Tim Cowlishaw

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With their legacy tarnished – or at least placed on hold until we hear from Matt Walsh – the New England Patriots needed Randy Moss more than he needed them.

The deal, which got done Monday, is for a reported $27 million over three years. That means Moss chose the chance to win Super Bowls over dollars because on the open market he could have received more. Probably much more.

Still, it's a good move for Moss, who has the opportunity to continue to make history with Tom Brady. But it's a better deal for the Patriots.

New England was one of just three franchises in the four major professional sports that could talk about dynasties this century. The Los Angeles Lakers of Shaq and Kobe won three straight titles from 2000 through 2002.

The San Antonio Spurs have captured three of the last five NBA Finals. And the Patriots won three Super Bowls from 2001 through 2004 before losing this year's game to the New York Giants.

That's it. That's the entire list.

In baseball, only the Boston Red Sox ('04, '07) have won twice. In the NHL, only the New Jersey Devils ('00, '03) have done it.

But the Patriots' reign was tainted the opening week of the season when New York Jets coach Eric Mangini pointed out a Patriots employee illegally taping the Jets' signals on the sidelines.

After that came the massive fine and the loss of a first-round pick (although Commissioner Roger Goodell should have taken their highest pick, obtained from San Francisco, and not their own end-of-the-round pick).

That, of course, did nothing to taint this season but it did cast suspicions about their past championships. Then came the week of the Super Bowl, when reports surfaced that Walsh, their former video assistant, claimed to have taped the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough practice prior to the Patriots' first Super Bowl victory.

Until the NFL finally gets to speak with Walsh, we don't know how much validity to give to his story. There appeared to be holes in it, for sure. For one, he claimed to ride a media bus from the Superdome back to the hotel.

There aren't any media buses going to teams' walkthroughs at Super Bowls.

But when he does speak, the NFL has to make his tale public. And if he has a tape, it must be seen, rather than destroyed.

The decision to destroy the evidence the Patriots turned in after they were caught remains the single worst move in Goodell's brief tenure.

If we are to fairly assess the Patriots' place in history, we need to know the truth or at least get as close to it as we possibly can. The NFL can't hide the evidence again.

Then we can establish whether Bill Belichick is a genius or just a cheat, and go forward, which brings us back to Moss.

If the Patriots' legacy does ultimately become tainted, then Brady and the remaining players need to add to their Lombardi trophies. They can't do that without Moss.

The team already has suffered one significant loss (cornerback Asante Samuel to Philadelphia) and is losing other players who started or played key roles – safety Eugene Wilson and nickel back Randall Gay –on defense as well.

That means to hold off the Colts and the Chargers and the Steelers, the New England offense needs to be almost as special as it was in 2007, when it broke the NFL record for points scored in a season.

The key player on the team that held that mark – the 1998 Minnesota Vikings – was Moss. The key addition last year for New England – the guy who set an NFL record with 23 touchdown receptions – was Moss.

AP

Randy Moss (right) had 23 touchdowns and 98 catches in his first season in New England.

There simply is no better combination of elite quarterback, deep threat and possession receiver as Brady, Moss and Wes Welker. Remove any one of those three components, and the system breaks down.

How the Patriots are getting it done so cheaply (in terms of NFL superstars) is beyond me. Minnesota paid $42 million over six years for Bernard Berrian, who is younger than Moss but not in the same league as a player.

Moss will be only 31 next year. I think he has more than three good years left.

The team that strove for perfection, fell short against the New York Giants and now finds itself scrambling to retain players and its reputation, has to hope that's true.