Randy Moss is a surefire Hall of Famer, right?

I was surprised when I got a couple of emails Monday questioning my assumption that Randy Moss is a certain Hall of Famer. I didn't even think about it. He's Randy flippin' Moss.

That's not to say he's the greatest ever, of course, because on that subject, there's Jerry Rice and there's everyone else. But did anyone before Moss ever really play receiver like Moss? My historical perspective is limited, being the spry young fellow that I am, so feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. But had anyone before Moss ever combined that elite deep speed with the ability to go up and get the ball over pretty much any defensive back? Had anyone else ever had that grace, stride, and body control? Had anyone else posed the threat that Moss did to score from pretty much anywhere inside 60 yards?

But that's just me, and my personal impressions of the guy as a wide receiver. Since it was questioned, I thought I'd take another look at it. Hall of Fame arguments usually begin (and sometimes end) with numbers, so let's start there.

The numbers are there. Easily. He's eighth all time in receptions. Fifth all time in yards. Second all time in touchdowns. Ninth all time in yards per game.

Cris Carter was a name of comparison that was brought up with some regularity. If Cris Carter isn't in, should Moss be in?

First of all, yes. Moss was better than Carter. The only major statistical category in which Carter beats Moss is receptions. Carter has 1,101 to Moss's 954. That's due only to longevity, though. Carter caught 68.8 balls per year, while Moss caught 73.4. Outside of that, it's all Moss, despite the difference in career length. Even the thing Cris Carter was most known for, catching touchdown passes, Moss was better than him. Carter had 130 in 16 years; Moss had 153 in 13 years.

The category in which�Carter might have Moss is the super-subjective category of character, which is what the entire argument against Moss boils down to. And yes, it's true, Randy Moss spent some time doing things that disgusted Joe Buck and many, many others. If that had hampered his productivity significantly, maybe I could see it as an argument that he's not a Hall of Famer. I know that it didn't, because Moss' numbers are still insane.

He dipped below 1,000 yards receiving in just three years of his career (Carter, by the way, was under 1,000 yards eight times). The first time it happened was his last year in Minnesota, 2004, when a hamstring injury hampered him nearly all year. It happened again in 2006 in Oakland, when his quarterbacks were Andrew Walter and Aaron Brooks, and the general football atmosphere in Oakland drained everyone of their will to live. And then, the bizarre last season of his career, when he was on three teams.

Even given character and discontentment issues (the effects of which I think are perceived as greater than they really were), Moss still has to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, without even a doubt. The quality of his play has earned him that distinction.

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Chad Ochocinco is the newest Patriots reclamation project

They're no longer the New England Patriots. They're Father Belichick's Home for Wayward Youths.

After acquiring defensive tackle/tub of goo Albert Haynesworth earlier in the day, the New England Patriots have now pulled the trigger on a deal that nets them former Cincinnati Bengals star wide receiver Chad Ochocinco.

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In fairness to The Ocho, he's never been the off-the-field troublemaker that Haynesworth was. But he was an unhappy Bengal (not an unreasonable position) and his attention-grabbing, "look at me!" antics are unlike anything else ever seen in the NFL.

In return, the Bengals get a couple of draft picks, one this year, and one next year. Which picks�they are remain unknown.

The Patriots have unending faith in the stability of their own locker room. With any other team, the immediate reaction to bringing in Haynesworth and Ochocinco on the same day would be something like, "Disaster is imminent." With the Patriots and Bill Belichick, though, the immediate reaction is to fear that he'll turn both guys back into Pro Bowlers and dominate the NFL forever.

Also of interest: As Trey Wingo points out on Twitter, the number "85" (ochenta y cinco, or "ochocinco," if you insist) is already in use in New England by Aaron Hernandez. Either a deal is going to have to be worked out between Ocho and Hernandez (see if you can get more creative than Chris Kluwe, fellas), or Chad's going to have the second-most absurd jersey of all-time.

Of course, Ocho had to share some of the joy about his new destination with fans and friends on Twitter. Check the timeline for some back-and-forth with Willis McGahee that isn't always safe for work, and look below for some highlights of the dialogue after the jump -- he talks with fans old and new, tries to get some free music lessons, and challenges Pacman Jones�to an online�game of FIFA 2012.

We've said it before,�and we'll say it again: Chad, don't ever change. No matter where you play.

�

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Looking ahead to 2011-12: Ranking the NHL?s top goaltenders

(Rankings are based solely on players' projected performances in 2011-12. Players are listed at their official position when the rankings were created.)

There are only 30 starting goalies in the NHL, so a top-25 ranking is almost as much about who didn't make the list as who did. On that note, the five projected starters who didn't make the cut are Colorado's Semyon Varlamov, who still has star potential but is coming off a couple of injury-plagued seasons in Washington; Florida's Scott Clemmensen, who'll compete with 2002 NHL MVP Jose Theodore for the No. 1 job; the Islanders' Rick DiPietro, the first overall draft pick in 2000 who seems destined to be remembered for his 15-year contract and penchant for injuries; Phoenix's Mike Smith, who couldn't hold on to the top job in Tampa Bay last season; and, Toronto's James Reimer, who rose from the minors to play a starring role for the Leafs in the second half of last season.

Varlamov, Reimer and a healthy DiPietro are the best candidates to crack the 2012-13 edition of this list, with Edmonton's Nikolai Khabibulin (No. 23) and Ottawa's Craig Anderson (No. 25) a couple of keepers in danger of going the other way. Of course, goaltending is a crazy, topsy-turvy profession, and you never really know how things will work out until the mask comes off at the end of the season. Just ask Boston's Tim Thomas, who won the Vezina Trophy in 2009, was relegated to backup duty due to injuries and sub-par play in 2010, and then rebounded with a storybook season in 2011.

Best backups:�Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins; Cory Schneider, Vancouver Canucks; Michal Neuvirth, Washington Capitals; Sergei Bobrovsky, Philadelphia Flyers; Antero Niittymaki, San Jose Sharks.

25. Craig Anderson, Ottawa Senators: He's had world-beating stretches and is used to seeing a lot of shots, which bodes well for the Sens.

24. Steve Mason, Columbus Blue Jackets: At his best, he's one of the best. His challenge is to consistently play at that high level.

23. Nikolai Khabibulin, Edmonton Oilers: Age and injuries are the big cracks in the Bulin Wall.

22. Ondrej Pavelec, Winnipeg Jets: He's improved every season, and could be much higher on this list next year.

21. Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings: Steady, reliable stopper with flashes of brilliance.

20. Kari Lehtonen, Dallas Stars: Finally managed to play a whole season, and enjoyed a career year as a result.

19. Dwayne Roloson, Tampa Bay Lightning: He turns 42 in October, but the Bolts believe he has at least one more good year left in him.

18. Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks: It's not often that a rookie takes over starting duties for the defending Cup champions, but Crawford performed admirably and nearly rallied the 'Hawks past the Canucks in the first round of the playoffs.

17. Jaroslav Halak, St. Louis Blues: The Blues are getting better, and Halak is a big part of the equation.

16. Jonas Hiller, Anaheim Ducks: A bout with vertigo torpedoed his season. Here's hoping the dizzy spells are over.

15. Niklas Backstrom, Minnesota Wild: Minny hasn't had much success in recent years, but goaltending isn't the problem.

14. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings: A statistical star the past couple of seasons, the aptly named netminder needs to follow through in the playoffs, too.

13. Tomas Vokoun, Washington Capitals: Veteran stopper gets his first crack at starting for a bona fide contender after signing one-year bargain deal ($1.5 million) with the Caps.

12. Antti Niemi, San Jose Sharks: Started slowly, but was dominant during the Sharks' red-hot second half and playoff run to the Western Conference final.

11. Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils: The all-time gold standard for goaltending, but age is finally becoming a factor. Injuries have sidelined him for big chunks of two of the past three seasons, including last year when he posted his first-ever losing record (23-26-3).

10. Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames: The eternal Flame has started between 71 and 76 games the past six seasons and averaged 40 wins.

9. Ilya Bryzgalov, Philadelphia Flyers: The Bullies' best goalie since Ron Hextall? He better be ? because Toto, you're not in Phoenix anymore.

8. Cam Ward, Carolina Hurricanes: Firmly entrenched in the NHL's fraternity of elite netminders.

7. Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins: Something of a slow starter and sometimes inconsistent, but when he's on his game there's nobody better.

6. Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks: Rocky performance in Cup final stings, but he's still a Grade-A goalie on a Grade-A team.

5. Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens: Superlative breakout season turned all those boos into cheers.

4. Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres: An improved defense corps in front of the Sabres MVP is bad news for goal-scorers everywhere.

3. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers: Give Captain Shutout a goal, and he gives you a victory.

2. Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators: Yes, he benefits greatly from the Preds' defensive shell game. Just like the Preds benefit greatly from his stellar netminding.

1. Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins: In the span of a couple weeks, he won the Vezina Trophy, Conn Smythe Trophy and Stanley Cup. Who else did you think would be No. 1?

Sam McCaig is the NHL editor for Yahoo! Sports and Yahoo! Canada

Photo credits: Getty Images

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Brandon Marshall on diagnosis: ?I?ll be the face of BPD?

"I have a dream home, two nice cars, three beautiful dogs, but I haven't enjoyed one part of it. And it was hard to understand why."

This was one of many gripping sentences in one of the most unforgettable press conferences you will ever see, regardless of reason. When Miami Dolphins receiver Brandon Marshall took to the microphone to talk with the media on Sunday, the subject was the brilliant article written by Omar Kelly of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and published the day before. In that article, Marshall admitted to having a form of BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder).

According to the Mayo Clinic, BPD can be seen with the following symptoms:

People with borderline personality disorder often feel misunderstood, alone, empty and hopeless. They're typically full of self-hate and self-loathing. They may be fully aware that their behavior is destructive, but feel unable to change it. Poor impulse control may lead to problems with gambling, driving or even the law. They may find that many areas of their lives are affected, including social relationships, work or school.

Marshall has been involved in damaging and self-damaging behavior going back to his days at the University of Central Florida, and through his career with the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins.�In an�April 23 incident, his wife, Michi Nogami-Marshall, was charged with aggravated battery for stabbing him in the abdomen. Charges were dropped last Friday. In the interim,�Marshall underwent three months of psychological and neurological exams at Boston's McLean Hospital (where Harvard medical students go to train), having been inspired to seek help from a conversation with teammate Ricky Williams, who had sought treatment for unrelated issues there.

"Before this ordeal I kept asking God to show me my purpose. He gave me this," Marshall told Kelly. "I'll be the face of BPD. I'll make myself vulnerable if it saves someone's life because I know what I went through this summer helped save mine."

Marshall was honest, open and vulnerable at the microphone on Sunday ? he talked about the disorder without hesitation and said that he had not been able to enjoy any part of his career to date as a result of it. It was an absolutely riveting thing to see, and a stark reminder that as much as football is a sport that tends to depersonalize at times, it's still a game very much about people.

Marshall credited his wife with trying to understand and love him, talked about the relatively high rate of BPD cases that end in suicide (about 10 percent, he said), and said that 35 percent of the male prison population has been diagnosed with BPD, and 25 percent of the female prison population. He said that if not for treatment "I would have thrown away my career, and there was a good possibility, my life. I'm still suffering from the cons of this. Another reason I'm so passionate about it is that I may lose my wife still, and this hurts me."

"By no means am I all healed or fixed," Marshall told Kelly, "but it's like a light bulb has been turned on in my dark room."

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Debriefing: Arizona State stares down a new level of expectations

The least you should know about the 2011 Sun Devils. Part of Pac-12 Week.

? No more Mr. Nice Guy. As a physical specimen who can take on blockers between the tackles and rove from sideline to sideline, junior linebacker Vontaze Burfict is the closest thing college football has at the moment to Ray Lewis. With Burfict patrolling the middle as the team's best run defense for the second year in a row. Burfict was voted All-Pac-10, picked up the first of many All-America nods from the Sporting News and moved to the top of the list of underclassman linebackers bound for the 2012 Draft, where he should easily become the first Sun Devil to land in the first round since Terrelle Suggs back in 2003.

As a cool-headed role model in the clutch, it's a different story. Burfict's many dumb penalties over the last two years (not to mention the ones that don't get called) aren't just dumb ? at various points, flags on Burfict have backed the team into a corner and left him visibly flustered. At one point last October, Burfict was briefly removed from the starting lineup after a dead ball head-butt on Oregon State quarterback Ryan Katz; in November, he helped extend game-winning drives by both USC and Stanford in consecutive weeks ? the latter when Burfict was flagged for not one, not two but three critical penalties on what proved to be the game-winning touchdown drive for the Cardinal in the fourth quarter.

At his best, Burfict's the engine at the center of the league's best run defense, and with all-conference cornerback Omar Bolden likely out for the year with an ACL tear, it also falls to him to pick up more of a leadership role. Predictably, Burfict is already preaching growth and maturity as an upperclassman, but after two years of veering dangerously close to becoming the next LeGarrette Blount, the only proof will be the flags that stay in the officials' pockets.

? We know the drill. Even after quarterback Steven Threet's concussion-related retirement in February, spring practice opened with twenty-four Devils who started at least five games in 2010, 18 of them seniors or fourth-year juniors. It didn't take long, though, for their ranks to begin thinning out: By the end of the spring, ASU had lost Bolden, who could have been battling for a starting job in an NFL training camp right now if he'd decided to declare for the draft last winter, and fellow ACL casualty T.J. Simpson, the team's leading returning receiver. Another rising senior, defensive end Derrick Brooks, left the team last month.

One area that hasn't been hit by attrition, "natural" or otherwise, is the offensive line: Every lineman who set foot on the field last year is back, including eight guys who have combined for 84 career starts to date ? 22 of them by all-conference center Garth Gerhart.

? The Brock starts here. If Threet had hung around for his final season of eligibility, odds are he would have been relegated to the bench, where he spent the last two games of 2010 watching emu-like sophomore Brock Osweiler sew up the job. Osweiler, a 6-foot-8 high school hoops star, bombed UCLA and Arizona for 647 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions in back-to-back wins to close the season, the Devils' best two-game outburst in Pac-10 play since early 2007.

For the year, ASU somehow cobbled together the No. 3 scoring offense in the conference despite the absence of anyone resembling a consistent home run threat, and the egalitarian approach should continue: Even with Simpson and leading receiver Kerry Taylor out of the mix, six different receivers are back who caught at least 20 passes.

? No pressure or anything. The persistently high expectations from the preseason pundits are a double-edged sword for coach Dennis Erickson, who would have a hard time surviving four straight non-winning seasons under any circumstances. Practice opens next week with fans looking forward to a division title in a watered down Pac-12 South and an outgoing starter essentially calling for Erickson's head in the local press; if Erickson doesn't deliver the former (or at least come reasonably close), the latter may get his wish.

Frankly, there's no good reason Arizona State can't deliver on the hype, such as it is. It has as veteran a lineup as any team in the league, and the top competition in the South, USC, is ineligible for the Pac-12 Championship Game. If the soon-to-be 64-year-old is going to take another team around the corner before he's eligible to begin drawing Social Security, this is obviously the one, with a depth chart composed overwhelmingly by Erickson's first two recruiting classes to Tempe in 2007 and 2008. This time next year, the prevailing theme will be the mass exodus of those seniors. If this outfit can't push through to the championship game with its experience and a middling lineup of division rivals, it might well be another decade before the next opportunity cycles back around, and it won't be Erickson who's there to greet it.

- - -
Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Jalen Rose gets pulled over for speeding hours after his DUI conviction

Twenty-five miles per hour, especially when there's nobody around, is hard to sustain. We've all done 30. We've all been distracted, noticed that we're actually doing 33, and taken our foot off the throttle to slow things down. But 46 mph, in a 25? That's pretty significant.

Forty-six in a 25 on your way home from being sentenced to time in jail for a drunk driving conviction? That's something else entirely. And that's what Jalen Rose pulled off, on Wednesday night. Come on, Jalen.

Rose is, truly, a good man. And in person I've seen him pull away from the United Center in Chicago in a very fast car, on an empty Madison street late at night, driving very sensibly. This isn't bad luck, but this isn't a bad person.

Still, his reaction to his drunk driving crash and this stupid (got another word for it?) reaction from Wednesday night should have everyone questioning his judgment when it comes to driving a car. Everyone's bound to make a mistake from time to time, but to be hit for an egregious mistake just hours after being sentenced to jail time over a really, really, really egregious mistake?

OK, Jalen. Low point starts ? NOW.

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Deep Posts, Evening Edition: Free agency/trade updates

Saturday wasn't the free agency/trade be-all and end-all we saw on Friday (after all, there's only one Nnamdi Asomugha), but there was enough activity going on for a quick review:

After picking up Asomugha, Domonique Rodgers-Cromartie, and Jason Babin for their defense in this free agency period, the Philadelphia Eagles signed former Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins to a five-year, $25 million contract. Jenkins will replace Brodrick Bunkley, who was traded to the Cleveland Browns, at the three-tech position. Last year for the Packers, Jenkins had seven sacks; one more than Bunkley has amassed in his five-year career.

The Chicago Bears now have two potential marquee running backs. Matt Forte, the erstwhile productive option who seems to want a new contract, and Marion Barber, who was recently released by the Dallas Cowboys. Like most power running backs, Barber has been injury-prone in the past, but he'd be a better rotational option than Chester Taylor in an offense that needs better production on short yardage and red zone situations.

The Bears have also decided against bringing back veteran center Olin Kreutz, at least for the money Kreutz wants. He decided to leave it when presented with a 'take-it-or-leave-it' over of $4 million for one season. If the two sides can't work it out, look for the Bears to perhaps take a look at former Seattle Seahawks center Chris Spencer, who's currently a free agent. When current Bears�director of player personnel�Tim Ruskell was team president in Seattle from 2005 through 2009. Spencer was his first-ever draft pick.

The Houston Texans released former top-10 defensive tackle Amobi Okoye, who would be a decent fit in any 4-3 defense ... like the one played by the aforementioned Bears, who signed him to a one-year deal on Saturday.

According to the New York Post, former New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress is scheduled to visit the San Francisco 49ers�and New York Jets this weekend.

The Rams have been quietly surrounding second-year quarterback Sam Bradford with better receivers, adding former Jacksonville Jaguars pass-catcher Mike Sims-Walker.

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