Santana Moss was willing to do whatever it took to get on the field for an important game during his 14 NFL seasons, and the former wide receiver has given us a somewhat troubling glimpse into that now that he has retired.
Moss got together with Master Tesfatsion of Bleacher Report for the latest installment of the highly entertaining “Untold Stories” series, and he shared a story about the time Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder pressured him to suit up for a game against the divisional rival Dallas Cowboys in 2007. Moss was dealing with a heel injury at the time, and he said Snyder popped his head into the training room and asked him if he was going to play. Moss told Snyder he once played “lights out” in a game with the New York Jets after taking a Vicodin and a Toradol (both painkillers), to which he said Snyder responded, “Well, we need to do that.”
Moss said he and other Redskins players would sometimes take a shot of Hennessy before what they referred to as “Henny Games,” but before that Cowboys game in 2007 he was in severe pain and felt he needed more. He filled a Gatorade bottle halfway with Hennessy and drank that. When that wore off after warmups, he went for the Toradol and Vicodin. The whole story is worth a listen:
Santana Moss says Dan Snyder wanted him to play through injury vs. the Cowboys—he ended up drinking half a Gatorade bottle of Henny and took Toradol and Vicodin
New “Untold Stories” with @MasterTes pic.twitter.com/dq6AVX9NeN
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 27, 2019
Moss went on to have his best game of the 2007 season. He caught nine passes for 121 yards — which were both season highs — and scored a touchdown.
While Moss downplayed the lengths he went to in order to suit up and said it is just “some of the stuff that comes with the game,” we know there is a troubling history of NFL players becoming addicted to painkillers and other substances. NFL executives will probably cringe when they hear Moss’s story.
