Is being MIA for an ota A-OK in the NFL? It's up to the coach

You've got to love the term NFL teams use this time of year to describe their voluntary player workouts.

Organized team activities, they're called.

It's a phrase that brings to mind pool parties, backyard badminton, or in the case of the Redskins, perhaps a picnic along the banks of the Potomac.

It's not quite that way. Like everything associated with the No Fun League, OTAs are serious business.

Attendance isn't mandatory for these offseason get-togethers, but given the right player and the wrong circumstances, truancy has been known to create a little controversy.

The Skins' week got off to a curious start when Santana Moss had to excuse himself from the first day of OTAs, an absence he later attributed to TMP - too much partying.

Moss spent the entire weekend celebrating his 29th birthday, and was in no condition for Monday's workout.

On his radio show, former Redskin John Riggins - a party animal himself back in the day - declared the team should sever ties with Moss. But at Redskin Park, the reaction was far less dramatic.

Moss laughed off his birthday binge in what can only be described as a glaring lack of professionalism, but if Jim Zorn was bent out of shape, he didn't let on.

Zorn, it's said, is running a looser ship than his predecessor. Good luck with that.

Didn't Joe Gibbs attempt to be a players' coach his first year back with the Skins? He decided to treat his players as adults - always a risk. Eventually, he found it necessary to channel a little more of his tiny tyrant.

Zorn has a built-in reason to go easy on his players for now. Redskins training camp starts a little earlier than usual because of the team's participation in the Hall of Fame game. But while Zorn is working with a predominantly veteran group, as a rookie coach, he's entitled to have more practices if he wishes.

Last summer, Moss and the Redskins receivers said they would get together with Jason Campbell on their own time to help with the quarterback's development.

It never happened.

Players rarely find a good reason for more practice. And they see OTAs as a way for management to exert greater control over their lives. They've got a point, even if it's hard to sympathize with highly paid athletes.

It's not as if the Redskins are going to fall behind their closest competitors because of a few missed OTAs. The Cowboys have encountered mixed agendas, as well, resulting in the failure of Terrell Owens, Terry Glenn and Julius Jones to show up for most of the limited-contact workouts.

The Cowboys are putting in a new offense, but Tony Romo's top receivers aren't around to practice.

Meanwhile, Owens proves to be a master of the obvious when he charges this week that former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells, now running the Dolphins from the front office, is "kind of out of touch with a lot of today's athletes and things that are going on."

What Owens intends as a diss others might take as a compliment to Parcells' management style. He was never a players' coach any more than Owens is a coach's player. A lot of people, former employers included, liked that about the Tuna.

Football players who ask to be treated as grownups don't always hold up their end of the bargain. This is something for Zorn to keep in mind as he attempts to define his leadership style with the Redskins.

Would Moss have taken such a cavalier approach to this latest OTA were Gibbs still in charge?

People are free to wonder.

Bob Molinaro, (757) 446-2373 or bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com