Cornerback Riley Moss topped the league in a rare category this season, a key reason he’s already being mentioned alongside a Broncos great.
Moss recorded 19 passes defensed, the most in a Denver regular season since Champ Bailey did it in 2006, and tied Carolina’s Mike Jackson for the NFL lead.
Moss also finished third on the Broncos in tackles with 80, another sign of his growing role in the defense.
A lot of flags have been thrown against Riley Moss
The third-year cornerback out of Iowa has come into his own, though his aggressive style also led to 10 penalties, tied for the fourth most in the league. Some of those calls drew criticism.
After Moss was flagged for pass interference against the Green Bay Packers in Week 15, CBS analyst Tony Romo questioned the call on the broadcast. Moss later intercepted a pass from Jordan Love and addressed the sequence afterward.
"It was great, long overdue, you know, the ball doesn't lie, right?" Moss said of the interception after the game. "I had a great coverage on that deep ball and they wanted to throw the flag from across the field. So that was fine, they could do that, ball doesn't lie."
Moss still has a long way to go before matching the resume of Bailey, a 12-time Pro Bowl cornerback and Hall of Famer, but Denver is pleased with Moss lining up opposite Pat Surtain II.
The Broncos (14-3) finished as the AFC’s No. 1 seed, earning a bye week and the right to host the lowest remaining seed after the wild-card round.
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