Moss still learning offense, ready for Cowboys

Brett Favre did not practice Wednesday because of his elbow injury, which means he didn't get any reps with Randy Moss.

Both players said after Monday's game that they need some practice time together to develop their chemistry but it doesn't look like Favre will get many throws in practice this week. Moss said the biggest thing for him is studying the playbook so that he has a better handle on the offense and new terminology.

"It's been hard, but I think at the end of the day, football's football," Moss said. "The route combinations and the concepts are similar everywhere you go. But the terminology and how they word things is something I have to get used to. That's why I'm studying so hard. So when the quarterback breaks the huddle, I can hear the play and know the play right away instead of looking into his eyes and him telling me what to do. I don't what the play clock to be down low. I feel like this, if I don't know what I'm doing I don't want to be out there. I put a point of emphasis on making sure I'm studying, making sure I'm taking care of my body, eating right. So when I'm out there, I'm giving it everything I got." Moss caught four passes for 81 yards, including a 37-yard touchdown catch in his first game back against the New York Jets. Favre targeted him 10 times. "I appreciate that because he didn't have to do that, and I didn't really expect that," Moss said in a conference call with Dallas writers. "That's why I want to make sure I get back in the playbook each and every week to make sure I know where to line up so they're not pointing me out where to line up or pointing me out the route to run or things like that. I want to contribute as much as I can without being a problem or a cancer to the offense [with] delay of game or false starts or not knowing where to line up or not knowing my route adjustments. I don't want to be a cancer to this offense, knowing I don't know what I'm doing, because I could get somebody really, really, really killed or really hurt out there, not knowing what to do." One story line that will get attention this week besides Moss' return to the Metrodome is the fact he's tormented the Cowboys ever since they passed over him in the 1998 draft. Moss has 35 catches for 734 yards and 11 touchdowns in seven career games against Dallas. Asked the reason behind his success, Moss said: "You can go back to the '98 draft. That would be your answer." Moss told Dallas writers that he was convinced the Cowboys were going to draft him because when he visited the team, owner Jerry Jones arranged for Moss to visit Deion Sanders at his home. He said his mom's reaction after Dallas passed on him on draft day is what made him so angry. "My mom is not really big into sports – she never has I don't think she ever will – she really had her hopes set on me going to Dallas because of all the conversation when I came back from visiting Dallas," he said. "When they didn't pick me, I was kind of more depressed because she was more depressed and I took that to heart. Just seeing her facial expression and how she looked, I really took that to heart, man. I told myself any time I play the Dallas Cowboys I'm never going to forget that look." Jones said he doesn't think Moss will ever forgive him. "I think that has been ingrained in him," Jones told reporters in Dallas last week. "I apologize, I apologize, I apologize. I don't believe that's going to do any good. He's too much of a competitor. We probably awoke a sleeping giant if it meant that much to him. Certainly he's made us pay, and I'm sorry we've got to play him."