Tom Brady and Randy Moss only played three seasons together in New England, but the 2007 version of that pairing was downright unfair. Moss caught 23 touchdown passes that year. That’s still the single-season record. And the Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season before running into Eli Manning’s magic in the Super Bowl.
But here’s the thing most people don’t know. That partnership almost didn’t happen. And it started with Moss basically showing up uninvited at a Patriots team hotel.
Moss showed up looking for Brady
During an appearance on the “New Heights” podcast, Brady told the story about how Moss essentially recruited himself to New England. This wasn’t a typical trade negotiation or a quiet conversation through agents. Moss just went to where Brady was.
It was 2006. The Oakland Raiders were a mess, and Moss was miserable. After the Patriots played a game against the Minnesota Vikings, Moss flew to Minneapolis and showed up at the Patriots’ team hotel.
“He flew after the game to meet at the team hotel,” Brady said. “He showed up, and they are like, ‘Tommy, Randy is here.’ So I went and saw him, and he is like ‘Yo, man, I love the way you play man, I want to, like figure out how to make it happen.'”
Brady’s response was basically the same thing everyone would think. “Alright, why are you talking to me? It’s not like I’m the general manager.”
But the conversation clearly worked. The Patriots traded for Moss before the 2007 season, and the rest of the league spent that fall trying to figure out how to stop something that couldn’t be stopped.
A duo that changed the game
Moss wasn’t just a deep threat. He was the reason the term “Mossing” exists. That jump-ball style where he’d go up over a defender and come down with the ball anyway. Put that together with Brady’s precision and the Patriots offense became a video game.
They linked up for 23 touchdowns that season. The previous record was 22 by Jerry Rice. Moss made it look routine. And it’s wild to think it all started with a guy walking into a hotel lobby hoping the quarterback would put in a good word.
Brady’s point was that he didn’t have roster power. But the meeting pushed things along. That’s a pretty good example of a player making his own move.
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