ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — A year or two ago, the ball in all likelihood would have just been batted down to the grass. No big roar from the crowd. No rush of his Denver Broncos teammates whooping and hollering like they did Monday after Riley Moss intercepted Bo Nix's heave to Courtland Sutton.
Moss, who has made head-turning plays every day at training camp so far, has two big goals in mind in 2026: continue to shed his reputation for being too handsy
and show off better hands when the ball's in the air as the Broncos aim to get way more than the 14 takeaways they had last year, which included one interception by Moss.
“It's fantastic to watch,” coach Sean Payton said of Moss's pick at training camp Monday. “... The ability to catch it as a defensive back, it's tough if you don't have decent enough hands because they'll just throw at you. So, it was a good play.”
Moss's big play led to a rare roar from the crowd that usually cheers for the offense. It left the defense "pretty hyped,” safety Talanoa Hufanga said. “Great play. It's 50-50, the ball goes up and when your guy comes down with it, you're always excited. We're going to win the fans over hopefully one day.”
Moss has started to do just that.
Playing opposite star cornerback Pat Surtain II, Moss gets targeted aplenty and last season, despite a rash of defensive pass interference flags, Moss tied for the league lead in pass breakups with 19, sharing the top spot with Carolina's Mike Jackson.
His aim in 2026 is to turn some of those breakups into interceptions — and get officials to keep their flags in their pockets.
Last year, he drew a dozen defensive pass interference calls, 10 of which were accepted. But he only had one infraction over the final six weeks of the regular season and two playoff games following Denver's bye week.
“Refs were very trigger happy when it comes to flags with him.... But he's probably actually one of the most athletic corners I've ever been around: quick twitch. And now it's really just what can we do to get his technique to where it needs to be?" Hufanga said. "Coaches have done a great job. He's done a great job. And hopefully he'll go out there and make more plays like he did today.”
Moss said he's not going to retreat any in his physical approach as he works to cut down on flags.
“As an athlete and what I want my brain to be is gritty,” he said. "I'm not going to back down, so it's playing smarter. ... I'm able to physically guard anybody in the league; it's that mental part, knowing where my help's at and not panicking at the top of the route. I think it's been good so far.”
There were times last season when the official closest to the play saw no infraction but Moss would turn around and see a yellow flag flying from 40 yards away.
“It's an emotional game and it's hard not to get emotional about those things,” Moss said. “But as the year went on and as those things were happening, it's next-play mentality. I can't let that affect me the rest of the game. (Defensive coordinator Vance) Joseph says great players will have bad plays but they won't have bad games. And that's kind of the mentality that I've tried to have is yes, this didn't go my way, we'll fix it after the game, but don't allow that to affect the rest of the game.”
Moss embraces knowing that quarterbacks will test him as they shy away from Surtain.
“That's part of the job and that's my favorite part of the job, knowing I'm going to get some action, and it keeps it exciting,” Moss said. “The biggest thing now is I had 19 pass breakups last year. Now, it's how do I turn those into interceptions? Because as a defense as a whole, we do need to do a better job of creating turnovers.”
Moss has two career interceptions in the NFL after collecting 11 over his four years at Iowa: “That's a big thing to me because that's part of my brand,” he said. “I need to do a better job of taking the ball away and finishing with the ball in my hands.”
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