MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The ball was flying down the field often for Minnesota during that drizzly night in Green Bay, and Randy Moss kept going over and past the defense to get it.

Five games into his NFL career, Moss was a star. He was a revolutionary, too. There was no moment that better defined his arrival as the league’s premier deep threat than that breakout prime-time performance against the two-time reigning NFC champion and bitter rival Packers.

“Seeing Randall Cunningham smile, seeing him energetic,” Moss said, reflecting on his five-catch, 190-yard, two-touchdown connection with Cunningham that carried the Vikings to a 37-24 victory. “It was just a great feeling.”

When the Vikings landed in Minnesota, his half-brother, Eric Moss, who was briefly his teammate, wondered about the celebrating the big win.

“I said, ‘Going out? No, I want to go home,’” Moss said.

Then defensive tackle John Randle tapped him on the shoulder.

“Man, we’re going to party tonight!” Moss said, recalling Randle’s pronouncement to the rookie. “That’s when I finally understood what it really meant to the guys for us to go into Lambeau and win.”

Twenty years later, with Moss set to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend after being elected in his first year of eligibility, the swift, sleek and sometimes-sassy wide receiver has finally understood the depth of his impact on the game and the privilege of opportunity to serve as a celebrant of the sport.

“I came into the league with, I guess, my head not really screwed on my shoulders properly,” Moss said recently on a conference call with reporters.