National Football League

Brady-Moss combo keeps clicking for Patriots

Published Nov. 12, 2009 11:33 p.m. ET

foxsports

Tom Brady lofted a perfect pass down the right sideline. Randy Moss reached up and made a remarkable one-handed catch at the 1-yard line. Just four offensive plays earlier, that same New England connection failed when Brady threw deep down the middle and Miami's Vontae Davis intercepted - Davis would be burned by Moss's acrobatic 36-yard reception just short of the goal line. "Most of the time in a situation like that quarterbacks say, 'You know what? I'm not throwing that ball again because I already threw an interception,"' former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison said, "but Tom and Randy, they have such a good relationship, a trust within one another. "Brady throws it up again and Randy comes down with a one-hand grab," Harrison added. One-hand or two, short pass or long, Moss and Brady have become one of the NFL's most productive combinations in only their second full season together. After being traded by the Oakland Raiders, Moss caught an NFL-record 23 touchdown passes in 2007, all from Brady. In their first game this season after Brady missed all but part of the opener in 2008 with an injury, they teamed up for 12 completions. Brady set an NFL record with 50 touchdown passes in 2007 - his last a 65-yarder to Moss - breaking the mark of 49 in 2004 by Peyton Manning of Indianapolis. "Obviously, what Moss had done before he got to New England was awfully impressive," Manning said, "and I think everybody knew once New England signed him that the two of them were going to make for a tough combination, and that's certainly proven to be true." Moss's catch against Davis - right arm outstretched against tight coverage - set up Laurence Maroney's 1-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter of last Sunday's 27-17 win over the Dolphins. It was one of six Moss made for 147 yards. One of those plays covered 71 yards, a touchdown on which he ran the final 60. "We know each other pretty well. We have a great relationship on the field, off the field. He's a very smart football player and I think we give him a lot of opportunities to do the things that he does well," Brady said. "A lot of quarterbacks can throw him the ball and he makes everybody look good. Plays like the one last week, with the long touchdown, a pretty simple play for a quarterback." The admiration is mutual. After Brady threw two touchdown passes to Benjamin Watson in the final 2:06 to beat the Buffalo Bills 25-24 in the opener, Moss praised his leadership. "When you have a guy like that leading you down the field," Moss said, "you can't do nothing but try to run through a brick wall for him." They're still far behind the NFL's most prolific scoring combinations, a list topped by the 112 touchdown passes from Manning to Marvin Harrison from 1998-2008. Jim Kelly and Andre Reed hooked up for 65 touchdowns with Buffalo from 1986-96, fourth in NFL history. "There are different things you can do when you start feeling comfortable with each other. You can give that little nod that tells him what to do," Kelly said. "Brady and Moss both had their good years already so when you have a great receiver and a great quarterback teaming up, they know what it takes." In just 25 regular-season games together, they've connected on 28 touchdowns heading into Sunday night's game at the Colts. Rodney Harrison was Brady's teammate for six seasons in which he also tried to break up Manning's passes. "I don't think you can even compare Tom Brady and Randy Moss" to the Indianapolis duo, Harrison said. "Maybe in the sense that, yes, they both set records, but what Marvin Harrison and Peyton have done over a decade ... it was just something that I've never really seen before." But Marvin Harrison is out of football while Brady and Moss, both 32, are still rolling. They wasted no time showing what two of the NFL's best players at their positions could do together. In their first game, Moss caught nine passes for 183 yards and a 51-yard touchdown in the 2007 opener of a 16-0 regular season. Then came the injury midway through the first quarter of the first game in 2008 against Kansas City. Brady was hit by defensive back Bernard Pollard but managed to throw a 28-yard completion to Moss, who lost the ball on a fumble. Brady had accuracy problems early this season and has missed a wide-open Moss at times, most notably on an overthrown pass in the end zone in a 20-17 overtime loss to the Denver Broncos. But Moss has 49 catches for 712 yards and five touchdowns and Brady is sixth in the league with 2,364 yards passing and tied for third with 16 touchdown passes. Coach Bill Belichick wasn't surprised to see them work so well together again. "We had almost 50 practices in preseason. That's not counting all the spring," he said. "Those guys work hard. They are very talented players." Patriots linebacker Tully Banta-Cain missed the Brady-Moss debut season when he signed with San Francisco after four years with New England. He returned after being released in February. With the 49ers, he heard a lot about two other combinations - Steve Young to Jerry Rice (second with 85 touchdowns) and Joe Montana to Rice (tied for ninth with 55). "Everybody there is still kind of living in that era. That was a high standard that those guys set," Banta-Cain said, but "you say Tom Brady and Randy Moss in the same sentence, you're expecting good things to happen and that's been the case."