I've always been in the Randy Moss camp ever since he joined the Patriots in 2007. I think the idea that he doesn't play each and every snap with the intensity of a wronged character in a Dumas novel is way, way overblown. I suspect that if you watched every wide receiver in the NFL play every snap you'd see some ups and downs on the effort scale. 

And production? Moss has now played 49 regular-season games with the Patriots since the beginning of the 2007 season and has 48 touchdowns, or the same amount as the Bengals "Reality Twins" combo of Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens combined during that span.

I wrote last week that Moss deserves a contract extension. His play and effort have warranted a deal, and he should remain (yep, remain -- remember the Pats have already paid the guy before) one of the three or four highest paid wide receivers in football. I have zero reservations when I write that he has been a great -- not good, great -- Patriot. 

But for 16 minutes in a postgame press conference on Sunday -- after a season-opening win that included a pair of TD catches from a returning Wes Welker-- the future Hall of Famer showed why many people have moved out of the Randy Moss Camp over the years. The folks in Minnesota and Oakland were able to shrug off 0-1 starts and crack a smile as New England got a serious dose of Me Time from Randy.

"I've been here for three years and this is my fourth season," Moss said to the reporters. "When it comes to football, I take my business seriously.  I think there are some people are, I don't want to say the organization, but I think around here in the New England area, there are some people who don't want to see me do good."

On a day when the football game had little if any drama, Moss decided to step up to the podium and give a rambling monologue that was occasionally interrupted by a question. On its own it was terrific theatre, and next to what you usually hear from Belichick, Brady and the rest it was Laurence Olivier as Hamlet. Make no mistake, Moss is a smart guy. He knew exactly what he was going to say and how it would be interpreted. He just didn't care. 

He didn't care that this would mean Welker and Brady and the young defense and the tight ends and Brandon Tate's moment of Devin Hesterism would be pushed into the background. Nope, Randy decided it was time to tell you and me what exactly is going on in Planet Moss. Good times vibe be damned. From soup to nuts it was a selfish display that won't do a lot to endear him to either Bob Kraft, the fans and maybe and most importantly his teammates.

And right now Moss' overwhelming theme seems to be … (wait for it) disrespect. I know, I know, a new one for an athlete, especially for one in the last year of a $27 million deal. 

"I don’t really want to get to that," Moss said, before getting into what would happen if the Patriots waited to until the offseason to offer him a new contract. "I'm 33 years old. You know? I think that when you're brought into this league earlier, you're paid off what you're capable of doing. I've already showed that I can play still at a high level at age 33. So, for me to be offered a contract after this season is over, I think that would be a smack in my face, so I don’t even want to really get into that. You know what I'm saying?"

Look, this might be one of those deals that leads to hundreds of hours of talk radio debate and lots and lots of internet and newspaper space but means nothing inside the Patriots locker room. But I wonder, I really do. Chemistry means something in football. There has to be a reason why Moss wasn't voted a captain this year after having the title in each of the last two years. And the look on the face of Welker as he watched Moss on the podium didn't strike me as one that would usually be connected with elation.

"I don’t want anything negative to come out of this like it usually does," Moss said. "You know what I’m talking about. I don’t really care about a lot of the extracurricular stuff that you write. I know me. I know what I’m here for. I’m definitely excited about this season. I don’t want people to take away from that. So that’s why I said I wanted to get it out week one and not wait to week 11, 12 or 13 down the road to get it out."

Anyone who heard the tone of Moss' voice and watched his body language knows that he really does care what people think, both the media and the Patriots' brass. He told us no fewer than six times in the press conference that he doesn't care. That rates real high on the "protesting too much" scale. He's hurt, he's insulted. He wants to be paid. Maybe not even so much for the money (though obviously that's a huge factor) but because it means that he's appreciated and can stick his chest out when he measures where he stands on the wide receiver scale.

"It’s fair," said Moss when asked about his relationship with ownership. "Mr. Kraft is a busy man, and he’s not seen around here a lot during the week. But on the weekends, he’s here. We have a relationship. Is it where I want to be or where he wants it to be? I don’t know."

Does this strike you as a quote from someone that doesn't care what anyone thinks? Of course not. What Moss did for 16 minutes on Sunday afternoon was put on a hat and headphones and throw himself a pity party. It was interesting and sort of astonishing to watch, but when you really break it down it  was nothing more than someone waving his arms and screaming "Hey, look at me!" a couple of hundred times.

And that would have been OK two or three weeks or months ago, you know that? There's a time and place for that kind of act. It's called the offseason or the preseason. Once the regular season starts that all goes away. Time to go into self-censor character and Just Play Football. 

The postgame should have been about a team that was embarrassed the last time they played a meaningful game on its field, but looked every bit a Super Bowl contender on Sunday and how they got there. But it wasn't. And it's easy to suggest that the media will go into Level 5 overkill on this Moss story, but Moss is the one that made it a story. 

And this is a story that Moss can now control. If he wants it to go away, all he has to do is put up numbers (starting with next week's Revis-Moss battle, already at epic status). Or he can just stop talking about his contract. Totally up to him. 

But for today it is fair -- for the first time in his Patriots career -- to question if Moss is completely in a team-first mode. I'm not suggesting he's going to quit on the Pats -- he won't -- but are we getting closer to the point where Moss has been before?

"Sometimes you want your boss to tell you that you're doing a good job," Moss said on Sunday.

If it were only that easy.