The times, they are a changing

What has happened to all the loud mouth receivers in the NFL?
Randy Moss everyone’s favorite boisterous juice entrepreneur, has stopped running his mouth and instead has been running his touchdown total up to point where he might pass Jerry Rice’s single season record of 22 touchdowns in the strike shortened season of 1987.
Terrell Owens, a man who nobody in the NFL has been able to shut up, is apparently happy catching touchdowns from Tony Romo and no longer feels the need to belittle all of his quarterbacks, teammates, and coaches. Hey I don’t know how Tony Romo is keeping T.O.’s mouth shut but for the sake of all of us I hope he keeps at it.
Then there’s Ocho Cinco. Chad Johnson, Mr. Touchdown celebration himself has said that he is putting his touchdown celebrations on hold until his 3-7 Bengals start winning again. No racing against horses, no Hall of Fame jackets, no nothing until the team starts putting some W’s on the schedule.
The irony in all this is that while Rice (who’s widely considered the greatest receiver of all time) was not one to show-boat, his modern day successor; the Colts Marvin Harrison, has spent most of the year riding the bench due to a knee injury.
It seems as though there are plenty of people willing to take his place, and I’m not quite sure why. It could be that these receivers saw how mild mannered Calvin Johnson has been treated by the media even though he is only half way through his first professional season.
It also could be that they just got tired of being consistently attacked by the media, and just decided that it was time to let their playing do the talking.
My theory is that Moss and Owens are happy because they are getting the ball. They are scoring a lot and their team is winning (in part) because of it. Their childish egos have been fed for now, and they can let their game show the entire world how great they are.
As for Chad Johnson, I have always thought highly of him and respected him for never calling out his teammates, or coaching staff. I believe all of his motives were simply to have fun and make the fans laugh while he was at it. Sure, he has a big ego, but I am very impressed by his willingness to put all of that aside as a motivator to himself and his team to start winning again.
Personally, while I am sorry to see Chad Johnson’s touchdown celebrations end, I am very happy that T.O. and Moss have shut up for the time being. If anything this year has shown us that above all else winning is what makes the game fun for these guys. When they are having fun they are at their best both personally and professionally. For the league’s sake lets hope all three continue (or in Chad Johnson’s instance begin) to have fun for a long time to come.