All-Pro enjoys his New England comeback.

Byline: Rich Garven

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Randy Moss had a comeback for the ages this season, answering any questions about whether he was still an elite NFL receiver.

Moss caught 98 passes - just four less than he had the two previous seasons with the Raiders - for 1,493 yards and a league-record 23 touchdowns. He had at least 100 receiving yards in nine games and at least two touchdowns on eight occasions.

All those numbers translated into Moss being named All-Pro for the fifth time in his 10 seasons and finishing second in the Comeback Player of the Year voting. Oh yeah, he also found time to smell the grass and spruce up his tarnished image - even in defeat.

"It is really something I will never forget," Moss said after the Patriots lost to the Giants, 17-14, last night in Super Bowl XLII to finish 18-1. "Just for the season and everything that has happened up to this point, the positives and the negatives. I think a lot of people didn't want us to win this game. We'll come back, don't worry about that. We'll come back."

The Patriots got here by beating the Jaguars and, in the AFC Championship, the Chargers. Moss, though, was conspicuous by his absence with just one catch in each game.

It took some time, but the Patriots finally got Moss involved last night as he finished with five catches for 62 yards and a touchdown.

Moss only saw four balls come his way through the first three quarters, making one catch for 18 yards. But they looked his way eight times in the fourth quarter, including four times on what looked at the time to be the winning drive. Moss responded with three catches for 26 yards.

Two of the receptions resulted in first downs, and the last was good for 6 yards and six points to give the Patriots a 14-10 lead with 2:42 to go. It came two plays after Tom Brady missed an open Moss on the left side of the end zone, ending a streak in which the Patriots had run 33 straight postseason plays in the red zone without looking Moss' way.

"It was just a simple fade," Moss said of his TD catch. "It was a crucial situation in the game. It was late in the game, and I really thought that play gave us the momentum to take us up. But on their side of the ball, offense and defense, they had the intensity for four quarters. So that is what really hurt."

The Giants' defense was universally lauded after the game. Moss was more selective in his praise, though.

"I don't think their secondary did anything overwhelming," he said. "I think that it was their pass rush, their front four is what really set the tone for four quarters. I think their secondary is ordinary."

The Patriots' final two plays of the season were deep balls to Moss that fell incomplete.

Now the question is whether Moss' work with the Patriots is complete or will the soon-to-be free agent take his game elsewhere next season.

The Patriots only agreed to ship a fourth-round draft choice to Oakland in exchange for Moss after he agreed to a pay cut of nearly $5 million when it was all said and done.

No one expects Moss to accept anything less than market price for his free agent services next season, which would probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of three years and $27 million.

Moss is cautiously optimistic he'll remain in New England.

"I would love to be in a New England Patriot uniform," he said from behind dark sunglasses, "but if I'm not, life moves on."

There's no doubt his quarterback would love to have him back. Brady has been an unabashed Randy Rooter from Day 1, not only wowed by Moss' physical skills but also his mental awareness of the game.

"A lot of players just have the perspective of their own position that they play, you know, if you're a running back, you just see it through the running back's eyes," Brady said. "Randy has an understanding of the quarterback's eyes and the receiver and the defense and how they're trying to stop him."

NAME: NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 

ART: PHOTOS

CUTLINE: (1) Patriots quarterback Tom Brady escapes the grasp of Giants defensive end Michael Strahan. (2) With time winding down, Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss can't catch a third-down pass behind Giants Corey Webster and Gibril Wilson.

PHOTOG: T&G Staff Photos/STEVE LANAVA