LANDOVER, Md. — Riley Moss found himself in an unfamiliar spot.
On Washington’s third drive Sunday night, the Broncos cornerback stood on the visiting sideline with his helmet at his side and watched.
He wasn’t hurt. He wasn’t playing poorly.
Just the opposite, in fact. Moss felt great and ultimately felt like he played great, too. Sure, Commanders receiver Treylon Burks caught one of the most impressive touchdowns of the year in the NFL over him later in the game, but Moss had great position.
If there’s one snap he wants back, it’s an overtime go-ball to Deebo Samuel in which the talented receiver ran past Moss for a 38-yard gain that put Washington right down near the goal line and set up its final score.
Overall, though, Moss liked his outing.
He was not penalized. He played with good technique.
And yet here he was early in the game, on the sideline, watching second-year man Kris Abrams-Draine work.
Starting nickel Ja’Quan McMillian occasionally found himself in the same spot, watching rookie first-rounder Jahdae Barron play in the slot.
Both Moss and McMillian played a ton — Moss 77 out of 90 defensive snaps and McMillian 64 — in Denver’s 27-26 overtime win, but they also entered what could shape up to be a one-week happening or could be a new phase of the season in the Broncos secondary.
A work-share.
Head coach Sean Payton said after the game that the adjustment had nothing to do with the quality of work provided by Moss and McMillian.
Rather, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and the Denver coaching staff liked how Abrams-Draine and Barron played so much when All-Pro Pat Surtain II missed three games with a pectoral injury that they wanted the pair to continue getting live game reps even with Surtain’s return Sunday night.
“It’s a good question,” Payton said of Abrams-Draine getting time in place of Moss during the game. “I know we were trying to, you know, when Patrick (Surtain) comes back and then you have these other guys, it was more about keeping these guys in game form. And I knew that we were going to try to.
“There was nothing — it was more about the rotation and just keeping them all going.”
Moss did not protest after the game.
“We have a deep room and they wanted to give (Abrams-Draine) a shot,” he said. “He played a hell of a game last week and he did well today, as well. It’s nice to know we have the bodies in our room to get it done.”
The third-year man said he took “full accountability” for the play to Samuel that set up Washington’s potential winning score.
“The entire game, (I was) locking them up and then that one slips,” he said. “We can’t have that. You’ve got to finish it out. That’s going to be the main thing is to be able to make that play late in the game.”
Moss thought he played well, “99.9% of the game. That 0.1%, though, we’ve got to make that play,” he added. “At the end of the day, that’s something I’m going to hold on me and get better at.”
Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.