TIME magazine had a post on their website when Madden gave Randy Moss a 99 Overall score. “Disgruntled Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss has something to be gruntled about,” wrote Nate Jones. “He’s got the perfect Madden score of the year.” Moss joined the video game’s 99 Club later than most fans would expect, though. Madden gave Moss a 99 in September 2011, during his third season with the New England Patriots. He was 32 then, a year removed from his brief return to the Minnesota Vikings before finishing the season with the Tennessee Titans.
An immaculate catch put Moss over the top. With the score tied 7-7 early in the second quarter of New England’s Week 2 game against the New York Jets, Moss beat Darrelle Revis off the line and signaled for the ball. Tom Brady stepped up in the pocket and lobbed the ball towards Moss, who reeled it in one-handed to put the Pats up 14-7. New England lost 28-14, one of just two losses on the season, then lost again to the Jets in the divisional round. But Moss was victorious. He became part of the 99 Club.
But Justin Jefferson’s one-handed grab in Buffalo made Moss’ catch look like child’s play. Down 27-23 with two minutes left in the fourth quarter, the Vikings were facing fourth-and-18 deep in their own territory. Kirk Cousins took the shotgun snap, stepped up in the pocket, and heaved the ball Jefferson’s way. Jefferson leapt with his right arm extended and took the ball away from Buffalo Bills safety Cam Lewis.
Minnesota scored on that drive and pulled off their only upset of the year in overtime. The Bills game made the Vikings feel like a team of destiny last year, and Jefferson’s catch vaulted him into rarified air. Before breaking Moss’ single-season receiving record last season, Jefferson had put himself in the same breath as the all-time great wideout. Moss had informed Jefferson that he made the Pro Bowl the year before, and Jefferson has worn Moss T-shirts before games. But Jefferson’s catch and his Madden rating further tether him to the SuperFreak.
Ironically, the man trying to maximize Jefferson also has ties to the Pats and Jets. New England took Kevin O’Connell in the third round of the 2008 draft. However, they waived him after a year. The Detroit Lions picked him up on September 1, 2009, but traded him to the Jets five days later. He spent the 2009 season backing up Mark Sanchez, the fifth-overall pick that year. O’Connell entered the 2010 preseason as Sanchez’s backup again, setting up a viral moment that people resurfaced after the Vikings hired him last year.
The Jets were last on Hard Knocks in 2010, and they will be on the HBO series again this year after trading for Aaron Rodgers in the offseason. Coincidentally, 2010 is also the last time the Jets made the playoffs, the longest drought in the NFL. Against the team’s wishes, the HBO crews will be at their camp again, checking in on Rodgers as he tries to navigate the loaded NFC East during his first year in New York. If this year’s Hard Knocks is anything like the 2010 edition, we’re in for a treat.
Rex Ryan had an epic speech to kick off training camp. Revis held out. Antonio Cromartie forgot his kids’ names. But most pertinently to Vikings fans, the Jets cut O’Connell in front of a national audience. Current ESPN personality and then-Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum invites O’Connell into his office and tells him that they’re moving on from him. It’s hard to watch to this day.
O’Connell returned to the Jets in 2011, but they cut him again after a year. After letting O’Connell go for the second time, Ryan told him that he thought O’Connell would make “one hell of a coach,” even if he didn’t think much of him as a quarterback. O’Connell still has the message on his phone. Ryan was right about O’Connell, but O’Connell wasn’t done playing. The former San Diego State quarterback returned home to play for the then-San Diego Chargers. However, they released him in August 2012. O’Connell got his first NFL job coaching quarterbacks for the Cleveland Browns three years later.
Thirteen years after Madden made Moss the perfect receiver, Jefferson joins him with a 99 Overall rating. Jefferson’s one-handed grab kicked off an unlikely 11-0 run in one-score games for the Vikings. However, their playoff loss to the New York Giants is a reminder of how far they have to go. Jefferson can only do so much. Can Cousins elevate his game in his second year under O’Connell? Will the defense improve under Brian Flores? And can Greg Joseph break Minnesota’s kicker curse? A lot has to go right for the Vikings to repeat as NFC Champions and build off last year. A 99-overall receiver only comes around every so often. They have to make the most of it next season.
