Moss As Ready As Ever

During his career, Randy Moss has been accused of not being a team player or displaying a good work ethic. That may never have been completely accurate, but now looks to be completely wrong.

Last year was a humbling one for Randy Moss. Without Cris Carter to take some of the heat away, Moss was constantly double-teamed and pushed around by physical corners and safeties.

To that end Moss, who has been accused of being lazy in his workout habits and admittedly "takes a play off" here or there in games, has committed himself to improving and being the best receiver in the NFL ... again.

Moss has been working out with weights for the first time in his pro career, gaining more than 10 pounds of muscle. He has also been working out to improve his short-distance speed -- already at or near the top of the NFL.

What is gone are the forays into injury country. You haven't heard about Moss and his attempt to live out his basketball Hoop Dreams in the offseason. Those have hit the back burner. Moss, for all his talent, is a marginal basketballer. He is a great football player. And he is working to show his critics and friends alike that he can be dominant like nobody else at his position and is ready to start letting people know about it.

THURSDAY NOTES
* As reported last month, the Vikings have set Sept. 14 as the date to retire Cris Carter's jersey. The team is expected to ceremoniously re-sign Carter this month so he can officially retire as a Viking.
* Jeff George's name has surfaced again, this time as potentially returning to Seattle. We guess his agent was right when he said a handful of teams were interested in George when he played contract hardball with the Vikes. Well, maybe not a handful, but one finger (you can decide which finger that would be).