Rice has no ill will for Moss</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'></p> <span class="articleBegin">F</span>OXBORO - Jerry Rice plans to congratulate Randy Moss if the Patriots<font color="#888888"> </font>receiver breaks Rice’s record of 22 touchdown catches in a season. He’d feel better if Moss didn’t have extra time to do it.</p> Rice set the record with the San Francisco 49ers in just 12 games in 1987 when a players’ strike shortened the season. Moss already has played 13 games for the unbeaten Patriots and has 19 touchdowns.</p> With three games still to play, will he break the record? Probably.</p> Will Randy’s record be as impressive as Rice’s? Probably not.</p> “The only thing that bothers me a little bit is that I did it during the strike year,” Rice said. “It was 12 games for me. If he had done it in 12 games, I wouldn’t have a problem with it at all. But I’m still going to congratulate him and do all of that.</p> “But I’m surprised the league is taking it upon themselves to give him 16 games to do it.”</p> Moss can’t do anything about that. All he can do is leap high - higher than the shorter Rice did - and make acrobatic catches. Sometimes he twists in mid-air to grab the ball. Other times he needs just one massive hand to snatch it away from a defender.</p> One thing, though, rarely changes: When the 6-foot-4 Moss jumps in the end zone against a smaller cornerback, chances are he’ll come down with the ball.</p> “He’s having a phenomenal year,” Rice said in a telephone interview. “With Randy Moss, my God, you’ve got everything. You’ve got speed. You’ve got jumping ability. You’ve got size.”</p> Moss has a touchdown catch in 11 of the Patriots’ 13 games and faces the New York Jets<font color="#888888"> </font>and Miami Dolphins at home before finishing the regular season at the New York Giants.</p> Rice had at least one scoring reception in all 12 of his regular-season games in 1987. In his 11th game, he broke the record of 18 set by Mark Clayton of Miami in 1984 when he caught two scoring passes to reach 20. He even ran for a score that game, a 35-7 win over Atlanta, and ended the year with 23 touchdowns.</p> Rice caught only 65 passes that year, meaning more than one-third went for touchdowns. Moss already has 82 receptions.</p> </div></p>
