Moss scored the game-sealing touchdown to give the Vikings an upset playoff-win over Green Bay.
1. Thanksgiving 1998, Moss style
If the Vikings Week 5 win over the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football was Randy Moss’ coming out party to NFL fans, then Minnesota’s Thanksgiving matchup against the Dallas Cowboys was Moss’ coming out party to the world.
Watching football has become a Thanksgiving tradition in the United States and in 1998, the entire country got to watch Minnesota’s rookie receiver carve up the Cowboys’ defense.
Minnesota Vikings
Moss had just three catches in the matchup, but they all resulted in mesmerizing touchdowns.
On the Vikings’ very first offensive drive of the game, the receiver walked into the end zone after catching a 51-yard pass from Minnesota quarterback Randall Cunningham. Later in the first quarter, Cunningham connected with Moss again for a 56-yard touchdown.
With Dallas creeping back into the game in the third quarter, Moss took a short screen pass and ran 56 yards down the edge of sideline until he crossed the goal line and put six more points up on the board for the Vikings.
Minnesota won the game and the legend of Randy Moss was officially born. The young receiver finished with three catches for 163 yards and three touchdowns.
It’s was a day when the country realized just how special of a player Moss was and it was a performance that no Vikings fan will ever forget.