Like Dak Prescott, I tried Riley Moss, too. Like Dak, he batted that bad boy down.
“Who’s picking on you more right now?” I asked the Broncos cornerback after Denver’s 44-24 thrashing of the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday at Empower Field. “NFL quarterbacks? Or NFL referees?”
Moss just smiled.
An Iowa guy knows when he’s on the cusp of getting fined.
“It’s a great question,” Moss replied.
“And?” I countered.
Another smile.
“It’s a great question.”
“And?”
“It’s a great question. Leave it at that. It’s a great question.”
Moss has gotten some great slaps up the side of the head from the zebras lately. The pass-interference call at the end of the Giants game would send most defensive backs into therapy.
On the Cowboys’ first drive of the second half this past Sunday, the refs were at it again. Moss racked up two flags inside the Broncos’ 3-yard line thanks to a pair of pass-interference whistles while chasing All-Pro wideout CeeDee Lamb. At least one, upon replay, looked more than … dubious. Yeah. Dubious.
“It’s not even PTSD,” the Broncos cornerback told me. “It’s just, at this point, it’s like, ‘You’re kidding me.’”
Things came to a comical head with 11:47 left in the game and the Broncos up 37-17. Prescott misfired to wideout George Pickens with Moss in coverage at the Dallas 44. Out came the laundry. Moss looked borderline apoplectic.
“They were trying to throw at (Pickens), and I absolutely clamped him up, and then the flag is thrown,” he recalled. “And I’m like, ‘God, for what? Like, at this point, you’re kidding me, right?’”
Turns out, he didn’t do anything.
It was on Pickens. Illegal shift.
“It didn’t end up being on me,” Moss laughed. “But, holy cow, dude, like, (you’re) killing me.”
Softly.
A flag at a time.
Pickens, a 6-foot-3 high-riser, finished with 78 yards on nine targets. Lamb logged 74 on 10 targets. Neither scored.
“(Sunday is) a good confidence booster, for not only me but for (Kris Abrams-Draine) coming in there late, for Pat (Surtain II), for (Ja’Quan McMillian), for our back end,” said Moss, who logged a game-high four pass break-ups and six tackles.
“We’ve gone against probably three of the best receiving corps in the league in Philly and Cincinnati, and then now the Cowboys. And we’ve handled our business. And that’s exciting for us.”
Bengals: 106 passing yards. Zero passing TDs.
Eagles: 257 passing yards. Two passing TDs.
Cowboys: 231 net passing yards. One passing TD.
Yeah, yeah, Jaxson Dart, yada, yada.
See the pattern?
Sunday was probably Moss’ most impressive step yet, given the context. NFL Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain II, the Broncos’ CB1, made a stellar play to bat away a potential TD catch on Dallas’ first drive. Only he landed awkwardly on the turf during his descent.
PS2 returned to the fold, but not for long. The Broncos star suffered a shoulder injury that knocked him out of the second half entirely.
Trailing 27-10 at the half, with Prescott running the show and needing to throw to get out of the ditch, the Cowboys collected a whopping 147 passing yards in the second half. Without PS2 on the field.
“I didn’t even realize Pat went out until two or three plays in,” Moss recalled, “and we kind of changed up. We played a little bit more 2-man just to protect us over top and stuff. But (Abrams-Draine) came in and did a great job, great job. Didn’t miss a step.”
And the calls?
“You just got to keep playing,” Moss chuckled. “We won the game, bada-bing, bada-boom.”
If the Broncos looked jet-lagged during a short-turnaround, post-London matchup vs. the Giants, the bounce was back Sunday. It was there all week during Dallas prep, too.
“This was by far our best week of practice since I’ve been a Bronco,” Moss gushed. “Everyone was dialed in. Everyone was practicing with (intensity). And we came out here and we killed it. So the biggest thing is just attention to detail during the week and (again) on Sunday.”
Speaking of details, yes, Lamb left him in the dust at one point. And there was the end, when Dallas backup Joe Milton torched Moss on a dime with 4:44 left for a garbage-time score.
That got the socials barking. Shannon Sharpe ripped Moss in an ‘X’ post, calling him “the lone cloud over the Broncos’ impressive (game today). He’s been awful. From start (to) finish.”
Not sure about that one, Unc.
So who’s picking on Moss more right now: NFL QBs, NFL refs, or Shannon Sharpe?
Alex Singleton grinned at that one.
“You know what? What Riley does is special,” the Broncos linebacker said. “Anyone that plays across from Pat has to be an incredible player. And Riley’s playing out of his mind this year. It’s really special. And it’s fun to watch.”
Even when the hankies fly. Bada-bing. Bada-boom.
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