The Santana Moss-for-Laveranues Coles trade last March was greeted with skepticism in some parts. Coles, after all, was coming off a 2004 season in which he logged 90 receptions for the Redskins, the third-highest total in team history. Meantime, Moss logged 45 catches last year for the New York Jets.
Flash forward to 2005 and Moss is on pace for several team records himself. He could surpass and even shatter some team marks set by the some of the Redskins' greatest players.
Perhaps the most notable record is most yards gained in a season. Moss leads the NFL with 743 receiving yards.
Bobby Mitchell holds the team record with 1,436 yards in the 1963 season. Moss is on pace for 1,981 yards this season, which would not only shatter the Redskins' record but also break Jerry Rice's NFL record of 1,848 yards set in 1995.
Certainly it's far too soon to suggest Moss has a chance at breaking the all-time record, but the team record would appear to be a possibility.
Moss is also on pace for 101 receptions, which would be second most all-time in franchise history, behind only Art Monk's 106 catches in 1984.
Moss has four 100-yard receiving games so far this season. The franchise record for one season is seven set by Mitchell in 1962.
Finally, Moss has a chance to set a team record in this Sunday's game against the New York Giants. If he logs another 100-yard receiving game at the Meadowlands, it will be his fourth time he will have done so in as many games. That would break Monk's team record of three consecutive 100-yard receiving games, set in the 1985 season.
In many ways, the numbers that Moss has already put up are astonishing.
Not to Moss, though.
"I am thankful for the season I'm having, but I'm not the kind of guy who's going to get overconfident," Moss said. "When you put the effort out, it comes. I have always been a true believer in that. I've always worked hard and now you're seeing it all come together."
Said head coach Joe Gibbs: "For a smaller receiver, Santana has fantastic down-the-field reaction to the ball. When he hits the ground with it, I don't think there are many people who are faster. He's a guy with great hands and he has a great ability to snatch the ball.
"I would throw the ball to him down there no matter what because he has a chance at getting the ball every time. He is just better with the ball in flight than most people are."
If Moss keeps it up, he could be among the very best in franchise history.
