Per Sun-Sentinal:
It was as if Vontae Davis was sharing some ancient recipe passed down from generation to generation. Or better yet, cornerback to cornerback.The grin on his face widened as Davis confessed the secret to holding Randy Moss to one catch in two games.
And in fairness to Davis, that lone catch Moss made for 26 yards in his debut with the Titans wasn’t with him in coverage. The Dolphins (5-4) were in a deep zone, playing prevent defense late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s 29-17 win, and cornerback Sean Smith was the closest defender to Moss.
“Know thy opponent,” the Dolphins second-year cornerback said, referring to the countless hours he spent studying Moss. “Every receiver has tendencies, and I know his tendencies. I’ve figured him out. I know what type of plays he’s running.”
That’s right, Davis claims Moss, a first-ballot Hall of Fame receiver, one of the most productive deep threats in NFL history, has signs that tipoff what kind of route he’s running.
Moss, who was traded from New England to Minnesota earlier this season and waived by the Vikings, had only been with the Titans for a week’s worth of practices after being claimed off waivers, so his ability to make route adjustments on the fly were limited.
But Moss drew plenty of attention from the Dolphins, who jammed him at the line of scrimmage, rerouting him on most man-coverage calls. The Dolphins also put a safety on top of him on down-and-distance plays that favored Tennessee passes.
“We had him running past double-teams and brackets all game,” Smith said.
The Titans tried to connect with Moss on some deep patterns but came up empty. However, Moss did draw a 33-yard pass interference call on Davis, who was trailing him on a deep pass and prematurely initiated contact.
“He wasn’t open,” Tennessee quarterback Vince Young said, trying to explain why Moss spent most of the game serving as a decoy. “That’s how it’s going to be sometimes. They were playing a lot of safety over the top.”
Coming into Sunday’s game, Moss had scored 10 touchdowns in the 10 games he’d played against the Dolphins. And that included his first shutout since the 2006 season, which took place during the Oct. 4 41-14 loss to New England. That happened to be Moss’ final game as a Patriot, before Moss was banished by Bill Belichick.
“Bad game for me,” Moss said during a one-minute, 14-second press conference he did Sunday evening before walking off in the middle of a question. “I think I just tried to do as much hustling as I could, just try to stay within the offense.”
Considering Moss’ usual postgame antics, it’s hard to tell if the source of his frustration was his performance, or just his overall frustration from a difficult season, one in which the Dolphins have made him look his age (33) twice.
“We’ve got good history with the guy. We shut him out the first game this year. He has one catch [on Sunday],” Dolphins safety Yeremiah Bell said. “We’ve got him figured out.”
When warned Moss could possibly get released again this season and might end up on another team the Dolphins face in the final seven weeks of 2010, Bell dismissed the notion saying: “If he does we’ll take care of him then too.
“One catch in two games,” Bell reminded. “We’ve got something figured out.”
