How Riley Moss plans to prove he can't be picked on

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Riley Moss knew what the beginning of his season would look like.

“It’s going to continue to be that way until I prove them differently,” Moss told DNVR.

Moss is a second-year cornerback out of Iowa. The Denver Broncos‘ first two games this season have been his first two NFL starts.

Inexperienced cornerbacks get picked on.

Cornerbacks working across from an All-Pro like Pat Surtain II get picked on.

White cornerbacks get picked on.

It’s no surprise that offenses have decided to pick on Moss, who checks all three of those boxes. How does he reduce his workload?

“It takes a couple of picks, for sure,” he said.

Opponents have tested Moss often in the first two weeks of the season. On average, he’s been thrown at once in every 4.6 plays when he’s in coverage, per Pro Football Focus. That’s the 11th most out of 114 cornerbacks who have dropped into coverage at least 10 times so far the season.

For the most part, Moss has held his own. He’s allowed a 92.2 passer rating when targeted. That ranks 64th out of those same 114 cornerbacks. It’s the best mark among the Broncos’ three starting cornerbacks. The league as a whole has an 86.3 passer rating.

While Moss has been right around league average statistically, his first two games have been defined by near misses. The best example is the final third down against the Seahawks, when the Broncos needed a stop to give the offense a chance to send the game to overtime.

Moss stuck to veteran wideout Tyler Lockett‘s hip across the field, but Geno Smith delivered a ball just past Moss’s fingertips, which Lockett snared with one hand. Game over.

After the game, defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said he was happy with Moss’ performance, even if he was couple of inches away from making the game-changing play.

“He was always in the spot to make the play and that’s what you ask young guys to do,” Joseph said.

Whether you ask Joseph, the rest of the coaches, Moss’s teammates or the media, Moss has played well in his first two games, but he’s caught bad breaks.

“When the balls in the air, I’m going to go and get it,” Moss said. “I’m done with this ‘being in the wrong place at the wrong time.’ I’m gonna go up and take care of it.”

Moss will get more opportunities to take care of it this weekend, when the Broncos travel to Tampa to take on a high-flying Buccaneer offense.

“They’ll give us some opportunities,” Moss said. “It’ll be a hell of a time. They’ve got a couple good receivers. It’ll be fun.”

Those good receivers are Mike Evans, a 6-foot-5 receiver who has used his size to produce at least 1,000 receiving yards in each of his 10 NFL seasons, and Chris Godwin, his sidekick from the slot who has posted three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.

Surtain agreed that stopping those two is one of the keys for the Broncos in Week 3.

“They’re both dynamic in their own right,” Surtain said on Wednesday. “Mike, he’s a great player. He’s done it like you said, consistently over the years, and Godwin does it at a high level as well, too. We definitely have [an] eye out for those two and I think we have a great plan moving forward towards the week.”

Surtain is impressed with Moss in his first two starts.

“I’ve seen a significant amount of progress in his game, and it carries over and it translates because he just goes out here and puts the work in everyday at practice and it shows on the field,” he said. “When you have a guy like that that’s getting better each and every week, you have no shortage of confidence in his game. Riley has been the key piece to our defense, and we’re looking to build with him.”

The next step for Moss as he keeps building his NFL resume, is showing opponents that he isn’t the weak link in the Broncos’ secondary, so that can’t keep testing him.

His goal is clear.

“Prove them differently,” Moss said. “Let’s get going here.”

Injury Report

The Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers released their second injury reports of the week on Thursday. The Broncos received a fair amount of good news.

Here’s the injury report for Thursday…

Broncos

Buccaneers

Notes

• Pat Surtain II struggled with penalties in the first two games. He’s been flagged five times, more than any other player in the NFL. Defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is unconcerned.
  
  “I think penalties come in two forms. You have penalties that are just silly penalties that happen pre-snap and it takes no talent. I think when corners are battling the best receivers in the league, battling big guys, trying to find the ball, both guys are hand fighting, those types of things are going to happen. I’d rather a corner be close and compete versus letting guys catch the football. So I have no problem with Patrick competing. Obviously you want him to play cleaner all the time, and you’re always talking about, ‘Hands off. Win with your feet. Win with your eyes. Attack the ball.’ That’s always being coached and talked about, but you want guys to be close. Corners that are close will make more plays than the corner who’s not. I’m OK with Patrick being aggressive. He’s covering the best guys in football and doing a good job on those guys. Some of that stuff we’ll live with. We don’t want that, but I’ll live with some of it.”