Santana Moss

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Santana Moss

Washington Redskins — No. 89
Wide receiver
Date of birth: June 1, 1979 (1979-06-01) (age 29)
Place of birth: Miami, Florida
Height: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)	Weight: 200 lb (91 kg)
National Football League debut
2001 for the New York Jets
Career history
College: University of Miami
NFL Draft: 2001 / Round: 1 / Pick: 16
Teams: New York Jets (2001-2004) Washington Redskins (2005-Present)
Career highlights and awards
1x Pro Bowl selection (2005) 2x All-Pro selection (2002, 2005)
Selected NFL statistics (through Week 17 of the 2007 NFL season)
Receptions	351
Receiving Yards	5,497
Receiving TDs	37
Stats at NFL.com

Santana Terrell Moss (born June 1, 1979 in Miami, Florida) is an American football player who currently plays wide receiver for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League. His younger brother, Sinorice, currently plays wide receiver for the New York Giants.

[edit] Early years

Moss played high school football at Miami Carol City Senior High where he led Carol City with 25 receptions for 600 yards and 12 TD as a senior, and amassed 450 yards on 12 kickoff returns with one TD that year. Moss earned third-team all-state football honors following his senior season.

[edit] College career

Moss joined the Miami Hurricanes in 1997 as a walk-on, before being awarded a scholarship after the season's third game. He went on to break the school's record (previously held by Michael Irvin) for most receiving yards (with 2,546 yards). He finished the 2000 season with 1,604 all-purpose yards. He was chosen to the "All-Big East Conference First Team" as a senior. Moss was the first player to earn Big East Offensive and Special Teams Player of the Year honors in the same season.

Moss also ran track at the University of Miami, and was named the "Most Outstanding Field Performer" for the 2000 Big East Outdoor Track and Field championships. In 1999, Moss finished the 60-meter dash in 6.83 seconds.

Moss is an important figure in Miami Hurricanes football history, generally considered (along with Michael Irvin) one of the most accomplished wide receivers in the university's history. He graduated as the school's all-time leader in receiving yards (2,546), punt return yards (1,196), and all-purpose yards (4,394).

[edit] NFL career

[edit] 2001 NFL Draft

Moss was a first round (16th overall) pick in the 2001 NFL Draft by the New York Jets out of the University of Miami. Moss's agent is fellow University of Miami alumnus Drew Rosenhaus, who is widely considered one of the most aggressive agents currently representing NFL players.

(* represents NFL Combine)

[edit] New York Jets

Moss played 51 games with the Jets and finished with 3,899 receiving yards, 19 touchdowns, 127 rushing yards, and 1,799 return yards.

[edit] Washington Redskins

[edit] 2005 season

Following the 2004 season, Moss was acquired by the Redskins in a trade with the Jets for former Jet Laveranues Coles.

Known for his big play potential, Moss started the season off with a bang in just Week 2 against the Dallas Cowboys, where he caught two touchdown passes of 39 and 70 yards from Mark Brunell in the last five minutes to beat the Cowboys 14-13 on Monday Night Football. This dramatic finish immediately endeared him to his new hometown fans, and set the stage for a season that would turn him into a fan favorite in Washington.

His 2005 season with the Redskins was the best in his professional career, with 84 receptions for 1,483 yards(second highest in the nfl that year, behind only Steve Smith of the Carolina Panthers), setting a new Redskins single-season receiving record. In 2005, Moss also was selected to his first NFL Pro Bowl. Moss recorded 18 rushing yards and 3 catches for 39 receiving yards at the Pro Bowl. Also, this amazing year solidified Moss as an elite receiver and a deep threat in the NFL.

[edit] 2006 season

The 2006 season got off to a slow start for Moss. In the first three games, he recorded only 13 catches for 188 yards as the Redskins got off to a disappointing 1-2 start. On October 1, 2006, however, Moss exploded for a season-high 138 yards on 4 catches, hauling in three touchdowns of 55 and 8 yards, as well as a 68-yard game-winning touchdown to give Washington the victory in overtime over the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars 36-30 [1].

Due to injuries that kept him inactive much of the year and less than 100% when he did play, Moss finished the year with 790 yards on 55 receptions and the Redskins finished the year a disappointing 5-11.

[edit] 2007 season

In another injury-plagued year, Moss fell well short of repeating his 2005 performance despite a fairly strong start, highlighted by two eighty yard games against divisional rivals Philadelphia and New York in weeks two and three. While this implied that he may return to his 2005 form, the streak was promptly cut short, by Moss straining his groin in the fourth quarter of the game against the Giants. This kept him out of practice in the team's week 4 bye, and also forced him out of the week 5 game against Detroit. He returned in week 6 with a staggeringly poor game, where he dropped numerous passes, and fumbled on a reversal, which was recovered by the Packers for a TD. After the game, he apologized to fans and teammates for an admittedly bad performance. The week after, he did little to aid his team in their victory over Arizona, catching just two passes for eight yards, which he followed up in kind in his next two games= against the New England Patriots and New York Jets, getting 10 catches for 90 yards in the two games, which ended with him injuring his heel, keeping him out in the team's second game against Philadelphia, where Moss' replacement, James Thrash, caught two TD passes, while former-Charger Keenan McCardell caught another, the first three TD passes thrown to wide receivers that season (tight end Chris Cooley, and fullback Mike Sellers were the only players to that point to have a receiving TD). Moss returned the next week, putting up what would be, statistically, his best game of the season, by catching 9 passes for 121 yards and a TD in a loss to the Cowboys. From there, Moss put up several mediocre performances, netting 16 passes for 204 yards (51 ypg) in weeks 12 to 15. Week 16 was similar, where he caught 4 passes for 71 yards, but caught a 32 yard TD after an interception thrown by Minnesota quarterback Tarvaris Jackson. Moss capped off the regular season strong in the Redskins' rematch against the Cowboys, catching 8 passes for 115 yards, including the game's first TD, and a pass which helped set up a Shaun Suisham field goal to put the game out of Dallas' reach, bringing the Redskins into the playoffs. The Redskins did not last long in the postseason, however, losing to the Seattle Seahawks in the first round, despite a solid 6 catch, 68 yard performance which included a 30 yard TD from Santana.

Blame for a statistically average, 806 yard, 3 TD season does not necessarily fall entirely on Santana's shoulders, however. Washington was in a much-improved NFC East, including the top seed Dallas Cowboys and the eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants. QB Jason Campbell also used Chris Cooley as his chief receiving threat for most of the season, which resulted in a long TD drought for Washington's WRs, cutting into Moss' opportunities to maintain any sort of consistency, as well as produce any large number of TDs. Additionally, Campbell had his own injury and turnover troubles, putting up only 2700 yards in 13 games, while putting up 12 TDs to 11 INTs and 8 fumbles, and putting up grossly inconsistent yardage totals, while playing in a limited fashion on and off throughout the season with a knee injury that eventually put him out for the remainder of the season after week 13, and was replaced by Todd Collins.

[edit] Career statistics

Receiving

[edit] Playing style

While Moss does not have the size of prototypical wide receiver, he does have excellent speed and amazing quickness which allows him to consistently separate from defensive backs.[2] Also, due to his size, Moss does not receive a lot of jump balls, he is adept at making leaping grabs due to his 44-inch vertical.[3]

[edit] Personal

Moss attended Scottlake Elementary and Parkway Middle School, both located in Miami. He majored in liberal arts at the University of Miami. In an interview, Moss said he is not an outgoing person. He is rather quiet, and lets his play do his talking. As a teenager, he was always small and was made fun of when he said he wanted to be a receiver. After showing everyone what he brought to the table, people backed off.

Moss is married to high school sweetheart LaTosha Allen-Moss they have two children, Santana, Jr. (a son) and Saniya (a daughter). He is the older brother of current New York Giants wide receiver Sinorice Moss, who was drafted in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Santana Moss Official Web Site.
• Santana Moss Official Blog.
• Santana Moss biography at NFLplayers.com.
• Santana Moss collegiate statistics at University of Miami Athletics Web Site.
• Santana Moss NFL statistics at NFL.com.
• Santana Moss Partner Site.