FOXBOROUGH – New England Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss, who was on the receiving end of the pass that could possibly end Tom Brady’s season, said the play on which the reigning NFL MVP was injured was “dirty.””It looked dirty to me,” said Moss. “I’m not a dirty player,” Moss said. “I don’t even know how to play dirty. But anytime you see something like that, it opens up your eyes.”Brady injured the knee with 7:38 to go in the first quarter when blitzing safety Bernard Pollard of the Kansas City Chiefs, who had already been knocked down by Patriots running back Sammy Morris, reached out and hit him on the knee as he was releasing a 28-yard pass to Moss.Brady seemed to be on his way to a banner day as he played in his first game since last February’s Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants (he didn’t play during the preseason). He’d already completed seven out of 11 passes, and had engineered two first-quarter drives – each of which ended with a fumble. The second fumble, by Moss, occurred with 7:38 left in the first quarter as Brady lay sprawling on the field, clutching his left leg. Pollard, who was on all fours, rolled into Brady as he was releasing a long sideline pass to Moss. The contact caused the pass to wobble, and Moss had to come back – out of double coverage – to catch it toward the middle of the field.The Patriots won the game, 17-10, on the strength of a strong running game (a combined 126 yards) and backup quarterback Matt Cassel, who played just well enough to escape with a victory.After he caught it, he slipped, and coughed up the ball as he landed. Although it was ruled a fumble, the bigger concern was Brady, who remained on the ground for almost five minutes before getting up and walking gingerly off the field.”You always hate to see any of your starters go down,” said Moss. “But Brady ? the competitor he is ? the face of the New England Patriots ? that’s doubly tough. But in that instance, everybody has to step up and do their jobs.”None of the other Patriots was too eager to accuse Pollard of being dirty.”I talked to the referee about it,” said center Dan Koppen. “It didn’t seem dirty to me. It’s football. Stuff happens.”Belichick wouldn’t get into it either.”I’d have to see it again,” he said.According to reports, Brady was to have an MRI Monday.Pollard seemed genuinely hurt that Moss – or any of the Patriots – thought the hit was dirty.”It was an accident,” he said. “It was a call that we had, I went in to make a play and unfortunately landed on him and he went down. We knew it was something serious because of the yell that he let out.”I’m not a dirty player,” Pollard said. “Like I said, it was football, it really was. I can’t do anything but pray for him and hope he comes back. I went to my coach and let my coach know and my coach knew (it wasn’t a dirty play.) For all the people who said that, that’s their opinion.”
