No one with any semblance of brain matter floating around their skull would ever dare question the fact that Randy Moss is one of the most talented wideouts (even perhaps players) in the history of the NFL. It’s not an issue that’s up for debate.

However, anyone who watched Moss play with the Raiders knows that he can become a touch, ahem, lethargic when he’s not happy. But I watched Tom Brady stumble through a win against the Falcons on Sunday (at times overthrowing Moss) and even at one point thought, “But there’s no way he could ever become angry now, he’s got Tom Freaking Brady throwing him the ball.” Well, I might be wrong, judging by Mike Freeman’s latest column over at CBS Sports, which is quite a fascinating peek at Moss on-field behavior.

CBSSports.com charted every Moss play against the Falcons, and on a significant number of them, Moss either didn’t block or generated a lackluster blocking effort. On other plays, when the ball wasn’t going to him, Moss jogged some of his routes.

Now, this is certainly an interesting study in human behavior, but it doesn’t tell us much of anything new; a substantial portion of the human population tries harder at whatever they do when there’s more at stake. It’s the equivalent of someone starting to work their ass off when “the Bobs” come to town, while muddling through normal day activity.

What is interesting is the football strategy behind it. You see, the Falcons apparently recognized Moss’ tendencies ahead of time, and as Freeman mentioned later in his column, they would double him whenever he broke from the line with enthusiasm, and they would leave him in single coverage whenever he came off lethargically.

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Just like everyone else who isn’t dead inside, I really enjoy end zone celebrations. It’s hilarious to observe sportswriters and commentators get angry when Randy Moss faux-moons the crowd or Chad Johnson performs CPR on a football. I’m guessing that everyone will have the same reaction to this one, though: confusion.

Last night, Toronto Argos receiver Arland Bruce ran in for a touchdown. Then he ripped off his helmet, jersey, and shoulder pads, laid down in the endzone, closed his eyes, and crossed his arms. This is the strange part:

Bruce said he was honoring the memory of Michael Jackson by pretending to be buried.

Is … what is this? Is this irony? If a player wants to do an end zone celebration that pays tribute to Michael Jackson, the obvious solution is to Moonwalk. Can’t Moonwalk? It’s hard, don’t feel bad. Just do the Thriller dance or something. He gave you plenty of fodder when he was alive; there’s no need to impersonate his corpse. As if someone watching on television would wistfully take a sip of beer and think, “Yep … that was Michael Jackson for you. Always bein’ buried.”

Furthermore, I’m not sure why he thought his “dead Michael Jackson” impression would be any more authentic without half his uniform. “No, guys, you don’t get it! Michael Jackson would never be buried while wearing a jersey and football helmet! He didn’t even play football!”

Of course, this isn’t weird because it’s macabre or disrespectful or anything like that. This is weird because it doesn’t make a damn bit of sense. Look for him to pay a special end zone tribute to Farrah Fawcett next week by … I don’t know, drinking a glass of water?

Matt Cassel, the Patriots’ de facto starter at quarterback since Tom Brady went down, presents an obvious question mark.  Cassel, famously, has not started a single game since high school.  The Pats have responded by acquiring a seasoned veteran to compensate for Cassel’s inexperience.

The Patriots signed QB Matt Gutierrez to their practice squad today.

Gutierrez had been with the club last season and through 2008 training camp. He played in five games last season, completing his lone pass attempt for for 15 yards.

In one fell swoop, the Patriots’ quarterback squad has been augmented from a total of 57 career pass attempts to 58.  And if that weren’t enough upside, Gutierrez has a 100 percent career completion percentage and a 118.8 passer rating.  God, is it even possible for a team in today’s NFL to suffer a worse downgrade?  There’s about as much of a gap in quarterback talent between Tom Brady and Cassel/Gutierrez as there is between Cassel/Gutierrez and me.

New England’s game plan should probably be to minimize the role of whichever quarterback they decide to trot out.  I’m not just talking about a 70/30 percent run/pass ratio.  I would advocate an offense built around direct snaps to wide receiver Randy Moss and running back Laurence Maroney.  The quarterback should just amble around in the backfield like a kid who missed the school bus and is debating whether to get a ride from his mom or go to the grocery store and hang out in the magazine aisle.

No? No takers? Come onnnnnnn, guy. Seriously, Kraft, you know you want this to happen. Sex Cannon + Randy Moss = FTW.

Okay, maybe Kraft doesn’t have to go out and trade for someone like Rex Grossman — after all, Matt Cassel did wing some nice lame ducks Moss’s way — but the obviously huge news of the NFL’s first Sunday is that Tom Brady is injured. And may be out for the season.

While New England coach Bill Belichick said in his postgame press conference that he had no update on the status of Brady’s injury, two sources indicated it involved serious damage to the knee.

“It’s bad,” a team source said. “We’re going to have to play without him.”

And if you can stomach the geometry involved in trying to figure out exactly what’s going on with Brady’s body and knee in the photo to your right, then you can see how “season ending” might not be such a stretch.

There’s an immediate guffawing circulating around the media about the potential irony in Matt Cassel being able to “Brady-Bledsoe” the Golden Boy, but here’s the thing: Bill Belichick has kept this guy on his team for a few years now, so how bad can he be?

Sure, beating the Chiefs is no big shakes at all — they could potentially end up going 0-16 on the season if they force Larry Johnson into a few hundred carries before midway through the season — but when Brady stepped into Bledsoe’s role a few years ago, no one thought he was going to kickstart a dynasty.