FOXBORO - Randy Moss.

Randy Moss?

Randy Moss!

Take your pick. Whatever your reaction was when word circulated around New England that the Patriots had acquired one of the NFL's most enigmatic players over the last decade, wide receiver Randy Moss, from the Oakland Raiders for a fourth-round draft pick, the more appropriate reaction should have been, "Wow!"

Your Patriots mean business.

Gone are the smoke and mirrors. Gone are the patchwork defenses and waiver-wire receivers. Contending for a Super Bowl is no longer the barometer, not after disappointing finishes in late January the last two seasons in Denver and Indianapolis.

Moss said all of the right things during yesterday's meet-the-Boston-media press conference call. "I don't think you understand how excited I am to be with this organization." He wasn't the alone with a professed new attitude.

He is only following suit with his new employer.

As we've seen all too much during this dynasty-ridden roll, anything can happen between now and the first Sunday in February, particularly in terms of healthy players. The moves the Patriots have made since the Colts painfully sent them home in the AFC Championship game - and I'm not even talking about this weekend's NFL Draft in which they appear to have a bona fide Pro Bowl safety in University of Miami product Brandon Meriweather - have been unlike anything we've seen from Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft before.

The Moss acquisition alone, without the trade for wide receiver Wes Welker (second-round pick) or the free-agent signing of linebacker Adalius Thomas, wide receiver Donte Stallworth and cornerback Tory James, would be enough to make you wonder about the possibilities.

The Patriots couldn't have picked a better time to go for the jugular. San Diego, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Denver and maybe even Jacksonville were contenders for a Super Bowl next February. A few months ago, the Patriots were somewhere in the mix.

Now they are at the top.

"It was just more like me getting a chance to really get on that Super Bowl stage and really show the world who I am and what I am able to do," said Moss, yesterday.

Thomas has been universally acclaimed as the free-agent coup of the 2007 group. He plays everywhere on defense. And he has a way of causing havoc out of the Richard Seymour mold.

Welker and Stallworth at wide receiver give quarterback Tom Brady (more on him later) options inside and outside that he hasn't had since taking over for Drew Bledsoe in 2001.

Moss is the wild card. Moss is the difference between 12-4, which the Patriots were probably slotted for before yesterday, and 14-2. Moss is the difference between getting to the AFC Championship and hosting the AFC Championship.

Sure, Moss has baggage - be it blocking, hustling or whining on the sidelines. He is coming off his worst season as a professional with only 42 catches and three touchdowns.

But there is a blueprint for success here. Remember Dennis Rodman with the Chicago Bulls or Johnny "Bravo" Damon shedding his locks of hair "only" to play for the 26-time world champion New York Yankees? Both gave in.

Even better, remember Corey Dillon? He arrived here in Foxboro in 2004 coming off his career-worst season in Cincinnati (541 yards and 2 TDs) as a "team-killer" to be a key component in the third Super Bowl in four seasons, averaging more than 1,000 yards and 13 touchdowns the last three years.

Like Dillon, Moss comes here shedding the microscope that has been on him since draft day in 1998. Here, he will be an understudy. This is Tom Brady's team.

And it's high time Patriots management gave their on-field leader weapons more in line with what the all-time quarterbacking greats like Joe Montana had surrounding him in the prime of his career.

Unlike the draftniks who somehow grade a team's draft five years before it's probably more prudent to, yesterday's crop of new recruits probably won't impact the 2007 season as much as everyone would like.

While this is supposed to the NFL's version of baseball's Opening Day, when hope springs eternal and we admire the incoming class of hard bodies, the rookies will have to wait.

Like never before the Patriots have spent the money, made the trades and appear ready to ascend to the throne as the team to beat next February. While it doesn't mean anything, it's not a bad place to start.

Bill Burt is executive sports editor of Eagle-Tribune Publishing. You can e-mail him at bburt@eagletribune.com.